Don AllmonRecensioni

What an awful read. I guess the author was going for steampunk but didn't get there.

It feels like this story was written with my specific demographic in mind. After decades of reading science fiction and fantasy, I know all those tropes, and I've spent two years reading mostly m/m romances since my own novel's MC went and fell for one of his teammates - I needed to learn a new set of tropes. This book: orcs and elves have entered the world, science and magic conflict, the main orc's a techie, his former lover's an elf, and when they try to rescue part of a friend (yes you read that right), nothing goes right. Best of all, there is way more here than the plot, or the conflict between the two guys. And best of all that? The end is left swinging over a possible HEA, and the epilogue is intriguing. Without making me feel at all cheated. Beautiful!

So, yeah. If you fit the demographic or want something unusual, this is good.

*I read it via NetGalley, so if you're on there, request the ebook. It's one of the few free books I'd happily read again before I read the second book.

So, I read #1, and now I've read this one, and while some of the back and forth in time was a little confusing, it wasn't like I missed any major plot points that I could tell. I skipped #2 to read #3 because it was available via NetGalley, and free fits my current budget. I have to say, finally seeing these two sort out their Happily Ever After, despite piles of trouble only Austen and JT could generate, was awesome. If you enjoy weird, funny, touching and wild fantasy, this is your series. (Those words also apply to the nookie, this one including a dose of tentacle, just fyi.)

I read these out of order. But! Despite my less-than-stellar memory, leaving #2 until last just means events in #3 have realigned a little - and this illustrates Don Allmon's talent. Each of these novels can be read alone, if you don't mind leaving elements hanging, or if you don't mind not quite grasping some of the solutions in #3 until you've filled in some backstory. It's a wild, bizarre, gritty and sexy race to the end. This trilogy is VERY highly recommended.

I look forward to reading these in order, some day when I've forgotten enough about them. It'll be awhile.

***after finishing***
I knew very early on that I would give this 2 stars at most. It reads like the author had some very cool scenes and put them in order. The story isn't unreadable but for me to work we should've gotten more about the relationships between the characters. I never really felt the tension between them. Any of them. Not even the the character that was the reason why people got together.

This would be a cool story to watch as a movie, but as something to read it fell flat to me. Which is a shame because I actually like the world building. There were some cool elements to it. But again, all of the cool elements were put together and then it fell flat.

***Reason why I probably added it to my TBR***

ORCS!

Just a messy review, don't have time.

I think it's the perfect length, even though there are a ton of questions left unanswered. Such as, what happened to the humans? how this world came about, with orcs and elves and wizards? It is most definitely a post-apocalyptic, futuristic fantasy world. What happened to Austin and JT in the past, how they got captured and why, and how did they get away? So yeah a lot of questions, I'm hoping to get answers.

Lots of action with guns, and all kinds of high-tech stuff. Just what I wanted. At times I didn't know what the hell they were talking about though, I'm not a tech-savvy.

There is romance in this book in my opinion. A best friends to lovers and second chance romance. But it's kinda a love triangle, not really but there is 3 person involved. And no HEA, yet at least, so I gues I'm reading the whole series. :)

And awww the little foxy, hehe. :)

And I know you're dying to ask, yes, there is orc/elf sex. HOT!

Many things in this book require additional information, as they are not explained or explored enough. That was the only downfall. However, I am hoping the next installment (or two) will clear up the confusion.

4.5 stars 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 💫

JT and Austin are finally facing one of the worst demons of their lives - the wizard Firelight and the heist that went so wrong. The man who killed Austin’s sister, the man who imprisoned them, the man who experimented on them. Now it’s time for a rescue rescue - and a time to do it right


I’ve said it before, one of the difficult parts of writing a review of a series is when you love the same thing about the books - because how do you write a review without being repetitive? Take the Blue Unicorn Series - how do I write this review without repeating what I’ve already written twice before?

