Gay – Page 8 – Marked for Plot

Masks of the Miscam (Noss Saga #2)

I was so excited when I saw that Wolf of Withervale was a finalist for the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off! I left that book feeling a lot of joy at finding an old-school epic fantasy that leaned into queer identities and culture. It had its flaws (which largely continue in book 2) but I’m really enjoying this doorstopper series filled with ancient artifacts, massive armies, and a lot of gigantic animals. I was disappointed, but perhaps not surprised, at the lukewarm response it got compared to other finalists, and thrilled that this series is getting more eyes on it . This review won’t avoid spoilers for book 1, and you can see my review for that book here.

The Premise:
This book starts with Withervale burning. Lago & Company need to escape with two armies hunting them and start finding other mask users to help them chart their course. This book takes them to a few domes, but the majority of the time is spent in the dome of felines, which gets the most cultural worldbuilding of anywhere so far. This book will also asnwer some key questions about the history of Noss, trace progress of the Red Stag (and several other characters who aren’t present with Lago on his journey) and generally speaking expand the scope of the worldbuilding. This book sees another romantic subplot, but unlike in book 1, it doesn’t overwhelm the story in such an abrupt tonal shift, and instead fits more neatly into the epic fantasy structure the rest of the book follows.

Read if Looking For: 90s style Epic Fantasy but Queer, Indulgent Worldbuilding, Tropes Played Straight

Avoid if You Don’t Like: Infodumps, Self-Insert Main Characters, Explicit Sex Scenes

Falconsaga

Falconsaga made it on my reading list as one of the rare books about queer men written by a queer man that I’ve found so far published this year. While I thought the representation did a great job of presenting gay men as humans independent of their romantic and sexual identities, I generally found the book to be on the disappointing side, especially after a few Urban Fantasy books that really blew me away. However, for those looking for something that dives into Icelandic folklore, I think it would be a great fit. I’m also very much in the minority so far based on other reviews, so take my opinions with a grain of salt.

Read if Looking For: prophecies, tragic backstories, sinister family members, Icelandic myth, grounded gay representation

Avoid if Looking For: tightly plotted books, subtle foreshadowing, page-turners, critical takes on magical age-gap relationships

A Strange & Stubborn Endurance (Tithenai Chronicles #1)

A recent friend of mine works at a local romance-focused bookstore. When I asked about great gay romantasy books, this was one of the first titles to come to her mind. And while I don’t think this touches on some of my all time favorites, there’s a lot of good things happening in A Strange and Stubborn Endurance that you don’t find in many other romance/fantasy hybrids. I’m curious to see what the sequel brings to the table, as it felt fairly resolved in book 1, but I’m definitely going to read it.

The Premise
Velasin is an unimportant child of a minor(ish) noble, and never expected to play any sort of significant role in his country’s politics. However, when he ends up engaged to a noblewoman from a neighboring country in an attempt to broker peace, he doesn’t know what to do. Homosexuality is taboo in his country, so he can’t even protest his father. When the ambassador who arrives to collect him sees Velasin being raped by his ex-partner, she mistakenly assumes a consensual act, and shifts Velasin’s betrothal to a nobleman: Caethari, the athletic scion of a noble house with little interest in ruling. However, their betrothal, marriage, and falling in love (in that order) is marred by a serious of brutal attacks that seek to either kill one of them, or to wreck the marriage (and the new alliance) before it can ever start.

Read if Looking For: Romantasy, traditional romance tropes and plotlines, serious considerations of sexual assault, wholesome leads

Avoid if Looking For: lots of magic, political intrigue, characters that aren’t pure good/evil

Three Meant to Be (Branches of Past and Future #1)

Magic school stories are a dime a dozen, and I do love stories of meddling kids and incompetent teachers. However, when Three Meant to Be was pitched to me as a Magic school story from the perspective of a teacher (and a gay teacher no less) it was an easy add to my tbr. I don’t think it totally scratched that itch in particular, but it was a damned fun book to read, and I’m excited for the direction it seems to be headed.

As an aside, happy teacher appreciation week to anyone working in schools! The work we do is important, essential, and tough. Keep on trucking.

The Premise:
Dorian is a high school teacher. Specifically, he teaches aspiring witches how to use their magic safely and effectively. He’s a telepath with a rocky ex-boyfriend with current benefits situation with the most famous enchanter in Chicago, a pair of absolutely adorable cats, and a lot of bottled up grief. When he sees a vision of one of his new students being brutally murdered however, he swears to do whatever it will take to save his charge.

Read If You’re Looking For: a twist on classic magic school stories, quick pacing, grumpy leads who smoke too many cigarettes, loveable casts

Avoid if Looking For: deeply realistic portrayals of teacher life, nonhuman characters, epic and dramatic twists

Silver in the Wood (Greenhollow Duology #1)

Silver in the Wood has been sitting on my bookshelf for a long time. Too long, to be honest. It has a sterling (and I think, well earned) reputation as an excellent novella featuring a gay lead, can be read in 1-2 sittings, and has immaculate vibes. It’s not a perfect book, but it was incredibly satisfying for the length of time I spent with it. Also, some of the best cover art I’ve seen in a good long while.

Elevator Pitch
Tobias is a woodsman. Or rather, he is a man of the woods, and has been for 400 years. He’s got some magic, but not as much as his Dryad friends, and mostly just tries to keep things quiet. Silver has purchased the woods and a bit more, and quickly sets to asking Tobias (and everyone else) far too many questions about local history. He particularly enjoys spending time with Tobias, but the weight of history presses down on Tobias, keeping him from accepting Silver’s overtures. In Greenhollow though, summer is dangerous, especially for pretty young men who are new to town.

