One of my goals in 2025 was to read more truly unknown books. Some of my favorite reads have been nearly unknown, and popularity is no indicator of quality. Steven Cavehill’s pitch for his book on r/queersff caught my eye, and I mentally bookmarked it for when I started one of my kindle binges. It’s got some classic high fantasy and dystopia elements, and was a fun read. I’ll definitely pick up the sequel, but I also hope that Cavehill goes through a final round of line-edits on his writing next time around.
Read if Looking For: asshole families, always another secret, tropey fantasy characters, overly-dependent relationships, notices at the start and end of sex scenes
Avoid if Looking For: polished writing, characters who see the plot coming at them, books free from fantasy racism (elves)
Elevator Pitch:
Rhys is a city guard relegated to paperwork, much to the disappointment of his noble family. He’s dating the mildly possessive leader of the demon-hunter Rangers, an organization he’s working to join. Ambrose is a half-elf thief desperately trying to buy a better life for his younger brother. The two are on a collision course when Ambrose robs a noble runesmith, accidentally causing the house to burn down and starting a manhunt for him. A manhunt Rune is placed in charge of.
What Worked for Me
The highlight of this book, and the reason I prioritized it, was that its author talked about how the story involved multiple queer men who weren’t dating each other. While there are couples, most of the time we got to see non-romantic interactions. Sadly, I can only think of a few other books like this, and I loved every second of it. Even though many of the characters didn’t get along (Ambrose and Caolan bickering was delightful). Just really fun dynamics all around. I think most of the characters ended up squarely in trope-laden territory. Rune in the Rubble doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it executes on fun ideas well.
Another big plus was the action scenes. There weren’t many in this book (seems like more coming in the sequel, hopefully!) but all were well done. Cavehill does a great job of making fights feel like the characters are up against overwhelming odds. Whether it’s the competent fighters trying to take down a man who can’t be killed, or a thief desperately fleeing a demon, I was always on the edge of my seat in these scenes.
The worldbuilding is simplistic, but engaging. Sometimes I thought it was a bit too simple (each of the four wards of the city was overly specialized in a single industry), but the revelations near the end of the book lay the groundwork for some really interesting strings for Cavehill to pull on. A running thread for this book is that it won’t be blowing anyone away with innovation, but it was a story I kept coming back to for the sort of warm fun adventure story I liked when I was a kid … except this is for adults.
What Didn’t Work For Me:
This book has a lot of the typical issues I’d associate with a debut self-published book. Those looking for polished writing will find frustrations here. It’s not uncommon for sentences to repeat words, include typos, or have an awkward flow. For me, I was enjoying the story enough that I could push past these issues, but it was noticeable.
I’ll admit that I found Rhys to be a slightly frustrating character. He is very, very unaware of when things are off. For a cop, he’s a piss poor investigator who can’t seem to see that things aren’t adding up might be more than a coincidence. To a certain extent, all characters are voluntarily in the dark about various twists, but I felt it most with Rhys. I sort of wish that the conspiracy members pulling the strings had been more subtle, or that Cavehill had indulged his characters to have more moments of competence in the story.
Finally, Cavehill made the decision to flag explicit sex scenes at their start and end using a beehive symbol, allowing readers to skip them. I like this choice as a way to appeal to a wider array of audience, but it did mean that these scenes couldn’t involve any important characterization moments, as readers skipping them would miss out on these moments. This, I think, robs intimate scenes of some of the power, as I think they are great vehicles for character arcs to manifest.
In Conclusion: a slightly clunky written, but very fun, story full of action and intrigue that has gay men interacting in non-romantic ways
- Characters: 4
- Setting: 4
- Craft: 2
- Themes: 3
- Enjoyment: 3
Marked for Plot 