murderous academic melodrama! enemies to lovers! polyamory!

what's not to like?

alim, a professor - well, ex-professor, since he was demoted for accepting bribes - is sent on a mission to find demonweave with his two nemeses and a charmingly handsome young professor, the latter of which is mildly alarmed by the fact that the other three all hate each other.

honestly, what was the university board thinking? there's no way this could end well!

the characters are all wonderfully flawed but not necessarily unlikable, except from one who i won't name for fear of spoilers. the worldbuilding was pretty good, although i can't help but nitpick at the word "demons" because demons are, to me, a very specific sort of creature and these demons are nothing like conventional demons. they don't come from hell or some such evil world, and they aren't even carnivorous. still.

the main Big Twist also came relatively early on in the story, which means there wasn't a particularly dramatic denouement later on, but it was still enjoyable despite that.

Academia, magic, and LGBT romance--a perfect combination for a very enjoyable read

Book – A Study of Fiber and Demons
Author – Jasmine Gower
Star rating - ★★★☆☆
No. of Pages – 131
Cover – Gorgeous!
POV – 3rd person, one character
Would I read it again – No
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, MM, Poly, MMF, Asexual, Bisexual, MFM


** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **


It's a shame. I had high hopes for this one, but it just didn't live up to it.

First off, the blurb. Now, the blurb isn't at all what the story is about. The first paragraph pertains to events that have already taken place by the time the book starts, so really isn't all that relevant for the blurb to mention. The second is the only truth of the blurb and the last paragraph doesn't happen. “Alim is well-aware the University intends to sell demonweave to mages for a hefty profit” is not true. He goes into the research believing that it may be likely, but not with any proof and with no concept of what they might do with their finds. And, the last line that says “there's no telling how the demons will retaliate.” implies much more excitement and danger than there really is.

In my opinion, most of the book is misleading. The author is careful never to actually disclose Sylvestra's sexuality, probably because it's so misleading. She's written as an asexual but actually comes across as a mix of asexual and aromantic, while being more than willing to engage in sex, both of the self-given variety and group. As someone who is asexual, I feel able to say that I didn't relate to Sylvestra or believe that she truly was asexual in the least.

I also didn't buy the poly relationship, either. There was no chemistry, except a fleeting hint between Alim and Liam, while none of them liked or trusted each other. There was nothing between the three characters that inspired any sort of hope for a relationship, any belief in it, or any sort of friendship that could lead to a relationship. I didn't buy the “relationship” even a little. For a start, the characters spent 70% of the book hating and mistrusting each other, arguing at every turn, and holding legitimate grievances against each other for their academic crimes. But, suddenly, they're flirting and ignoring all of that to end up in bed together. Before that 70% mark, Alim was the only one who showed an attraction to Liam and Sylvestra – but that's hardly surprising, since he drooled over every single character he came across. It wasn't until Liam started flirting with him at 70% that there was even a hint of mutual attraction.

Alim is one of those bisexual characters who lives right up to the stereotypes of flirting with every male and female in sight, drooling over them and wanting them all. None of the characters were likeable – they were all liars, cheats and even murderers – all in the name of academia. And I really didn't understand this persistent notion that all mid-30-year-olds were grey haired, creaky boned and out of shape. I swear, every single main character was in their mid-30's and had “silver” or grey hair.

The chapter lengths were huge! I mean, chapter 1 alone was 28 pages, which equated to 22% of the book. And it felt like it. The book dragged on and on, for quite a while, in the middle.

The story covered the topics of academic theft, intellectual property theft, a fear of water and claustrophobia, as well as a highly suspicious unspecified asexuality. However, it couldn't save the uninspiring plot that had little intrigue and wasn't engaging enough to make me want to keep reading. I only finished it because I kept wondering when the relationship would begin to take place, because it seemed like it would never happen.

Overall, I gave it 3 stars merely for the originality of the plot. Though I find the demons to be more 'alien' than demon, the plot did try to be different to what else was out there. However, it left a lot to be desired. I probably won't be reading the author again. Their writing style doesn't work for me.

This was a nice quick read. I liked the world-building with the university politics and the unique take on demons in this particular world. Also you don't often see books with a poly relationship featuring an asexual character so that was really nice. There was a good balance of adventuring and romance in the plot and I was laughing at how Alim thought everyone in his research party was attractive. I was sitting there half the time like 'Alim, you useless bisexual!' ;) Definitely a fun story and a good length as well.

Despite his less than illustrious past, Alim is still considered an expert on demonweave. When a team is put together to go out and study it, Alim is therefore chosen. Except, the people also chosen on his team are his arch enemies. It's a mission bound for failure. Alim just doesn't know how bad it will all be when it's all over.

Someone desperately needed to pull Gower aside before this story was published and explain that "fiber" is not a word that will draw readers. Fiber has certain connotations that don't have much to do with fantasy literature. It certainly almost kept me from requesting this story. I suspect that had the title simply been "A Study of Demons", I wouldn't have been nearly so reticent to give it a try. (There is an identified psychological impact of titles and covers that all major publishing companies utilize to entice readers, so I don't think my saying this in a review is too off base.) That said, the cover was interesting enough that I did decide to pick the book up and I was happy to learn that fiber was a magical term of some importance in the book.

I found many parts of this story to be equally poorly composed. For example, the characters themselves were interesting, yet at the same time not a single one of them was actually likeable. Being able to identify with the characters is a big aspect to pulling readers into a story and that just wasn't possible here. None of the characters were good people--in fact most of them are so deeply flawed that I couldn't help wondering if they were actually the villains of the story. In some ways that makes them more human and providing that flawed aspect does show good writing ability, but without anything to draw me in, they only made the beginning of the story drag. In fact, the story didn't actually pick up until the demons arrived, which is towards the end, and that was only because some world building was finally included.