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erinanire's review against another edition
lighthearted
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
5.0
purrson's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
tense
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? No
4.0
percyc's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
wunder's review against another edition
2.0
Pleasant but mediocre. Could be shorter or deeper, either one would help. Thin characters, a plot with surprises rather than developments, and so on.
For example, the first third of chapter 5 should have been deleted. A character walks through the town and notices things. He noticed something peculiar about streetside statues and I expected that to be a plot point, but no such luck.
For example, the first third of chapter 5 should have been deleted. A character walks through the town and notices things. He noticed something peculiar about streetside statues and I expected that to be a plot point, but no such luck.
hartd's review against another edition
5.0
I enjoyed this book so much! I love this world that AJ Demas has created. Bedar and Marzana are both great point-of-view characters, and their friendship is really nice. Both of their romance plots are also very satisfying, although the romances here definitely take a backseat to the story of finding the missing ambassador.
But really, the book is about Marzana and Bedar immersed in this city that's foreign to them, which made me feel like I was visiting this place too. I think Boukos is the author's version of Athens, because of the statues (hermae, in ancient Athens), and I've always dreamed of seeing ancient Greece. There are so many wonderful details here.
Overall, this book gave me such good feelings! Definitely a keeper.
But really, the book is about Marzana and Bedar immersed in this city that's foreign to them, which made me feel like I was visiting this place too. I think Boukos is the author's version of Athens, because of the statues (hermae, in ancient Athens), and I've always dreamed of seeing ancient Greece. There are so many wonderful details here.
Spoiler
Having read Saffron Alley before this, I was smiling every time Marzana was wistful about sweets, since I knew what was in store for him.Overall, this book gave me such good feelings! Definitely a keeper.
galleytrot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
emtees's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-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
5.0
This book was great. I loved every minute of it. It was the kind of book where it wasn’t so much about what was happening as about the world and the characters and just wanting to follow them about as they live their lives.
One Night in Boukos takes place in a fictional world that is clearly just Ancient Greece during the time of the Greco-Persian wars, but with the names for everything changed. (Think Guy Gavriel Kay’s approach to worldbuilding, but with drastically lowered stakes.). During a lull in the fighting between the Pseuchian city states and the empire of Zash, an ambassador and his entourage travel to the city of Boukos to arrange a trade agreement. During the festival of the Psobion (think Bacchanalia), the ambassador goes missing, and it becomes the job of two of his staff - Marzana, a former soldier and head of security for the ambassador, and Bedar, a young eunuch secretary - to track him down. Marzana and Bedar start out retracing the ambassador’s steps, discovering more and more scandal along the way, but they soon get distracted. For Marzana, the distraction is Chereia, a widowed baker he rescues from street toughs and quickly becomes infatuated with; for Bedar it is Pheres, a young male prostitute, whose charms Bedar struggles to resist. The more time they spend with their new companions, the less Marzana and Bedar care about actually tracking down the ambassador, and the more personal stakes replace political ones.
This is just a delightful book to read. The whole thing takes place over a couple of days and nights, and it has the meandering feel of visiting a foreign city and just wandering around seeing what there is to see. The approach to worldbuilding isn’t exactly copy-and-paste of ancient cultures, but it is clear that the author has a deep knowledge of the time period she is using for her inspiration and that depth definitely comes through in the worldbuilding. Though there are hints and discussions of larger political matters and world events, the focus here is on the small things - a single city and the varied, sometimes clashing cultures inhabiting it. This is the kind of worldbuilding where you are thrown in with little explanation and expected to keep up, but Demas has the skill for spooling out information without ever dumbing it down that makes the world feel very immersive.
