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lilyheron 's review for:
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance
by Foz Meadows
Nobleman Velasin returns to his family estate to discover he has been betrothed to a stranger, only to be subjected to rape at the hands of his possessive and controlling ex-lover. With the truth of his sexuality revealed, Velasin is disowned by his father, and the betrothal is switched from a daughter to a son. By the time Velasin meets Caethari, he cannot stand to be touched, let alone face the prospect of being someone's husband. A spate of attacks and killings soon make it clear someone is targeting their new alliance, and as Vel and Cae track down the mastermind, can trust and love grow?
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance reminds me in some ways of a gentler Captive Prince. I was assuming this would be enemies-to-lovers but actually the romance between Vel and Cae is very soft and sweet. Cae is incredibly supportive of Vel and there's a lot of hurt/comfort and Broken Bird vibes. Overall, I think Vel's trauma was handled quite well. Every survivor reacts differently, and on a different timescale, and I'm glad a moment was taken to show how even after sex, Vel is still triggered by particular physical movements, and that time is taken to show him questioning how much of a victim he 'really' was, if x and y and z. These are nuanced and complex discussions that belong in fiction. In many ways, Vel is far from the idea of the perfect victim, both in terms of the rape itself and many of his choices following, so again I think this representation is important.
I did struggle quite a bit with Vel's prism of comparing himself to a wife or a bride. I think this is because it tugged on societal gender expectations that leant into dysphoria, but those aspects were never unpacked in the narrative, except through the concept of Vel struggling to compute a marriage between two men due to his social background. It makes internal sense, but it wasn't an aspect of the book I enjoyed, especially because I felt this was driven by his rape, and his sense of emasculation.
By extension, I think I would have liked the novel to have started earlier, so we could have seen a little more of Vel before he is raped, and Cae before he is a husband. There's much more to these two characters than trauma and recovery, but because the rape occurs so early on in the novel, Vel is set up as someone who has been raped first and foremost, and while his character arc is about learning he is much more than that one experience, I did feel structurally the novel makes it harder for readers to see him as something other than a rape victim.
I think I preferred the first half of the book to the second, because the plotlines were clearer and more tightly focused. I felt the focus was lost somewhat as Vel's healing journey mingles with Cae's justice/revenge on Killic and both of their investigations into the murders get squashed somewhat in favour of a very fluffy romance subplot. I felt like all the aspects of the story would have been stronger if they could have been given more page time, which makes me think too much was forced into the story, making it feel overstuffed. With that said, I thought the setting was well-realised, and I thought the rendering of Vel and Cae's respect towards Markel's mutism was a lovely surprise.
cw: rape; trauma; PTSD; victim confronting their rapist; familial abandonment after rape/outing; multiple attempts at suicide; suicidal ideation; suicidal thoughts; abusive ex; violent animal death; violence; murder; homophobia
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance reminds me in some ways of a gentler Captive Prince. I was assuming this would be enemies-to-lovers but actually the romance between Vel and Cae is very soft and sweet. Cae is incredibly supportive of Vel and there's a lot of hurt/comfort and Broken Bird vibes. Overall, I think Vel's trauma was handled quite well. Every survivor reacts differently, and on a different timescale, and I'm glad a moment was taken to show how even after sex, Vel is still triggered by particular physical movements, and that time is taken to show him questioning how much of a victim he 'really' was, if x and y and z. These are nuanced and complex discussions that belong in fiction. In many ways, Vel is far from the idea of the perfect victim, both in terms of the rape itself and many of his choices following, so again I think this representation is important.
I did struggle quite a bit with Vel's prism of comparing himself to a wife or a bride. I think this is because it tugged on societal gender expectations that leant into dysphoria, but those aspects were never unpacked in the narrative, except through the concept of Vel struggling to compute a marriage between two men due to his social background. It makes internal sense, but it wasn't an aspect of the book I enjoyed, especially because I felt this was driven by his rape, and his sense of emasculation.
By extension, I think I would have liked the novel to have started earlier, so we could have seen a little more of Vel before he is raped, and Cae before he is a husband. There's much more to these two characters than trauma and recovery, but because the rape occurs so early on in the novel, Vel is set up as someone who has been raped first and foremost, and while his character arc is about learning he is much more than that one experience, I did feel structurally the novel makes it harder for readers to see him as something other than a rape victim.
I think I preferred the first half of the book to the second, because the plotlines were clearer and more tightly focused. I felt the focus was lost somewhat as Vel's healing journey mingles with Cae's justice/revenge on Killic and both of their investigations into the murders get squashed somewhat in favour of a very fluffy romance subplot. I felt like all the aspects of the story would have been stronger if they could have been given more page time, which makes me think too much was forced into the story, making it feel overstuffed. With that said, I thought the setting was well-realised, and I thought the rendering of Vel and Cae's respect towards Markel's mutism was a lovely surprise.
cw: rape; trauma; PTSD; victim confronting their rapist; familial abandonment after rape/outing; multiple attempts at suicide; suicidal ideation; suicidal thoughts; abusive ex; violent animal death; violence; murder; homophobia