Book Review: The Fantastic Fluke

The Fantastic Fluke by Sam Burns
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

rating: 3 stars ★★★☆☆
format: ebook
genre: fantasy, paranormal, romance (m/m)

Whew, I've been putting off writing this review for a long time. In the almost-month it took me to sit down and write about how I felt about this book, I was just as conflicted as I was during the three months it took me to read it. It had everything I wanted: magic, ghosts, an adorable fox. I expected an immediate page-turn, but unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. I found myself putting it down for weeks at a time, not connecting to any of the characters enough to really care what was going on in their lives.

Highlight the words in parenthesis for spoilers. (like this)

summary:

Sage is a level 2 mage and an epic disappointment to his recently-deceased father, who is a mega-asshole and now haunts the bookshop that he left to Sage in his will. Sage saves a fox familiar being beaten by some guys in an alley (what asshole beats a fox??). He soon meets Gideon, a hot ghost gunslinger who is back from the dead once again after a super-special mage is killed. Sage learns that he himself is one of these super-special mages that has an untapped power within himself that he can access by using the ley lines that converge under his town. It's not clearly explained how the ley line magical battery charging works, and 50% into the story, I don't think Sage understands much either. The story follows Sage, Gideon, Fluke the fox, and a supporting cast of quirky characters as they try to solve the mystery of who is killing magic-users and why the convergence keeps resurrecting Gideon to train new mages.

pros:

• FLUKE. Oh my god, Fluke. That little fox familiar stole the show, as well as my heart. His huge personality shone through in every scene he was in, which was fortunately most of them. I found it impossible to not smile at that tricky, dorky fox.
  
  

• There is a lot of potential for the sequel. I was very curious about the Convergence, what the hell was "living" down there, and what Sage is going to do with his newly-discovered powers.

• I thought Sage's friendship with Baz was very sweet.

• The idea of a (witch hunt within a magical community was very unique to me. Magic is something that is common in day-to-day life, but certain types of mages are considered "witches" due to the nature of their powers and a heaping dose of religious fanaticism.)

• I liked how much of a snarky-sweet asshole Gideon is. Sage's dad sent me into a blind rage every time he appeared, but Gideon's interactions with him made some of those infuriating scenes worth it (ex: taunting Sage's father by being able to sit on furniture - which isn't explained at all in the book and adds to the usual confusion about spectral physics).

• Sage had a brief moment of badassery when (he raised not only Gideon, but Gideon's horse familiar.)

• Sage was very relatable, and he addressed mental illness in a humorous way. I definitely use humor and sarcasm to cope when I'm having a rough time. Ex: "I wasn’t sure thirty-year-olds were supposed to be exhausted all the time, but maybe I was just ahead of the curve on the whole aging thing." & "Because clearly my gender was related to my ability to brush off trauma." Sage said fuck gender stereotypes and mental illness stigma.

• Sage's grandmother was the sweet, precious grandmother I wish I had. Her shipping of Sage and Gideon, while a little awkward at times, was pretty entertaining. She definitely wins Best Wingman of 2020.

• "You’re not the savior of everything just because you were born with a high capacity for magic.” The Chosen One trope: subverted.

• I love the writing style. Although sometimes crammed where it shouldn't have been crammed, the humor of Sage's internal monologue had my laughing out loud at times.

• The cover is lovely.

cons: 

• I felt like the tone of the book was far too lighthearted for all of the dark shit that was happening around Sage. People were being murdered, some mysterious entity lived in the ley lines under the earth, and yet everyone seemed rather chipper and spent their time discussing the bookstore and what colors to paint the walls. Someone was hunting down mages and Sage and Gideon were on a dangerous time crunch, and when Sage's grandmother gifts him important and presumably old and valuable magical books, Sage tosses them on the floor and doesn't open any of them except the one that will make Gideon corporeal so he can get laid. Yes, Sage learns how to bring people back from the dead and instead of bringing back any of the murdered mages (one of whom is his own mother), he brings back a guy he's known for just a few weeks cause he wants that dead cowboy dick. Priorities.

• Sage's immaturity. This ties into the above rant about the tone of the book, but I felt it deserved its own point. Sage is thirty years old, and instead of taking anything seriously as people around him are being hunted and killed, Sage continues to joke (to himself or out loud) how pervy "convergence link" sounds. Or touching the convergence. Or literally anything to do with the convergence. Am I missing a hilarious double entendre? I just don't get it.

