WL's Mainstream Gay Book Reviews - 8. The Lightning-Struck Heart (Book 1 of Tales from Verania) by T.J. Klune

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24468673-the-lightning-struck-heart

One word to describe this story: “Gay” 😊

Seriously, before reading this book, gay fantasy was just fantasy with fun twists on genre stories. TJ Klune has crafted a fun comedy-fantasy, which took my breath away at how far his imagination took him, re-imagining classic western tropes of wizards, knights, princes, kingdoms, magical creatures, and so on. It was at times too much, even for a gay reader, who sometimes indulges in exotic gay fiction genres.

So basically, Sam is a young gay wizard, who is very open about his feelings, has absolutely no filters, and has bouts of erratic behavior that makes you either want to snuggle up to him or slap him. For most of his life, he lived in the slums of the Kingdom of Verania, which is depicted as a standard run-of-the-mill fantasy medieval kingdom except with far more details and class structure. One day, while being chased by some older boys, Sam surprisingly used magic to freeze all his pursuers. The royal wizard Morgan of Shadows saw Sam’s magical ability and decided to take him in as his apprentice. As Sam grew up, he gained a moniker as Sam of Wilds, when he was fourteen and befriends a gay Unicorn named Gary and a half giant named Tiggy during a trip through the Dark Woods. Sam has a crush on Ryan Foxheart, a young knight with famously good looks. However, he is heartbroken to learn that Prince Justin, who has disliked Sam for years, has been betrothed to Ryan. Then, Prince Justin gets kidnapped by a Dragon, who drags him away. This results in a quest between Sam and his friends along with knight Ryan to rescue the Prince of Verania. During their journey, things are learned about Ryan and Sam’s feelings are put to the test. I can honestly tell you that the ending may be a foregone conclusion with this kind of fantasy story about longing fantasy love interest, but the execution is where TJ Klune outshined a lot of his competition.

First off, Sam is a hilarious gay wizard. His character makes flamboyant seem lukewarm, this is definitely a gay kid. Not an issue, since his universe is filled with very out gay characters. Another aspect to his character, the old trope that are usually used in fantasy stories of the damsel being kidnapped or held captive, it constantly happens to him. From the start of the story with an evil wizard capturing him to being ambushed by Dmitri the six-inch-tall fairy, who has a size kink and wants to bed Sam, the trope is used to make fun of fantasy genre’s overused plot device with great irreverent effect. Sam is also quite observant and probing as a character, he’s the friend some of us have, who uses his words to distract and his overt behavior to hide himself. This is a character that can get very annoying, but you also will find him exceedingly endearing for the same aspects.

On the flip side, Ryan Foxheart is far less revealing. He’s a reserved character and one that is initially just very simple, eye candy for the main character, with Sam’s nickname “Delicious Face” being a prime example of initial impression. As a reader, it was funny to read about how other characters observe him, fanboying/fangirling over Ryan literally. I kid you not this novel has actual fan clubs, which Sam secretly attends under his pseudo-disguise “Mervin”, fake beard and all. Seriously, TJ Klune was being “extra” with some of his details, but I can’t fault him, because this kind of idol worship fits his fantasy universe well. If that was the extent of Ryan Foxheart, I’d be satisfied just for the social commentary on fandoms and shipping culture that exists, but we also got an interesting character out of it. Yesterday, when I reviewed LA Witt’s Husband Gambit, I noted how Hayden’s hang up about being perceived as a prostitute had on his relationship. Well, TJ Klune has done one better, strong hot Ryan has been selling his body up the ladder in order to become a knight, but he did it so he could be closer to Sam, a romantic gesture and adds so many levels of character to him. He has had a secret crush on Sam, since the days they lived in the slums. In fact, Ryan was one of the bullies who Sam had frozen the day he discovered his powers. FYI, future readers: turns out, Sam’s magic is tied to Ryan being his “Cornerstone”, I’ll leave other readers to explore this bit of lore if you read the series beyond book 1.

While the two lovers are intriguing characters with tons of backstory and rich dimensions, the side characters in this book will put a smile on your face. Sam’s best friend, Gary, the gay unicorn without a horn is even more funny, bitchy, snarky, and his sexual escapades are by far the most interesting, especially towards the latter part of the book. Another funny aspect of Gary, he will use snark and wit to insult anyone in any circumstance, or at times lure them into very sexual proposals. Fun fact about Gary, he sweats glitter when he is angry, so he’s basically the gayest unicorn you could imagine. Tiggy might at first appear to be the muscular best friend, but his dimwitted actions are quite adorable. He also has a proclivity to collect brooms. Towards the end, we add a new member to Sam’s band of friends, Kevin, the gay sexually aggressive dragon, who doesn’t get the meaning of “I am not interested”. No, the dragon is not a rapist, but he is very aggressive to the point of kidnapping Prince Justin, because he appeared cute and wanted to woo him. Kevin in the end does find love with…. Gary the hornless gay unicorn. By this point in the novel, I gave up on logic and began laughing at their antics from sexual references hidden in food items (I don’t know what they were doing, but considering Gary is into BDSM, my mind raced with weird Dragon-Unicorn images that I never in a million years would have considered) to their “pretend” step-parenting of Sam. While such a pairing could come off as weird, it felt so natural in book like this with so much gay storytelling. Of course, the villain of the novel is basically Prince Justin, who was an absolute asshole to Sam, trying to deny him his Ryan, despite knowing their feelings for one another. Honestly, if you do not read the other books in this series, you might end up just want to act on Gary’s first impulse of “cutting a bitch”, when you think of what Justin did. I am not going spoil his character arc, but he’s far more complicated than Book 1’s villain title would make him seem.

Honorable mentions among the side characters: Lady Tina DeSilva, I’ve met a few toxic shippers like her online in several fandoms. Seriously, this girl gives a horrible rep for legitimate fans who enjoy shipping their favorite people together. Sam considers her his worst enemy, but honestly, I think she’s less villainous in this book than Justin. Morgan of Shadows, he is a nice wizard mentor for Sam and has very interesting fashion sense wearing pink shoes. The King is one of the most understanding and least regal fantasy royals that I have read in a long time, Sam considers the man to be a KILF (the kingly version of MILF or DILF), which he is not upset by. Luckily for readers, Sam admits these feelings when he is 20 years old in mid-late part of the novel, so the awkwardness of Sam’s unfiltered comments was somewhat cringe, but more comedic than sexual in tone.

My Rating: 5 out of 5, I like this kind of gay comedy-fantasy combination. It’s lighthearted, fast paced, and unabashedly gay. I am proud that we have writers like TJ Klune, who aren’t holding back their imaginations or just traveling the same roads that other writers have. Being a gay writer doesn’t need to just be a matter of the sexual orientation of your characters, it can be a representation of a cultural concept. This is the first time I have read a fantasy story, which I can clearly say is “Gay” from beginning to end.

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If there's demand, I could review the entire series. It's a fun read/re-read and I do have opinions on the other books in this very funny and "GAY" series.