Reviews with content warning for Murder - Slippery Creatures

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Slippery Creatures by KJ Charles

27 reviews

astrangewind's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

Slippery Creatures was... fine. There was a plot that made sense and was easy to follow; the characters had clear motivations; the twists were foreshadowed well and felt intentional; the stakes were clear and in line with the situation. Arguably, these should just be expected of any novel worth reading.

Historical fiction and romance don't even clear my top ten genres. It's not that I'm not a fan - it's just that my preferences lie elsewhere - so it's possible that my criticisms come down to not being very familiar with the genres.

Mainly, I didn't find the book particularly compelling. The plot seems rather run-of-the-mill - "war veteran gets caught up in Government vs. Anarchist conspiracy

and falls in love with a spy

." Will and Kim are practically indistinguishable; I often had to read back to see who the hell was saying what. The characters who aren't indistinguishable are caricatures: Maisie is the acquiescent "mom friend"; Phoebe is the gossipy socialite; Libra is violent.

And the sex scenes? Not only crude, but boring. I dreaded reading them. I once read that if you want to practice writing sex scenes, you should try writing a mundane task, getting your mail, say, in an erotic way. That leaves you with a piece of writing that, despite its lack of sexual actions, evokes the feeling of sensuality in the reader. I think that KJ Charles would entirely fail at this exercise. I could tell that a sex scene was happening because there were words like "cock" and "blowjob," but I didn't feel the eroticism.

Slippery Creatures itself was quite slow. It's an incredibly dialogue-heavy book. At first, I found it quite charming; I think in part Charles has a knack for writing convincing dialogue in 1920's Britain (as far as I can tell, at least). But after pages and pages of dialogue that just repeats a written description, or dialogue that goes on way too long, or dialogue shifting into exposition and ignoring the mannerisms of the speaker, it gets dull. It's like the characters aren't even in the world around them - several times I noticed a character asking another a question that would have been answered if they had looked around them. I wish there had been more real description of the world - the sights, the smells, the sounds, the sensations - to ground me in it, to find it more believable. Incidentally, that probably would have made the sex scenes better. (The only sensation I remember from the sex scenes is using teeth... during a blowjob... shudder)

Although Slippery Creatures wasn't good, it also wasn't bad. It was a quick enough read, and there were moments where I really felt the connection between Will and Kim, though they were few and far between. I'm also always appreciative of queer characters whose queerness is natural, and not over-emphasized, and not the cause of all of their problems. And you know what? The world needs more just-OK queer books.

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callidoralblack's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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yourbookishbff's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

KJ Charles set out to write a 1920s Golden Age pulp fiction romantic mystery and she nailed it. I love how theatric and, at times, over-the-top KJC's mysteries feel and how well they play to earlier styles and plot devices. This is a tight first installment, with a single clear arc, a mysterious external conflict and the dawning of romantic interest between our two main characters. It's an emotional journey in very few pages, and I was giddy and confused and angry and then confused again and then eventually content (or as content as you can be when both characters are probably still in some kind of mortal peril). No-one does betrayal like KJ Charles. Looking forward to the next book!

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kaneebli's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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therainbowshelf's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

An LGBTQIA+ read involving a book store and a mysterious power struggle over secret information sounded like a perfect pick for me. Unfortunately, I didn't love this. The writing style didn't quite work for me, and I didn't much enjoy the character relationship. The pacing also felt a bit off, and it's obvious the author doesn't know what PTSD is like but wanted to use it as character flavor anyway.

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