Review of ‘The audacity’ by Laura Loup
I have to be honest that this read was a struggle for me. The only reason I am even giving this book 3 stars is that the writing quality is there (except for the use of ‘irregardless’) what wasn’t there was my personal enjoyment. The other ratings/reviews are all high so I do want to point out that I’m an outlier here.
Anyone who follows my reviews knows I love books with imagination and that are different, I crave variety. I love sci-fi and thought this oddball book would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me at all. This book is supposed to be filled with humor and in the same vein as A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I read Hitchhiker’s at least 15 years ago so the little I do remember I can see this having a similar flavor, the problem was I didn’t find this funny at all. Not only did I not laugh out loud, I never even really smiled. I do need to be clear that I seemed to have broken my book funny bone so again your mileage may vary.
Since I read/review mostly lesfic, I want to make clear I would not call this lesfic but instead call it a book with LGBTQ characters. There were four main characters and a couple of strong secondary characters. The main characters were split into two groups most of the book. One included a human woman who I believed was asexual and her alien friend who was pansexual. The other two main characters were a bisexual human male and a lesbian alien. These are educated guesses since sexuality doesn’t play much of a roll in outer space. There are no sex scenes, and only one wlw kissing scene that happens in the background.
I think this is a book for you plot lovers out there as the characters were not all that likeable. It’s not necessarily that they were unlikable it was that I just didn’t care about any of them. The only one I was remotely interested in was IX (that’s her name, I’m guessing pronounce Nine) but she was around the least of the main characters and I know almost nothing about her. It looks like the author is creating more stories with these characters so maybe she will get a chance to shine but I won’t be continuing.
I do think this is a book that you have to be a sci-fi fan to enjoy. I also recommend that you like oddball comedies so maybe you will find funny what I was missing. This author can write there is no doubt, so if you like to read an LGBTQIA sci-fi book don’t let my review dissuade you. This just wasn’t for me personally.
A copy was given by the author for an honest review.
3 Responses
While I read sci-fi like a fish needs water, I don’t read stuff that’s “specifically” LBGTQ+… but a lot of what I read has characters who, let’s say, aren’t picky about who they partner with. The “trick” about such things is that as the author, you can make such things an issue within the main story or treat it like it’s no big deal; a few books I’ve read have had characters who were considered oddballs because they held true to the “old ways” of having sex and relationships like being heterosexual and monogamous… while the rest of the universe is happy in their freedoms.
I’d guess that authors who include this dynamic in their writings are, perhaps, sending a message: It’s no big deal; get on board with it or not – and if people are looking at you strangely because you’re not on board, you might be the one with issues and not the other way around.
It is really nice to see LGBTQ characters becoming so much more common in sci-fi. I like the “no big deal” way as it has a better chance of becoming the norm and maybe eventually we won’t even have to mention when there are LGBTQ characters because it will just be so common and expected.
I know it makes me feel good that there’s no fussing about same-sex stuff in some books; one day, science fiction will once more become science fact and sexuality won’t ever be an issue and, yeah, if you’re not at least bisexual, you’re the weirdo.