Prosperity (Prosperity, #1) in Riptide Publishing

Oct 21, 2014 Kaje Harper rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, historical, fantasy, signif-past-abuse, m-m

4.95 stars. It should be said up front, this is not a romance. It is an imaginative steampunk AU fantasy with a gay main character, and an array of LGBTQ secondary characters. There is romance, but not in a happy-ending for the MC way. Love may come as the series progresses, but don't expect even a HFN yet.

This is a wonderful, unique story with a narrator who is appealing, fun, bright but uneducated, and whose backstory makes you ache for him even as you have to admire his spirit. Picadilly is a 4.95 stars. It should be said up front, this is not a romance. It is an imaginative steampunk AU fantasy with a gay main character, and an array of LGBTQ secondary characters. There is romance, but not in a happy-ending for the MC way. Love may come as the series progresses, but don't expect even a HFN yet.

This is a wonderful, unique story with a narrator who is appealing, fun, bright but uneducated, and whose backstory makes you ache for him even as you have to admire his spirit. Picadilly is a young gay guttersnipe with a flair for cards, an exploited past, and a willingness to court trouble. When he encounters Milord, a dangerous figure from the stews of the city below, the smart thing would have been to keep his distance. Instead, Picadilly cheats him at cards, setting in motion a chain of events that will lead him to a sexy tormented ex-clergyman with a heart of gold (and the body of a college boxer), a skyship captain of brilliant and shy ambiguity, and a lesbian navigator who sees visions of Kraken.

Some people have had problems with the dialect of the narrator - if you read Regency romances, you should have little trouble with it, related as it is to the slang and thieves' cant that peppers many of those books. (I thank Georgette Heyer for my familiarity with many of the phrases.) If that's not familiar, check a sample. The beginning is a thick as it ever gets. I personally found it smooth and easy reading.

The story has a fast-moving plot and the people in it have relationships of many kinds, equally presented without judgment. The characters are all flawed, and all fascinating. The world-building is satisfying, but not intrusive.

The only reason that I take off 0,05 stars is that I really, really hate narrators who tell you stuff in advance, of the "I would later find out X but right now I was not aware of it..." or "Little did I know then that X..." kind. Well, I really want to NOT be told X either, right then. Several fascinating events were lightly spoilered by this narrative style. If I hadn't loved the book so much, I'd have dinged it more heavily for that, but as it was I just gritted my teeth a few times and sailed on along this starlit journey through unfamiliar lands. Looking forward to the next book as soon as I can buy it. ...more

14 likes · Like · see review

Aug 23, 2014 Lisa Henry marked it as to-read

Shelves: steampunky-goodness, all-the-cool-kids-are-reading-it

Is it October yet?

description

...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Nov 18, 2014 Jess Faraday rated it really liked it

I loved it for so many reasons, but especially because OMG a main character of color in a steampunk novel! And Behold! The rare bisexual!

It was very well done in so many ways, and you can read more at my website. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

May 02, 2015 G.B. Gordon added it

Whoa. That was all kinds of inventive, and wistful, and slyly seductive, and deep as fuck. Much love.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 26, 2014 Sylvia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, favorites-2014

I loved everything about this book! Very happy there will be more next year.

2 likes · Like · see review

May 07, 2017 Lillian Francis rated it it was amazing

Damn it, this book nearly broke me.
I have to confess I struggled with the first chapter of this book. It was late and I was tired and the combination of both probably wasn't conducive to the style of storytelling involved in this tale.
But today, I got back into it and devoured the last 75% in one sitting.

This is not a romance, a least not in the traditional sense. There no HEA or even HFN for our narrator, young Piccadilly, but we do see the relationship of two of the secondary characters throug ...more

Like · see review

Feb 24, 2015 Daisy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: m_m, m_m_series, m_m_sf-fantasy, owned, books_on_kindle, store_riptide

Loved the story even tho Piccadilly's language and slang was really hard to read for me. Sometimes I really had to guess what he meant from the context of the scenes. This has everything though. A gay version of Pirates of the caribbean. For reals. ...more

Like · see review