The characters are wonderful. I loved both Marzana and Bedar. They are both such lovely and sympathetic characters. I especially loved the friendship between them despite their differences. I was really glad that this wasn’t the kind of story where two people from different worlds have to learn to respect each other during the course of an adventure; instead, even though one is a soldier and the other a eunuch scholar, Marzana and Bedar have great affection and respect for each other from the beginning. There’s something reassuring about a story where very different people don’t need dramatic events to form a friendship. Both the romances they form are also really beautifully handled. Because the plot is so low-stakes (both to start with and because, hilariously, Marzana and Bedar just kind of stop caring about it at all halfway through the book), there is a lot of time to indulge in the relationship building, and so we get long scenes of the two couples just hanging out, getting to know each other, and slowly falling in love. There are also some really nice friendship moments between all four of them; it was surprising given how short the timeline for the book was, but they felt like a found family by the end of it.
Even though it doesn’t get as much attention from the main characters and mostly plays out in the background of the two romances, the mystery plot was actually very well done and had a satisfying ending.
The tone of this book is interesting. On the one hand, it can feel at times very modern, especially in the use of language. Demas is clearly the kind of “historical” author who gets that conveying tone is more important than being accurate, and so the characters often use something close to modern slang to convey the casualness of their conversation. (I liked the moment when one character refers to the ambassador’s mission as the “trade thingy.”). And while I’m not an expert on this time period, I do think there are some ways in which Demas gives her characters a bit of a modern feel, especially in the gender relations of the book. On the other hand, these are characters very much of a particular world and time that is not our own, and the things they discuss and the attitudes they hold match that. There are some great moments of cultural clash and comparison, some of which might surprise readers who are expecting something a bit more stereotypical - the contrast between the Pseuchians, who are sexually frank but also a bit odd and reductive about queerness, versus the Zashians, simultaneously more conservative and yet more relaxed about the varieties of human attraction - but you have to be willing to go with the world as it is to appreciate them. This is especially true in the discussion of slavery (both Bedar and Pheres are slaves, though this means very different things for each of them, and though the horror of slavery is clearly present in both the minds of the characters and the author, they are also very casual in the way they talk about it) and in the handling of Bedar’s gender. Bedar is treated, and seems to think of himself, as something other than either a man or woman, but not in the modern sense of being nonbinary. It’s a very specific thing to being a eunuch in the world he lives in. Personally I really enjoyed getting into these different mindsets. And then, of course, there are some things that are just universal, like love and great food and the hilarious scene where Marzana has to visit the customs office and we learn bureaucracy has not changed in two thousand years.
This is a stand-alone book and I admit a part of me wishes that weren’t true and we could have a whole series of mysteries with these characters. But I was so glad that the book had a happy ending - a true HEA, in the romance genre sense, for both couples.
One Night in Boukos takes place in a fictional world that is clearly just Ancient Greece during the time of the Greco-Persian wars, but with the names for everything changed. (Think Guy Gavriel Kay’s approach to worldbuilding, but with drastically lowered stakes.). During a lull in the fighting between the Pseuchian city states and the empire of Zash, an ambassador and his entourage travel to the city of Boukos to arrange a trade agreement. During the festival of the Psobion (think Bacchanalia), the ambassador goes missing, and it becomes the job of two of his staff - Marzana, a former soldier and head of security for the ambassador, and Bedar, a young eunuch secretary - to track him down. Marzana and Bedar start out retracing the ambassador’s steps, discovering more and more scandal along the way, but they soon get distracted. For Marzana, the distraction is Chereia, a widowed baker he rescues from street toughs and quickly becomes infatuated with; for Bedar it is Pheres, a young male prostitute, whose charms Bedar struggles to resist. The more time they spend with their new companions, the less Marzana and Bedar care about actually tracking down the ambassador, and the more personal stakes replace political ones.
This is just a delightful book to read. The whole thing takes place over a couple of days and nights, and it has the meandering feel of visiting a foreign city and just wandering around seeing what there is to see. The approach to worldbuilding isn’t exactly copy-and-paste of ancient cultures, but it is clear that the author has a deep knowledge of the time period she is using for her inspiration and that depth definitely comes through in the worldbuilding. Though there are hints and discussions of larger political matters and world events, the focus here is on the small things - a single city and the varied, sometimes clashing cultures inhabiting it. This is the kind of worldbuilding where you are thrown in with little explanation and expected to keep up, but Demas has the skill for spooling out information without ever dumbing it down that makes the world feel very immersive.
