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A review by clockworkchild
Natural Outlaws and Fractured Sovereignty by S.M. Pearce
4.0
Obtained an ARC from the author for an honest, unbiased review.
Beware of spoilers below!
I'll admit, I went into this book almost completely blind, not really knowing anything about it or having heard of it beforehand, other than the fact that is has LGBT characters. And oh, did it deliver on that! One protagonist is canonically aromantic but allosexual, and the other is a gay nonbinary using he/ they pronouns interchangeably. That admittedly made me do a little happy dance as I realized that, using he/ they myself! Among them are a huge myriad of other queer characters and others in the background. So, a very homonormative world; it's a breath of fresh air compared to most fantasy going for the tired heteronormative tropes.
As for the plot itself...
I'll admit, I'm a little bit tired of the classic plot of having to pretend to be a royal or noble person to infiltrate royalty. However, S. M. Pearce did a good job of balancing this plot and building up the world around it, such as showing how the nobility works through King Marius and his noble people. She also did an excellent job of making you almost immediately hate him, though I really do wonder if his charm was literal magic, or if he did just have that much charisma. I suppose we'll never know, though.
As much as I did like the premise, however, several high action scenes were sort of... left off in the background? We are told what happened through the characters, but we don't see any of the action. That's a bit disappointing. Most of the book is scheming and political warfare, essentially, which does sum up most regencies.
Some characters were a bit frustrating to understand, particularly Blythe, who kept going back and forth between wanting to keep her virtues and wanting to help in any way she could. Though I guess that can't be helped, especially if you're forcibly picked up from a quiet life by a boy who's a tad bit feral and a pyromaniac.
I also adored the little family Blythe and Kalen made up for themselves, and they absolutely are a queerplatonic relationship. Together forever like a package deal, but not romantically or sexually involved together.
All in all, I did really enjoy this book! It's been a while since I haven't been able to put a book down, wanting to see what came next. I hope the story with the cast will continue some day, though even without a sequel, the plot is more or less tied up well.
Beware of spoilers below!
I'll admit, I went into this book almost completely blind, not really knowing anything about it or having heard of it beforehand, other than the fact that is has LGBT characters. And oh, did it deliver on that! One protagonist is canonically aromantic but allosexual, and the other is a gay nonbinary using he/ they pronouns interchangeably. That admittedly made me do a little happy dance as I realized that, using he/ they myself! Among them are a huge myriad of other queer characters and others in the background. So, a very homonormative world; it's a breath of fresh air compared to most fantasy going for the tired heteronormative tropes.
As for the plot itself...
I'll admit, I'm a little bit tired of the classic plot of having to pretend to be a royal or noble person to infiltrate royalty. However, S. M. Pearce did a good job of balancing this plot and building up the world around it, such as showing how the nobility works through King Marius and his noble people. She also did an excellent job of making you almost immediately hate him, though I really do wonder if his charm was literal magic, or if he did just have that much charisma. I suppose we'll never know, though.
As much as I did like the premise, however, several high action scenes were sort of... left off in the background? We are told what happened through the characters, but we don't see any of the action. That's a bit disappointing. Most of the book is scheming and political warfare, essentially, which does sum up most regencies.
Some characters were a bit frustrating to understand, particularly Blythe, who kept going back and forth between wanting to keep her virtues and wanting to help in any way she could. Though I guess that can't be helped, especially if you're forcibly picked up from a quiet life by a boy who's a tad bit feral and a pyromaniac.
I also adored the little family Blythe and Kalen made up for themselves, and they absolutely are a queerplatonic relationship. Together forever like a package deal, but not romantically or sexually involved together.
All in all, I did really enjoy this book! It's been a while since I haven't been able to put a book down, wanting to see what came next. I hope the story with the cast will continue some day, though even without a sequel, the plot is more or less tied up well.