I don’t think that ‘Fourth Wing, but Gothic and Gay’ is a horrible descriptor for this story. There’s a lot of differences beyond that of course, but I think it captures the essence of the type of reader who is going to have a good time with Teras Trials. It certainly doesn’t satisfy my craving for interesting fantasy stories with gay leads, but its one hell of a relationship to watch develop. This leaves me conflicted, because I do want to follow Cassius and Leo, but I’m not sure if I care enough about the setting and fantasy plot for that to be worth my time.
The Premise:
The world is besieged by Teras, creatures from myth. In Britain, the University is what keeps London safe, with their Hunters and Artificers. Cassius needs to keep his family’s place in London safe by passing the entrance exams, right after his brother is killed while hunting a dangerous Manticore. Cue a cure worse than the disease, a horrific set of tests, and a hunk whose jawline can cut diamonds. A tale as old as 2015.
Read if You Like: monsters from Greek myth, sin and sex, flintlock with a dusting of magic and artifice
Avoid if You Dislike: series openers that feel like a prologue, worldbuilding that prioritizes atmosphere over substance,
What Worked For Me:
Once we got past the exposition, I came to terms with the fact that I was here for the romance. This would probably be a book that I’d classify as New Adult, but that label seems to be falling out of style. It’s a fairly straightforward Romantasy with an author with a knack for capturing male desire. While Cassius’ grappling with religion and internalized homophobia isn’t the best I’ve seen (Greenwode probably wins that award in the Romantasy arena), there was a very delightful scene with the two of them in confessional, pretending they weren’t fucking with a Priest on the other side of the wall. Burr isn’t the first to do this, not by a long shot, but he has a lovely ability to use romance and sex to make the ‘downtime’ portions of story just as important as the ‘main’ storyline.
This avoided a lot of the things that can bug me about Gay Romance, without taking itself overly seriously. While our core love match is trauma-bonding at an incredible rate, their relationship never feels stable or secure (it shouldn’t! Now when they’ve only really known each other for a few weeks). Cassius is definitely a bottom with less aggressive masculine energy (and vice versa), but their relationship feels decidedly queer. This is not a story that picks up heterosexual relationship dynamics and inserts them into a queer story. It’s the type of good Genre Romance that feels like I’m the target audience, not an incidental bonus to the straight gaze. Not enough pulpy queer fantasy really leans into this type of love story, and I loved every second.
What Didn’t Work for Me:
The biggest sin of this book is that the monsters aren’t scary. The combats aren’t as tense as I would have hoped for. The characters are terrorized from beasts of myth that can kill a monster with less effort than it takes us to lay out a mousetrap. Everyone is breaking their moral compass into a million pieces just to survive, and that’s before they face the challenges of the entrance exam. I kept tapping my feet so that we could get back to Leo and Cassius talking to each other again. It doesn’t help that the one good fight we get sees one of our leads with what should be a permanent disability, but which gets resolved immediately, posing no barrier to his monster-hunting future. The fantasy portions of this story lacked the same sense of stakes, pacing, and tension as the romantic half.
The other element holding Teras Trials back was the characters’ relationship with their setting. I had to keep reminding myself that characters don’t know the genre of the story they’re in. What do you mean you didn’t expect Teras to feature in the overly-secretive and deadly entrance exam to the Teras hunting school? And … actually I do think the characters need to own a bit of their stupidity, especially since they spent the whole book rehashing the same talking points about how this place was really a hell. This might have hit a bit harder if I’d bought into the tension of monster attacks. As it stood, the combination of low stakes and clunky worldbuilding to drive simple plot devices meant that my suspension of disbelief never fully manifested.
It was the type of the book that was enjoyable, good even, but which kept me at arms length from sinking into the story like I wanted.
Conclusion: Good for Romantasy fans, but likely won’t satisfy for a more general speculative fiction audience
- Characters: 4
- Setting: 2
- Craft: 3
- Themes: 3
- Enjoyment: 4