The characters are wonderful. I loved both Marzana and Bedar. They are both such lovely and sympathetic characters. I especially loved the friendship between them despite their differences. I was really glad that this wasn’t the kind of story where two people from different worlds have to learn to respect each other during the course of an adventure; instead, even though one is a soldier and the other a eunuch scholar, Marzana and Bedar have great affection and respect for each other from the beginning. There’s something reassuring about a story where very different people don’t need dramatic events to form a friendship. Both the romances they form are also really beautifully handled. Because the plot is so low-stakes (both to start with and because, hilariously, Marzana and Bedar just kind of stop caring about it at all halfway through the book), there is a lot of time to indulge in the relationship building, and so we get long scenes of the two couples just hanging out, getting to know each other, and slowly falling in love. There are also some really nice friendship moments between all four of them; it was surprising given how short the timeline for the book was, but they felt like a found family by the end of it.
Even though it doesn’t get as much attention from the main characters and mostly plays out in the background of the two romances, the mystery plot was actually very well done and had a satisfying ending.
The tone of this book is interesting. On the one hand, it can feel at times very modern, especially in the use of language. Demas is clearly the kind of “historical” author who gets that conveying tone is more important than being accurate, and so the characters often use something close to modern slang to convey the casualness of their conversation. (I liked the moment when one character refers to the ambassador’s mission as the “trade thingy.”). And while I’m not an expert on this time period, I do think there are some ways in which Demas gives her characters a bit of a modern feel, especially in the gender relations of the book. On the other hand, these are characters very much of a particular world and time that is not our own, and the things they discuss and the attitudes they hold match that. There are some great moments of cultural clash and comparison, some of which might surprise readers who are expecting something a bit more stereotypical - the contrast between the Pseuchians, who are sexually frank but also a bit odd and reductive about queerness, versus the Zashians, simultaneously more conservative and yet more relaxed about the varieties of human attraction - but you have to be willing to go with the world as it is to appreciate them. This is especially true in the discussion of slavery (both Bedar and Pheres are slaves, though this means very different things for each of them, and though the horror of slavery is clearly present in both the minds of the characters and the author, they are also very casual in the way they talk about it) and in the handling of Bedar’s gender. Bedar is treated, and seems to think of himself, as something other than either a man or woman, but not in the modern sense of being nonbinary. It’s a very specific thing to being a eunuch in the world he lives in. Personally I really enjoyed getting into these different mindsets. And then, of course, there are some things that are just universal, like love and great food and the hilarious scene where Marzana has to visit the customs office and we learn bureaucracy has not changed in two thousand years.
This is a stand-alone book and I admit a part of me wishes that weren’t true and we could have a whole series of mysteries with these characters. But I was so glad that the book had a happy ending - a true HEA, in the romance genre sense, for both couples.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Sexual assault
Two main characters are slaves and there are frank discussion of slavery and it’s injustices, though they are not explicit. A minor background character is sexually assaulted and this is treated with sympathy, and there is slight discussion of sexual assault in the backgrounds of some characters.buttermellow's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, and Animal death
Minor: Death, Violence, and Slavery
eemms's review against another edition
4.0
I love the world building and characters in this book, but I think readers will enjoy it more coming at it as a fantasy-historical fiction book than a romance. Most of it is Marzana and Bedar running around after a MacGuffin. Having split up in their search, they each get distracted by a local who they connect with. After only a few hours together Bedar and Marzana nearly forget what they were looking for in the first place. Oh, and all of this is taking place during a festival traditionally celebrated by falling in bed with the best looking stranger you can find. 5/5 stars for world building (it's the same world as Something Human and I love the cultures explored in this one) but the romance/story isn't as strong as Something Human and I loved it a little less than that one.
littleastrid's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
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
4.5