If you want to know more about the plot, this is my review of the first book: Brethren
I think I'm ruined for future readings. YesP-E-R-F-E-C-T.
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If you want to know more about the plot, this is my review of the first book: Brethren
I think I'm ruined for future readings. Yes, I have amazing series in my read shelf but just finishing this book I have doubts about finding something that measures up to it.
Raised by Wolves provides everything I need in a book: romance, passion, history, adventure, friendship, laughs, angst, philosophy... It's a complicate mixture that could explode in your face if not taken care for delicately but the author manages to give everything and not bore with anything.
These books are food for thought, they leave me thinking about the characters and the conversations and the metaphors. There is pain and suffering, there is madness and danger, and all of that pass on me. But there is also snark and spice and all the fun, which made me laugh at the most unexpected moments. There are secondary characters I love but without them stealing the show. There are surprises, good and bad ones, and there are deaths and reencounters. Nothing is taken for granted because nothing is guaranteed. This series is as misbegotten as the characters are, and as the facts are, and as the mind is. And I love it for all of that.
Gaston and Will are... the same but not the same. That paradox of a man being himself but different after some time. I have been with them for more than 1000 pages now and they are still interesting to me. In fact, they are still an enigma for me and I want to know more about them because I feel what I had is not enough. Not yet. Their relationship is settled but nothing is stable. It grows and changes and I recognize the same electricity but it's not the same energy now. It's much better and stronger and it makes me wonder for the future they will face and the problems they still have to sort out.
There is tenderness, and violence and obsession in them and someone could say that is not healthy for neither of them but there is no desire to live long, just to live together. They are trying to find a way to not to destroy each other and I crave to see how they achieve that.
I'll finish my review in some days, for now I only have the updates. I have never had updated that many times before.
I read this one thanks to Ingela's review, and I said to myself, why not? It was a comic, it was short, I had a little while... It was fun! I'm glad II read this one thanks to Ingela's review, and I said to myself, why not? It was a comic, it was short, I had a little while... It was fun! I'm glad I read this, although normally I would avoid the topic like it was Voldemort!
Because Stockholm Syndrome is a short way to describe it.
The long way would be: it's a comic, it's a pirate story, just forget that thing and enjoy!
I'm glad I blinded myself because the pictures are damned erotic, and beautiful. It's a very simple plot and for an hour or so it's very enjoyable ;) .
***This is not a series. This is a single novel divided in 4 volumes.***
I’ve been 6 days reading this book.
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I’m not a fast reader, but I’m an av***This is not a series. This is a single novel divided in 4 volumes.***
I’ve been 6 days reading this book.
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I’m not a fast reader, but I’m an avid one. In my defense I must say it is quite long (540 pages) and the density of each one of them was surprisingly heavy.
Furthermore, the MC don’t meet till page 134.
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If you are scared at this, please, quit reading and forget about this book.
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But if you have curiosity as for why I loved Brethren so much, please, go on.
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This book is ambitious in more than one sense. Yeah, it’s a long book. Yeah, the setting is unusual and requires lots of research. Yeah, the MC are not bidimensional, instead a layer and a layer and a layer have been painted, so in the end they are alive and spirited and problematic, because it’s an understatement that it’s not easy to solve conflicts with that level of intelligence and conscience in such characters. It’s marvelous the way the author achieved to build minds and souls like those. Because, you see, Will is not the typical hero. And calling Gaston an anti-hero is a way too simple.
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In a certain fashion, this series reminds me of Diana Gabaldon’s one. It could be a coincidence Gaston is red haired, or ¿virgin?, or too scarred to be considered the result of a normal punishment for some mild crime. But he is not the only reason about this reminiscence, I also point to the growth of the characters. They are good bred by the author, they are cared for, they are ALIVE. I said this with awe, because I’m used to well defined characters in m/m, and even well developed, but once or twice I bump into a book like this one and I remember why I didn’t give 5 stars to those. It seems… unfair to do so. It doesn’t make justice to books like this one.
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“I do not wish to live without you.” “Nor do I.” “We will not allow that to happen to us. If we die, we die together.” “If you feel yourself mortally wounded, you will take me with you?” “Oui, with my dying breath I will kill you. Will you do the same?” “I do not know if I could.” “Neither do I, and if I knew I would die I would want you yo live.” “And I cannot imagine it without you. So we are back at the beginning.” “Let us not die.”
