Foz Meadows

I loved the first book and the sequel delivered. There’s been an explosion of queer romance in the scifi/fantasy space and I am HERE FOR IT.

The romance: We have two broken, flawed humans trying to learn to communicate and love, and accept that they are each worthy of love themselves. Beautifully done. The angst was maybe a touch too much, and the miscommunication was a plot driver which I usually hate; but the author didn’t let the miscommunications last more than a chapter or so before show more the characters talked and resolved it, so I’m willing to let it pass. This story is about a journey of healing from deep trauma. There are some hard topics here that require a trigger warning, but I believe it’s all handled appropriately.

The world: Deep and well written. There’s a large cast of characters that contributes to making the world feel deep and rich, with things going on outside our narrow view. There are politics and plots that all come across as believable and provide stakes to the story beyond just the romance.

Least favorite part: The character of Aserian. I like the idea of having that third POV, and I love a good redemption story. It all adds more depth to the world. But he was just entirely unlikeable.

This is one of my favorite series of the last few years and I can’t wait for the next installment. If you loved Winter’s Orbit, A Marvellous Light or A Taste of Iron and Gold, then you need to check this out. show less

I really enjoyed A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows. A unabashedly queer novel deliciously somehow saturated with both tenderness and sweetness even though there are a lot of rather grim situations (murders/rape/abuse). After finishing I was left with the same kind of feelings I have after Becky Chambers or Katherine Addison novels. Absolutely delightful.

CA: rape, suicidal ideation, animal death (off-page; aftermath on-page); fantasy violence

This fantasy romance took me a bit to settle into. The pace is leisurely, and while there is a lot of plot going on, the focus is often on the interior lives of the two main characters. None of this is a criticism, in fact I think these things elevated the novel. And once I did settle in, I was delighted to be in its company for over five hundred pages. The plot involves an arranged marriage between two show more noblemen from different territories and the resulting and ongoing court intrigue and politics (plus muuuurder). The world Meadows has built is an affirmational wonder, with one of the territories operating under strict gender roles, heteronormativity, and tight expectations around sex, and the other operating as an entirely queernorm society. With one member of our couple coming from each society, there is a delightful amount of story-appropriate consideration of how two such societies operate, and that was a joy. I loved watching the two characters fall for each other (slowly--it's my favorite kind of slow burn, the sort where the falling and realizing is slow but the characters are rarely apart), and the book as a whole has the kind of tenderness about it that never fails to delight me and which I am always seeking more of in my fiction. Recommended, especially if you wish the current romantasy trend in publishing skewed queerer and/or contained more care and craft at the sentence-level. show less

I thought about trying to reread this again immediately because I loved it so much; also thought it might help me figure out the clues in the mystery only revealed at the end. I definitely will read it again hopefully soon, but in the meantime I adored Caethari and Velasin and their slow building of a relationship from an arranged marriage to love. I don’t read much fantasy (although this book might help change that), but I enjoyed the world building here and learning more just as Velasin show more had to in his new home city. Also I think this might be one of the only times I’ve seen rotating between first person point of view for one character and third person for the other; it was odd at first, but I loved how it worked (and want to try it myself).

I was quite paranoid as I knew there was a rape somewhere at the beginning, and I hate that I was glad it was almost immediately because the dreading was rough; I usually won’t read anything with on page rape but had heard so many good things about this. There was a lot of additional violence throughout as well (and oof the climactic action was hard), but in the end this really was a beautiful journey to these two amazing men finding love. show less