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shan198025's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this book, also though I shouldn't have really. I got totally lost at the end trying to figure out who's who? who's the bad guy? When did they fall in love?
So I had a guess who the Archer was in the first few chapters. Then I changed my guess. In a way I was right both times. My second person had his own thing going.
One of theory enjoyable things for me was Remy. I swear Remy is Ty in Cajun form. He's a little promiscuous (a smidge *snort*) but he's their heart. He keeps everyone there and caring for each other. One thing about Shawn....homeboy needed to do a lot more graveling before all was hunky dory. He was pretty good through the then first 25% then he turned into a major d-bag.
So I had a guess who the Archer was in the first few chapters. Then I changed my guess. In a way I was right both times. My second person had his own thing going.
One of theory enjoyable things for me was Remy. I swear Remy is Ty in Cajun form. He's a little promiscuous (a smidge *snort*) but he's their heart. He keeps everyone there and caring for each other. One thing about Shawn....homeboy needed to do a lot more graveling before all was hunky dory. He was pretty good through the then first 25% then he turned into a major d-bag.
trulybooked's review
4.0
I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I picked it up, but the Archer was a lot of fun. I loved almost all of the characters and loved them quickly. Toward the end I began to get a little fatigued by what seemed to be a circle of pain, but I feel like that fit the theme of secret operatives.
It's a lot of fun and really compelling since you care about what happens to the characters. I'll be reading more by Abigail Roux for sure.
P.S. It is completely unashamed about it's LGBTQA themes. Also polyamory. Also age gap. Also... everything.
It's a lot of fun and really compelling since you care about what happens to the characters. I'll be reading more by Abigail Roux for sure.
P.S. It is completely unashamed about it's LGBTQA themes. Also polyamory. Also age gap. Also... everything.
dreamerfreak's review
4.0
The Archer is one convoluted SOB. It starts off easily enough: six men, mostly strangers, set off on a mission to discover and take down the mysterious traitor to the Organization, the Archer. Only it quickly becomes obvious that it's not nearly that simple.
The really fascinating thing is that, in all of this, the reader gets to be in all six of these men's minds, seeing their thoughts and suspicions, and being shocked all over again when more secrets are revealed and more layers are peeled back. For some people, I imagine this book just comes across as annoying, and I'll admit that they're were multiple times when I just burst out with, "What the fuck! Are effing serious?!" But I loved it despite (because?) of it all.
It doesn't have what could be termed a happy ending, nor is it at all a romance, but it ends on a hopeful note, and I for one, will never forget these guys. They're stuck with me.
The really fascinating thing is that, in all of this, the reader gets to be in all six of these men's minds, seeing their thoughts and suspicions, and being shocked all over again when more secrets are revealed and more layers are peeled back. For some people, I imagine this book just comes across as annoying, and I'll admit that they're were multiple times when I just burst out with, "What the fuck! Are effing serious?!" But I loved it despite (because?) of it all.
It doesn't have what could be termed a happy ending, nor is it at all a romance, but it ends on a hopeful note, and I for one, will never forget these guys. They're stuck with me.
deehaichess's review
1.0
Wow. I can't believe I actually finished it. I'm trying to articulate how painful it was to read but I'm not sure I can find the words. It started out okay, but that was the first 200 or so pages. Then the numerous flaws that I had been excusing up until then in exchange for just assuming it was a 'light hearted gay-sex romp about spies' as opposed to a 'taut spy thriller with gay protagonists', became too much to bear. By the end I'd passed through rage and settled for laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, just to prevent myself from hurling my ebook device across the room in disgust.
I wanted to like it; I really did. I gave it every chance. It had a very few small bright moments - where the action was engaging or when the characters quirks were entertaining, but overall narrative development seemed slapped together at best and nonsensical at worst. I could write a dissertation to support this opinion but suffice it to say that when, late in the book, one of the characters asks another "Are you the Archer?" and then asks, on receiving confirmation: "Then why the hell don’t you ever know what’s going on?" it is a moment of beautiful irony. That pretty much sums up the book's most fundamental flaws. No-one knew what was going on, ever, least of all the characters, least of all the author, and ultimately, least of all me.
