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Jun. 3rd, 2019 12:15 pmWhen I posted about K.J. Charles' Society of Gentlemen series last year, various people told me that I ought to try the Sins of the Cities series instead for a Less Overwhelmingly Aristocratic Good Time, and they were quite correct!
Sins of the Cities is a satisfyingly tightly-plotted trilogy in which a group of gay Victorian pals get entangled in CONSPIRACY and MURDER and also, of course, finding various sorts of true love over the course of the three books:
An Unseen Attraction, in which lodging-house owner Clem's very sweet romance with his taxidermist lodger Rowley is unfortunately interrupted by the murdered corpse on their doorstep and the machinations of Clem's very shady brother. I liked this a lot, especially because the shape of it is quite different from most romance novels -- the protagonists have known and liked each other for a long time and are ready to start their romance at the time the book begins, so the arc of the story is not a meet-cute-will-they-won't-they, but about two people earnestly trying to make a relationship work while weathering various external stressors, such as, indeed, murder. To me it also seemed like Charles did a pretty solid job writing mixed-race autistic Clem, though obviously I am not super qualified to comment.
An Unnatural Vice -- the complete opposite of An Unseen Attraction, a beautiful concoction of high-drama tropes flambé. RIGHTEOUSLY ANGRY JOURNALIST NATHANIEL is DETERMINED to expose SEXY PSYCHIC JUSTIN as the FRAUD he IS! Then the murder and conspiracies happen and Nathan and Justin are forced! to live together! for SEVERAL SEXY MONTHS!! Yes, OK, Charles, you had me at "Justin has but a single moral and it goes towards protecting his tiny con artist moppet apprentices."
An Unsuitable Heir, in which one-armed Polish private eye Mark hunts down a pair of genderfluid trapeze artist twins to give them a legacy they do not want, falling for one of the twins in the process. I enjoyed this, but it's definitely the one that worked least well for me and PERHAPS COINCIDENTALLY is also the one that involved the most Aristocracy Stuff; also, I respect Charles' effort to write a nonbinary protagonist in Victorian England who does not have access to the terminology or gender theory, but it felt a bit to me like Charles was so determined to model a Supportive And Understanding Love Interest that Mark didn't get much of a chance to develop as a co-protagonist himself. YMMV, though!
I don't want to say too much about the how the plots interlock, because spoilers, but I do enjoy how the protagonists in Charles' various series tend to be very present and engaged in each other's lives, and also how the events that she writes have ripple effects that impact various people in different ways; this happens in Society of Gentlemen too but I think works better here. (I also enjoy how very nerdy she allows herself to get with Victorian sensationalist literature jokes.)
Sins of the Cities is a satisfyingly tightly-plotted trilogy in which a group of gay Victorian pals get entangled in CONSPIRACY and MURDER and also, of course, finding various sorts of true love over the course of the three books:
An Unseen Attraction, in which lodging-house owner Clem's very sweet romance with his taxidermist lodger Rowley is unfortunately interrupted by the murdered corpse on their doorstep and the machinations of Clem's very shady brother. I liked this a lot, especially because the shape of it is quite different from most romance novels -- the protagonists have known and liked each other for a long time and are ready to start their romance at the time the book begins, so the arc of the story is not a meet-cute-will-they-won't-they, but about two people earnestly trying to make a relationship work while weathering various external stressors, such as, indeed, murder. To me it also seemed like Charles did a pretty solid job writing mixed-race autistic Clem, though obviously I am not super qualified to comment.
An Unnatural Vice -- the complete opposite of An Unseen Attraction, a beautiful concoction of high-drama tropes flambé. RIGHTEOUSLY ANGRY JOURNALIST NATHANIEL is DETERMINED to expose SEXY PSYCHIC JUSTIN as the FRAUD he IS! Then the murder and conspiracies happen and Nathan and Justin are forced! to live together! for SEVERAL SEXY MONTHS!! Yes, OK, Charles, you had me at "Justin has but a single moral and it goes towards protecting his tiny con artist moppet apprentices."
An Unsuitable Heir, in which one-armed Polish private eye Mark hunts down a pair of genderfluid trapeze artist twins to give them a legacy they do not want, falling for one of the twins in the process. I enjoyed this, but it's definitely the one that worked least well for me and PERHAPS COINCIDENTALLY is also the one that involved the most Aristocracy Stuff; also, I respect Charles' effort to write a nonbinary protagonist in Victorian England who does not have access to the terminology or gender theory, but it felt a bit to me like Charles was so determined to model a Supportive And Understanding Love Interest that Mark didn't get much of a chance to develop as a co-protagonist himself. YMMV, though!
I don't want to say too much about the how the plots interlock, because spoilers, but I do enjoy how the protagonists in Charles' various series tend to be very present and engaged in each other's lives, and also how the events that she writes have ripple effects that impact various people in different ways; this happens in Society of Gentlemen too but I think works better here. (I also enjoy how very nerdy she allows herself to get with Victorian sensationalist literature jokes.)