• The "everyone is queer" trope. I'm pretty sure the only straight character in this book is Sage's father. But then again, who knows? Maybe his repressed feelings are why he's so grumpy all the time.

• The Big Baddie: (was some lady who owned a coffee shop. I know the author was going for a twist but this lady was the polar opposite of intimidating. Her motives were also unclear. She was sucking the life out of mages to become more powerful in order to... brew better coffee? Get more customers? Who knows.)

• Sage thought in memes, which, while amusing, I can't see holding up for long.

Yes, "Ok, boomer" was actually used in this novel.
Although I am grateful for any opportunity to use a Trixie & Katya gif in a review.

• The finances of Sage were a bit confusing. He just inherited a bookshop, says that he has just a few hundred dollars in his budget for groceries each month and therefore can't buy vegetables. Look, I've lived paycheck-to-paycheck more often than not, and I am still able to afford more than just ramen and PB&J sandwiches with a few hundred dollars a month. Either a) food is incredibly expensive in this world and there isn't an Aldi in sight or b) Sage is stockpiling ramen and peanut butter for a hypothetical apocalypse, much like my father does, but I won't go off on that wild tangent.

• Sage has the thickest freaking skull, and everyone around him is patient and seems to find his cluelessness endearing. It was, at first, but when I was 60% into the book and Sage still didn't realize Fluke was his familiar, I felt like throwing my phone.

• This one is very minor, but it get a bit confusing to have a class called "dead mages" in a book with multiple mages that are, you know... actually dead.

overall thoughts:

I think this is the bitchiest review I've written in my short time writing reviews. It's either because I had such high hopes for this book, or because I've already had my before-bed smoke. Probably both, although any glaring, absurd typos are likely due to the latter. The storyline had me interested but there was too much filler and the plot moved slowly. I do fully intend on reading the future sequel. Sage's story has enormous potential, and I hope that is explored more.

Review cross-posted: Skyler St. Clair on Goodreads & Skyler's Bookshelf Reading Blog

Book Review: The Prince and the Troll (Faraway #1)

The Prince and the Troll by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars ★★★☆☆

Disclaimer: I work for Starbucks. My review was in no way influenced by any emotional trauma I may or may not have faced in the line of duty.

rating: 3 stars
format: ebook (Kindle Unlimited)
genre: fantasy, retellings, short stories, YA

Summary:

A man, who is not a prince, works doing... something on "The Road", which is supposedly the bees knees despite having a negative impact on the environment (it has somehow completely halted rainfall) and a cruel "if you fall on the road we will push you off and you will die" policy. After dropping his phone off of a bridge, he meets a quirky troll who lives in the mud develops an affinity for Starbucks in what seems to be an extended ad for the company, intermingled with a short love story.

I started reading this short story with high hopes. As I read, those hopes fell little by little. I felt like I was not understanding part of a bigger picture, and the common YA theme of capitalizing words to make them seem Very Important left me feeling like I was missing something that everyone else was in on ("Collapses" and "Tragedies").

Pros:

✔ I really enjoyed the character of the troll! She was cute and witty and a sweetheart, albeit a bit mischievous.
✔ The ongoing bit of Adam noticing the troll's features.
✔ A subtle, overarching message about climate change and development (but not, of course, about consumerism).
✔ Great writing and editing.
✔ I really was rooting for the pair. I enjoyed their chemistry and the troll's attempts to get Adam's head out of his ass.
✔ Easy, bite-sized length.
✔ I found myself laughing quite a bit. Adam yelling "Starbucks is always open!" despite a deadly tragedy had me giggling.

Cons:

✘ At times I felt like I was reading a Starbucks menu. Can I not escape the Siren even in the confines of my own home?
✘ In what could have been a unique and elaborate world, I found myself asking many questions, most of which were never answered. What does Adam actually do? What is the road, really? How do people fall on the road, and why are they pushed off if they fall? What happens after they are pushed off? What are the crows that watch everyone? Why the heck does the troll have a (mermaid) tail, and does she also have legs? How does the troll already like Starbucks- has she manipulated men into caffeinating her before? Why did Adam say the Strawberry Acai Refresher was seasonal???
✘ Various fantastical creatures were alluded to but never mentioned again, and it would have been nice to have the fantasy aspect of this world expanded upon, but this is more just my personal taste.

Overall, not bad for a free read. I would like to read more of Rainbow Rowell's works, as well as more works in the Faraway series.

Review cross-posted: Skyler St. Clair on Goodreads & Skyler's Bookshelf Reading Blog