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A review by restless
Infamous by Lex Croucher
3.0
I am not on board with the way that Croucher's work is marketed.
I feel like she is a stand-out comedic writer, who is really good with queer themes, but that the "historical fiction" and "romance" tags really don't fit her work.
As a result, Lex's books are always showing up in my queue when I am not in the mood for them.
What it's about: the blurb suggests that this book is a sapphic historical rom-com between two best friends. While that may be true in the strictest sense of the word, it is a lie in every way that matters.
What it's actually about: this is a queer, bisexual coming-of-age-novel within an alt-historical Regency setting. It follows Eddie (ourmain protagonist) as she spends 90% of her time falling for the wrong guy, only to eventually see that the right person was right there, all along.
[RANT]
I had a similar complaint with the sapphics in Gwen & Art Are Not in Love - they felt totally underdone compared to the male MCs. But given the ratings on that book, perhaps it's just me.
[/RANT]
What I thought: despite my complaints, Croucher is an excellent writer and that really shone through here as well. In my mind, she's the Pratchett of queer alt-historical fiction - I just wish that her work was marketed better.
As mentioned, Nash's character dominates the book, and Eddie's character is refreshingly obtuse. Alexis Hall describes Nash as a "a genuinely charming piece of shit" and that's about 500% accurate. If you were looking to read about Bridgerton's Eloise and Benedict screwing things up, then this is definitely your book.
Unfortunately, the author's obsession with Nash is also the book's downfall, because Rose - our MC's Asian love interest - barely gets to feature at all. This meant that I put down the book:
1. knowing almost nothing about Rose
2. feeling like Eddie didn't deserve her
3. feeling like she's actually second-choice over Nash
4. being annoyed with Eddie for having zero character development, whatsoever
Yeah, it ended queer... I guess... but it's the kind of ending where they have Korra and hold hands 5 minutes before curtains-down and then pat themselves on the back because of the 'cannon sapphic rep'.
Hurray.
TL;DR: +1 for the bisexual rep, -100 for the sapphic romance.
I feel like she is a stand-out comedic writer, who is really good with queer themes, but that the "historical fiction" and "romance" tags really don't fit her work.
As a result, Lex's books are always showing up in my queue when I am not in the mood for them.
What it's about: the blurb suggests that this book is a sapphic historical rom-com between two best friends. While that may be true in the strictest sense of the word, it is a lie in every way that matters.
What it's actually about: this is a queer, bisexual coming-of-age-novel within an alt-historical Regency setting. It follows Eddie (our
[RANT]
Spoiler
In fact, I would venture that this novel is barely about Eddie and Rose at all - the author seems far more enamoured with Nash than either of the proverbial MCs??I had a similar complaint with the sapphics in Gwen & Art Are Not in Love - they felt totally underdone compared to the male MCs. But given the ratings on that book, perhaps it's just me.
Spoiler
Honestly, just thinking about this issue makes me want to channel this video, right here on GR, but I won't bore you all.[/RANT]
What I thought: despite my complaints, Croucher is an excellent writer and that really shone through here as well. In my mind, she's the Pratchett of queer alt-historical fiction - I just wish that her work was marketed better.
As mentioned, Nash's character dominates the book, and Eddie's character is refreshingly obtuse. Alexis Hall describes Nash as a "a genuinely charming piece of shit" and that's about 500% accurate. If you were looking to read about Bridgerton's Eloise and Benedict screwing things up, then this is definitely your book.
Unfortunately, the author's obsession with Nash is also the book's downfall, because Rose - our MC's Asian love interest - barely gets to feature at all. This meant that I put down the book:
1. knowing almost nothing about Rose
2. feeling like Eddie didn't deserve her
3. feeling like she's actually second-choice over Nash
4. being annoyed with Eddie for having zero character development, whatsoever
Yeah, it ended queer... I guess... but it's the kind of ending where they have Korra and
Spoiler
AsamiHurray.
TL;DR: +1 for the bisexual rep, -100 for the sapphic romance.