Bonds of Brass
I mentioned this one in a post about queer fic going mainstream. It's the first in a series, and the second one just came up as an ARC on NetGalley, so I checked this one out of the digital library right after I put in my request for the next one. In my previous post, I mentioned it was supposedly a Finn/Poe royalty AU, and I can definitely see some Star Wars DNA in it. The leads at least look vaguely like Finn and Poe Dameron, so it's very likely it was written with them in mind.
Our leads are Ettian (Finn), a 17 year old survivor of the Umber Empire's attack on his homeworld in the Archon Empire seven years ago. He lived on the streets of a devastated city until the war was over and Umber began doing a sort of reconstruction. Now he's the top pilot at a local Umber military academy, not exactly brainwashed by Umber propaganda, but at least mostly going along with it to survive once it appears there's no hope for the Archon Empire to rise again.
His roommate is Gal (Poe), also 17, and of the Umber Empire elite who's apparently never known hardship. While out on a training mission, a group of Archon students attack Gal, and Ettian's piloting saves him. The secret is out, Gal is the Umber heir. It's sort of a clan members from opposite sides become friends, to lovers, to maybe enemies again. There's literally only one bed at one point. It hits all the trope top ten.
Ettian knows that Gal's mother (the Empress) is ruthless, but he's seen Gal try to come up with solutions that don't involve killing everyone for over two years now. He comes to Gal's rescue several times, as they flee Umber forces that wouldn't mind taking Gal out of the political equation before he turns 18 and comes to the throne. They end up on a planet in yet another empire, Corinth, and discover an Archon resistance has set up base there. The Corinthian Empire knows that they're probably next on the list, so they give aid to the resistance to let them fight Umber and hopefully keep them away from Corinth territory.
Ettian and Gal, along with a young Corinthian woman, Wen (Rey?), who Ettian befriends and Gal mostly tolerates, work with the resistance, who do not know Gal is the Umber heir. Wen doesn't know the truth either, but the boys are plotting to lead the resistance into a trap in order for Gal to make a grand entrance when he takes the throne.
We're mostly in Ettian's head for the entirety of the book, so that leaves a lot of Gal's motivations in a gray area. We don't know if he understands that Umber took over Archon because they had metals used in ship building, or if he truly believes the average Archon folk were being mistreated by the elites and Umber came to the rescue. Yet even though we're in Ettian's head, we don't have a full of understanding of his motivations either. Is he truly willing to betray his Archon heritage and the resistance simply because he's in love with Gal? Or is there more to it?
It's not really a YA novel, but does have a bit of that feel because of the age of the characters. Even though there's a m/m romance, the things that stand in their way have nothing to do with them being gay. Such relationships don't seem to be an issue in either empire, with other characters mentioning same sex relationships, including a soldier talking about going home to his mother and his mom. My only wish is I wish I had a better grasp of both the Archon and Umber societies. Because we're in Ettian's head, and the majority of stuff is with him and Gal, sometimes and/or Wen, we're not really seeing those societies at work outside of a military academy, a resistance base, and memories.
Knowing from the outset it's a trilogy, it's not all that surprising there's a twist at the end, but what was interesting to me is that whole question of our lead's motivations leaves a little more of a cliffhanger than expected. The sequel, Oaths of Legacy, is due out in September, and the ARC is sitting on my Kindle, so at least I don't have to wait for long.
Our leads are Ettian (Finn), a 17 year old survivor of the Umber Empire's attack on his homeworld in the Archon Empire seven years ago. He lived on the streets of a devastated city until the war was over and Umber began doing a sort of reconstruction. Now he's the top pilot at a local Umber military academy, not exactly brainwashed by Umber propaganda, but at least mostly going along with it to survive once it appears there's no hope for the Archon Empire to rise again.
His roommate is Gal (Poe), also 17, and of the Umber Empire elite who's apparently never known hardship. While out on a training mission, a group of Archon students attack Gal, and Ettian's piloting saves him. The secret is out, Gal is the Umber heir. It's sort of a clan members from opposite sides become friends, to lovers, to maybe enemies again. There's literally only one bed at one point. It hits all the trope top ten.
Ettian knows that Gal's mother (the Empress) is ruthless, but he's seen Gal try to come up with solutions that don't involve killing everyone for over two years now. He comes to Gal's rescue several times, as they flee Umber forces that wouldn't mind taking Gal out of the political equation before he turns 18 and comes to the throne. They end up on a planet in yet another empire, Corinth, and discover an Archon resistance has set up base there. The Corinthian Empire knows that they're probably next on the list, so they give aid to the resistance to let them fight Umber and hopefully keep them away from Corinth territory.
Ettian and Gal, along with a young Corinthian woman, Wen (Rey?), who Ettian befriends and Gal mostly tolerates, work with the resistance, who do not know Gal is the Umber heir. Wen doesn't know the truth either, but the boys are plotting to lead the resistance into a trap in order for Gal to make a grand entrance when he takes the throne.
We're mostly in Ettian's head for the entirety of the book, so that leaves a lot of Gal's motivations in a gray area. We don't know if he understands that Umber took over Archon because they had metals used in ship building, or if he truly believes the average Archon folk were being mistreated by the elites and Umber came to the rescue. Yet even though we're in Ettian's head, we don't have a full of understanding of his motivations either. Is he truly willing to betray his Archon heritage and the resistance simply because he's in love with Gal? Or is there more to it?
It's not really a YA novel, but does have a bit of that feel because of the age of the characters. Even though there's a m/m romance, the things that stand in their way have nothing to do with them being gay. Such relationships don't seem to be an issue in either empire, with other characters mentioning same sex relationships, including a soldier talking about going home to his mother and his mom. My only wish is I wish I had a better grasp of both the Archon and Umber societies. Because we're in Ettian's head, and the majority of stuff is with him and Gal, sometimes and/or Wen, we're not really seeing those societies at work outside of a military academy, a resistance base, and memories.
Knowing from the outset it's a trilogy, it's not all that surprising there's a twist at the end, but what was interesting to me is that whole question of our lead's motivations leaves a little more of a cliffhanger than expected. The sequel, Oaths of Legacy, is due out in September, and the ARC is sitting on my Kindle, so at least I don't have to wait for long.