Captain's Surrender, by Alex Beecroft

[rowyn]

The poly-romance story I've been writing lately includes a prominent male/male relationship. As it happens, this is a genre I've never actually read*, although I've written scenes in it before. I am not really determined to find a poly-romance -- I am sure they exist, but it's so niche that I don't know that I would enjoy anything I found. But I figured I could at least read some m/m romance.

I remembered that haikujaguar had recommended some Age-of-Sail m/m romance a while back, and the magic of LJ tags let me find the review entry again, so I decided last night to pick up this one.

I was a little hesitant to start it, because let me just begin with what a horrible, horrible time-and-place the British Navy in the late 18th century was for two men to fall in love. This is a time period when sodomy was a hanging offense, and ships offered zero privacy. Welcome to Crapsack Universe, please do not enjoy your stay. But I was in the mood for reading a romance and annoyed trying to craft the one I've been writing, so I started it this morning anyway.

And omigosh it has some wonderful romance. Chapter eleven! ♥ Incredibly sweet.

After twelve Aubrey/Maturin books, the naval scenes in Captain's Surrender felt plausible but lightweight by comparison. Beecroft does convey the sense of the time and period well -- I never got the feeling she glossed over things because she didn't know them. More a sense that the book was written for romance readers rather than to appeal to Age-of-Sail buffs, and accordingly Beecroft explained more when she did put in details, and left out a lot. Some things felt a little off, history-wise: for instance, when the characters in Captain's Surrender talk about prizes, they invariably mean pirates and arms-smugglers. In the Aubrey/Maturin books, the vast majority of prizes are the merchant ships of enemy nations. This struck me as an effort to make the characters appeal more to modern sensibilities, and rubbed me the wrong way. Other things are horrifyingly right -- the impact a tyrannical captain can have on a ship, for example.

At points, events felt seriously contrived in the name of creating dramatic tension, which also annoyed me. And as haikujaguar pointed out in her review, the typical romance-novel happy ending (which the book does provide) does not feel convincing in the setting. I don't know if it "needs a sequel" so much as I am still worried for these poor characters trapped in their crapsack universe.

But overall, I found the story compelling, the protagonists likable if occasionally bastards, and the romantic sequences heart-melting. I had a great time with this book, and if there'd been fewer contrivances in the events leading up to the ending, I would give it a 9. As it is, more of an 8. If you like romance (and do not object to it being m/m), a delightful read. If you want historical Age of Sail fiction -- well, you really should read the Aubrey/Maturin books -- but this was surprisingly good on the historical fiction count too. Far better than the typical Regency romance in terms of grounding the characters in a realistic depiction of the period. There is some semi-explicit erotica (generally in the romance-novel tradition of avoiding explicit language) and swearing, but not a great deal.

* I lie! I lie like a rug. How could I forget The Heritage of Hastur and chapter twenty-three, which I read approximately two thousand times as a kid? Not technically a romance, I suppose, but I loved it for the romance. But I actually had forgotten about it until I started writing this review. There may've been some other m/m romance subplots in books I read a a kid.

Comments

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

The author of the book is on Livejournal! And is really sweet (like her books!). You should tell her about your review. :) It's alex_beecroft (fancy that).

[rowyn]

*rather shyly does so*

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

I think I reviewed this book a while back- I can dig it up if you're interested.

This genre (m/m romance) is my playground at the moment *cough* so if you want recommendations I can give you some more. I tend to find some good books through Amazon's forum, too.

[rowyn]

I am always looking for recommendations! (Although my current backlog of unread books is sizable, so it may be a while before I get to new ones, but still! Recommend me some stuff. I keep track of 'em.)

And I am curious about your review, too. :)

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

My review ishere.

I'll have to think about/gather titles for you. :D M/M romance is a really hot, growing field right now so if there's a particular thing you're interested in (science fiction, werewolves (oh gods so many gay werewolf books), historical) it would help narrow it down.

[alinsa.livejournal.com]

I seriously don't believe I'm going to ask this question, but like watching that car wreck on the side of the road I just... can't... resist...

Canids typically mean knots. Do the gay werewolf books go there?

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

Hahahah I've heard knotting is very popular in the Teen Wolf fandom (not a fandom I'm involved with at all, I just see things on Tumblr. 0_o). But in the few shifter books I've read, both men seem to be 100% human while having sex. I don't recall any knots in the couple of books I've read.The characters seem to be 100% animal or 100% human, none of those in-between states, and as animals they have different priorities.

[rowyn]

Now that you mention it, the way the shifter romance genre never employs shifting in any way during sex is kind of disappointing. I guess authors think it'd be squicky or something? But yeah, all the werewolf romance I've read doesn't have any sex scenes where the protagonists are not 100% human form.

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

Actually, now that I think about it, I believe Lisanne Norman did a form of "knotting" with her female human, male cat alien couple in her books.

[alinsa.livejournal.com]

Never... employs... shifting...

So, let me get this straight. They take romance. They make it somewhat novel by adding werewolves or whatever. And then they remove the novelty by removing the werewolf part from the romance part. Oooo-kay!

(I know that sex != romance, and who knows, maybe they play it up by having them spend half the book in wolf form sniffing each other or something, and then right at the end going "oh, hey, human now!"... but that's probably even worse!)