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“You give me hope.” “How so?” “If you can… do anything with a man then there is a chance I can learn how not to… slip into madness at any reminder of it.”
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It’s not that the events in the beginning are useless, it’s just that it seems the length of them is excessive. In any case, these chapters serve a purpose: to get to know our hero, Will, because we will definitely not know Gaston at his entire being. So I least we have a person to be intimate with.
Gaston leaned to me during the confusion and hissed, “Damn you, Will, we have not even made it through the soup and already you have threatened a priest and drive them from the house! Are you in such a hurry to return to our room?”
Will is an open-minded man who lives against the flow. He doesn't believe in God. He doesn't think women don't have a whole soul. He is raised like a wolf who feels the need to look for his sheep. He is a romantic at heart but it has cost him his soul. His pain is deep and he is still bleeding, but he manages to go on and enjoy the day. But nobody knows him, not really.
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Will is nonchalant and carefree, and his inner thoughts are the same: well constructed yet humorous, with the time-honored manner of speaking.
“They are like beasts,” he said with a tired sigh. “Oui, two beasts. I think they are quite beautiful. In my eye, men appear at their most powerful when they strain to reach that momentary perfection. Every muscle and sinew is taut, and for them there is nothing else except their bodies and the sensations. Fighting in concert, side by side, it is as if they storm the gates of Heaven demanding entry.”
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I was gripped with a red-hot fury like I had experienced few times in my life. I could not see him for the blood haze in my eyes. I sat very still, thinking that if I moved, I would spring upon him and strangle him. When I could trust myself to look at him, I found him glaring at me. His eyes glittered dangerously in the lamplight.
Sometimes it amused me, that way of explaining and being honest and using bigger words than we human in the twenty first century do. But sometimes it makes sense, not only because otherwise it would be anachronistic, but also because his romantic nature and breeding makes sense with the story he is going to start with Gaston. I think their love timeless and atemporal, but also I feel their tale wouldn’t be that heart wrenching and tender, in the naivete this period of time shows in some issues. I believe the epoch makes this story purer, cleaner and fresher, because no pollution comes from outside forces.
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“So what do centaurs do with their lives?” “Hide in caves.” “Oui, but when that grows dull.” “Become shepherds and physicians and train great heroes.” “Are we hiding in a cave?” “Oui, and in truth, Will, now that you are here I feel no need to leave it.”
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I don’t mean to sound metaphysical, sorry if I did.
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Now, the plot. But first, I have to say something about this era. The Golden Age of piracy comes between 1680-1720. We are in 1666, before the piracy rush but also in an important age. In this year London was burnt (although not for the first time). In this year the Spanish Empire held most of the colonies in the American continent (well, not Brazil because the union with Portugal ended some decades before), but Jamaica is new in the hands of Englishmen, which is destiny and home for buccaneers, filibusters and raiders.
“What do you feel centaurs should do?” “Be with other centaurs.” “And when that grows dull?” He grinned. “I do not foresee that.”
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In Europe, the Christendom is set in most of the territory. Will sells his sword to nobility and rich people in intrigues and conspiracies. He also is involved in more than one a woman trouble. Due to that, he had had to run from several countries and cities, and this is no exception.
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Tired of eluding risks and death menaces, he decides to come back home. His family there is… pleasant.
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Well, really, I felt more like this.
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So his… lovely father makes him take on the responsibility to lead a plantation in Jamaica. Will has no lost love between his relatives, so he gets on board to the West Indies. During the trip he meets interesting people, some of them with important roles afterwards, a few become friends, and others are enemies he must evade for the time being.
Dickey regarded the horizon thoughtfully. “I wish to find or grow love.” I swallowed a lump of meat I was not finished chewing, so that my mouth would be free to say nothing. “It will cost in ways you never consider, and it will be worth any price,” Gaston said.
Once on land, he discovers a thing or two about buccaneers and he is surprised to find more in common with them than with his peers. As a result, he considers embracing roving.
“I know now that I am not as scared of the possibility of you hating me for what we might do – as I am of me hating you for what we will not do.”
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“Non, truly,” he said, “I see us as the dark and the light. Two sides of the same thing. You are bright and shining and I am a thing of shadows.” “I will be your white horse and you can be my black.”
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And that’s when he meets Gaston the Ghoul. Be prepared because the trip will be rough.
