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kaje_harper's review
5.0
This is a lovely, slow-burn, historical romance. The story plays out within a university physics department, in the early years after WWII. It has a very realistic feel, from the setting to the political pressures of the time, to the slang and general language. I've been a graduate student, and have relatives who include a physicist and a mathematician, and the atmosphere of the university, with its interactions and conversations, is well done. These theoretical scientists in their labs and classrooms, and pubs and living-rooms, discussing their fascination with the world, and gossiping about department politics, felt spot on.
This story is told from the POV of Frank, a veteran of combat who has returned to school on the GI bill to pursue pure learning, instead of death and destruction. Doctor Col Courtland comes to his attention as more than just a brilliant professor and physics prodigy when they are both caught up in a bust of a gay bar. Courtland's position as a member of a prominent family allows them to bluff their way out of the arrest, and their relationship develops under the constraints of faculty-student ethics, and of an increasingly paranoid political climate.
Courtland has caught the attention of the FBI due to his theoretical work with the Manhattan Project followed by a mildly pacifist statement, and the gay bar incident. With his every move being potentially monitored, having anything more than a tepid friendship with Frank is difficult. The "red scare" and the witch-hunt against gays in public life feel timelessly apt, in these days of the Patriot act and the technological spying of the government on ordinary citizens en mass. At the same time, they are an authentic historical backdrop, and there is no easy fix or convenient collegiate acceptance to be had here.
The writing was smooth, the relationship tension was great, and the secondary characters were fun. The sex was mostly off-page, but the heat between the characters was palpable. I recommend this book highly, especially to fans of [a:Tamara Allen|2765359|Tamara Allen|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1298938417p2/2765359.jpg]'s historical romances. And I intend to track down the rest of the author's (unfortunately short) backlist.
ETA: I loved it just as much on a reread. This story balances intelligence and heart, humor and tension, love and fear, in a very effective mix. A favorite, and one that will stand up to more rereads in the years to come.
This story is told from the POV of Frank, a veteran of combat who has returned to school on the GI bill to pursue pure learning, instead of death and destruction. Doctor Col Courtland comes to his attention as more than just a brilliant professor and physics prodigy when they are both caught up in a bust of a gay bar. Courtland's position as a member of a prominent family allows them to bluff their way out of the arrest, and their relationship develops under the constraints of faculty-student ethics, and of an increasingly paranoid political climate.
Courtland has caught the attention of the FBI due to his theoretical work with the Manhattan Project followed by a mildly pacifist statement, and the gay bar incident. With his every move being potentially monitored, having anything more than a tepid friendship with Frank is difficult. The "red scare" and the witch-hunt against gays in public life feel timelessly apt, in these days of the Patriot act and the technological spying of the government on ordinary citizens en mass. At the same time, they are an authentic historical backdrop, and there is no easy fix or convenient collegiate acceptance to be had here.
The writing was smooth, the relationship tension was great, and the secondary characters were fun. The sex was mostly off-page, but the heat between the characters was palpable. I recommend this book highly, especially to fans of [a:Tamara Allen|2765359|Tamara Allen|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1298938417p2/2765359.jpg]'s historical romances. And I intend to track down the rest of the author's (unfortunately short) backlist.
ETA: I loved it just as much on a reread. This story balances intelligence and heart, humor and tension, love and fear, in a very effective mix. A favorite, and one that will stand up to more rereads in the years to come.
nightcolors's review
4.0
3.5 stars.
Faster Than the Speed of Light is a very well written book, with likeable characters. I liked the story. I think, if I'd read this in 2019, I might have rated it outright 4 or even 4.5 stars. I usually like this sort of calm, life stories. But it's February in the year 2021 right now, and I'm living through a turbulent and uncertain times. So I think a lot of the charm in the story was rather lost on me. It's a good think I love to reread. Maybe in a couple of years...
Faster Than the Speed of Light is a very well written book, with likeable characters. I liked the story. I think, if I'd read this in 2019, I might have rated it outright 4 or even 4.5 stars. I usually like this sort of calm, life stories. But it's February in the year 2021 right now, and I'm living through a turbulent and uncertain times. So I think a lot of the charm in the story was rather lost on me. It's a good think I love to reread. Maybe in a couple of years...
ariadna's review
(Attempted to read May 2016)
A few things from Frank's life in 1947:
He decides to pursue a PhD in Physics.
He gets arrested alongside a senior member of an university's physics department during a police raid of a gay bar.
He finds out that said senior member will be his professor/advisor while working on the PhD.
The FBI ends up investigating him.
DNF at 13%
Let me state for the record that this is a good book. I don't intend to dissuade anyone from giving it a chance. My giving up on it simply means that it wasn't the book for me.
Just from the little I read, I could tell that this was a well-researched book. Parhelion gets a lot of the late 40s vibe really right: the slang, the day-to-day life, the post-WW II paranoia that permeated a lot of things. Frank is a likable character: a man in his early 30s who's a veteran with rough looks but a brilliant mind.
Since being gay was a dangerous thing (even being perceived as one was a huge risk to anyone) , Frank and Col (the professor he gets arrested with) have to obfuscate a lot of what they mean. This dampened a lot of the connection I'd have felt for them as an eventual couple (I did take a peek at the ending just to see if it'd rile up some enthusiasm to keep reading this book and can say that there's an HEA).
The other thing was the amount of talk about physics. Lots and lots of jargon and discussions about observations and theories that went way over my head. This lead to a strong sense of detachment from what I felt was an important part of the story.
So, I began the book feeling a tad confused and, once I realized that I would much rather re-read something else instead of continuing this novel, ended up DNFing it.
Based on other people's reviews (the majority which are overwhelmingly positive), I am definitely in the minority. Again, this is not a bad book. Perhaps it wasn't the right time for me to start reading it (though it's been on my TBR since it was first published).
I hate not finishing books when I know that they're good, but OTOH, I can't rationalize keep pushing myself through a novel that I have zero eagerness to continue. :(
A few things from Frank's life in 1947:
He decides to pursue a PhD in Physics.
He gets arrested alongside a senior member of an university's physics department during a police raid of a gay bar.
He finds out that said senior member will be his professor/advisor while working on the PhD.
The FBI ends up investigating him.
DNF at 13%
Let me state for the record that this is a good book. I don't intend to dissuade anyone from giving it a chance. My giving up on it simply means that it wasn't the book for me.
Just from the little I read, I could tell that this was a well-researched book. Parhelion gets a lot of the late 40s vibe really right: the slang, the day-to-day life, the post-WW II paranoia that permeated a lot of things. Frank is a likable character: a man in his early 30s who's a veteran with rough looks but a brilliant mind.
Since being gay was a dangerous thing (even being perceived as one was a huge risk to anyone) , Frank and Col (the professor he gets arrested with) have to obfuscate a lot of what they mean. This dampened a lot of the connection I'd have felt for them as an eventual couple (I did take a peek at the ending just to see if it'd rile up some enthusiasm to keep reading this book and can say that there's an HEA).
The other thing was the amount of talk about physics. Lots and lots of jargon and discussions about observations and theories that went way over my head. This lead to a strong sense of detachment from what I felt was an important part of the story.
So, I began the book feeling a tad confused and, once I realized that I would much rather re-read something else instead of continuing this novel, ended up DNFing it.
Based on other people's reviews (the majority which are overwhelmingly positive), I am definitely in the minority. Again, this is not a bad book. Perhaps it wasn't the right time for me to start reading it (though it's been on my TBR since it was first published).
I hate not finishing books when I know that they're good, but OTOH, I can't rationalize keep pushing myself through a novel that I have zero eagerness to continue. :(
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