WL's Mainstream Gay Book Reviews - 33. Bonds of Brass (Book 1 of The Bloodright Trilogy) by Emily Skrutskie

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42302727-bonds-of-brass

Science Fiction is my favorite genre for a reason. It opens up a lot of worlds and possibilities for writers to explore and create amazing concepts without regards or limitations, except what you believe scientific knowledge can produce in the future, or in the past. The key is that science fiction does not rely on traditional methods to solve problems usually emphasizing the technical. Unlike Fantasy, where magical knowledge can grant instant gratification for certain things, while traditional methods like swords and actual physical work will solve issues in the plot. The hybrid of the two genres, Science Fantasy is epitomized by its biggest universe, Star Wars, combines the traditional and the technical, with the latter winning out. Bonds of Brass has its origin in the fanfiction stories of the new Star Wars films, based on the author’s own account of her writing. I don’t shy away from fan-fiction writers, who change concepts and create original works like this. Emily Skrutskie created something very interesting as a premise; though, I have to advise I might not review the rest of her series.

Length-wise, the book is 304 pages long and 10 hours 20 minutes on audible, it is not a short read and I must warn readers that you will likely get bored at various points in the story.

Plot: Ettian is an orphan on the former homeworld of the Archon Empire, which fell years ago to the Umber Empire. At the start of the novel, Ettian reveals that the Umber Empire has pacified the former homeworld of their opposition, killed its civilian and military leaders, and squashed viscerally any hope for resistance in the native Archon through torture and intimidation. Due to his, Ettian was sent through Umber re-education and social programs, ultimately culminating in him entering an Umber military academy. He rose through the ranks, becoming the top pilot of their academic year as a result. Ettian also falls in love with his roommate, a mysterious native Umber, who was sent to be educated at this military academy instead of being educated on the Umber homeworld. Unbeknownst to Ettian, his native Umber roommate, Gal, turns out to be the heir to Umber Empire, a fact revealed when several of his Archon classmates attempted to publicly assassinate Gal. Through a series of events, Ettian uncovers a plot by the treacherous turncoat Governor, who is an Archon and betrayed his homeworld during the lost war and is now betraying his new masters by trying to capture the royal air. Ettian and Gal escape in what amounts to an intergalactic version of a RV. They flee the planet, but could not head to the Umber homeworld due to be blockaded in that direction, so they travel outside the Umber Empire to a democratic republican interstellar power. On this world, they meet a very chaotic street urchin named Wen-Iffan, who has penchant for explosive, fights with her sharp pointy umbrella, and overall mayhem. Ettian also discovers that on this world, remnants of the Archon military and resistance remains, including one of its legendary generals. Ettian is forced to choose between the man he loves, who is also one of his people’s oppressors, or taking up arms to fight for his lost homeworld. The story culminates in a series of failed plots and miscalculation ending in Gal’s capture and Ettian having to make a fateful choice at the end of the novel to save Gal and restore the Empire he was born under.

Review: I won’t mince words; I didn’t like the book. The beginning started out very promising with the spectacle of a fighter dogfight, endless political intrigues, and shrewd characters acting within the context of the plot. You can genuinely see in the first 10 chapters a very good Science fiction writer. Then, the entire story fell apart once Ettian and Gal leaves the academy and the Umber Empire, while Ettian's inner monologue and lack of emotional resonance grew grating. Finally, the straw that broke this story was the final plot twist. This is one of the issues with fanfiction writers, who try to replicate grand gestures from mainstream franchises, especially Star Wars. Everyone is trying to redo Empire Strike Back epic reveal, “Luke I am your father”. By doing what she did, after countless pages of Ettian waffling back and forth about his decision to aid or destroy the Archon resistance, it felt wrong on so many levels. Ettian initially chose to help destroy the resistance by the way before having to reverse course when his sort-of lover, Gal, got captured. Knowing who and what Ettian is in context to the story, it’s a horrible reason to reveal that fact after he gave up his own heritage for Gal, which in itself was a poor decision compounded by even more illogical decisions.

I know I can’t skirt around the story’s major plot twist at the end without spoiling it for readers beyond what I wrote above, but I’ll put that part of my review in hidden spoilers. I might dislike this book, but I won't damn others who may enjoy it or who are curious with why I damn it so much.

Now here’s the other problem, I am not a fan of Emily Skrutskie’s gay romance angle. Everina Maxwell did so much better in a slow burn relationship in Winter’s Orbit. First, she shies away from allowing any consummation between Gal and Ettian of their underlying romantic tension. If you are unwilling to write gay sex, do not write male-male romance fiction, it’s a given. They’re both over 18 years old and both adults in the context of the universe capable in making such decisions, it makes no sense that they wouldn’t be consummating their love with more than a near kiss. This is not Victorian England, even there gay men did more than nearly kissing each other despite buggery laws for Pete sake. Second, despite the lack of consummation, readers are led to believe that Ettian out of love for Gal would be ready to give up his people and his world to make him happy. I get the concept of Stockholm syndrome and maybe Ettian is identifying with his abusers too much, but based on the descriptions of what Gal’s mother did to Ettians world and parents, the author is arguing that glances and nice conversations are enough to make someone act like a love sick puppy to the point of biting their former dog friends. It makes no good sense from an emotional angle, either.

Were there bright spots? Sure, the worldbuilding was fun for Umber and Archon; though the Knights of Archon are more or less Jedi with less magical powers. Non-main character shined too, Wen-iffan is probably one of the most fun female characters on the page. I can tell the author enjoyed writing her character and exploring the universe as an agent of chaos with her many character quirks. I can also tell that Wen-iffan is Rey from Star Wars The Force Awakens with a better backstory and an explanation for her innate fighting prowess, being the daughter of a fallen gang leader. The character is fun and entertaining, she’s also the 2^nd potential romantic interest of Ettian, which I understand the entire bisexual angle makes sense. That’s probably a key issue here, why is the author trying to force a same sex story, when logically the chemistry she created would work better for a heterosexual pairing? Emily Skrutskie has written her characters of Ettian and Wen-iffan chemistry too well that you don’t require anything to explain their bond, while it takes a mountain of implausible BS for me to accept Ettian is in love with Gal to the point of fratricide. Writing gay and bisexual characters requires effort and interaction, Emily Skrutskie is not a bad writer, but she did not focus on what was billed as epic romance between star-crossed MALE lovers. There's nothing wrong with writing straight fiction.

My Review: 1 out of 5, this is probably the lowest score I’ve given any book I’ve read and I was tempted to give it 0, but I can see that Emily Skrutskie for all her faults is capable of writing strong science fiction and characters like Wen-iffan, she’s just not in the game when it came to her main character. Maybe I am being too harsh on this author, maybe I was expecting far more than what she could deliver. However, I do not like being fooled and I hate people writing empty plot twists. As a paying reader, I won’t hide how I feel, especially when the story, character logic, and circumstance went to hell. I know she has a Book 2 recently out for this series, but I am afraid after the disaster of book 1, I am not going to be making the purchase. I am returning book 1 for an audible credit.