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Prince Larkin magically slumbers in order to keep Ula Kana, a powerful fae who seeks to destroy humanity, imprisoned. Only, this was not a willing sacrifice. His will was subverted by a close friend, who vowed to free him once she was able to find a new way to contain Ula Kana.
She is unsuccessful and the prince ends up sleeping until he’s awakened (by accident) by Merrick, a descendant of the mage who forced him to slumber. Suddenly, Larkin is thrust into what reads like the modern world, where technology and magic in ways he never expected. Matters get worse. Now that he’s awake, the treaty with the fae is broken and Ula Kana rises again.
This book didn’t have the typical people-hate-me-because-I’m-queer narrative, which was a refreshing change of pace. I really enjoy this type of representation where the characters don’t have to jump through the hoop of explaining or defending their sexual preferences or their identities. Fu*k that noise. Queer people simply exist and do the things everyone else does and there’s no need to make a big fuss over it since it’s been a natural part of humanity since forever. So, if you’re queer and looking for a book where you don’t have to re-live every holiday at your homophobic grandma’s house, this book will hit the spot. It’s a light fantasy romance that’s perfectly good unless you start to think about it too much.
That being said, Lava Red Feather Blue was a mixed bag for me because I thought about it too much. On one hand, I thought there were a lot of interesting world building ideas going on, but a lot of these ideas never fully materialized. The book focused a lot on description, but it was usually the details that didn’t matter in terms of having a cohesive world. I ended the book unsure to what extent the author’s world mirrored our own, for example.
There were moments when the good guys said things were “preposterous” that were actually quite valid concerns. When Ula Kana makes her grand reappearance, the authorities question whether previous messages from Prince Larkin are actually from him or from another source and speculate the prince might be held captive by the attacking fae. Those seem like perfectly reasonable questions to consider and concerns to weigh. I mean, what are they meant to think when the prince goes missing and the fae attack soon after? I mean, Larkin’s sleep is connected to Kana’s imprisonment; that’s the entire premise of the book.
And there’s some weirdness in decisions. During the first attack, for example, some random girl is injured to the point of death but revived by an ultra-rare swift-heal potion that saves her life. These potions were said to be extremely rare, guarded by the authorities, made from ingredients that were nearly impossible to find, and required “specific and intricate” magic to age properly. To me, it seems like an awfully rare resource to squander when a nearly impossible enemy has arisen to wipe humanity from the face of the earth. Also, the decision just flew in the face of continuity. I mean, if there’s one thing we know about the powerful it’s that they reserve the best healthcare for random nobodies. Yes, that was sarcasm.
I suppose my big problem is that I simply got bored and started to nitpick on things that normally wouldn’t bother me. There were a lot of moments when the author overexplained in a way that made the narrative drag. Larkin had never seen a car before, so I get that the author needed him to react to the modern world. But that doesn’t mean I need one scene where Merrick explains what a car is and then ANOTHER when Larkin is reacting to being in the car. For this reader, the author needed to pick one or the other because cars were not new or interesting to me.
The characters were really hit and miss for me as well. Larkin seemed stuffy, pretentious, hypocritical, and selfish. Merrick was kind of the Barney Fife of the wizard world and probably the guy who ate deodorant and got a warning label put on it for everyone else. I didn’t hate them, but they were not especially likeable or flawed in interesting ways. When Ula Kana breaks free from her prison, both of their responses were pretty much, “Oh no! This is bad FOR ME.”
I didn't connect with the story, the characters, or the world. I am always thrilled, however, to see queer stories that don't make their queer characters sideshow attractions. We're people and stories about us should reflect that. So, massive kudos to the author for giving us queer adventure rather than queer tragedy.
In the end, it's all a matter of personal taste. While I didn't enjoy the book, I can see others picking it up for something light and comforting to read.
My pet reaction picture is Kaz saying, "Well, I didn't hate it."
