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A review by vibrantcolours
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
Longer review later? I found this super readable but not 100% sure how much I liked it.
Tl;dr topically quite similar to Winter's Orbit and A Taste of Gold and Iron: queer arranged marriage/political intrigue/SFF setting/overcoming trauma etc., though I would recommend those two books first.
Spiritually, it's similar to angst & hurt/comfort fanfic, maybe even a little too on-the-nose.I get that the suffering and growth is very much inherent to the character arc here, e.g. the somewhat intense trauma in like chapter 2, but by the time we got to animal death several traumas and crying jags later, it registered a bit as emotionally manipulative ("make the MC feel even worse") to me... again, though I realize that emotions are very much part of the point here. I thought the writing was generally strong but it didn't always read as fully authentic? Still putting a finger on it; maybe it was some of the banter ("sorry, I'm being Ralian again, aren't I?" was vaguely endearing the first time, but grating to me by, like, the fifth) or relationship, or maybe it's more the plot.
If you tend to avoid certain triggers, look up the content warnings for this one first(most notably SA) ; these topics come up quite early and are not subtle.
On the positive side, I particularly liked Velasin and that his intelligence was given space to shine (and we didn't only see him suffering/trying to recover), as well as the language/cultural elements, particularly sign language & Vel's friendship with Markel. While I liked Kae, it seemed his defining traits were "kind" and "attractive"; I really felt Vel got more character development and also thought it was unusual that only one of the two multi-POV characters got first-person narration.
Tagging mlm for obvious reasons. Also, enby and trans side characters; similar to the other two books, the queer-normative society recognizes a "third"/non-binary gender with established linguistics (incl. neopronouns) and clothing conventions.
<i>LOL at the length of my tl;dr</i>
Tl;dr topically quite similar to Winter's Orbit and A Taste of Gold and Iron: queer arranged marriage/political intrigue/SFF setting/overcoming trauma etc., though I would recommend those two books first.
Spiritually, it's similar to angst & hurt/comfort fanfic, maybe even a little too on-the-nose.
If you tend to avoid certain triggers, look up the content warnings for this one first
On the positive side, I particularly liked Velasin and that his intelligence was given space to shine (and we didn't only see him suffering/trying to recover), as well as the language/cultural elements, particularly sign language & Vel's friendship with Markel. While I liked Kae, it seemed his defining traits were "kind" and "attractive"; I really felt Vel got more character development and also thought it was unusual that only one of the two multi-POV characters got first-person narration.
Tagging mlm for obvious reasons. Also, enby and trans side characters; similar to the other two books, the queer-normative society recognizes a "third"/non-binary gender with established linguistics (incl. neopronouns) and clothing conventions.
<i>LOL at the length of my tl;dr</i>
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence and Sexual assault
Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, and Animal death