2 out of 5 stars
E-book. 80 pages. Published February 8th 2020 by JMS Books LLC
Blurb:
Travis Grayweaver is a witch with two significant problems.
First, he has a tendency to run toward trouble instead of away from it without the insurance of a Guild to back him. As a freelancing witch taking odd jobs wherever he can, this has landed him in some trouble with the Grand Council of High Magic.
Second, he’s madly in love with his best friend Niko, and is much too afraid to confess his feelings to him.
Niko, born between the corporeal and ethereal worlds, is a familiar — cat one minute, human the next — with a rare, pure source of magick sought after by people all over the world. When contracted, familiars will do whatever they have to in order to protect their human. Although Travis has no contract with Niko, they share an unshakable bond built on friendship, loyalty, and trust.
But their bond is put to the ultimate test when something dark and sinister threatens their community and their lives. If they don’t stop it in time, Travis might lose Niko — and the chance to ever tell him how he really feels — forever.
Likes:
- The blurb hooked me.
- The basic story idea is interesting.
- That Travis decided not to join a guild.
- The side characters were all people of color.
- Short.
Dislikes:
- The blurb was deceiving.
- Niko is basically the physical manifestation of a fetish.
- No character development for either man.
- Niko and Travis are already lovers.
- No hook.
- Slow plot.
- Heavy exposition.
- Unnecessary flashback.
- How they dealt with the threat was cliché.
- Travis’s excuse for not joining a guild was lame.
- The lack of magic bond between Travis and Niko was left unresolved.
- Use of the word ‘magick’
- Confusion about where the story was taking place.
This book is an excellent example of an idea that failed to live up to its potential. The blurb was exciting and I was looking forward to a good read. I love stories where one friend has fallen in love with the other and is afraid that confessing will change everything between them. I knew that the story was short, only 80 pages, and expected the plot to take off like a rocket in order to fit everything in.
Instead, the story took off like a herd of turtles with bad knees. The beginning was slow, exposition heavy, and lacked a hook. I expected the trouble with the Grand Council of High Magic to be a central plot point, but no. The story starts with Travis bringing groceries home after getting done with the council meeting, since “he really hadn’t been worried” about the outcome.
I would definitely say the blurb was misleading about the magic council aspect, and only included it to make the story sound more exciting. Thankfully, the other non-romantic aspects mentioned in the blurb were present. Travis is a freelance witch, and spends a good chunk of the story doing or preparing to do odd jobs.
My favorite thing about this book is the fact that Travis declined to join a guild. He mentioned that, since he was freelance, he could charge less for services, which made his magic accessible to an underrepresented population. I love that, and wish it was the main reason he didn’t join a guild. Unfortunately, his real reason was lackluster in the extreme and was literally summed up in a single sentence. It actually made me a little angry, because not being associated with a guild put Travis in a precarious position. Both he and Niko, the man he loves, would be safer in a guild.
Which brings me to the danger Niko is in. As a familiar, Niko’s brand of magic is highly valued. As long as he’s bonded to a witch, who he’d then protect with his life, he’s safe. So of course Travis never bonded with him, because he’s too embarrassed to ask. It’s a plotline I expected to develop during the story, but no. It’s not brought up again and they never magically bond.
But they do make love. That’s right, in a romance where the main problem is that Travis is “much too afraid to confess his feelings” he and Niko are already lovers. Travis simply hasn’t said the words. I almost dropped the story when I got to that point. Like, are you kidding me? Here I was expecting one-sided feelings that finally burst forth and make Travis and Niko go from friends to lovers. Instead, what I got was a confession that didn’t fundamentally change the nature of their relationship.
There are a lot of things I didn’t find satisfying about this book, but Niko is definitely the worst. Not because of his personality or abilities, but for what he represents. I like anime, so I’m familiar with cat girls, or nekomimi. They’re a popular character type, both for their looks – cat ears and tail – and for possessing the hot/cold personality seen in cats. They’re treated as pets, which means they have owners. And that, from what I can tell, is the appeal. They’re not an equal. The romantic/sexual relationship is more like that of a sugar daddy who provides everything in exchange for the cat girl’s eternal love and affection.
Niko felt exactly like a nekomimi. Physically, he was one, complete with ears, tail, and whiskers, but with a human-enough body to have sex. At first, Travis’s relationship with Niko was giving me bestiality vibes, but then I realized that nekomimi was the more apt comparison. And it’s not like it was possible to forget that Niko was part cat. Niko’s actions and behaviors were always cat like, from the way he slept to his dislike of water. Travis constantly called Niko ‘kitten’, especially during sex.
“Want me to make you feel good again, Niko? Like my good little kitty?”
Niko meowed and nodded. “Please. Say it. Tell me I’m your good kitty.”
I try not to kink shame, and nekomimi are a popular fantasy. That’s fine. If this was an erotica story, Niko wouldn’t have bothered me. But this novella was presented as a romance. And Niko was nothing more than the physical embodiment of a fetish. His personality was ‘cat’ and he had no character development.
Honestly, there are a lot of other little things that bothered me about this story. I was confused about whether the story was taking place in a fantasy world or the real one. The flashback to how Niko and Travis met was unnecessary and slowed the story down. All the named side characters were people of color but the two main characters were white. The way they dealt with the threat at the end was cliché.
I do feel bad for picking this story apart, especially since it’s been published by a small queer press. But sometimes a book just doesn’t work for me and I have to give a bad review. I would be willing to give the author another shot in the future. The potential is there. It just didn’t come together well.
Love is Love Reviews 