I just finished reading an Advance Reading Copy of King of the Storm, the first novel from author BA Brock, which came out on Tuesday.
Let me say first that I have known BA for about two years now – he is the reviewer for the Queer Sci Fi site, and I was privileged to read a bit of the novel in beta, when it was posted to our critique group.
But reading pieces and reading the whole thing are two entirely different experiences. I now know how everything fits together!
The book takes place in Greece, but just to avoid confusion, this is NOT the Greece of our world. It’s another country (or world) based on Greek Mythology, but not bound by it.
And there’s a romance here, of sorts, but this is not a Romance with a capital “R”, per se. Instead, it’s an epic novel about one man’s fight with his own destiny.
The story follows Perseus in the first person, giving the story an immediacy that I really enjoyed as he grows from youth to man. At first he runs from his destiny, leaving behind everything he knows… but this is NOT going to be one of those reviews that gives away the whole story. Suffice it to say it’s rather amazing to watch Brock deftly handle the jumps forward in time. And I thought that her choice to put the other character point of views in third person added appropriate distance to those roles, which serve as story bridges.
One of my favorite things about KOTS is how Perseus’s sexuality and sexual orientation is just a given. Yes, there’s a sexual conflict, but it doesn’t revolve around whether or not he should be gay, or should have sex with men. It’s refreshing to see a gay hero so at ease with that aspect of his personality. There’s sex in the story, but it’s not overdone, it’s presented matter of factly, and advances the plot.
And though this is not the Greece of Earth, lovers of Greek mythology will find lots here to like.
Brock builds a beautiful, convincing world here, and populates it with real people who also happen to be heroes (and in some cases, monsters).
I’ve heard rumor that he may be working on a sequel. I hope it’s true.
Five Stars.