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A review by gloamglozergay
Of Knights and Books and Falling in Love by Rita A. Rubin, Rita A. Rubin
3.0
This was kind of an odd read. It was cute, and quick. Individual scenes by themselves were fun. I wasn’t bored. But the setup didn’t match the delivery, and I couldn’t get a handle on the tone.
Basically, “young man is finally set free after spending a lifetime as an abused thought-slave to a cruel overlord who forces him to commit war crimes” is kind of. A heavy starting point? I wouldn’t expect a typical 77-page light romance to represent the gnarliest of mental illnesses or anything, but…… YOU chose THIS premise. And the grabby idea here, to me, is the main character being in full control of himself for the first time in years, and the rollercoaster of experiencing a first love while navigating all that. That’s a legitimately interesting idea, and it seems bizarre to set it up and then explore virtually none of the stuff that makes it interesting. Surely it’s a pretty big shock to suddenly gain all your autonomy, and start a whole new life as an independent adult. To finally have feelings that you’ve never gotten to feel, and fall for the first person who treats you like a human, and then think they don’t love you back. That sounds, dare I say, kind of juicy. How would someone approach that situation? How would they move through their scary, exciting new world?
Without much difficulty, it turns out. Alexius and Jayce have one conversation about PTSD. Sometimes there is talk of Guilt, for the things Jayce did while mind-controlled. There’s a lot of timeskipping that makes the slow-burn feel abridged and the chemistry feel more told than shown. Jayce adjusts to everything pretty seamlessly, Alexius trusts him perfectly, and there is very little conflict. It surprised me to read the acknowledgments and find that this author typically writes high-stakes romance - this reads like it was written by someone who wanted the aesthetic of an angsty backstory, but none of the work. I’m interested to try their other books.
Other things: the writing gets the job done, although could have done with more copy editing. Also, I respect that the world is just a backdrop for the love story in this case, but the level of idgaf energy in the worldbuilding is off the charts to the point where it’s actively funny. Why was Joséphine even present.
Overall: I don’t think it would have been too hard to script doctor this and turn it into the light, cute, low-stakes read it was allegedly meant to be. The romantic scenes, in and of themselves, are good - they’re SO sincere, and soppy and sweet and adorable. Alternately, it could have been fleshed out and turned into something more interesting. But neither thing happened, and it just kind of feels like a big waffle.
Basically, “young man is finally set free after spending a lifetime as an abused thought-slave to a cruel overlord who forces him to commit war crimes” is kind of. A heavy starting point? I wouldn’t expect a typical 77-page light romance to represent the gnarliest of mental illnesses or anything, but…… YOU chose THIS premise. And the grabby idea here, to me, is the main character being in full control of himself for the first time in years, and the rollercoaster of experiencing a first love while navigating all that. That’s a legitimately interesting idea, and it seems bizarre to set it up and then explore virtually none of the stuff that makes it interesting. Surely it’s a pretty big shock to suddenly gain all your autonomy, and start a whole new life as an independent adult. To finally have feelings that you’ve never gotten to feel, and fall for the first person who treats you like a human, and then think they don’t love you back. That sounds, dare I say, kind of juicy. How would someone approach that situation? How would they move through their scary, exciting new world?
Without much difficulty, it turns out. Alexius and Jayce have one conversation about PTSD. Sometimes there is talk of Guilt, for the things Jayce did while mind-controlled. There’s a lot of timeskipping that makes the slow-burn feel abridged and the chemistry feel more told than shown. Jayce adjusts to everything pretty seamlessly, Alexius trusts him perfectly, and there is very little conflict. It surprised me to read the acknowledgments and find that this author typically writes high-stakes romance - this reads like it was written by someone who wanted the aesthetic of an angsty backstory, but none of the work. I’m interested to try their other books.
Other things: the writing gets the job done, although could have done with more copy editing. Also, I respect that the world is just a backdrop for the love story in this case, but the level of idgaf energy in the worldbuilding is off the charts to the point where it’s actively funny. Why was Joséphine even present.
Overall: I don’t think it would have been too hard to script doctor this and turn it into the light, cute, low-stakes read it was allegedly meant to be. The romantic scenes, in and of themselves, are good - they’re SO sincere, and soppy and sweet and adorable. Alternately, it could have been fleshed out and turned into something more interesting. But neither thing happened, and it just kind of feels like a big waffle.