Reviews

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

r_bookdevourer's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

monaluffy's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

jstark545's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this book, but I can't say if I will read the second one or not? I feel like the author definitely wrote this book as a way to heal from trauma. Which either produces some of the best writing I've ever seen, or the worst. Luckily in this case it was the first one! I really loved the characters a lot, and the main two men really reminded me of me and my husband.

possiblysammy's review

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

5.0

janienefe's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

avocaho's review

dark emotional lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Torture, and Sexual assault

theamazingfencer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Some of the politics seemed a little forced and awkward but the love story was great!

peachycourt's review

emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

plottrysts's review

4.5

Looking for a queer romantasy that's a perfect mix of fantasy and romance? This is the one for you. Vel's father arranges a marriage to the daughter of a lord in a neighboring country. but when Vel is surprised in a compromising situation* with another man, the arrangement shifts to his fiancee's brother.

When Vel arrives in his new home, he's surrounded by political intrigue, thrown into a murder mystery, and living in very close proximity with his new (hot) husband. Let's just say that even though someone's out to kill Vel, he spends more time worrying about his wedding reception. and honestly? I loved that.

*This is a nonconsensual compromising situation that leads to a serious mental health crisis for Vel. Please check the CN and take care when reading.

banannatoast's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I read this book about two months ago, so I'm a little removed from my immediate feelings about it. After marinating on it, the impression I'm left with is unfortunately not great. I wouldn't say I think it's bad, exactly, but it definitely isn't everything it could be. I think the bones of the story have great potential, the fantasy world is well built and immersive, and the side characters are charming. With another draft or two I think this could be great. Here's where it felt short for me:

• The writing style was not it for me. It leaned very close to pretentious, and it often crossed the line into trying too hard. I got used to it after pushing through, but I think a strong edit could've served it well. 
• There is almost certainly a way you could write a fantasy story with queer characters who must reconcile with and recover from an oppressive, sometimes violent, society. I'm sure it could be done while these characters find themselves falling in love despite all odds and while providing a commentary on the real world (NK Jemisin, for example, writes quite effectively about oppression in a fantasy setting). I just don't think that's what happened here. I felt these themes were approached quite clumsily and heavy handed. Of course, the author didn't need to address any of that at all (in fact I'd probably have preferred it if they hadn't) but it felt like they were TRYING to.
• This was a fantasy romance novel, and as often happens, the fantasy elements tended to take a back seat to the romance and character work. This would be fine, if I felt that the romance really delivered. It felt a bit too perfect, too contrived, too convenient. 
• And the biggest misstep, in my opinion, was how the violent sexual assault was handled. Not only is this sudden sexual violence graphic and on page (really, I had to skim and skip, it was very uncomfortable), but it is literally the inciting incident of the whole story. The plot would actually not have moved forward at all without this SA.  Velasin and Caethari are BOTH characterized almost exclusively in reaction to this SA. Velasin has almost no personality that isn't victimhood, and Caethari is designed to do exactly all the right things and be so perfectly gentle and understanding and unbelievable, just so he can serve as the perfect vessel for Velasin's recovery. Really the murder mystery aspect of the story is forgettable in the face of the sexual assault permeating the book. It almost feels like it ought to have been written as a horror or literary fiction book.

I know I said a lot of critical things, but really I didn't hate this book. I've already read the sequel (though I'm not sure it really improved on the above). I think there's a really interesting perspective coming from this author, I just feel like it could be harnessed somewhat better to build a truly unique and evocative story