Read if You’re Looking For: stories invoking folklore, redemption, bossy mothers, romantic subplots

Avoid if You’re Looking For: flirting with chemistry, tightly plotted books, satisfying explanations

Swordspoint (Riverside #1)

In terms of queer Fantasy, Swordspoint is one of those titles that gets thrown out a lot in terms of early representation. It’s also a seminal work in the Fantasy of Manners genre, and has a sequel following different characters decades later which I adored (you absolutely can read Privilege of the Sword first, though I anticipate most readers would prefer to start here). In the end I had more reservations about Swordspoint than Privilege, but I’m happy I read it and think there’s a lot to love here.

The Premise
Richard and Alex live in Riverside, a den of thieves and vice. Alex’s past is a mystery, but the former university student has a particular talent for cutting comments. Richard is a duelist, the best in town at the moment, hired by nobles to settle disputes and defend honor. They end up dragged into the plots of nobility, each of whom has an agenda of their own to try and gather as much possible without caring much who gets hurt.

Read If Looking For: dining room intrigue scenes, strict codes of honor, queer rep from the 80s,

Avoid if Looking For: lead characters with agency, conversations where the subtext is explained, romance plot structures

Liar City (Sugar & Vice #1)

Liar City should have had the perfect ingredients to make this an excellent book for me. It’s a thriller with a queer male lead, with romantic tension that doesn’t dominate the story. Unfortunately, I found this book to be rather underwhelming. I don’t regret reading it, and think it will be a great fit for some, but it isn’t going to stick with me for any appreciable length of time.

The Premise
Reece is an Empath, one of only two in Seattle. He can sense the emotions of others, though he wears special gloves to avoid physical contact and protect both himself and others. Recently, he started developing the ability to read emotions from a distance, and to tell truth from lies. Plant that with a backdrop of a law pushing for increasing regulation of Empath’s lives and job opportunities, throw in the murder of the sponsoring senator, and Reece’s part time job as a police consultant got a lot more interesting. Only this case is joined by the mysterious Dead Man, an urban legend said to hunt rogue empaths with almost unlimited government clearance. The two spend a rather eventful day together to try and stop a series of events that could lead to the change of Empath’s everyday lives forever.

Read if Looking For: brooding men with southern accents, unethical corporate machinations, running jokes about texting while driving, extremely slow burn romance series

Avoid if Looking For: adrenaline inducing reads, romances resolved in a single book, deeply realized characters

The Tomb of Dragons (Cemetaries of Amalo #3)

The ghost of a dead dragon; a tragic backstabbing in an opera; a man finally beginning to summon the will to move past condemning his own love to death. The Tomb of Dragons finishes the trilogy that Witness for the Dead started. In the end, I thought this was the weakest entry of the series, but it was well worth the read, and Addison continues to stand out as an author who staunchly refuses to adhere to modern conventions of how fantasy books ‘should’ read.

The Premise:
Book 2 of this series ended with Thara’s magic destroyed after a traumatic incident. It picks up with a death in an opera house, the disappearance of a noble in danger of fomenting rebellion, and a completely dysfunctional cemetery that Thara has been set by the Archprelate to get back on track. As with the other books in this series, it floats between plotlines smoothly, but the central one concerns a graveyard of dragons, and a ghost that seeks justice for its death hundreds of years ago.

Read If Looking For: slice of life following a death priest with depression, comically evil corporations, gay leads in non-romance books

Avoid if Looking For: books without cross-series references, mysteries, fast pacing

The Bright Sword

Lev Grossman hasn’t been my favorite author. The Magicians Trilogy didn’t resonate with me, and I found myself in a constant cycle of interest in the ideas he pursues but finding myself disengaged while reading. The Bright Sword generally continues that trend, where I can recognize that there’s lots to love in this interesting take on Arthurian myth, but one that I found myself skimming through. Full disclosure however, I read this book in the middle of packing to move, and probably would have benefitted from something lighter/more popcorny at that point in my life.

The Premise:
Collum is an aspiring Knight of the Round Table. He’s only got a stolen suit of armor to his name and a backful of scars from an abusive guardian. When he arrives, he finds Arthur is dead, Merlin is buried, and most of the accomplished knights missing, murdered, or maimed. He, Merlin’s traitor apprentice, and some of the lesser-known knights of the round table go on a quest (well, quests) to secure the future of their great country. Throughout this, we get quite a few backstory chapters for various characters, slipping back and forth between Collum’s present and his companions’ pasts.

Read if Looking For: queer(ish) Arthurian tales, self-insert protagonists, sassy muslim immigrants, unknowable magic

Avoid if Looking For: consistent prose style, historically consistent worldbuilding, Arthurian writing featuring the classic characters

A Fractured Infinity

If I had to pick a single book from last year that I fell in love with, it would be Welcome to Forever, by Nathan Tavares. It was ambitious, unabashedly queer, and wasn’t afraid to have characters make toxic (but realistic) decisions. A Fractured Infinity is Tavares’ only other published long form work (though I highly recommend his short story Missed Calls if you want to spend some time crying into the night). I saved this book specifically for my first read of r/Fantasy’s 2025 bingo challenge, and it was a great start. This book didn’t place Tavares as my all-time favorite author, but he has made the ‘must read’ list.

The Premise
Hayes is an indie documentary filmmaker who is grappling with the suicide of his only real friend, when he gets summoned to a secretive research facility. Yusuf is the assistant director of that facility, in charge of research into a device that can tell the future, and the past, and comes from another universe where alternate versions of Hayes and Yusuf are married. This book follows Hayes’s growing entanglement in the research project, his actions when everything goes sideways, and balancing the value of Yusuf’s life against the fate of billions of others.

Read if You’re Looking For: captivating and unlikable protagonists, blunt depictions of queerness, android drag queens

Avoid if you’re Looking For: grounded Sci Fi, traditional romance tropes