J.S. Fields

Author & Scientist

Review: The Silences of Ararat by L. Timmel Duchamp

Genre: contemporary fantasy / contemporary dystopian

Pairings: f/f

Queer Representation: cis bisexual / cis pansexual (unclear narratively)

Warnings: none

Review

Paulina is a sculptor in a sort of THE HANDMAID’S TALE type dystopian future, where the ultra conservative faction of the USA has splintered off (Congress of Christian American States), elected a king, and follows ‘Christian’ teachings. Her husband, the king’s advisor, has gone missing and is presumed dead, leaving liberal Paulina only her sculpture by which to show her dissent.

Queen Hermione is everything a conservative king could want – beautiful, kind, doting, and able to hang on his every word without punching him in the face.

I have to admit, the branding of her image, combining “white” purity with womanly fecundity, revolted me. In person, though, I barely noticed it, distracted by the glimpses I began to see of an intensity I’d never before noticed. Those glimpses intrigued me. Maybe, I thought, there was something below the surface of wifely perfection composed of expensive grooming and constant deference to her husband and his most trusted advisors. Hermione was, after all, an actor. It was just possible she was consciously playing the role of the young third trophy wife and not merely following the script without noting she was doing so.

The king’s paranoia drives him to eventually accuse Hermione of adultery with his brother, and the ensuing trial and altercations result in the deaths of her two children and, as far as the public knows, of Hermione herself.

Paulina is the rescuing sort, turns out, and through using her innate magic to turn living things into sculpture, she fakes Hermione’s death, rescues the queen, and sequesters her in her own house. Romance blooms, the two women plot a delicious revenge on the king, and general emotional turmoil ensues.

The thought of her life as one of unending loneliness made me want to cry. “For godlike, love. That’s not what I meant when I talked about your needing to be strong.”

She took my hand and brought it to her cheek. “You are so good to me,” she said. “Better than I deserve.”

In that moment, Hermione’s entire attention was fixed on me in a way I hadn’t before experienced. The intimate intensity of her gaze kindled a dozen small flames licking at my skin that the sensation of my fingers on her face fanned into a blaze. To conceal what I was feeling, I pulled her close in a hug. “You don’t deserve to be lonely,” I said. “You don’t deserve to be abandoned.”

I began to pull away, only to be engulfed in confusion as her lips nudged mine and her fingers stroked my neck, feeding the conflagration of my most sensitive nerve endings. I had thought my sexuality desiccated and frozen, my heart petrified into stone. But my heart now beat so powerfully that I was suggested with heat, and the pulse in my vulva beat so strongly that I could no longer think.

Out of all the Conversation Pieces by Aqueduct Press that I have read, THE SILENCES OF ARARAT is definitely in the top five strongest installments (nothing will ever evict any of the Lucy Harper books from my heart, and the one about the girl journeying through the underworld still makes me smile). The narrative is strong and tight, with little fat and solid character development. The author spends enough time developing Hermione and the king that, when the inevitable betrayal occurs, it is both expected but still heart wrenching. The slow build up to the revenge, coupled with the romance arc, made the book a quick, delightful read.

The nonlinear narration did make the first half of the book confusing, though its a novella so the confusion was short lived. By the end of the book I didn’t mind it at all, although it makes me unlikely to reread.

For a fun dystopian with a satisfying revenge plot, you can join up with Paulina and Hermione to take down the king by buying the book here.

Review: For the Good of the Realm by Nancy Jane Moore

Genre: fantasy: classic retelling

Pairings: f/f  (not the lead though, as far as I can tell)

Queer Representation: cis lesbian

Warnings: DNF

Review

An homage to Dumas, FOR THE GOOD OF THE REALM is billed as a THE THREE MUSKETEERS retelling, but with a female lead. I have not read MUSKETEERS, so my review will be colored by that lack of background knowledge.

Anna d’Gart is a skilled swordswoman who serves in a queensguard. Sent on a mission by the queen, she falls in with a witch and a few others, and is eventually tasked with protecting the Realm from an ancient magic.

The premise of the book was entertaining, and I did like the attitude of Anna, our lead heroine. Unfortunately the book utterly failed to capture my attention and I Did Not Finish (DNF) about halfway through. There’s a great story in there, buried under info dump after info dump, and agonizing scenes where the reader is told instead of shown.

