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A review by laelyn
Running Close to the Wind: A Queer Pirate Fantasy Adventure! by Alexandra Rowland
1.0
Nautical fantasy, especially involving pirates, is one of my favourite subgenres ever. Any book with pirates immediately peaks my interest, but when it's also compared to OFMD, one of my favourite comfort shows, I just really NEED to read it. I have read Rowland's previous novel set in the same fantastical world, and I admit I didn't like it much. But I'm always willing to give an author another chance, mostly because I WANT to read all the great books. So yes, my expectations going into "Running Close to the Wind" were a mixed bag, but I was hoping for greatness.
After having finished the last pages of this novel, well... I fear that Rowland just isn't the author for me. This new book has entirely different vibes and a completely different tone than "A Taste of Gold and Iron", its predecessor. I don't mind at all, I love it when very different kinds of stories are told in the very same world. And the world here does seem to be an interesting one - we don't learn that much about it, though. The world building is both scarce and superficial and infodumpy at the same time, and it's disappointing because there is so much interesting political intrigue hidden behind chapters and chapters of pure and utter sillyness. Because that's what this book is. Just silly.
Now, I love comedy in my fantasy. I enjoy more comedy-focused approaches to fantasy, too. But "Running Close to the Wind" offers nothing else beyond it, and its comedy is cringeworthy at best. It reads like a weird fantastical sketch comedy, with every situation, every plot point existing purely so that our main character can do something silly.
Speaking of said main character, Avra - I'm not sure I actually consider him a character at all. He is a caricature, he exists purely to be funny in a really really over the top, cringey way. He is not grounded in reality, his flaws are never truly explored. He is OBNOXIOUS. He doesn't act nor talk like an actual person, he doesn't have any depth nor complexity, and I was absolutely flabberghasted when the book told me he was supposed to be a 35 year old man. No grown up man, not even the silliest man alive, would act like him. He's childish and insufferable, and his supposed charm wears off after about 10 pages of having to endure his antics. He'd work maybe as a minor character, a comic relief that our main characters meet at some point, but he cannot carry a book.
Not that the other characters were any better. There are two more major characters in this - Avras on and off lover, the pirate captain Teveri, and the mysterious new part of their pirate crew, the very hot priest Julian. I could not take Teveri seriously at all, and I WANTED to love them because nonbinary pirate captain?? Hell yeah! But they didn't act like a captain and noone in their right mind would follow them. Their captain's log consisted mostly of dirty thoughts about Avra and Julian. Julian, who is just hot and intelligent and celibate but used to be a complete slut, which is why celibacy was the sacrifice required of him when he joined his religious order. The relationship between the three of them never actually conveys any kind of emotional depth, there's just nothing beyond lust. Whenever there seems to be an emotional development you can be sure the next silly scene is right around the corner negating any effect it might have immediately.
All they think about is how horny they are, like 80% of their dialogue is about sex. And nothing ever comes of it either, this isn't a spicy book. There are glimpses of an actual personality between all the sex jokes, visible only once the book decides to finally give us something resembling a plot, but whenever there was finally something interesting about either of them, it was immediately ruined by yet another silly scene filled with sex jokes. We get it, everyone is horny. Please stop, please give me ANYTHING else! The sex jokes aren't even funny, they get increasingly cringey and unbearable. The main joke is just how Avra and Tev keep completely objectifying Julian in the most uncomfortable ways. That's the humour level we're at.
There is also something to be said about how Avra is treated by most of the other characters. They are unnecessarily cruel and abusive, physically but especially emotionally, but it's funny because Avra is just so annoying and he's kinda into it, you get it??
The writing in this is alright, but Rowland relies way too much on (often unnecessary 'funny' filler) dialogue, and the pacing is completely off because of it. For its actual content, this book is way too long.