Because everything I said there still applies. I love this magical cyperpunk world (I am so desperate to start playing Shadowrun every time I play this game). I love the mix of the magical and the technological. I love how the internet is almost a parallel dimension with such real life applications. I love how hacking and spellcasting feel so similar. I love how we can have the combination of druids and wizards with weird sea god patrons. I love the combination of the giant, terrifying dragon and the virtual godzilla which has almost as much destructive potential even though it only exists in cyberspace. This magical cyberpunk setting is excellent

And the dystopian elements are really well maintained as well - there’s no grand “the world is over!” drama nor are they travelling a lot to show the broken world like we saw in Apocalypse Ally. But still there are references, among all the excellent high tech world building, that makes it clear the nations we’re used to no longer exist, that for all the shiny technology there’s also a lot of desperation and poverty and evidence of things being broken - especially looking at Austin and JT’s past

I also really like the plot. This is a heist book - preparing the team, checking all their skills, balancing everyone, having everyone use their various abilities to get it all together and make it work. And then it all going wrong. Of course it all has to go wrong. But before that I think it’s really cunning and imaginative and was great fun to watch - I think I’d like to see these characters perform successful heists, no violence, just to see them succeed and all the imagination and intelligence. The heist is great.

We also have all the characters here, all prominent in various ways. I think we have a three way protagonist - Austin, JT and Dante with Comet and Buzz being prominent but taking a back seat. I think that was a good plan because this helps us delve a lot into the various character’s issues - we have Dante dealing with being both an Orc (and seen as less and facing a lot of stereotyping) and a Black woman who has also been injured and disabled. She has moments of self doubt, a lot of thinking that she’s unworthy or incapable. She feels out of place but still fights back against that and reasserts her own worth and strength while also showing off their own capability

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Noah “Comet” Wu is back from a long deployment in a war zone and is looking forwards to some pleasant down-time.

Except his best friend JT has gone missing and he has to track him down. And the best lead he has is Buzz, hacker, possible - likely - criminal.

But he’s not the only one on the trail - violent, dangerous assassins are also following the lead. And there’s nothing like a constant fight for survival to increase sexual tension

This dystopian, high sci-fi, magical world setting all comes together in a Shadowrun-esque series that I have never seen to this degree. The combination of super futuristic technology - facing down a cyborg who is nearly immune to bullets and can control military-level robots and a fleet of cars remotely through the power of wireless networks. But at the same time you have a wizard walking around throwing fireballs around who needs to be fought with metaphors. And a complete wasteland still recovering from the fallout of an apocalyptic war is being healed by druids… but always with that edge. Like those druids? Are not restoring the forests by hugging rocks and playing with herbs. And we have references to things like the “second zombie apocalypse” which I’d love to know about.

I really like how cyberspace is presented here. In this ultra-technological setting cyberspace is an essential realm, a place where you do battle, a place of incredible power and potential that spills over into the real world. I like both the abstract description of things while, at the same time, resisting the urge to turn it into a tron-like alternate dimension which the characters run around in. But at the same time I love how real it is, with technology advanced to such a degree that there are people who never leave it - and there are people who experience everything through simulations on the internet which are not just visual but touch every sense. It’s both alien but grounded and every bit a real battleground. All made more real and poignant with Buzz‘s history and facing the very real choice of humans who have completely checked out of modern society.

Through the technology and the magic - and wizards and orcs and so much else - we also have a very nicely touched on world setting of chaos. The part I like about this is how elegantly it’s presented. We have mentions of different countries (including several which are clearly part of what was once the former United States), but no-one has to sit down and talk us through the disasters that struck or explain how the world works now because we see it. We see it because Comet is a mercenary who has fought in many many wars, telling us the state of the world. We see it because they pass through vast wildernesses where monsters roam which have clearly been abandoned. We see it because of the very limited presence of the police or authorities, especially when major powers clash. We see it because we have these huge quasi-legal and outright criminal organisations with vast powers, influence and the ability to act with impunity. We even see it in little things, like the high end car having a tracker in it so if it’s stolen the company that makes them can respond with over the top violence.

