Voidscarred - Mike Brooks

[Roomsky]

Voidscarred – Mike Brooks

 

Elf Yaoi? In my 40k?

It’s more likely than you think.

 

Old thread’s still closed and I wanna post a review. Or rather, I want to talk about why I think this book punches above it’s weight (it’s the yaoi (but not in the way you might think))

 

Brooks is using a bit of a cheat code here when it comes to getting invested in these characters. Both Taenar and Myrin are charismatic in their own way, but this book would be pretty flat if their dynamic was a platonic one instead of a romantic-sexual one. They aren’t terribly deep characters, they aren’t remarkably well-written, and their motivations aren’t exceptionally unique. BUT, they are reasonably likeable and carry sympathetic goals or grievances. Make those goals at cross-purposes and give them some chemistry, and BAM – instant investment. You want both to get what they want, but you also know something needs to give in one of them before they can get a happy ending – and this being 40k, they’re just as likely to end up fighting to the death instead of working out their issues. It’s like giving a violent character a kid to tag along with them – it plays on human instincts rather than “doing the work” on it’s own.

 

This structure isn’t anything new, but Black Library’s tendency to shy away from romance means it’s new in a 40k book. Of course, there is romance sprinkled here-and-there in 40k fiction, but it’s basically all “amusing background detail,” “these two are :cuss:ing because they’re in a mixed unit and could die at any time,” and “this other character is the object of POVs affections but doesn’t get a POV of their own.” Brooks taps into why people have been writing gay fanfiction about Holmes/Watson or Kirk/Spock since those pieces of media first dropped – Taenar and Myrin have similar amounts of focus, but contrasting virtues. Neither of them is “the girl.” Their strengths both complement each other’s and their worldviews make it interesting when one starts to step on the toes of the other.

 

I don’t want to deny Brooks his flowers for actually making them a compelling couple – dipping your toe into any popular scie-fi or fantasy romance will more often than not leave you questioning why Character A sees anything desirable in Character B – but I think the novelty of it within 40k is why so many people got really into the book. We’ve seen inner turmoil, we’ve seen people from rival institutions vying for power, both to the point where they’re a bit tired. Don’t get me started on the books where the central conflict really is just “will they succeed in this military operation?”

 

All that to say is – Brooks tapped into humanity in a way most Black Library works don’t bother with. More authors should be allowed to do the same. I’m not furious Brooks got to write a novel-length elf romance before ADB, who says I am?

 

Anyway, here’s a condensed version of the rest of my thoughts:

 

THE GOOD:
    • It is purely xenos vs xenos fiction
    • Brooks continues to invent new and entertaining angles to approach Ork characters
    • Until now, I viewed Eldar Corsairs as “the other ones” amongst Craftworlders, Dark Eldar, and Exodites. Now, if I actually played the tabletop game, I’d want to build an army of them, or at least a Kill Team. They’re very cool in this book with their mix of individualism and cultural backgrounds.
    • It’s another decent Eldar-focused book. You wouldn’t think it would be so hard for this to be so, but Orks and Necrons are somehow still outnumbering them when it comes to quality.
    • The book took several turns I legitimately did not expect
    • I liked reading about any character that got a reasonable amount of focus
    • It doesn’t overstay it’s welcome
    • I like that the Eldar refer to individual Orks as “it.” Likewise, Orks refer to each other as “he” but refer to Grots as “it.” It’s a good and efficient way to show off what these groups think of each other.
    • I liked that, after several failed attempts to defeat a character in melee, they just shoot said character to death
    • The line: "He was wearing his favourite, five-cornered hat today – on the basis, apparently, that ‘any git can wear a three-cornered one, an’ four-cornered ones are just squares wiv pretenshuns"
      
THE BAD:
    • The Ork POVs were generally much less interesting than the eldar ones, IMO
    • The book is full of Eldar characters that get too little focus, a lot of them are hard to keep track of
    • Brooks is a coward for not sticking to his guns regarding a particular character death. I don’t normally feel anything when a Black Library character dies, and Brooks went and undid the rare instance where I want “wait, no, I liked that one.”
    • The prose is nothing special, and occasionally clunky
    • Some situations resolve themselves far too quickly to be believable
    • Brooks cut to black instead of giving us 10 pages of uncensored elf sex (this is a joke)

 

THE VERDICT:
At the risk of damning Brooks with faint praise, a lot of my enjoyment of this came from the following:
    • It’s Eldar and it’s better than Thorpe
    • Brooks has a high output and his writing works better for me than Haley’s
    • He’s writing about subjects and factions Black Library should have let into novels decades ago

    • Male/male romance is intriniscally less likely to be cringe about why characters find each other attractive

 

The book is technically fine, and is lifted up entirely by the chemistry between the main characters. If that relationship works for you, this is a more engrossing read than a lot of Black Library fare. If it doesn’t, well, at least it’s not Path of the Eldar.

 

What do you, the reader, think?

[Nagashsnee]

10 hours ago, Roomsky said:

Voidscarred – Mike Brooks

Elf Yaoi?

Not all Yaoi stories have elfs, but all elf stories are Yaoi.

 

I said what i said. 

 

Now give me more BL.

Edited Monday at 07:07 AM by Nagashsnee