Best Gay Sci-Fi/Futuristic (1° place): Light of the Body by Mark Alders

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Recently I had to forget a lot my rule to always reading series in their order, but Light of the Body won the Rainbow Award for Best Gay Sci-Fi, and so of course I was too curious to read it as soon as possible. More, Mark Alders already arrived in the final three positions in the Fantasy genre last year, so this young author is building an impressive portfolio of awards.

Truth be told, not Fantasy or Sci-fi is really my cup of tea, but Light of the Body is more a comedy/horror/splatter adventure than an heavy sci-fiction setting. Even if I haven’t read the previous book in the Pembroke Eve Chronicles, I can presume the main characters are the same; at the beginnin of this second book, Jacob and Callum are leaving together with Jacob’s parents and they are blissfully happy; now if you are thinking that living with the parents is not exactly a way to prove your independency, you have to know that Callum is only 19 years old, the other male charater, Zane, is barely 18 years old and so I suppose Jacob is not much older. This and the splatter movie feeling, endorses my feeling that this is like one of those ’80 movies where unaware, and unwilling, teenagers save the world.

From tidbit here and there, the reader is able to understand that there was an alien invasion in the small Australian town of Pembroke Eve. Callum, Jacob, Zane and Suzy, all teenagers, with the help of the old Mr. Barnaby saved the city, and supposedly the world. Now Jacob’s parents are more than happy to let the boys rest and relax, and they welcomed Callum in their home. That is another point of the story that I noticed, the homosexuality of Callum and Jacob seems to not arise any issue in the small town, but maybe this is due to the fact that Jacob and Callum are not the heroes of the day.

Another thing that I noticed is the attitude of Callum and Jacob towards sex and relationships; they have an open to possibilities attitude, and having sex with someone else is not forbidden, but having it together in a menages a trois is better. And so when Callum is temporarily incapacitated, and Jacob has to find another hero for the day, Zane is ready, and now is also legal, even if barely, and of course he is the chosen one.

If you don’t like the horror splatter genre, this is probably not your cup of tea, but sincerely, the light tones are enough to ease the general “yeak” reaction to some of the more bloody scenes. So in the end, Light of the Body is more comedy than drama.



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Amazon Kindle: Light of the Body

Series: Pembroke Eve Chronicles
1) Shadows of the Mind
2) Light of the Body

Reading List:



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