It’s an anarchic world and a very gritty dangerous world because of it, making for a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of chaos all of which is both enhanced by and builds upon the super tech and the magic and the different species and telepathic spiders and sentient AIs and hackers who may turn your guns against you. It’s manic, it’s amazing, it’s exciting, it’s rich and it’s awesome

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JT has managed to build a good business and a good life - not and for an orc and former criminal

But his past comes back to haunt him - namely in the hands of the very very sexy elf Austin. His ex and definitely bad news. JT should tell him to leave. JT shouldn’t have anything to do with him. JT should definitely not believe anything he says

But the threat against one of his dearly loved old compatriots is not something to ignore… of course the question then is, just how much has Austin lied this time?

Well that was incredibly different - and extremely fun and exciting to read. I need more of this, so much more of this.

Our main characters are Austin and JT, an orc and an elf, two men and two lovers. They’re joined by Buzz, a human, a man and another leg to their love triangle

And normally I’d cringe because there’s no quicker me to make me run for the hills than a love triangle - but this really works. It isn’t a matter of jealousy (though jealousy is certainly there), so much as different men bringing different things to the relationship. I love that their relationships are complicated and layered, with JT seeing different qualities in Buzz and Austin and valuing both for different reasons. There’s no real spectre of a happily ever after and the conflicts are very reasonable based on the very complicated histories between these characters which casts wide shadows on them.

Their relationships are very real, not overtly romanticised, often very gritty, with very real emotional conflict between the characters. I can really feel the history of these characters, what has past between them and how that makes their current relationships really fraught and difficult. At the same time, despite being an important element of the story, the romance does not completely overwhelm the plot by having confusing romance elements in life-or-death situations, etc.

It’s also blessedly free of the usual tropes and stereotypes we see about gay men and gay relationships - so many tropes that are almost mandatory in any story with men in relationships with each other. One of the more intriguing elements is that JT, the huge huge huge massive, super-huge orc is a bottom while Austin, the elf, is a top. Yes, it’s a simple thing but in a genre where fake gender roles are often imposed on characters in a same-sex relationship, it stands out. Equally the fact that Austin is definitely a more physically dangerous character is noteworthy. These characters are really awesomely deep, nuanced, relationships with each other with no tropy subtexts and no rigid romance paths. And they have some really good hot sex which, yes, I actually find hot (I have very very very very rarely actually found many written sex scenes remotely appealing) while at the same time being appropriate to the plot.

Frankly, if this were the only good thing about this book, I’d honestly still love it because I loved this so very very much. But there’s also so much more

This world is awesome - we have a really excellent Shadowrun/cyberpunk world going on here which I love. We have a world with traditionally fantasy world characters - wizards, orcs, elves in a technological setting - but an almost futuristic technology with cyberspace and networks in everything from minor networks for cars and huge, sweeping networks that can cover entire cities with grafitti’d, crowd sourced hacking. This creates almost a parallel realm that has to be acknowledged and taken into account in most encounters. To use an RPG parallel, your party needs a hacker as much as it needs a wizard or a warrior.

This creates a lot of levels of complexity, especially since orcs and elves are apparent recent additions to society, there’s lots of hints at dystopia and a dystopian event and there’s also an interesting take on the idea of magic and technology not mixing. This is a very old trope and one of those genre rules that has been so long that you do kind of wonder why it has become such a mandatory thing (like werewolves and vampires hating each other). What is intriguing in this case is we have a sci-fi, hyper technological society with those parallel cybernet realms means that a character who has and uses magic is effectively cut off from this. We see JT bonding with his car with his mind, turning his drones into extension of his own consciousness which was really excellently done (and an awesome part of the world) and through the power of this awesome description we realise that Austin, a character with magic, is expressly excluded from this world. This isn’t like, say, Harry Dresden being annoyed because he can’t use a computer or his car is unreliable; there are huge parts of this world that a magic user is expressly denying themselves for the sake of magic. At the same time, when we see the choice Roane made to get technological implants, we also see the implications, even the horror, of this elf expressly turning her back on her innate magic to gain access to this technological world.

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