[rowyn]

I can't speak for Okojosan's experiences, but the werewolf romance I've read plays up the cultural angle of werewolves and other shifters, so you get lots of stuff about the way pack instincts affect their behavior, or quasi-mystical connections like "his wolf-soul accepts hers as mate". The pack behavior is 'inspired by' actual wolf packs, not modeled on it, so it's designed for maximum emotional impact from the human-reader perspective. Same with biology. You get lots of extra goofy-emotional stuff by virtue of employing magic, which would be impossible to jjustify in a non-fantasy setting.

[alinsa.livejournal.com]

Ehhhh. That sounds... potentially pretty cringe-worthy. It seems like a way to manipulate characters without really having to be able to plausibly explain their behaviors, just this hand-wavey "oh, it's the wolf part talking." But maybe it could work if really well thought through. I may be trying to over-think things, given that I'm not certain I've ever actually read a romance novel.

I think what I like about the concept of more shifty/animaly things is the (potential) decoupling of the relationship parts from some of the human... entanglements. Humans are good at complicating things, I like (at least in concept) the idea of needs just being needs, and being this kind of feral and uncontrolled part of the interactions between characters. There's a certain purity to it that appeals to me, although I'm certain I'm doing a lousy job expressing it. Things are always so much clearer in my head!

[rowyn]

In some cases, it's really cringe-worthy. In others, it works well in more of anthropological exploring-alternative-cultures way. It depends on the writer. Patricia Briggs has some good books in the genre. The Mercy Thompson books (starting with Moon Called are more urban fantasy with a romance side plot; her Alpha and Omega series (starts with a short story, "Alpha and Omega", and continues in a novel, Cry Wolf) is more romance with an urban fantasy side plot.

[rowyn]

Hmm. My tastes in romance especially are not well-described by typical genre categories. What I like in a romance:

* Exploration of intense emotion -- not *just* love itself, but the uncertainty surrounding new love and other attendant feelings. Fear of being hurt, of doing inadvertent harm, desire, need to please, misery of perceived rejection, inevitable fallout from misunderstandings, and ultimate accord when the various obstacles are cleared. I prefer this kind of thing be explored in loving and perhaps excessive detail. :D I can forgive quite a lot of other flaws in a story that does this kind of thing well.
* Multiple viewpoint characters. I feel like the best parts of a romance go on inside the protagonists' heads, so I dislike seeing only one view of them.
* Likable protagonists who enjoy one another's company and find each other loveable. (A non-romance reader would think this last redundant, but I bet you know EXACTLY what I mean. I really hate the 'I hate him but I lust after him so I guess this is love let's get married' trope.)

Things I dislike:
* Jealousy and possessiveness, especially when cast as proof of True Love. YUCK.
* Love triangles where one or the other must be chosen, especially when coupled with the above.
* love at first sight -- not a dealbreaker, there are plenty of good love-at-first-sight romances, but generally I prefer my characters to love each other based on experience and actions and not Magikal Special Connection.
* Heavy reliance on contrivances to drive the story. You know, like where the protagonists are repeatedly forced together or apart by highly unlikely events. I don't mind a remarkable coincidence or maybe two, but when they start stacking up it throws me out of the story.

Other genre stuff -- historical, sf, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal, whatever -- is not so much the issue. I like 'em all, even contemporary. :)

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

Okay, probably the most important question- do you have a Kindle or Kindle app? :D I get most of my m/m books as e-books.

Right off the top of my head, you might like the Raised by Wolves series. There are four books. The first two have the most to do with the two main characters' relationship, the latter two have to do with family complications (which I can understand given the time period, but is not one of my favorite things to read about.) The first two books are among my favorites, I love the protagonists and the buccaneer stuff. I'm about due for a reread on these, actually.

[rowyn]

Yes, I've got a Kindle app for my phone (and occasionally use it on my desktop). I do most of my reading from the library, but i suspect the library may fail me on the m/m romance genre. :D

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

I can loan you some books from my Kindle collection, too.

[rowyn]

Oh that'd be awesome!

[alinsa.livejournal.com]

I am still worried for these poor characters trapped in their crapsack universe.

I'm thinking that this is probably the official way to tell that someone did a good job with their characters. ;)

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Presumably not *every* universe is crapsack. o.o;

[rowyn]

Thank goodness no!

Although one reason I tend to read and write fantasy is that the real world is too depressing. c_c The real past, much more so. I know there were good things about earlier time periods but whenever I think about living in them, I am incredibly put-off by the fact that I can't imagine not killing myself from sheer misery at my failure to live up to the roles expected of me. c_c

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Also, no internet.

That ruins a lot of fantasy worlds for me, too.

[alinsa.livejournal.com]

Don't *make* me flog you with a noodle!

[rowyn]

It's one way, I suppose. ;) The past really is a scary scary place.

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

I wonder if future people will think that about our present? Prolly *g*

[rowyn]

I am sure of it! "Most people in the 21st century were something called 'employees' which was a stepup from 'indentured servants' which, in turn, had been an improvement on 'serfs' and 'slaves'. Still, the restrictions and privations of employees -- laboring for 40 hours a week doing mind-numbing work with little or no privacy, penalized and perhaps 'fired' for tardiness or absenteeism -- are shocking to modern sensibilities." :)