Scenes that could have had great tension are summarized or skipped altogether, or, in the worst cases, are rendered tensionless by removing any potential peril:

On the following day, they were again traveling in their region where they had been attacked by the incompetent outlaws. While they were not concerned about those particular miscreants, it had occurred to them that the governor’s abuses might have caused others to turn to robbery and worse to feed their families. The forest was thick enough here that they were riding close to the main road even though they were using the small trails made by the local people when they foraged…

Being attacked by incompetent outlaws does nothing for the tension, nor do recaps of events, or summaries of current events. The narrative structure of the book kept me at a constant arm’s length from the story, and while I kept picking the book back up and trying to resume, after a few pages I’d hit another giant wall of info dump or summary and I’d have to put it back down again. There was also a repeated tendency to tell, then show, where we’d get character thoughts then we’d see the actions the character had just thought about, or that had just been summarized.

The book could have been half the length and been a really strong novella. It needed a strong editor’s hand. It’s possible the narrative style is similar to that of Dumas, but if so, I’d argue that a modern readership needs a more modern, cleaner style of writing (or at the very least, fewer summaries and info dumps).

This narrative style may work for some and hence, if feminist retellings of classics are your jam, you can buy the book here.

Review: Nottingham. The True Story of Robyn Hood by Anna Burke

Genre: fantasy: fairy tale

Pairings: f/f, trans/f

Queer Representation: cis lesbian, cis bisexual, trans man

Warnings: none

Review

After her brother is killed for poaching in the king’s forest, Robyn takes up the role as family provider. She too is caught, and in her haste to escape must kill a man. Not wanting to bring down her whole family, she runs away to Sherwood Forest, where she meets Little John and slowly (sometimes painfully slowly) builds up a band of ‘merry men’ outlaws who, eventually, decided to take out the Sheriff of Nottingham, steal from the rich, give to the poor, etc. You know how this goes.

It’s Robin Hood, but literally every named character is queer. Most are lesbians, except for Little John, who is a trans man. The rep is great, and the ratio of men to women in this retelling is much better than most I’ve read. A+ for that, especially for how Little John was handled. I rarely see such well executed trans men in lesbian fiction.

“God’s nails,” she said, taking a step back. “You’re a woman, too.”

“No,” John said. “I’m not. Call me John. That’s who I am. Forget it, as others have before you, and I’ll leave you to fend for yourself.”

“But you…” she trailed off.

“Look like an ox?”

Robyn hadn’t been thinking of those words exactly, but the description fit. “As strong as one anyway,” she ventured.

“That’s what my late husband called me. Joan the Ox.”

“I…I’m sorry?”

“Don’t be. I got the last word.”

Robyn wondered exactly what had happened to Joan’s husband. John, she corrected herself. He’d said that was who he was, and it was no business of hers to decide otherwise.

Perfection.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much else of note in the book. NOTTINGHAM leans too heavily on Robin Hood lore, so much so that it cannot stand on its own. It takes the stock characters and gives them backstory, yes, and gender swaps, and fun adventures, but everything still feels two-dimensional. There are too many characters and side quests, which leaves the narrative long-winded and wandering. The romance between Robyn and Marian is all but lost in the story, and Robyn herself is a frustrating lead who does not drive the plot past the first few chapters. Instead, her merry (wo)men push and pull her along, or the narrative itself does, giving every chapter a slow as molasses feel.

The side characters, in many ways, are more three-dimensional than either Marian or Robyn, even though they have far fewer lines and scenes. John is amazing, and by far the breakout character of the book. Will(a) is perfect and saucy and brazen and a damn delight. Even Gwyneth is engaging, once the narrative gets going enough to let her character breathe.

Robin Hood buffs may find this book just what the sheriff ordered, but those looking for a tight, moving plot and a romance line that carries throughout will be disappointed. From reading the front and backmatter, NOTTINGHAM appears to be Burke’s first every book written (not published) and thus, the wandering and thickness make sense. Still, noting the skill the author now possesses (dear god, I will never recover from THORN), it would have been worth killing a few darlings to bring this book up to a similar quality.

Sneak into Sherwood Forest and see if Little John will let you join Robyn by buying the book here.

Review: Uncharted by Alli Temple

Genre: fantasy: pirates / lesbians on boats

Pairings: f/f

Queer Representation: cis lesbian, nonbinary

Warnings: none

Review

Once upon a time Georgina (George), a minor noble, had a BFF in the form of a lower class little girl who liked to get up to all kinds of adventures. Then George’s father goes and dies and George is sent off to school. No longer bringing in money as a companion, her BFF is dressed up as a boy and sent out to sea to make money for her family.