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Gaston has issues.
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“I have given the matter great thought and I fear it is more a matter of lancing and draining and possibly even bleeding. There is one other time when it functions, though thankfully I have never acted upon it; and that is when the madness grips me.” “It is all tied together in some Gordian knot in your mind, is it not?”
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He has won a reputation as madness in person. His inner demons are spoken of, but not known about deeply. In a one word:
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“I lived because I could not die,” he breathed. “I gave no thought to the future. I was not careless with my life, but not careful either. I was mad before and I am mad now; it merely takes a different form. I was always alone. I think I hoped that eventually I would be unlucky and it would end.”
He is lonely and isolated. He has never thought about the future because there is no future worth living for. In his words, he is alive because he hasn’t died, but not because he is careful to be living. Until he catches Will in the street, and something within him stirs and recognizes him.
“Do I frighten you?” he asked. I found myself studying my hand, watching you see if it would succumb to the tremors again. “It is not you precisely,” I murmured. “The demon that possesses you manifest in rage and sorrow. My demon shows itself in fear and shame and sometimes melancholy. Yours just calls to mine, that is all.”
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One day they meet.
“I will fight it with you as best I am able,” he whispered. “But Will, I foresee a very long war.”
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The second day they set fire to a boat.
“I wish you to understand that I don’t find you… revolting.”
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The third day they are married matelots not that forcefully.
“It is no matter. I am Gaston the Ghoul, and a centaur and matelot to Lord Will the Fool.”
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Sorry… what is a matelot?
A matelot, my dear, is the gay paradise in the 17th century!
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He shook his head. “I cannot imagine a woman adoring me as Pete does, or caring for me the way he can, or fighting at my side, or watching my back, or any of the things he does for me. Pete is an extension of myself now. I think of us as two parts of a whole. I can rely on him as I do on myself. I do not have time to care for another who is not my equal. A man needs a matelot and not a wife to survive. Women are luxuries, like fine clothes and sweetmeats.”
Matelotage is like marriage… between two guys in a boat. They are a couple with whom they share profits, supplies… and carnal benefits. It’s not frowned on, in fact, it’s respected and even worshipped. I fell in love with the concept as well as with the MC. The thing is, it’s so obvious there is something between Will and Gaston that the crew itself assume they are matelots, so they reluctantly agree.
“There is no harm in it,” I said. “If anything, we are the wives.” “I make no comment on that,” Theodore said. “I believe I meant that you two are the more business-minded of your pairings.” “I would not say that,” I said. “Gaston is far wealthier than I.” “Theodore threw his hands wide in exasperation. “More socially acceptable perhaps? More likely to have the proper attire? Less likely to kill another guest?”
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Gaston doesn’t favor men. But he doesn’t seduce women either. He doesn’t touch, he doesn’t kiss, and of course, he doesn’t sleep with anyone. Will doesn’t like it, not at all.
“Will, I am sorry.” “For what?” “That I do not favor men.” I cursed silently under the weight of those words. “You do not know how many times I am sorry that I do. It has been the bane of my damn existence.” “And now the irony of your existence,” he said. “Here you are amongst the Brethren where it is acceptable, and yet you are with me.” I did not find his comment amusing, and I looked at him sharply. He was studying the surf quite somberly. “It is not fair,” he added. His eyes met mine. “I will do what I can.”
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He shrugged. “It is usually not a pleasant emotion I find myself filled with.” “And now? Do you feel it know?” “Oui. It is pleasant. I have no name for it. Can you name yours?” “Oui.” I bit my lip. I was hesitant to speak it, as I had always been soundly rebuked for it before. “Love.”
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“Do not leave me,” he whispered. “I will not.” “I will try to make you.” I frowned and held him tighter. “You will not succeed.”
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This book left me breathless. Caput. They make sense together. Caput. I. Want. More. Caput.
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Without any kind doubt, one of the best "series" I've ever read in my life....more
Ty y Zane vuelven a la carga. Cuantos más obstáculos superan más cercanos nos resultan y más profundos se hacen sus sentimientos y más serio su comproTy y Zane vuelven a la carga. Cuantos más obstáculos superan más cercanos nos resultan y más profundos se hacen sus sentimientos y más serio su compromiso en la relación… Sin embargo, eso no implica que sean cuidadosos con su compañero de trabajo, pues no tienen impedimento alguno de matarse a golpes en el ring del gimnasio.