I wanted to like it; I really did. I gave it every chance. It had a very few small bright moments - where the action was engaging or when the characters quirks were entertaining, but overall narrative development seemed slapped together at best and nonsensical at worst. I could write a dissertation to support this opinion but suffice it to say that when, late in the book, one of the characters asks another "Are you the Archer?" and then asks, on receiving confirmation: "Then why the hell don’t you ever know what’s going on?" it is a moment of beautiful irony. That pretty much sums up the book's most fundamental flaws. No-one knew what was going on, ever, least of all the characters, least of all the author, and ultimately, least of all me.
jenndmitis's review
3.0
I have to say of all of the Abigail Roux books I've read this year this one is my least favorite. I enjoyed or I wouldn't have finished it. But I really don't care if there is a squeal focused on Shawn and Remy. I want to know what happened to Brandt and Carl. Did Nikolas leave with Marissa. That's what I want to know. I'm looking forward to reading more of Abbi's books.
karisannakathryn's review
2.0
This one's probably more my fault than the book's fault. I love reading espionage-related fiction and trying to understand what makes these stories tick, but the genre is so overwhelmingly white, straight, and (until very recently) male, I'm always on the lookout for spy stories featuring people of color and queer people. I was excited for this book because what little queer espionage fiction there is tends to be very sad and miserable, and while there's definitely historical reasons for that (hello, Lavender Scare), straight people have so many cool action stories where the protagonists get to be cool and suave and badass and not constantly wallowing in self-hatred, surely we children of the alphabet rainbow deserve that too, right? And credit where credit is due, the queer spies in this story are not miserable and self-loathing. It's just that this really isn't a spy story. It's erotica, and very little besides erotica. There's nothing wrong with erotica, of course (personally, I find MLM erotica written by women in general tends to be pretty fetishistic, but this book specifically isn't to blame for that), it's just not what I was looking for, and the story itself was disappointing.
I guess my main problem is that the author just doesn't seem invested in the spy story at all. It's all about the sex, and only the sex. What is this organization these men work for? Where is it based? What is its purpose and goal? The author doesn't care, and doesn't want us to be curious about it either. Why would an organization stick a bunch of people it suspects of being traitors in a house together and then tell them to find the traitor? Wouldn't the logical assumption be that the traitor would just murder everyone and then flee? If the organization hasn't just had all the agents it suspects of being traitors killed, it must want the innocent agents alive, so this seems like a risky stupid move. In my mind, worldbuilding and setup are essential parts of an espionage story, and they're just missing here.
TLDR, if you're looking for erotica, the sex pretty much isthe plot of this book, so you'll probably like it! If you're looking for a spy story where the characters just happen to be queer and are not super miserable all the time...honestly, at this point, I'm just writing my own.
I guess my main problem is that the author just doesn't seem invested in the spy story at all. It's all about the sex, and only the sex. What is this organization these men work for? Where is it based? What is its purpose and goal? The author doesn't care, and doesn't want us to be curious about it either. Why would an organization stick a bunch of people it suspects of being traitors in a house together and then tell them to find the traitor? Wouldn't the logical assumption be that the traitor would just murder everyone and then flee? If the organization hasn't just had all the agents it suspects of being traitors killed, it must want the innocent agents alive, so this seems like a risky stupid move. In my mind, worldbuilding and setup are essential parts of an espionage story, and they're just missing here.
TLDR, if you're looking for erotica, the sex pretty much isthe plot of this book, so you'll probably like it! If you're looking for a spy story where the characters just happen to be queer and are not super miserable all the time...honestly, at this point, I'm just writing my own.
nightcolors's review
3.0
3.5 stars.
Read for m/m team bingo challenge & for the Q4 quarterly gang bang challenge.
Read for m/m team bingo challenge & for the Q4 quarterly gang bang challenge.
ktomp17's review
4.0
The more I read this book, the more I couldn't put it down. I loved the suspense so much all I wanted to do was flip to the end to find out who the Archer was (don't worry..I didn't! lol). I really loved the characters. They all had quirks that made them endearing in their own way. Abigail's writing is superb.
This was totally on pace to be a 5 star book for me. About 75% in, however, it lost me a bit. Too much information got thrown at me quickly and I found myself frustrated with the the ending. It would have kept at the 5 star rating if there was an epilogue to make the story a bit more complete. It seemed to end a bit abruptly with a HFN, rather than a HEA.
This was totally on pace to be a 5 star book for me. About 75% in, however, it lost me a bit. Too much information got thrown at me quickly and I found myself frustrated with the the ending. It would have kept at the 5 star rating if there was an epilogue to make the story a bit more complete. It seemed to end a bit abruptly with a HFN, rather than a HEA.