Roar Cat Reads

Tag: lesbian

  • Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

    Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

    The Emperor needs necromancers.

    The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

    Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.

    Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

    Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

    Of course, some things are better left dead.

    Goodreads

    Reading Gideon the Ninth for the first time is a chaotic dump of dense entertainment; Rereading Gideon the Ninth is a masterpiece. The first time through, it took me about 100 pages to be fully invested in the story, though Gideon’s brash attitude and compelling internal voice (and external, to be clear) endeared me to her immediately. Still, it wasn’t until Gideon and Harrow left home for the challenges in Canaan House with other necromancers and cavaliers that I became fully invested. The second time through? I was all in, immediately!

    These girls! Gideon and Harrow are giant messes, and Harrow in particular is legitimately nasty. And yet I love them with my whole shattered heart! Muir’s characterization skills are flawless, and with each additional character she just keeps showing off by creating unique, fully realized people. Dulcinea! Palamedes! The aggrieved teens! Magnus and Abigail! Literally just everyone (except for you, Eighth House).

    I am not, and have never been, a goth lesbian, but WOW does this book make a compelling case. Admittedly. there is a lot of body horror in the story (skeletons galore, beasties and monsters made of bits of people), but Gideon’s upbeat personality makes it all bearable, and this is coming from a Very Squeamish Person. Gore aside, the worldbuilding of a magical system entirely centered on death is incredible. The fact that there are nine houses, each with a different way of manipulating necromantic powers, is truly mind blowing. The religion that is shared but practiced differently on each planet is morbid and wonderful, and I loved the reveal that the heavy-handed religiosity that we are introduced to via Harrow is considered archaic by the other houses.

    Okay, okay, let’s get into the plot. Necromancers and their cavaliers are sent to a mysterious house to solve the mystery of immortality – aka lyctorhood. Everyone immediately assumes it is a competition, which is ridiculously paranoid. Eventually the monsters force some to work together, but maybe the true monster is within the group?? It is a little slow to start, but as I said before, there is a LOT of information being laid out that becomes super important in both this book and the next (so much talk of eyeballs!). It is a wild romp, and I love everyone and everything about it.

    What Make This Book Queer?

    Gideon is a horny repressed jock lesbian, and she has got crushes on everyone – Dulcinea the sweet sick woman, Coronobeth the hottie, and Harrow the archnemesis! This book is fanfic tropes come to glorious life, and we do not deserve it.

    The relationship between Gideon and Harrow is particularly satisfying. They grew up together and they have MAJOR beef with each other. However, if you are a fan of enemies-to-lovers, then my friend. You will be delighted. I love a story with a “I hate you! OMG, you might be dead, NOOOO!” realization. They are traumatized by the slightest vulnerability in each other, and it is satisfying at a bone-deep level to watch them start to work together, respect each other, and trust each other.

    Rating: 5 out of 5.

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood

    The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood

    What if you knew how and when you will die?

    Csorwe does — she will climb the mountain, enter the Shrine of the Unspoken, and gain the most honored title: sacrifice.

    But on the day of her foretold death, a powerful mage offers her a new fate. Leave with him, and live. Turn away from her destiny and her god to become a thief, a spy, an assassin—the wizard’s loyal sword. Topple an empire, and help him reclaim his seat of power.

    But Csorwe will soon learn – gods remember, and if you live long enough, all debts come due.

    GoodReads

    This instantly became one of my favorite books, and I want to thrust it into the face of anyone who likes fantasy or queer ladies or, ideally, both!

    Where lesser fantasy novel would drag out this plot into a multiple books, The Unspoken Name has a pace that crashes readers through twists and time jumps while feeling cohesive and satisfying. Bonus: This IS the start of a series, but that is only because there is so much good story to cover, not because Larkwood held anything back this time around. We start with Csorwe (An orc protagonist! My heart!) as a child raised to be a sacrifice, then quickly leap several years ahead after she decides to abandon her fate. I found it so much more interesting to see how that time had changed rather than read every detail of what changed her.

