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carolinewithane's Reviews (647)
This is one of the best fantasy books I’ve ever read. It’s long, and it’s dense, and it takes its sweet time to make any short of sense. The writing takes some getting used to. I think I still don’t understand everything (but that’s what the sequels are for, I guess).
Yet, I had the greatest time trying to put the puzzle behind the words together and the characters and world building are fascinating. Once I got used to the writing, I fell in love with it (yes, even the second person narrative). I’m really looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.
Yet, I had the greatest time trying to put the puzzle behind the words together and the characters and world building are fascinating. Once I got used to the writing, I fell in love with it (yes, even the second person narrative). I’m really looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.
There's something I really admire about Elliot Wake.
He chooses topics that would, in the hands of a less capable writer, become a complete mess or a complete cliché, chews them and spits them out like entire original ideas that work beautifully.
I mean, who would have thought a story about a cam girl could be so deep and so important? I don't doubt that many people will look at the title and thing 'pure porn'. But that's the problem with perceptions, isn't it? We only see what we want to see.
I say this because, had I not read Unteachable and Black Iris before, I honestly don't think I would have read this book. Even though the blurt might make someone curious, there's this problem of it being explicitly about sex workers, which normally translate as PWP for many NA writers.
I'm so glad I gave this a chance.
Cam Girl is a very important book. It's hard to explain why without getting into spoiler-y territory (which seems to be sort of a theme for Wake's books), but it might make you ask questions you wouldn't even think of without it. Or maybe you will feel like me, guessing the whats but wanting to find out the whys.
It's not really a book about secrets, not the way Black is. But it is a book about the secrets we keep from ourselves and from those we love, because we think they won't accept them. (And, sometimes, they won't, because that's the way life goes.)
And, contrary to how I felt with Unteachable, I didn't feel like this one had too many sex scenes. It might be because, while we did have some scenes of Vada working, it never seemed excessive. Funny, the book that's supposed to be more about sex isn't the one that really makes me think about it. That's Elliot Wake for you, folks.
He chooses topics that would, in the hands of a less capable writer, become a complete mess or a complete cliché, chews them and spits them out like entire original ideas that work beautifully.
I mean, who would have thought a story about a cam girl could be so deep and so important? I don't doubt that many people will look at the title and thing 'pure porn'. But that's the problem with perceptions, isn't it? We only see what we want to see.
I say this because, had I not read Unteachable and Black Iris before, I honestly don't think I would have read this book. Even though the blurt might make someone curious, there's this problem of it being explicitly about sex workers, which normally translate as PWP for many NA writers.
I'm so glad I gave this a chance.
Cam Girl is a very important book. It's hard to explain why without getting into spoiler-y territory (which seems to be sort of a theme for Wake's books), but it might make you ask questions you wouldn't even think of without it. Or maybe you will feel like me, guessing the whats but wanting to find out the whys.
It's not really a book about secrets, not the way Black is. But it is a book about the secrets we keep from ourselves and from those we love, because we think they won't accept them. (And, sometimes, they won't, because that's the way life goes.)
And, contrary to how I felt with Unteachable, I didn't feel like this one had too many sex scenes. It might be because, while we did have some scenes of Vada working, it never seemed excessive. Funny, the book that's supposed to be more about sex isn't the one that really makes me think about it. That's Elliot Wake for you, folks.
Also, can I just say that I absolutely love the way Wake uses his main characters' artistic interests in the narration of her books? I meant to mention this in my reviews of the other books, but forgot. Maise and filmography in Unteachable, Laney and literature in Black Iris, and now Vada and visual arts in Cam Girl. It's a lovely literary device and I just really, really love it.
I took her face in my hand and kissed her. Like Klimt's painting, tilting her head back, pouting all of myself into it, the world dulling, all the colors gathering inside of us instead.
i don’t usually read romance. it’s just not my thing.
but sometimes a book comes along and hits so many of my very specific interests—enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, not too explicit, international politics, supportive parents, deconstruction of the royal family —that i just have to check it out.
and then i’ll read the whole book in a single day—which, if you know me, is something i hardly ever have the time/mental energy to anymore—and fall deeply in love with it.
so, you know. props to you, "red, white & royal blue". you made this unromantic girl believe in love for a few hours. and what a lovely time i had.
but sometimes a book comes along and hits so many of my very specific interests—enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, not too explicit, international politics, supportive parents, deconstruction of the royal family —that i just have to check it out.
and then i’ll read the whole book in a single day—which, if you know me, is something i hardly ever have the time/mental energy to anymore—and fall deeply in love with it.
so, you know. props to you, "red, white & royal blue". you made this unromantic girl believe in love for a few hours. and what a lovely time i had.
"o, fathers of my bloodline! o, ye kings of olde! take this crown from me, bury me in my ancestral soil. if only you had known the mighty work of thine loins would be undone by a gay heir who likes it when american boys with chin dimples are mean to him."
was this utterly predictable? did I see the plot twists from miles away? did it frustrate me when noam ignored hints that flashed like a times square billboard and continued to not understand? yes.
do i care? not one bit.
i don’t care about plot. i read for characters and worldbuilding and relationships of all kinds. if you make me love the characters, i could read about them grocery shopping and cleaning the house and playing scrabble and i’ll love every second of it.
and i was already drafting adoption papers on the first chapter. i love noam. i love dara. i love ames. bethany and taya need to be better developed to win me over, but the potential is huge. i love to hate lehrer.
on top of that, this is a timely book about immigration and elected facism that hits many marks re: all the fuckery that’s going on with the world right now, not to mention the careful exploration of abuse and its consequences.
and it definitely helps that this book gave me huge the foxhole court feelings. they’re not similar, not really, and i don’t know how to explain, but something about it reminded me of the three-day-weekend when i first devoured the all for the game series and signed my soul away to the foxes. so. you know. consider me already obsessed.
tl;dr: plot is meh, the rest more than makes up for it. i’m giving it five stars because i can. i never claimed to be an objetive reader.
do i care? not one bit.
i don’t care about plot. i read for characters and worldbuilding and relationships of all kinds. if you make me love the characters, i could read about them grocery shopping and cleaning the house and playing scrabble and i’ll love every second of it.
and i was already drafting adoption papers on the first chapter. i love noam. i love dara. i love ames. bethany and taya need to be better developed to win me over, but the potential is huge. i love to hate lehrer.
on top of that, this is a timely book about immigration and elected facism that hits many marks re: all the fuckery that’s going on with the world right now, not to mention the careful exploration of abuse and its consequences.
and it definitely helps that this book gave me huge the foxhole court feelings. they’re not similar, not really, and i don’t know how to explain, but something about it reminded me of the three-day-weekend when i first devoured the all for the game series and signed my soul away to the foxes. so. you know. consider me already obsessed.
tl;dr: plot is meh, the rest more than makes up for it. i’m giving it five stars because i can. i never claimed to be an objetive reader.