Raynie
Infamous Heart
I had high hopes for this one — superheroes and body diversity! — but I was underwhelmed.
Engagingly fun action scenes (the superhero kind) are the highlight here, but neither the superhero plot nor the romance mix together very well, and the manipulative MC and unbalanced tone cause the whole thing to sag.
———
What I liked:
The superhero scenes are fun, and feature simple yet well-described powers that allows things to rollick along without getting mired in details.
The body diversity; it's not made a huge deal of for the most part, but it's present and appreciated.
The world-building — there's quite some imagination put into describing what it's like to be a regular-degular non-powered human in a city full of supers.
While I don't think it ultimately managed to say anything terribly thoughtful or new about it in the end, I did enjoy the musings on the morality of having super powers and how you use them. Look, I'm a comics-fan from childhood, so I'm always down for the ol' “with great power...” chestnut. I wish it had explored that more.
We got a whopping two whole women characters with more than a passing mention this time, so that's a plus. Granted, one was annoying and one was the villain, but at least it made it seem a bit less of a sausage party (again, I'm wondering what I expect from gay romances...)
What I didn't like:
The main character starts off likable, but then becomes both emotionally manipulative and oversensitive, and it's presented in such a way that he's in the right. There's not really any discussion in the narrative that his behavior is shitty, and no development to be had. And given this behavior, it's hard to feel sorry for him when any conflict comes up later.
The midway/third act conflict that derails the relationship is not earned; the stakes are too high for such a short amount of time and development. They've known each other a week, and somehow the MC is so wounded by his love interest getting held back at work that the MC takes that as the ultimate rejection, completely falls apart, and then fully turns on and nearly betrays him? Is there no grass to touch in this superhero city?
The overbearing and misplaced thirst. Okay, I get that I'm just gonna have to accept that gay romance is gonna almost always be thirsty and going ham on explicit boning, but the sex talk and distracting thirstiness outside of the sex scenes was cloying and tonally jarring. I mean, sir, be serious; you're in the middle of a superhuman battle field and potentially seconds from death, and you're waxing lyrical about this guy's treasure trail? Y'all need Jesus.
The super-villain had a neat power, but no motive to speak of. Ma'am, whomst are you, and whymst are like this? I guess we'll never know. Maybe it was explained at some point, but I was too busy rolling my eyes at the MC having down-there-tingle feelings while facing impending doom.
The friend group were paper-thin caricatures and entirely unnecessary — we got the insufferable hornbag, we got the nurturing one, we got the angry one, I think there's another one who's just... there, I guess — and they served zero purpose other than to plant characters for other books in the series.
———
I thought I was onto a winner with this one, and it definitely has its pros. I loved the setting and the creativity, but the unexamined flaws of the MC, uneven tone, and lack of care given to the superhero plot line left me a a bit underwhelmed. Funnily enough, perhaps this would have been better as an actual comic?
Idk, I think I need to reevaluate what my expectations of m/m romance are because maybe the problem is me. But, I've read several that I've really enjoyed, so I feel like there's gotta be more out there.
I had high hopes for this one — superheroes and body diversity! — but I was underwhelmed.
Engagingly fun action scenes (the superhero kind) are the highlight here, but neither the superhero plot nor the romance mix together very well, and the manipulative MC and unbalanced tone cause the whole thing to sag.
———
What I liked:
The superhero scenes are fun, and feature simple yet well-described powers that allows things to rollick along without getting mired in details.
The body diversity; it's not made a huge deal of for the most part, but it's present and appreciated.
The world-building — there's quite some imagination put into describing what it's like to be a regular-degular non-powered human in a city full of supers.
While I don't think it ultimately managed to say anything terribly thoughtful or new about it in the end, I did enjoy the musings on the morality of having super powers and how you use them. Look, I'm a comics-fan from childhood, so I'm always down for the ol' “with great power...” chestnut. I wish it had explored that more.
We got a whopping two whole women characters with more than a passing mention this time, so that's a plus. Granted, one was annoying and one was the villain, but at least it made it seem a bit less of a sausage party (again, I'm wondering what I expect from gay romances...)
What I didn't like:
The main character starts off likable, but then becomes both emotionally manipulative and oversensitive, and it's presented in such a way that he's in the right. There's not really any discussion in the narrative that his behavior is shitty, and no development to be had. And given this behavior, it's hard to feel sorry for him when any conflict comes up later.
The midway/third act conflict that derails the relationship is not earned; the stakes are too high for such a short amount of time and development. They've known each other a week, and somehow the MC is so wounded by his love interest getting held back at work that the MC takes that as the ultimate rejection, completely falls apart, and then fully turns on and nearly betrays him? Is there no grass to touch in this superhero city?
The overbearing and misplaced thirst. Okay, I get that I'm just gonna have to accept that gay romance is gonna almost always be thirsty and going ham on explicit boning, but the sex talk and distracting thirstiness outside of the sex scenes was cloying and tonally jarring. I mean, sir, be serious; you're in the middle of a superhuman battle field and potentially seconds from death, and you're waxing lyrical about this guy's treasure trail? Y'all need Jesus.
The super-villain had a neat power, but no motive to speak of. Ma'am, whomst are you, and whymst are like this? I guess we'll never know. Maybe it was explained at some point, but I was too busy rolling my eyes at the MC having down-there-tingle feelings while facing impending doom.
The friend group were paper-thin caricatures and entirely unnecessary — we got the insufferable hornbag, we got the nurturing one, we got the angry one, I think there's another one who's just... there, I guess — and they served zero purpose other than to plant characters for other books in the series.
———
I thought I was onto a winner with this one, and it definitely has its pros. I loved the setting and the creativity, but the unexamined flaws of the MC, uneven tone, and lack of care given to the superhero plot line left me a a bit underwhelmed. Funnily enough, perhaps this would have been better as an actual comic?
Idk, I think I need to reevaluate what my expectations of m/m romance are because maybe the problem is me. But, I've read several that I've really enjoyed, so I feel like there's gotta be more out there.