There Will Be Phlogiston by Alexis Hall
Mar. 9th, 2016 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nenya_kanadkaI LOVED this book. It has so many things I want out of romance in it, while managing to avoid many of the tropes I often stumble over in the genre. And it was super hot and really sweet.
Three people--a straight woman, a bisexual man, and a gay man--fall in love in a steampunk city. The woman is a debutante trapped by her life, the bi man is a rich but base-born adventurer who made his money "in the sky" (I'm not sure what this is, but the author has more books in that setting), and the gay man is an titled noble fallen on hard times. It's a classic tale of finding yourself and telling society to fuck off, but I really liked how it was done.
Rosamond's conflicts are not specifically with the man she's supposed to marry (he does not even get a name, that's how tangential to the story he is) but with her own internalized sense of who she's supposed to be and how she's meant to act. And she's very, very good at the role society has placed her in. She has many skills that go into keeping up the mask and I like that the story shows that being a high-born socialite is a job that takes effort (and some of those skills are transferable). She's not the sort of rebellious heroine who knows all along that she wants a different life and chafes against her chains: part of her character development is even realizing that she's unhappy. And she's not always a very nice person, partly because she is so unhappy, and has learned to be unkind to others in order to survive. And yet Jones, the uncouth commoner, meets her and honestly likes her, and treats her better than all the proper, "decent" people around her. All without a single word of the "he claims her, she submits" thing that usually drives me nuts. Though Jones is certainly the strong, masculine "unsuitable" lover whose frank sexuality sparks her self-actualization.
Arkady is gay as hell and deeply conflicted about it. So his plotline is about him allowing himself to love Jones, to give in to his true feelings, and to stop hating himself. Jones adores both of them and is more of a gentleman--in his honest, socially unpolished way--than any lord or lady they know. My favourite thing about him is how well he draws boundaries: he says what he means and means what he says, and when he's asked to do something he's uncomfortable with, he says no. Even if it would get him what he wants in the short term. On one level he's a catalyst for both Rosamond and Arkady discovering themselves, but the book makes me believe in him as a real character with his own needs, too.
The ending was lovely and my only regret was that I didn't have another 200 pages of their adventures together. (I thought the story was longer than it was, because the back half of the ebook is taken up with previews for other books by the same author.) All in all, I really love Alexis Hall's view of the world. It's a very kind, sexy, and funny one, and I may have to chase down more of the gaslight/steampunk romances.
A+ would read again.
There Will Be Phlogiston can be found for free at the author's website.
Three people--a straight woman, a bisexual man, and a gay man--fall in love in a steampunk city. The woman is a debutante trapped by her life, the bi man is a rich but base-born adventurer who made his money "in the sky" (I'm not sure what this is, but the author has more books in that setting), and the gay man is an titled noble fallen on hard times. It's a classic tale of finding yourself and telling society to fuck off, but I really liked how it was done.
Rosamond's conflicts are not specifically with the man she's supposed to marry (he does not even get a name, that's how tangential to the story he is) but with her own internalized sense of who she's supposed to be and how she's meant to act. And she's very, very good at the role society has placed her in. She has many skills that go into keeping up the mask and I like that the story shows that being a high-born socialite is a job that takes effort (and some of those skills are transferable). She's not the sort of rebellious heroine who knows all along that she wants a different life and chafes against her chains: part of her character development is even realizing that she's unhappy. And she's not always a very nice person, partly because she is so unhappy, and has learned to be unkind to others in order to survive. And yet Jones, the uncouth commoner, meets her and honestly likes her, and treats her better than all the proper, "decent" people around her. All without a single word of the "he claims her, she submits" thing that usually drives me nuts. Though Jones is certainly the strong, masculine "unsuitable" lover whose frank sexuality sparks her self-actualization.
Arkady is gay as hell and deeply conflicted about it. So his plotline is about him allowing himself to love Jones, to give in to his true feelings, and to stop hating himself. Jones adores both of them and is more of a gentleman--in his honest, socially unpolished way--than any lord or lady they know. My favourite thing about him is how well he draws boundaries: he says what he means and means what he says, and when he's asked to do something he's uncomfortable with, he says no. Even if it would get him what he wants in the short term. On one level he's a catalyst for both Rosamond and Arkady discovering themselves, but the book makes me believe in him as a real character with his own needs, too.
The ending was lovely and my only regret was that I didn't have another 200 pages of their adventures together. (I thought the story was longer than it was, because the back half of the ebook is taken up with previews for other books by the same author.) All in all, I really love Alexis Hall's view of the world. It's a very kind, sexy, and funny one, and I may have to chase down more of the gaslight/steampunk romances.
A+ would read again.
There Will Be Phlogiston can be found for free at the author's website.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-10 09:25 am (UTC)FREE? //jets off
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Date: 2016-03-12 11:08 pm (UTC)Anyway, enjoy, hope you like it.
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Date: 2016-03-12 11:16 pm (UTC)I read it! I really liked Ros and Arkady the best, and how they actually connected -- Ros's apology to him was lovely, and they had a lot more in common with each other than Jones. Jones was kinda a little shadowy for me, but I still liked him, especially the hints of his background -- two mothers, hard life mining, etc. I LOVED the awful circus and the clockwork horse, I really wanted more of that. I think you're right, that Ros's big arc wasn't "rebellious heroine doesn't fit in" but "heroine doesn't realize she doesn't fit in, then decides not to fit in," sort of -- I liked that because she wasn't a premade Feisty Righteous type. I liked that she was calculating, and often bitchy and selfish herself. And poor Arkady, talk about self-hating gay dudes, and Jones is just like, noooo, I can't deal with this setup where it's all about your shame.
I also liked, altho it might be more personal, that the end wasn't a big physical 3some or her getting the Magical Peen for the First Time (what is it with me and capitals today) but witnessing their pleasure, and then getting some of her own, too. That was pretty unusual. (Also maybe a tiny nod to women reading slash, which would've been cute.)
I thought the story was longer than it was, because the back half of the ebook is taken up with previews for other books by the same author.
This was my main beef, I was like WAIT I WANT MORE, but it works as a kind of origin story -- now they're going to be together and have adventures, right?! So I guess a "but wait why is it OVER" reaction is a good review itself.