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jassmine 's review for:
Band Sinister
by KJ Charles
Guy's jaw dropped. He wasn't quite sure if atheism was legal; it certainly wasn't acceptable in decent company. He'd never met a self-confessed atheist in his life until this bizzare sojourn. He'd also never met a black man, a Jew, or a geologist. Or a viscount, come to that.
K.J. Charles was on my list of authors I wanted to try out this year and when I turned to my friends for a recommendation for the best starting place in her work, surprisingly, they pretty unanimously picked Band Sinister. And they were so right, because... this is such a special book. I'm not entirely sure how I'll be able to review it.
First, I should say that I tried to pick this up a few times but I always got stuck on the couple first sentences and I moved on to a different book. I didn't realise this at the time, but it was because the book starts with an excerpt from a gothic novel Amanda - the MC's sister - wrote, so that is the reason for the completely over the top language! I kind of wish someone told me that because it turned out to be a bigger obstacle than it should be, especially since I think it's actually a pretty fabulous way to start this specific novel.
Honestly, Amanda's gothic novel was one of my favourite parts of the book. You see Amanda and her brother Guy are pretty much trapped living in the countryside because of their
I also adored the Murder and I loved the way Guy experiences their group. I honestly have trouble putting this part into words, because these are complex feelings that can't be crammed into a single sentence, but... It was a queer joy to read, there was the feeling of finding people you belong to, but there was also the very specific feeling of not really being part of the group. It was overall really relatable for me and if I could request a change to this book, it would be to include even more of the Murder, there were a lot of characters there and it took me a decent chunk of book to even sort them out. I know it would be a completely different kind of book, but... I kind of wish we got POV chapters from other characters as well, just to get a peak into their stories too. There is actually quite sweet straight side romance and I wouldn't mind if let's say two chapters were dedicated to that. But, yeah, I guess that would be a sort of romance that would be hard to sold... I guess this is the reason why I like fanfiction so much.
It's pretty unbelievable that I got this far into the review without actually talking about the main characters and their romance. The truth is... the MCs weren't my favourites, I did really like them, but we didn't exactly bonded. The romance... yeah, I loved the romance. It's kind of virgin & rake kind of thing, which isn't really much of my thing anymore, but Charles does it right, so I was into that:
"You don't give up easily, do you?"
"You haven't asked me to. If you'd rather I dropped the subject for good-"
"No," Guy said, very quietly. "Don't do that."
I think Charles really managed to strike the right balance between showing the oppressing aspects of the period's society while not making it overly traumatic. Yes, Guy clearly has some internalized homophobia it takes him time to figure out things - like why he's so obsessed with Latin literature in unexpurgated editions - but it's written in a way that's relatable and funny, not traumatic. I really do appreciated because a lot of romances don't manage to do this properly (*eyes [b:The Faerie Hounds of York|54835251|The Faerie Hounds of York|Arden Powell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597249935l/54835251._SY75_.jpg|85550648]*). I also love nerdiness in my romances, declining in Latin while having sex is about as good as it gets for me.
Also, the queer valets! I mean... perfection:
He dressed himself rather than ring for Sinclair early and suffer the inevitable consequences when Corvin's Cornelius voiced his objections. Some might consider that refusing to disturb one's valet because he was in bed with someone else's valet was taking considerate employment too far; Philip preferred to tell himself it was an investment for his future comfort.
But what's most special about this book is the way it deals with all kinds of relationships and the way they relate to each other. Calling this polyamorous romance would be highly misleading, but this is definitely type of romance that would appeal to non-monogamous people and to people who place equal value to non-sexual relationships in their lives.
Overall, this was a joy, there was consent, communication, friendships, amazing humour which improved stuff that I would thought couldn't be improved more. There also isn't unnecessary drama, there is a third-act breakup of sorts, but it's over the one reasonable thing it can be, not over the things I was a little worried it might be. I loved this. I would love it even more if there was more to it, the ending could have been a bit longer if it were up to me and as I said I would have welcomed few more POV characters, but... I'm taking this as it is!
Would highly recommend!