Jude Shea's life is turned upside down when he rescues a dog he names Joe. Even though Jude has enough trouble taking care of himself—he doesn't even have a job—he can't resist the animal that needs him. Then one night, a man shows up on his doorstep looking to claim Jude's new companion. As they run from a surprise attack, Jude finds out that "Joe" is not what he seems.
Eoin Thral is a guardian from an alternate dimension, and once he leads Jude through the veil that separates their worlds, he transforms into a handsome hulk of a man known for his fighting skills, not the capacity for love. Jude finds himself immersed in Eoin’s world, and he's faced with the fight of his life to secure a happy future for them both.
Review:
This is the story of Jude Shae who falls in love with a man from a parallel world called Eoin. Jude rescues a giant dog, whom we later discover is actually Eoin. The dog is possessive. When strange men come looking for the dog, Jude and the dog run and fall through the 'veil' into Eion's world - a medieval-esque realm.
The scenes with Eoin as the dog are alright, but once Jude enters the other world, the narrative goes south. The cute dog turns into Eoin Thral, who is far from likable.
My main issue with this book was that the main love interest, Eoin, is stylised as an animalistic oaf who cannot control his violent sexual urges. When they first enter Eoin's world, Eoin binds and gags Jude and threatens him. Then he decides that he'd like to have sex with Jude and says "You will not deny me; ’tis not your right." Seriously, what the hell?
During the first time Eoin and Jude have sex, part way through Eoin is shocked to discover that Jude actually wants to. Apparently most people don't actually want to have sex with him, but he takes it anyway. Rape is basically Eoin's modus operandi.
Despite Eoin's possessiveness, he can be quite thoughtless. Jude is sent to Eoin's room to wait for him. Eoin fails to send him food or water and when the sex workers of the keep discover this, they take it upon themselves to get him food and drink and keep him company. The scene with the sex workers elucidates that Guardians like Eoin are so violent and brutal in bed that no one sleeps willingly with them except for prostitutes, even then the prostitutes are reluctant. This made my skin crawl. Sex workers do not deserve violence, ever. The author does seem somewhat concerned with the possible charge of rape, however, and is quick to insist through the sex workers that it's not. I'll just have to shrug my shoulders and disagree.
The narrative itself is really just an awkward prop for the sex scenes. Firstly, Calmes uses the conceit of "soul mates" to bypass actually having any kind of romance. Really? I guess if they are not soul mates it would be impossible to, you know, fall in love with the rapist Eoin Thral, but, whatever.
I found Eoin's instant possessiveness far from charming. It was outright intimidating and scary. Jude's desire for monogamy is fine, but it felt like it was used merely as a way to ensure that Eoin's violent possessiveness and rapey-ness were acceptable. I get that people enjoy the big, rough "barbarian" stories, dripping with hyper-physical sex... but this story made my blood run cold.
Many reviewers have complained about the characterisation of Jude Shae as pretty much too perfect. I have to agree. Everyone loves him. Everyone wants to fuck him and he's super successful at what he does. Jude Shae is also bi-phobic. At one point he wonders what people will think now that Eoin is suddenly gay despite having sexual/rape relationships with women previously.
My main stylistic complaint is the distracted head hopping. The head hopping randomly to minor characters shows that neither of the main characters were interesting enough to stick with for the entire narrative.
The cover is gorgeous. Anne Cain did a fantastic job of the cover and I love it a lot. Shame about the story.
More Information:
Title: The Guardian
Author: Mary Calmes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publishing Date: 8 Feb, 2010
Length: Novel
Genre: Fantasy/Romance
Type: m/m
No comments:
Post a Comment