Author: Matt Doyle
Release Date: May 8, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-947139-03-9
Cover Artist: Natasha Snow
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Word Count: 56000
Sex Content: N/A
Orientation: Lesbian
Identity: Cisgender

​RATING: 4.5 stars

When I was studying English Extension as a Year 12 student, we spent the year focused on a genre study of crime fiction. One of our set texts was Marele Day's The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender, a gritty urban crime fiction written in a very traditional style, but with a unique (for the time) female protagonist. The reason I bring this up, is that I couldn't help thinking about that book quite a lot whilst I was reading ADDICT. You need to ignore the GoodReads ratings of Day's book, because it's been skewed heavily by resentful teenagers who were tired of the book after studying it. It's dated now (over 30 years later), but Harry Lavender infused pre-WWII crime fiction conventions with fresh, contemporary elements of gender, as well as a real sense of place, with the city of Sydney treated as a character in its own right.

Matt Doyle's ADDICT, though a rather different beast from Harry Lavender, is intelligent and fresh in much the same way Day's book was in the late 80s. A crime is committed and, of course, as time goes on, our detective is led through a series of twists and turns to finally lead her to a thrilling conclusion, where all the puzzle pieces fall into place - a satisfying conclusion is provided, as you'd expect from a detective story.

Set in the near future, Addict combines the engrossing, tenebrous elements of 1930s noir crime fiction with the spectacle and possibility of science fiction. Cassie Tam is, in many ways, a traditional sleuth protagonist, right down to the glock, the dingy apartment, and the social isolation. But Cassie also has a metallic gargoyle as her security guard, and has to delve into the nefarious world of technology addiction as a means to solve the case at the heart of the story. Her client also happens to be a Tech Shifter, someone who uses specially designed machinery to transform into an animal as a form of escapism. Cool, right?

The characters are engaging and memorable, slowly building relationships and inviting us into their psyches. Given this is the first story of a series, the characterisation has been handled well. There's a sweet romance developing by the end of the book, but it hasn't been explored so much as to make subsequent books almost pointless, Doyle has left space to move with the romance -- a wise move, I think!

Setting and atmosphere are amongst the strongest elements of ADDICT. By the end of the novel, I felt connected to the city of New Hopeland. I understood its history, its evolution, and its almost fetishist underbelly, where even crime is driven by zealotry. I'd have no reservations recommending this book!

​You can buy an ecopy here, and a paperback here.

Reviewed by Rebecca.

GENRE: Historical Romance

RATING: Four stars

PAIRING: F/F

REVIEW

Jae is one of those writers that I kept hearing about, especially given how active she has been, working to become a fairly prolific writer in the world of "lesfic" by producing a huge number of books as well as being an editor for YLVA. As such, I thought it was time I finally read something of hers. I must admit to not having been a huge fan of Radclyffe despite all of the hype surrounding her (and that's a shaky limb to stand on, really, because it almost seems blasphemous to not love everything Radclyffe writes), but with Jae, I can certainly see why her work is so popular. (As a side note... it's not that I don't appreciate Rad's work, but I don't personally feel the need to read any more of her books after having read two of them. Everyone has their preferences, right?)

Backwards to Oregon is a well-researched historical fiction, though the research was focused on geography more so than the history of the era. Don't get me wrong, the historical context is handled well, but if you're looking for the level of social and political depth you might find in a Sarah Waters novel, this isn't what you'll find here. That said, the aspects of this world Jae has engaged with makes it all quite convincing. Her depth about the nature of Oregon Trail itself and how people had to navigate the various challenges along the trail makes it quite an immersive novel.

It's great to read books with characters who aren't strictly 'binary' lesbians, with Luke existing somewhere undefined on the gender spectrum and Nora perhaps being (though labels aren't ever applied - which is AWESOME) bisexual, or at least very fluid in her understanding of her own body and desires. Luke is not established as being entirely trans, but nor is she strictly 'female' in her gender identity, preferring to live her life within the safety and comfort that being a man offered her at that time in America's colonial history.

Luke and Nora are enjoyable characters overall. Both of them experience a very clear line of personal growth, questioning their own perceptions and choices in the face of various types of adversity. At times, though, I found aspects of their personal transformations a little bit forced. This was especially true towards the end where Nora's insecurities started to feel unreasonable to me given what had already taken place, and given Luke's HUGE leap in sharing her true sex with some of the people around her. But take that with a grain of salt, given that I picked this book up for the genre elements (I love historical fiction) as well as the Twelfth Night-esque story line of Luke's hidden sexual identity, rather than for the angsty romance. Reader expectations and interests are impossible to cater for, as every reader is so different. If you liked Lise MacTague's trilogy, think of this book as having a similar story-line, swapping the sci-fi elements for old Western nostalgia. That's a good thing, by the way.

This is the ultimate in 'slow burn' genre romance, and that's probably exactly what many readers want. For me personally, some aspects were too slow. It felt, at times, like every part of the journey to Oregon was "the hardest" or "the worst" part of the journey. I also skipped a few pages due to reading what felt like extensive and repetitive detail about how the wagons were moved up and down steep hills and across bodies of water. I love descriptions of nature, but the repetition of some sections felt unnecessary and I didn't think it added much to the story in the last thirty percent of the book. This was a minor point overall, and didn't detract much from my enjoyment.

This was, overall, a well-executed story that kept me coming back to my Kindle when I should have been getting some work done or maybe even been, you know, parenting my children. There are a lot of writers I want to discover, a lot of stories I want to read, so it's definitely a huge compliment to the author that I'm interested to read some more of what Jae has published.

You can purchase an e-copy here.