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booksthatburn's review
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I'm not a storyteller, that's not a thing my mind is set up to do. Reading hundreds of books does not place in me any desire to write my own stories. But sometimes I read a tale which is so artfully crafted that I'm in awe of how it's put together. AN UNNATURAL VICE by KJ Charles is one such book. I care about story structure, characterization by dialogue and internal thoughts, awareness of political/class forces, and intricacies of relationships. I'm interested in cults, con artists, and how twins are portrayed in stories. This has it all, the only thing it's missing to be my perfect story would be a heist or forced proximity, and it gets pretty close to that second one. I have reasons to think the third book will focus more on twins, so I'll save some deeper thoughts for that one.
AN UNNATURAL VICE is excellently crafted, as perfect of a middle book for a trilogy, as I could possibly think of from a structural perspective. It's a gay romance of opposites attracting and Nathaniel finding new love after a long period of mourning. As the second book of a trilogy, it provides a specific answer to something left open in the previous book, specifically, the formerly unknown heir to Clem’s father’s title. It has a new storyline involving Justin as a spiritualist, and his involvement with Nathaniel (which has a bit of a rocky start). A recent re-read of the first book prompted me to notice the ways that Justin’s existence is hinted at there, with the timelines of the two books having some overlap in the early stages. There have been several murders so far in the series, and no clear answer on who is orchestrating them. This is specifically mentioned towards the end of this book, with the implication that it’ll be resolved in the next one.
Does it make sense to start here? - As always with the middle book of a trilogy, begin with the first one, and don’t try to start here. The specific romance, plot line could make sense without the other books, but things like why the search for the heir even matters were established in the first book through the perspective of someone much closer to the issue than either Justin or Nathaniel are. As narrators, Nathaniel and Justin are very distinct from Clem and Rowley from AN UNSEEN ATTRACTION, though Nathaniel is consistent with how he appeared in the first book. Part of what reinforces this is that some scenes from the first book appear in abbreviated form here, but retold from Nathaniel's perspective. In these cases, the dialogue matches, but his internal monologue is often very different from how Rowley or Clem had perceived the same moments.
There’s a lot of very cool worldbuilding detail related to Victorian spiritualism and séances, explaining just enough of the tricks to keep the series out of the realm of fantasy, but not giving away all of the mysteries. One of the main conflicts in this book is between Nathaniel’s position as a journalist with a distaste for fraud, but a fascination in the person that is Justin, where Justin is a spiritualist, who has no reason to trust that something could be offered without expecting anything in return. Justin‘s existence up until now has been mostly transactional, for good or for it but mostly for ill. He tells rich people that they can contact their deceased loved ones, and doesn't feel bad for taking their money.
The way this book is handled makes me like the first one even more than I did originally, as this reveals the significance of several things which were present, but not emphasized. I’m very excited to read the next book, if it’s anything like this than this may become one of my favorite trilogies in recent years.
AN UNNATURAL VICE is excellently crafted, as perfect of a middle book for a trilogy, as I could possibly think of from a structural perspective. It's a gay romance of opposites attracting and Nathaniel finding new love after a long period of mourning. As the second book of a trilogy, it provides a specific answer to something left open in the previous book, specifically, the formerly unknown heir to Clem’s father’s title. It has a new storyline involving Justin as a spiritualist, and his involvement with Nathaniel (which has a bit of a rocky start). A recent re-read of the first book prompted me to notice the ways that Justin’s existence is hinted at there, with the timelines of the two books having some overlap in the early stages. There have been several murders so far in the series, and no clear answer on who is orchestrating them. This is specifically mentioned towards the end of this book, with the implication that it’ll be resolved in the next one.
Does it make sense to start here? - As always with the middle book of a trilogy, begin with the first one, and don’t try to start here. The specific romance, plot line could make sense without the other books, but things like why the search for the heir even matters were established in the first book through the perspective of someone much closer to the issue than either Justin or Nathaniel are. As narrators, Nathaniel and Justin are very distinct from Clem and Rowley from AN UNSEEN ATTRACTION, though Nathaniel is consistent with how he appeared in the first book. Part of what reinforces this is that some scenes from the first book appear in abbreviated form here, but retold from Nathaniel's perspective. In these cases, the dialogue matches, but his internal monologue is often very different from how Rowley or Clem had perceived the same moments.
There’s a lot of very cool worldbuilding detail related to Victorian spiritualism and séances, explaining just enough of the tricks to keep the series out of the realm of fantasy, but not giving away all of the mysteries. One of the main conflicts in this book is between Nathaniel’s position as a journalist with a distaste for fraud, but a fascination in the person that is Justin, where Justin is a spiritualist, who has no reason to trust that something could be offered without expecting anything in return. Justin‘s existence up until now has been mostly transactional, for good or for it but mostly for ill. He tells rich people that they can contact their deceased loved ones, and doesn't feel bad for taking their money.
The way this book is handled makes me like the first one even more than I did originally, as this reveals the significance of several things which were present, but not emphasized. I’m very excited to read the next book, if it’s anything like this than this may become one of my favorite trilogies in recent years.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Confinement, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Violence, Torture, Murder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Gun violence
Minor: Alcoholism, Vomit, Suicide, Child death, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
kharlan3's review
(m/m, romance, mystery, historical). The fog! What a setting. I adore historical queers having queer friends. I'm not totally sure I'm onboard with hating Justin's job, but I buy that Nathaniel hates it. The mystery heightens...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: Torture, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
More...