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sorren_briarwood 's review for:
The Queer Principles of Kit Webb
by Cat Sebastian
This was a delightful read from start to finish. Kit and Percy were both so endearing, and I adored seeing their relationship unfold and develop. The initial tension between them was fantastic, and their care of and mutual respect between them was palpable as the story wore on.
There were so many little things about Queer Principles I deeply appreciated— the fact that Sebastian chose not to skim over or shy away from the massive wealth disparity between her two protagonists, for one, with Kit soundly condemning Percy for his part and participation in a corrupt system. Secondly, Kit’s disability was handled with care and skill: it was far from the only I thing about him, but neither was it something the reader forgot about, because it consistently impacted him throughout the narrative. His struggles with consolidating his disability with his previous self-image were particularly resonant for me personally.
Whilst the heist itself was nothing groundbreaking, the plotline still drew me in and had some twists and turns which managed to surprise me, in spite of foreshadowing. In my estimation, the plot was definitley secondary to the romance, but I entered into this novel with the expectation that the latter would be the main draw, and wasn’t disappointed.
To segue briefly into potentially spoiler-adjacent territory, though I’ll keep it as vague as possible: I’ve seen a few people complain that a character with a relationship to one of the protagonists was fridged. I’d personally disagree with that assessment for two reasons: firstly, the character in question was not killed, in-universe, to hurt the protagonist, but as punishment for her own actions. Her killer had no idea that the protagonist even existed. Secondly, fridged characters often have no personality, goals, or potential and are merely written as a motivation for the protagonist: often they fail the “sexy lamp,” test- i.e. you could replace them with a sexy lamp, and the narrative wouldn’t change. This character doesn’t strike me as falling under this umbrella, and I’d argue her actions echo through the plot and tie into the books themes and overarching message.
This book is so suffused with warmth— it really is just a lovely read. If you’re in need a dash of entertaining escapism this is certainly a wonderful choice.
There were so many little things about Queer Principles I deeply appreciated— the fact that Sebastian chose not to skim over or shy away from the massive wealth disparity between her two protagonists, for one, with Kit soundly condemning Percy for his part and participation in a corrupt system. Secondly, Kit’s disability was handled with care and skill: it was far from the only I thing about him, but neither was it something the reader forgot about, because it consistently impacted him throughout the narrative. His struggles with consolidating his disability with his previous self-image were particularly resonant for me personally.
Whilst the heist itself was nothing groundbreaking, the plotline still drew me in and had some twists and turns which managed to surprise me, in spite of foreshadowing. In my estimation, the plot was definitley secondary to the romance, but I entered into this novel with the expectation that the latter would be the main draw, and wasn’t disappointed.
To segue briefly into potentially spoiler-adjacent territory, though I’ll keep it as vague as possible: I’ve seen a few people complain that a character with a relationship to one of the protagonists was fridged. I’d personally disagree with that assessment for two reasons: firstly, the character in question was not killed, in-universe, to hurt the protagonist, but as punishment for her own actions. Her killer had no idea that the protagonist even existed. Secondly, fridged characters often have no personality, goals, or potential and are merely written as a motivation for the protagonist: often they fail the “sexy lamp,” test- i.e. you could replace them with a sexy lamp, and the narrative wouldn’t change. This character doesn’t strike me as falling under this umbrella, and I’d argue her actions echo through the plot and tie into the books themes and overarching message.
This book is so suffused with warmth— it really is just a lovely read. If you’re in need a dash of entertaining escapism this is certainly a wonderful choice.