Mind you, I'm clearly in the minority here. There are a lot of reviewers who very much enjoyed this novel, so take my little opinion with a grain of salt. Still, from purely a craft perspective, this book has too many issues for me to recommend it to anyone. I skim read after the 50% mark only because I was hoping for it to get better, but quite frankly, I should have followed my instincts and dnf'ed this one. 1,5 stars maybe, because the very beginning is a little funny?
Many thanks to Tor and Netgalley for the arc - I wish I could have loved it!
After having finished the last pages of this novel, well... I fear that Rowland just isn't the author for me. This new book has entirely different vibes and a completely different tone than "A Taste of Gold and Iron", its predecessor. I don't mind at all, I love it when very different kinds of stories are told in the very same world. And the world here does seem to be an interesting one - we don't learn that much about it, though. The world building is both scarce and superficial and infodumpy at the same time, and it's disappointing because there is so much interesting political intrigue hidden behind chapters and chapters of pure and utter sillyness. Because that's what this book is. Just silly.
Now, I love comedy in my fantasy. I enjoy more comedy-focused approaches to fantasy, too. But "Running Close to the Wind" offers nothing else beyond it, and its comedy is cringeworthy at best. It reads like a weird fantastical sketch comedy, with every situation, every plot point existing purely so that our main character can do something silly.
Speaking of said main character, Avra - I'm not sure I actually consider him a character at all. He is a caricature, he exists purely to be funny in a really really over the top, cringey way. He is not grounded in reality, his flaws are never truly explored. He is OBNOXIOUS. He doesn't act nor talk like an actual person, he doesn't have any depth nor complexity, and I was absolutely flabberghasted when the book told me he was supposed to be a 35 year old man. No grown up man, not even the silliest man alive, would act like him. He's childish and insufferable, and his supposed charm wears off after about 10 pages of having to endure his antics. He'd work maybe as a minor character, a comic relief that our main characters meet at some point, but he cannot carry a book.
Not that the other characters were any better. There are two more major characters in this - Avras on and off lover, the pirate captain Teveri, and the mysterious new part of their pirate crew, the very hot priest Julian. I could not take Teveri seriously at all, and I WANTED to love them because nonbinary pirate captain?? Hell yeah! But they didn't act like a captain and noone in their right mind would follow them. Their captain's log consisted mostly of dirty thoughts about Avra and Julian. Julian, who is just hot and intelligent and celibate but used to be a complete slut, which is why celibacy was the sacrifice required of him when he joined his religious order. The relationship between the three of them never actually conveys any kind of emotional depth, there's just nothing beyond lust. Whenever there seems to be an emotional development you can be sure the next silly scene is right around the corner negating any effect it might have immediately.
All they think about is how horny they are, like 80% of their dialogue is about sex. And nothing ever comes of it either, this isn't a spicy book. There are glimpses of an actual personality between all the sex jokes, visible only once the book decides to finally give us something resembling a plot, but whenever there was finally something interesting about either of them, it was immediately ruined by yet another silly scene filled with sex jokes. We get it, everyone is horny. Please stop, please give me ANYTHING else! The sex jokes aren't even funny, they get increasingly cringey and unbearable. The main joke is just how Avra and Tev keep completely objectifying Julian in the most uncomfortable ways. That's the humour level we're at.
There is also something to be said about how Avra is treated by most of the other characters. They are unnecessarily cruel and abusive, physically but especially emotionally, but it's funny because Avra is just so annoying and he's kinda into it, you get it??
The writing in this is alright, but Rowland relies way too much on (often unnecessary 'funny' filler) dialogue, and the pacing is completely off because of it. For its actual content, this book is way too long.
Mind you, I'm clearly in the minority here. There are a lot of reviewers who very much enjoyed this novel, so take my little opinion with a grain of salt. Still, from purely a craft perspective, this book has too many issues for me to recommend it to anyone. I skim read after the 50% mark only because I was hoping for it to get better, but quite frankly, I should have followed my instincts and dnf'ed this one. 1,5 stars maybe, because the very beginning is a little funny?
Many thanks to Tor and Netgalley for the arc - I wish I could have loved it!