Title: Want, Love, Need
Author: Mike Shade
Length: 6,100 words
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: m/m fantasy
Rating: D+
Blurb:
Eoan is a hunter, who lives happily in the woods. It’s a simple good life, one that’s changed forever when a mage appears in his path from a place and time not here. To Eoan’s surprise, Daniel not only survives as they face the Red Dragon and other difficulties, but Eoan begins to enjoy the mage’s company. Enjoy it and more. Could it be that Daniel feels the same way?
Review:
I picked this up because I fancied a fantasy short. It tells of a hunter Eoan who has picked up a strange companion in Daniel, a mage who suddenly appeared one day. The story follows the pair as they develop their relationship whilst fighting off the nasties that can appear in the woods.
I liked the initial idea of this book and was interested to know how Daniel had managed to magic himself across time and also what Eoan’s life entails as a hunter. Unfortunately this story turned out to be PWP. There are four sex scenes crammed into the story and all my questions are left unanswered. We never discover where Daniel came from or how he managed to appear (except that it was a spell gone wrong). The pair exist in a bubble and I wondered how Eoan manages to survive alone or whether he has friends and family. I quite liked the first sex scene which bridges that tricky move from companions to lovers with a certain amount of aplomb, but each sex scene after that lost my interest further until I all but skimmed the last one. I was disappointed that what could have been a mix of erotic content and some story to the characters, sidelined the story for the sex so we know nothing about them at the end, except that they have fallen in love and become possessive. The tired and overused use of the phrases ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ during sex as asort of shortcut to reasoned discussion of feelings was another aspect of the book which I found disappointing.
Those of you who are looking for one of those typical TQ PWP stories will be happy with this one. I was in the mood for something more in terms of character development so this one was a bit of a flop for me.
What a disappointment
Although, I didn’t really expect that it would be super great. Still, I’ll probably pass this one. I also hate the ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ talk, as well as when the author drops pronouns completely. It’s just.. annoying, lol.
I wouldn’t mind the ‘mine/yours’ thing if it wasn’t so overused. Certain authors seem to use it a lot now so it loses its uniqueness. Perhaps if you were in the mood for several sex scenes strung together with a bit of plot, you may enjoy it.
It’s certainly not calling my name. The whole mine-yours thing can get a bit overdone for sure. And they live in the forest all alone, doesn’t sound like there were many other options. Possessive over what, the local wildlife? “Stay away from that woodchuck damn it, you’re mine!”
Well there was a dragon and a griffin who tried to eat the mage, so I suppose he was being possessive over things that might kill and eat his chap
.
LOL, Tam!!