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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
It was a pleasure to read. I can't get enough of this world.
ETA: I just found this: http://itsaboutthebook.com/2015/07/13/mr-sykes-and-the-noble-muse-pt-1/#more-5131 A lovely sequel.
ETA: I just found this: http://itsaboutthebook.com/2015/07/13/mr-sykes-and-the-noble-muse-pt-1/#more-5131 A lovely sequel.
What a quirky little book! Wicked Gentlemen is a paranormal gaslight fantasy romance set in a grimy, noir Victorian city, where the descendants of repentant demons live marginalized lives in subterranean slums while priest-collared Inquisition police the streets above. The novel follows the adventures, and unlikely romance, of two men from these different worlds.
I adored this setting, which felt much bigger than this one story. And I appreciated the author's sensitive treatment of a world in which paranormal beings are also second-class citizens. Belimai is the product of a reform school which evokes the Indian boarding schools of U.S. history, while Harper is the stepchild of a Prodigal who spent his life "passing" as human. While the book draws on plenty of romance tropes, at their best moments these two characters feel like fully realized people with complex pasts.
Hale's writing is lyrical yet spare; she has a prose style that's a little off-kilter and keeps you on your toes, but on the whole it works. The rhythm of this novel, too, isn't what you would expect. It's not at all a linear adventure story, but I think this works too, and meant the narrative held a lot of surprises.
I think I only have two criticisms - I wish the book had been longer so I could spend more time in this world, and I wish that the antagonists had more screen time. I do not demand a mustache-twirling, destroy-the-city villain, but I think the book would have benefited from better defined stakes and a clearer sense of danger.
Finally, I wanted to give kudos to Blind Eye Books. The editing and printing quality were quite high. Hurrah for small presses!
I adored this setting, which felt much bigger than this one story. And I appreciated the author's sensitive treatment of a world in which paranormal beings are also second-class citizens. Belimai is the product of a reform school which evokes the Indian boarding schools of U.S. history, while Harper is the stepchild of a Prodigal who spent his life "passing" as human. While the book draws on plenty of romance tropes, at their best moments these two characters feel like fully realized people with complex pasts.
Hale's writing is lyrical yet spare; she has a prose style that's a little off-kilter and keeps you on your toes, but on the whole it works. The rhythm of this novel, too, isn't what you would expect. It's not at all a linear adventure story, but I think this works too, and meant the narrative held a lot of surprises.
I think I only have two criticisms - I wish the book had been longer so I could spend more time in this world, and I wish that the antagonists had more screen time. I do not demand a mustache-twirling, destroy-the-city villain, but I think the book would have benefited from better defined stakes and a clearer sense of danger.
Finally, I wanted to give kudos to Blind Eye Books. The editing and printing quality were quite high. Hurrah for small presses!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is 4 stars primarily because of how badly I wanted to annotate every beautifully written paragraph.
Audiobook review. Narrator: Antony Ferguson
I read this book many years ago when it came out in paperback. While looking through Audible for new LGBT books, I was surprised to see this book out as an audiobook.
I've listed to Antony Ferguson narrator the Barker and Llewelyn series and love his voice, so I was quite happy that he was the narrator for this audiobook. He did a fantastic job although at the beginning I heard 'Barker' instead of 'Harper', but that's no fault of Mr Ferguson.
Although I had read the book before, it was so long ago that I'd forgotten many details. I did end up loving the story the second time around as much as I'd loved it the first. The book is actually in two parts: the first part is in the first-person POV of Belimai Sykes, a Prodigal descendant of ancient demons, and the second part is in the first-person POV of William Harper, a Captain in the Inquisition. The parts are sequential rather than concurrent.
The author does a great job of pulling the reader into a unique world by showing us how things work, which is not an easy thing to do with a world this complicated. My only 'complaint' is that the author hasn't written more in this universe. As far as I know, this is the only book. The universe is so rich with potential, I continue to hope that one day we'll have some back-stories of Prodigal lives.
I read this book many years ago when it came out in paperback. While looking through Audible for new LGBT books, I was surprised to see this book out as an audiobook.
I've listed to Antony Ferguson narrator the Barker and Llewelyn series and love his voice, so I was quite happy that he was the narrator for this audiobook. He did a fantastic job although at the beginning I heard 'Barker' instead of 'Harper', but that's no fault of Mr Ferguson.
Although I had read the book before, it was so long ago that I'd forgotten many details. I did end up loving the story the second time around as much as I'd loved it the first. The book is actually in two parts: the first part is in the first-person POV of Belimai Sykes, a Prodigal descendant of ancient demons, and the second part is in the first-person POV of William Harper, a Captain in the Inquisition. The parts are sequential rather than concurrent.
The author does a great job of pulling the reader into a unique world by showing us how things work, which is not an easy thing to do with a world this complicated. My only 'complaint' is that the author hasn't written more in this universe. As far as I know, this is the only book. The universe is so rich with potential, I continue to hope that one day we'll have some back-stories of Prodigal lives.
So, overall an enjoyable read but with enough weak points to keep it from being a great one.
Character, plot and world-building were all fairly good, but no better than that. The strongest aspect was the dialogue between characters, but everything else just seemed like a framework that hadn't been filled out. I wish Hale had taken everything further, because so much of the worldbuilding is fascinating and theocracies are just a cool concept for fantasy in general, but the rock solid foundation just wasn't there. The whole thing feels flimsy and like any aspect in the story could have changed entirely without effecting the book at all. Again, a good read with some great original concepts, but nothing especially memorable. I like Hale's style, though, and she has some really strong writing when it comes to character interactions. Worth a summer read.
Character, plot and world-building were all fairly good, but no better than that. The strongest aspect was the dialogue between characters, but everything else just seemed like a framework that hadn't been filled out. I wish Hale had taken everything further, because so much of the worldbuilding is fascinating and theocracies are just a cool concept for fantasy in general, but the rock solid foundation just wasn't there. The whole thing feels flimsy and like any aspect in the story could have changed entirely without effecting the book at all. Again, a good read with some great original concepts, but nothing especially memorable. I like Hale's style, though, and she has some really strong writing when it comes to character interactions. Worth a summer read.