Fast forward. The kingdom is in distress from taxation and other noble issues. Women are deeply repressed. George tries to help by acting as a low-level spy which everyone seems to know about and no one much cares. There are fancy dresses involved. Anyway. Her brother is kind of an ass and engages her to the eeeeevil prince because Money, and George must of course, say yes because, again, Money.

But lo! Danger is afoot! For the dreaded pirate Cinder roams the oceans and seems to really like attacking this little kingdom. On an outing with the prince, Cinder attacks near the dock and George is taken prisoner on her pirate ship, away from all her fancy dresses and parties and horrible marriage prospects.

Cinder is, of course, the old BFF (if you didn’t get that from the prologue, you don’t read enough lesbian pirate adventures) but is really bitter. And George is really naive. And the prince is really angry. He wants George back so he can publicly murder her and get a lot of sympathy from the people. Cinder wants George to realize how privileged she is. George just wants off the damn boat. Hijinks happen, cannons are fired, dresses are made and destroyed, and Cinder is everyone’s favorite saucy pirate captain trope. HEA and yes, the prince gets what he deserves.

 

This book was… you know when you go to the fair and you just really want funnel cake? It won’t keep you full but damn it you want it and it’s so damn delicious. This book is funnel cake. Will it stick with you long? Probably not. But it’s a known commodity of tropes and archetypes and it is indeed so damn good. George is a bit irritating at first but she has a reasonable character arc, and Cinder is everything I’d want from a lesbian pirate love interest. The prince is perfectly mustache-twirling evil, the side characters are diverse, and there’s a reasonable amount of backstabbing and criminal overlords. +10 for rollicking adventures on the high seas!

It does have a few drawbacks, like the setting. The Kingdom of Redmere is deeply patriarchal and homophobic, which I don’t generally like in my books since I have to live that every day. It kind of takes away from the ‘escapism’ of fiction. But it’s well done and it does make the ending that much more enjoyable. For a taste:

“It’s not true!” the man shouted from the back of the wagon. “I’ve done nothing wrong!”

“That’s what they all say,” a man near my right shoulder muttered to no one in particular. “I heard they actually found him in bed with another man, No shame. No deniability. Disgusting.” He spat on the ground.

~~

It wasn’t always like this. At least, that was what the old women who sat on stoops and old men who hunched over cups of strong tea would tell you. They’d say that, in their youth, Redmere had still been poor, but people had been free to dress as they pleased and earn a living any way they could, even if women had usually raised the children while men had made most of the money.

Then the king had come. He was a younger son, and he’d poisoned his brother to take the throne. He said the country needed change, a return to something he called “societal order.” Under his rule, laws were passed to define classes and the appropriate roles of men and women, and for a while, it worked. People felt they had a purpose. But the king over-reached, declaring war on neighboring kingdoms, costing Redmere in both gold and lives before he finally retreated to his palace.

But it’s also filled with Deep Lesbian Melodrama, such as lines like:

She put a hand on the wall as she reached the door that led to her bedchamber. Her whole body sagged.

“Sleep well, princess.”

Didn’t she know I hadn’t slept well since the day she’d left me?

And there is dress seduction which is one of my favorite fantasy tropes. If you can seduce a woman while you dress her, you get the A+ gold unicorn badge

Lou helped me dress. The neck and shoulders of the dress were covered in heavy gold embroidery and bright beads and stones that trailed down flowering sleeves. I lifted it, and the front floated away from the back. A line of ribbons dangled from the separate halves on each side.

“Let me do it for you,” she said.

I would be the first to admit I wasn’t very wordy. I’d spent the better part of my life trying not to be noticed in a very small country with little access to what lay beyond its borders.

But even I could tell I was being seduced while being dressed at the same time.

(it’s a great scene so I won’t spoil it for you)

UNCHARTED offers trope-filled lesfic pirate adventure along with fancy dresses and solid nonbinary rep. Whether you’re more of a swashbuckling pirate or a femme princess, you’ll find much to love. See if you can get yourself kidnapped by The Dread Pirate Cinder by buying the book here.

Review: The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood

Genre: fantasy: high / sword and sorcery

Pairings: f/f

Queer Representation: cis lesbian, cis gay man

Warnings: none

Review

Csorwe was raised from infancy to be a teenaged sacrifice to a living god. She never fought it, never thought much about it, until the day of her death. Waiting in a cave for her god to devour her, an unexpected mage shows up and offers her a new future – one filled with magic, and spying, and killing. In this new future, Csorwe wouldn’t be the one who dies.