Pero antes de que realmente mueran bajo los puños del otro, el jefe aparece y les manda llamar a su despacho. Tienen una nueva misión. El alivio de saber que por fin dejarán el papeleo y el aburrido trabajo de oficina se desvanece cuando les explican su caso… tienen que hacerse pasar por un matrimonio gay que parece inmerso de lleno en el contrabando internacional de obras de arte.
“-Pero ambos tenéis experiencia en misiones encubiertas, y estoy seguro de que preferís besaros a recibir disparos- bromeó. Ty carraspeó y trató de contener una sonrisa. McCoy no tenía ni idea de cuán cierto estaba.”
En este volumen nos esperan muchas risas. Aquí encontramos muchos de los momentos más divertidos y graciosos de la saga, lo cual suaviza de algún modo los episodios difíciles que vivieron en el libro anterior y en éste, que también contiene muchas situaciones límite.
Primero: la caracterización. Ty acude a un centro de belleza y sale con un bronceado antinatural, totalmente depilado, con el tatuaje de Marine oculto y... con el pelo rubio platino. Además, tiene que imitar el acento inglés. Nada más verle, a Zane casi se le salen los ojos de las órbitas y en algún momento le dice que parece un Ken. Es muy gracioso ver cómo pone a prueba la paciencia de Ty llamándole “doll” y cómo Ty le sigue el rollo pero queriendo patearle al mismo tiempo. Ty cada vez está más frustrado con su papel pero sabe bien la importancia de guardar las apariencias y poner al mal tiempo buena cara. Zane recibe un cambio menos traumático, ya que su apariencia es similar a la de su personaje.
Segundo: el comportamiento de ambos. Se cambian las tornas en su relación para resultar más verídica al resto del mundo. Aunque ninguno de los dos se puede catalogar como pasivo, en la cama suele ser Ty el que lleva las riendas. Pero en esta ocasión, al ser Zane el “mafioso” y Ty el “muñeco”, también tienen que revertir su participación en lo personal. Ty se vuelve el “sumiso” en público y en privado, lo cual nos deja más de una escena memorable en la retina, y Zane se pone a cien de una manera totalmente justificada. ¿Cómo hacen para que se me caiga la baba página sí y página también? A este paso me estoy planteando leer los libros en la ducha, así causarían un desastre notablemente menor.
Tercero: la misión. Ambos tienen que permanecer dos semanas en un crucero de lujo, situación que a ninguno le resulta cómoda, pero es preciso arrimar el hombro y hacer como si todos esos excesos fueran el pan de cada día. Hay un momento brutal en el cual ambos se desesperan porque sus compañeros del FBI les meten muchos botes de lubricante en la maleta pero ningún condón. Qué risas me eché en algunos episodios. Nos encontramos con personajes que añaden acción a la trama y que a veces nos elevan las comisuras de la boca. Hay varios sospechosos con los cuales Zane tendrá que lidiar en los asuntos económicos y comerciales, el circunspecto turco Armen y el extrovertido matrimonio italiano de los Bianchi: Lorenzo y Norina. Esta última me ha parecido un personaje genial, el pobre Ty se ve acosado por su abierta personalidad pegándose a él en toda ocasión y hablándole en italiano, idioma que Ty no entiende en absoluto. Zane saca a relucir sus habilidades en los juegos de cartas, lo cual no sorprende del todo a Ty porque tiene una cara de póker infalible. Pero también tenemos más grupos secretos y espías dispersos que complican la trama de una manera tal que las vidas de ambos correrán un peligro constante, sobre todo la de Ty, que de forma inverosímil se ha convertido en el blanco de todos, pues supuestamente lo máximo que se espera de él es que esté todo el día dándose masajes o tomando el sol.
Ahora, mi parte favorita: Ty y Zane. Es más que evidente que ninguno de los dos es propenso a mostrar sus sentimientos y a compartir sus secretos, sus dudas o incertidumbres. Pero de alguna forma han aprendido a interpretar los gestos y las palabras del otro, lo que les hace más transparentes, más vulnerables. Ty resulta más fácil de leer para Zane, y ha aprendido que cuando no muestra emoción alguna en su semblante significa que Ty está tratando conscientemente de ocultarle algo. Al mismo tiempo, Zane es más opaco, más hermético, pero Ty ha logrado traspasar esa fachada y poco a poco entender lo que pasa por la mente de su compañero y amante. Por mucho que traten de disimular y poner barreras al otro, esto se hace cada vez más complicado al irse conociendo... y al oponer menos resistencia al acercamiento del contrario. Paulatinamente ese pulso inicial que trataba de vencer al adversario va transformándose y apuntando en una misma dirección y no en la opuesta, impulsando sus energías en el mismo sentido, para hacerse más fuertes pero también más indefensos ante el avance del otro.
