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A review by ___tamara___
Eyes of an Innocent by Valentina Heart
2.5
Nice idea, but even though the setting is in the future, the book isn't very futuristic and has a minimal amount of science fiction.
One of the main characters, Reji is a 20-something year old Innocent and wants to become an Adult asap, mostly I figured because of his abusive girlfriend who didn't miss a chance to subtly point out that being innocent is somehow wrong. But his problem is that he can't have sex with her because every time they start something he, if I may put it that way, loses his enthusiasm. So he figures maybe he's gay, and goes to a gay bar where he almost gets raped and then saved by a Teacher (Shen) with whom he falls in love with soon after. But no matter how ready he was to loose his innocence, he wasn't ready to be labeled as 'gay'. And that's the main issue of the book - he must come to terms with his sexuality and stop being bothered with everyone knowing he has sex with guys.
Now, the book begins with a story of how humans have 'evolved' and I got the impression from the prologue it was the kind of evolving that everyone (normal) wishes for - humans have seen the pointlessness of wars, and turned to love that is accepted in every way, shape or form. Nobody in Reji's surroundings has an issue with gays, or at least it was not pointed out in the book. So why does Reji has an issue with it? The better part of the book is about the conflict between his heart and his brain. It's almost like he's a time-traveler from our time who came to this new, evolved Earth. And that's the thing that bothered me the most.
One of the main characters, Reji is a 20-something year old Innocent and wants to become an Adult asap, mostly I figured because of his abusive girlfriend who didn't miss a chance to subtly point out that being innocent is somehow wrong. But his problem is that he can't have sex with her because every time they start something he, if I may put it that way, loses his enthusiasm. So he figures maybe he's gay, and goes to a gay bar where he almost gets raped and then saved by a Teacher (Shen) with whom he falls in love with soon after. But no matter how ready he was to loose his innocence, he wasn't ready to be labeled as 'gay'. And that's the main issue of the book - he must come to terms with his sexuality and stop being bothered with everyone knowing he has sex with guys.
Now, the book begins with a story of how humans have 'evolved' and I got the impression from the prologue it was the kind of evolving that everyone (normal) wishes for - humans have seen the pointlessness of wars, and turned to love that is accepted in every way, shape or form. Nobody in Reji's surroundings has an issue with gays, or at least it was not pointed out in the book. So why does Reji has an issue with it? The better part of the book is about the conflict between his heart and his brain. It's almost like he's a time-traveler from our time who came to this new, evolved Earth. And that's the thing that bothered me the most.