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A review by amphipodgirl
The Orchid and the Lion by Gabriel Hargrave
4.0
11 pm: Spouse: "Don't stay up too late!" Me: "Yeah, I'll come soon."
Midnight: Oh, I'll just read one more chapter.
1 am: Puts book down to brush teeth, run dishwasher and go to bed.
1:15 am Picks up book again
2:00 am finally goes to bed.
Yeah. It was like that.
It's an indeterminate time in the future and the Purity Laws have made Earth a crappy place to be other than cis/het/allo/monogamous -- but freedom prevails on the James Baldwin space station. Our POV character is Dorian, a femme cis male dominant sex worker; he gets assigned to train novice sub Laith (trans male).
Laith and Dorian both catch FeELinGs and there's a lot of political intrigue and a mystery to detect. It's a whole lot going on, and I did occasionally get confused about what was happening or who someone was. But the whole thing is quite compulsively readable and I definitely enjoyed it.
Because of the sex work framing, it contains a wide variety of sex acts practiced by people of all kinds of genders, in duos, trios, and quads -- more sexual variety than I can remember seeing in any other novel.
Recommended for sure.
Midnight: Oh, I'll just read one more chapter.
1 am: Puts book down to brush teeth, run dishwasher and go to bed.
1:15 am Picks up book again
2:00 am finally goes to bed.
Yeah. It was like that.
It's an indeterminate time in the future and the Purity Laws have made Earth a crappy place to be other than cis/het/allo/monogamous -- but freedom prevails on the James Baldwin space station. Our POV character is Dorian, a femme cis male dominant sex worker; he gets assigned to train novice sub Laith (trans male).
Laith and Dorian both catch FeELinGs and there's a lot of political intrigue and a mystery to detect. It's a whole lot going on, and I did occasionally get confused about what was happening or who someone was. But the whole thing is quite compulsively readable and I definitely enjoyed it.
Because of the sex work framing, it contains a wide variety of sex acts practiced by people of all kinds of genders, in duos, trios, and quads -- more sexual variety than I can remember seeing in any other novel.
Recommended for sure.