La confianza crece y se asienta con más fuerza cada día que pasa, y ambos muestran una preocupación constante por la estabilidad y equilibro emocional del otro. Hay un momento muy duro en el cual Zane vuelve a caer en la bebida, rompiendo un poco el corazón de Ty. Esto desemboca en una escena muy bonita en la cual Ty le enseña cómo simular que bebe en público. La evidente consternación que siente Ty por el precario control de Zane de sus vicios desemboca en la determinación de Zane de reforzar su resistencia ante sus adicciones, para no volver a hacer daño a su amante y conseguir ser digno de él, ser lo que él necesita que sea, cambiar para estar a la altura de lo que Ty parece ver en él, lo cual, inexplicablemente, le parece de vital importancia.
Las escenas hot siguen siendo prodigiosas pero no lo digo en el sentido de morbosas u obsesivas, sino que cada vez son más bonitas, más intensas y emotivas. Se hacen cada vez más adictos la pasión visceral y elemental de hacer el amor y no sólo al alivio temporal que les aporta el sexo. Cada vez son más dependientes del otro y eso se refleja en sus momentos de cama. Van encontrando un equilibrio en el que ambos se encuentran a gusto pero que al mismo tiempo aportan y reciben lo que buscan, queriendo recibir más y más y queriendo de la misma manera llegar a las expectativas del amante, de la pareja. Es más que evidente que son almas gemelas, son cómplices y amigos, amantes y compañeros, se complementan de una forma completa y absoluta, se compenetran de un modo tal que roza la perfección. Se entienden, conectan entre sí y cada vez tratan de hacerse menos daño y de hacerse mayor bien mutuamente.
Ty... Ty Grady... Tengo que hacerle un homenaje a Ty. Aunque está lejos de ser una persona con la completa salud mental del mundo, está claro que es más valiente y más arrojado que Zane, es un amante más humilde y generoso, incondicional y verdadero. Se atreve a lanzarse al vacío… varias veces, sin saber lo que les espera cuando aterrice en la caída, pero sabiendo que el intento merece la pena. Necesita más de Zane pero lo que éste le proporciona por el momento le parece suficiente, y eso habla mucho y muy bien de él.
Zane, en cambio, es más inseguro, más asentado en el pasado, el cual no consigue superar. Se reprime y trata de protegerse, de esconderse, de fingir que el otro no significa para él tanto como realmente le siente en su vida y en su corazón. No hay más ciego que el que no quiere ver y aunque Zane se va preparando poco a poco para el momento de la verdad y sus sentimientos son fuertes, también son más confusos, y hasta que consigue darse cuenta de lo que realmente representan y además transformarlos en palabras, pasa por muchas pruebas, tanto propias de su ser como externas a su persona.
El desarrollo de una pareja en un libro es vital, necesitamos sentirlo y verlo y no solamente que la autora nos lo explique con palabras. Necesitamos ver ese acercamiento, ese derrumbe de barreras y esa mezcla de dolor y felicidad por la que suelen pasar los mejores héroes de romántica, y al mismo tiempo presenciar ese camino que conlleva inevitablemente a esa situación en la cual por fin deciden postrarse ante su pareja “mudo y absorto y de rodillas, como se adora a Dios ante su altar”, declarar sus sentimientos y servir su voluntad y sus deseos al otro.
Me estoy empezando a arrepentir de poner sólo un 9 a cada libro, pero como este no es mejor ni peor que los anteriores y ya he dicho que es el conjunto lo que importa y no de forma independiente, tendré que mantenerme en esa fijación con la que he empezado. Pero os aseguro que la serie entera merece un 10. Y ando impaciente por seguir con los demás libros de la saga. De lo mejorcito que he leído últimamente. Estos dos apuntaban maneras desde el principio y sabía que tarde o temprano me robarían el corazón... y ha sido más temprano que tarde, sinceramente....more