    Also, the idea of a sacrifice refusing to play into the role that’s dealt to them….but there being consequences? I love that! I feel like most stories with this conceit revolve around the sacrifice realizing that the religion is corrupt or sacrifices are unnecessary, but this iteration felt so much more powerful and interesting to me.

    That detail speaks to the joy that is the worldbuilding of The Unspoken Name. Every person and place that we meet feels rich and well thought out. I wanted to know more and see more, so it delights me that Larkwood is working on a sequel, The Thousand Eyes, due to be released in June 2022.

    All of this is just a lead up to my favorite aspect of this book: the characters are SO GOOD. The wizard who “rescues” Csorwe is unapologetically ambitious and selfish, and Tal, his other apprentice, is an asshole. The three of them together is *chef’s kiss*. Their relationships are so complicated and messy, and there is literally nothing I love more.

    What Make This Book Queer?

    The Unspoken Name has multiple queer relationships! Huzzah! The central lesbian relationship warmed my little heart, and I especially liked that their attraction to each other was as much about what they each had lost as it was sparks and lusty times. Their relationship built very naturally and slowly, and I cannot wait to see more of them.

    On the other hand, we have a gay relationship that is revealed out of nowhere and is so sad, but in a deliciously dramatic way. I won’t say more than that.

    Rating: 5 out of 5.

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett

    Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett

    With Miranda in Milan, debut author Katharine Duckett reimagines the consequences of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, casting Miranda into a Milanese pit of vipers and building a queer love story that lifts off the page in whirlwinds of feeling.

    After the tempest, after the reunion, after her father drowned his books, Miranda was meant to enter a brave new world. Naples awaited her, and Ferdinand, and a throne. Instead she finds herself in Milan, in her father’s castle, surrounded by hostile servants who treat her like a ghost. Whispers cling to her like spiderwebs, whispers that carry her dead mother’s name. And though he promised to give away his power, Milan is once again contorting around Prospero’s dark arts.

    With only Dorothea, her sole companion and confidant to aid her, Miranda must cut through the mystery and find the truth about her father, her mother, and herself.

    Goodreads

    I don’t remember much about “The Tempest” from my high school English class beyond the vague idea that the quote about “All the world’s a stage” is from it (Spoilers, this memory is wrong! That quote is from “As You Like It.”) With so little knowledge about the original, I was worried that the sequel wouldn’t make sense to me. But it appeared on some list recommending books about ladies loving ladies, and I decided to give it a try!

    I’m so glad I did. For starters, it’s a short little book at only 204 pages. By the end I wanted more because I enjoyed the characters so much, but I admire Duckett for keeping the book to exactly the length the story needed and no more.

    If you, like me, fear your meager Shakespeare knowledge will mean this book is not for you, do not worry for even a second. Duckett explains enough of the plot of “The Tempest” to catch you up to speed, but it’s enough to know that a young woman is returning to normalcy after having been raised on a fantastical island by a powerful (and power mad) father.

    Miranda is an excellent protagonist who straddles the line between wanting to engage in this new world that intrigues and confounds her while also being realistically overwhelmed and scared. It doesn’t help that, in addition to preferring wild hair and comfortable clothing to the restrictions of a proper Italian gentlewoman, she gets weird looks and whispers anytime she shows her face.

    It’s a mystery tied to her dear departed mother, and guys, this mystery is so great! The whole book plays with the theme of women as monsters in really interesting ways, from sexuality to aging to cultural misconduct. I hope it’s not too much of a spoiler to say that I love a book where women are redeemed not by shucking the label of “monster” but by embracing it.

    As for the gay stuff, wow it’s so much fun! The only woman who will treat Miranda as a human is Dorothea, a servant who has secrets of her own. Their relationship development is quick but realistic and so sweet. I also really liked how they handled the power imbalance of a noblewoman and a servant hooking up; it isn’t ignored, but it’s also not insurmountable.

    If you like historical fantasy or seeing patriarchal classics given a feminist twist, you owe it to yourself to read Miranda in Milan!

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!