A review by mugsandpugs
The Virtu by Sarah Monette

5.0

Okay... Listen.

I'm trash. I know I'm trash. And I'm okay with that.

BUT THIS BOOK CONTAINED EVERYTHING THAT MAKES MY WEE LITTLE TRASHY HEART THUMP. WOOOOOOOO.

Alright. Felix? Is a JERK in this book, and I'm 100% here for it. I LOVE characters who are assholes, who KNOW they're assholes, who admit and acknowledge (but never apologize for!) it... And I love, even more, when that has consequences. Sure, everyone thinks Felix is COOL and UNTOUCHABLE, and he LIKES IT LIKE THAT.

... Except for when he hurts the people he cares about. Which he does. Regularly. And he can't stop. You can actually feel the moments when he realizes too late what he's doing and he drags his heels in like mayday-- mayday! Caused pain to someone I love! But there's no taking it back, and there's no changing it. Felix does some really, really not okay things in this book. (Which honestly I found a little refreshing after his wide-eyed woobie innocence in the first book. That wasn't Real Felix. THIS is Real Felix, and I'm pleased we got to spend more time with him.)

MILDMAY. LOVE OF MY LIFE. What a gem you are, Mildmay; a diamond in the rough. He's so PUT UPON in this book. He's so GOOD. The first half of this book was just Mildmay dragged into situations where he had to rescue people, MOSTLY people he doesn't like, or people who get uncomfortable (literal) boners while he's rescuing them, and nobody appreciates him. Is it weird that every time the foul-mouthed, scar-faced assassin is on the page, all I can squeal is "my BABY!!!" ?

Spoiler

Also? I'm here for how he's just. Well, my brother thinks I'm sexy. Guess I gotta just deal with that, too. SIGH.

So: Yes. I love these flawed disaster characters. I love their slang and dialect, and how the story switches POVs so rapidly, but it's not at all hard to keep up with. I love the matter-of-fact weird magical-ness of the world that we're just thrust into and expected to keep up with. And, because I am trash, whenever the text blesses me with lines such as THIS little nugget of angsty gold:

“It's like you got to have everybody's heart, and if they don't give it, you rip it out and watch it bleed.”

Or THIS melodramatic pot of ambrosia:

"“What you're asking me to do is monstrous."

"So? Ain't we both monsters?”

Well. All the better, ain't it?

Spoiler

Also, male/female sex scenes in books usually make me roll my eyes, but this one was... whew. Yes, queen. female character was taller, it was her idea, they both asked for consent from each other. explicit mention of clitoral stimulation. no gratuitous descriptions of ANYONEs body parts (if anything, they both were pretty average looking). male character got female character off repeatedly before asking if she wanted penetration, or if she’d prefer to stop. when female character touched male character somewhere he didn’t like, he asked her to stop. She did, apologized for the mistake, and promised not to do it again. brief– only about 2.5 pages long Basically: it was written how I like to write f/m sex scenes and this Pleases me.