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The Gilded Scarab, Anna Butler
Feb. 25th, 2015 09:06 pmCaptain Rafe Lancaster is a charming daredevil aeronaut in the Britannic Imperium's aerial Corps who gets invalided out of the forces after crashing his fighter and damaging his eyesight. Not particularly respected by his family, who are part of a House system that rules all of society below the Queen, he ends up in a boarding hostel on limited funds and with apparently limited options. Fortunately for him, events conspire to have him buy a coffeeshop near the Imperium Museum that will put him back into good fortune and hook him up with the heir to the most powerful House in the Imperium.
The charm of this book is Rafe himself – it's told in first person – and he is charming. What lets him, and the book, down, is with one main exception the lack of any real conflict in the story, and it's a shame, because the author has obviously thought a lot about her steampunk setting, its technologies and politics, and has in addition planted enough interesting threads throughout the novel that I really wanted them to come to something and not be left dangling.
( Vague spoilers. )
I would like to see another book set in this world, even with the same lead; I'd like, however, to see a bit more growth and challenge for Rafe, and I'm not sure that's doable in another m/m romance with the same love interest.
The charm of this book is Rafe himself – it's told in first person – and he is charming. What lets him, and the book, down, is with one main exception the lack of any real conflict in the story, and it's a shame, because the author has obviously thought a lot about her steampunk setting, its technologies and politics, and has in addition planted enough interesting threads throughout the novel that I really wanted them to come to something and not be left dangling.
( Vague spoilers. ) I would like to see another book set in this world, even with the same lead; I'd like, however, to see a bit more growth and challenge for Rafe, and I'm not sure that's doable in another m/m romance with the same love interest.
