A review by banannatoast
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I read this book about two months ago, so I'm a little removed from my immediate feelings about it. After marinating on it, the impression I'm left with is unfortunately not great. I wouldn't say I think it's bad, exactly, but it definitely isn't everything it could be. I think the bones of the story have great potential, the fantasy world is well built and immersive, and the side characters are charming. With another draft or two I think this could be great. Here's where it felt short for me:

• The writing style was not it for me. It leaned very close to pretentious, and it often crossed the line into trying too hard. I got used to it after pushing through, but I think a strong edit could've served it well. 
• There is almost certainly a way you could write a fantasy story with queer characters who must reconcile with and recover from an oppressive, sometimes violent, society. I'm sure it could be done while these characters find themselves falling in love despite all odds and while providing a commentary on the real world (NK Jemisin, for example, writes quite effectively about oppression in a fantasy setting). I just don't think that's what happened here. I felt these themes were approached quite clumsily and heavy handed. Of course, the author didn't need to address any of that at all (in fact I'd probably have preferred it if they hadn't) but it felt like they were TRYING to.
• This was a fantasy romance novel, and as often happens, the fantasy elements tended to take a back seat to the romance and character work. This would be fine, if I felt that the romance really delivered. It felt a bit too perfect, too contrived, too convenient. 
• And the biggest misstep, in my opinion, was how the violent sexual assault was handled. Not only is this sudden sexual violence graphic and on page (really, I had to skim and skip, it was very uncomfortable), but it is literally the inciting incident of the whole story. The plot would actually not have moved forward at all without this SA.  Velasin and Caethari are BOTH characterized almost exclusively in reaction to this SA. Velasin has almost no personality that isn't victimhood, and Caethari is designed to do exactly all the right things and be so perfectly gentle and understanding and unbelievable, just so he can serve as the perfect vessel for Velasin's recovery. Really the murder mystery aspect of the story is forgettable in the face of the sexual assault permeating the book. It almost feels like it ought to have been written as a horror or literary fiction book.

I know I said a lot of critical things, but really I didn't hate this book. I've already read the sequel (though I'm not sure it really improved on the above). I think there's a really interesting perspective coming from this author, I just feel like it could be harnessed somewhat better to build a truly unique and evocative story