She accepts and is thrust into a wide world of politics, magic, and intrigue that, as a sheltered sacrifice, she finds overwhelming. The mage trains her and pays her a reasonable wage, but it is not long before Csorwe begins to wish for her own future, not one, once again, dictated by an adult. Her missions become more dangerous, old mentors return to haunt her, and love strikes in the most unlikely of places. By the end of the book Csorwe must choose love over the life she’s worked so hard to build, and learns that she will never truly be rid of the god she left behind.

Also, there’s a whole to do about a reliquary and eternal life and mentors battling mentors and you know how it goes.

“I have been seeking the Reliquary for the better part of my life, and training you for the better part of yours,” he said, turning to face Csorwe. “And now it is in the hands of an enemy. You must know how deeply I regret this.”

If you’re a lover of high fantasy, this is your book. It has a epic reach reminiscent of THE TIGER’S DAUGHTER, with more straightforward prose and less romance focus. Csorwe makes a complete evolution from naive teen to capable woman during its course. Her friendships are brutal, honest, and messy. Her romance is messy. Like, lesbian messy. She fights her mentors, her mentors fight her, she seeks a place in the world that is wholly her own, etc. UNSPOKEN is very much a coming of age book, taking our modern pitfalls and embedding them in fantastic settings.

Magic? Yes.

Battles? Yes.

Kissing? Yes.

Betrayal? Oh god. So much. Betrayal and hard choices. Like, should she chose to get the reliquary her master wants, or save the girl?

Bad news and bad luck swam around the Reliquary of Pentravesse like flies around a carcass. This could have been bad news, bad luck, or something else.

Csorwe leapt away from the falling rock and saw Shuthmili. She lay motionless, unconscious, her bare hand uncurling beside the toe of Csorwe’s boot.

And once again, everything was very clear. Csorwe picked Shuthmili up, hoisting her over her shoulder. She let Oranna and the Reliquary go, and she ran for her life.

I mean, come on. We’d all pick the girl, too.

Also there’s just a ton of queer rep in this book. Our other POV character is a gay man…a snarky gay man:

Tal had never been any good at trigonometry or rhetoric or any of the things you were supposed to be good at. He didn’t have magic, as his mother had hoped he might. But he was pretty good at creeping, lying, and stealing, and Sethennai seemed to value him for it.

~~

“Looking for you, obviously,” said Tal. “The only reason they didn’t put me on trial in Qarsazh instead of bringing me back is because I took their side at the Lignite Spire. They think Sethennai sent you on purpose to suborn their Adept. And, well, let’s be honest, I saw how you looked at her. You would’ve suborned her like that.”

~~

“Yes,” he said, the words willing up all at once. “No. It’s fine. It’s all I’m going to get, so. It doesn’t matter if it’s not enough, and I’m happy with it, so it’s none of your business, and anyway–” Tap realized with distant, wondering horror that he couldn’t stop himself saying it. “And anyway, I love him and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

 

And of course, there is classic lesbian banter (classic anyone banter, really)

“Are we just going to take it?” said Shuthmili, though she didn’t hesitate to climb into the barge.

“Didn’t they teach you how to steal a ship at wizard school?” said Csorwe.

~~

Csorwe realized, now–and in fact she must have been pretty dense not to see it before–that Shuthmili was unspeakably beautiful. That everything about her was perfect and that it would be worth doing almost anything to coax a genuine smile out of her. Csorwe lay still where she had fallen, lightly stunned.

“Is something wrong?” said Suthmili. She brushed her hair back out of her eyes in a way that made Csorwe want to take her face in both hands and kiss her.

“No,” said Csorwe, pleased with herself for how impressively normal her voice still sounded. “I was just thinking.”

“Oh, do tell me how that goes,” said Shuthmili. “I’ve heard it’s not as good as people make it out to be.”

 

THE UNSPOKEN NAME is a delight of epic fantasy–a bit long in the tusk in some places but otherwise perfectly rendered. The cover is gorgeous, the characters deeply three dimensional, the dialogue almost an art. There’s moral grayness and coming of age and romance and betrayal and angry, vengeful gods. There’s training montages (you have to supply your own music) and creepy, lurking scenes, and Deeply Unsettling Looks and unrequited love (the m/m line).

Buy this book. You need this book. It’ll look pretty on your bookshelf and you can defeat some old gods and maybe get a chance at eternal life.

Keep In Touch

Other J.S. Fields Sites

Good Reads
Patreon

Other Links