Bromantasy

A queer fantasy romance set in nondescript ye olde agrarian tavern-having psuedo-medieval times but written like the narrator lives on Tumblr. The characters are pleasant, the story (there's a quest) is entertaining, and the humor humors along. In the same way that I really do enjoy writers like Wodehouse and Pratchett but often tire of their bits and their style before I'm all the way through any given novel, I found the relentless meme-ified, tropey, AO3-tag-y, Tumbler in-jokey mode the book is written in to wear thin at times. It's all very *very* on purpose and firmly tongue-in-cheek (and any given joke and reference is well done), but I was occasionally muttering "enough already." That being said, it's tender, it's queer, it's show more cozy, it's entertaining, and YMMV on how happy you are to roll around in the fandom-adjacent extremely online-ery of the thing. show less

Two friends—who really should have become a couple ages ago—unexpectedly find themselves on a quest to slay a dragon.

This could have been a great parody of cozy romantasy novels; it's got all of the ridiculous tropes, from a lack of beds at inns to an overabundance of food descriptions and the author obviously expects us to find it funny. Unfortunately, the author also seems to think it's enough to just pile up the tropes and not bother to make anything humorous out of them, or even write more than a tissue thin story to go with them.

I don't hate Bromantasy, but I was low-key annoyed by it because it has a fun concept that was completely mishandled.

Received via NetGalley.

The tag line "Two heroes, one brain cell" is very funny, but sadly it's the funniest thing about this book! There are some jokes, mainly of the "thing in fantasy world is slightly skewed version of real world thing" variety—and I guess, around the idea that a bunch of skincare-obsessed gays are going around covering themselves in tallow. But overall the tone isn't that humorous and the heroes aren't anywhere near as dumb as they could be.

The romance plot is very much like a TJ Klune novel (specifically the Bear & Otter series) and is well done, in that you feel the two leads care deeply for each other, but a little frustrating in that it's both predictable and the one specific thing the heroes are actually idiots about—but not in a show more funny way! show less

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Two heroes. One brain cell.

BROMANTASY is a cozy, queer fantasy about the mortifying ordeal of being known by your totally platonic best friend and the epic quest that might force you to confront the truth.

Fellas, is it gay to kiss your bff while on a quest through the forest you’re unqualified for?

Juniper O'Reilly is good at only two things: demolishing a pint of mead and finding the perfect skincare routine. Everything else—taking care of the farm, bartering for goods, any sort of manual labor—falls to Juniper’s best friend, the absurdly capable, endlessly patient Mo Elmthorn.

But when Juniper accidentally volunteers them both for a quest to kill a fearsome monster, he knows he’s finally show more gotten in over his head. Juniper hates camping, he hates the dark, and there’s no way all these foraged mushrooms are going to sit well in his stomach. One thing he doesn’t hate? How good Mo’s thighs look in his questing pants—he doesn’t have time to think about that, though, with a monster to hunt and their futures on the line.

But monsters come in all shapes and sizes. When Juniper and Mo realize that the terrifying beast they’ve sworn to kill is just a scared little girl torn from their family, they’re off to find not only the true villain of the story, but maybe even a happy ending.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: The humor's a little obvious for my taste. I don't think the set-up is as cute as more sentimental readers will. The fantasy trappings wore thin very soon because they felt very inconsistent to me.

If you like the publisher's comps up top, or that orc/coffee shop thing, maybe you'll get a kick out of this one, too.

G.P. Putnam's Sons asks $12.99 for an ebook. show less

Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons and PRH Audio for an advance copy of this book.

DNF at 14%.

This is cozier than I prefer and the language doesn’t line up with the time era which feels petty but it is what it is. No one is calling anyone Daddy or saying unalivement in a time period where they’re on a quest to find dragons. It took me all the way out.

I did really like the narrator though. Mark Sanderlin felt like a fun choice for this book. Extremely easy to listen to and if I hadn’t had issues with the text I would have finished it for him alone.