Series: The Quiet Work
Volume: 1/?Publisher: Decent Fellows Press
Genre/s: Fantasy, M/M Romance
Length: 103 600 words
Read in: English
Review copy format: pdf
Rate:✮✮✮✮✰✰
Winter Aeling is a young aristocrat who, as a result of a series of traumatic events taking place during his journey through the Empire of Osia, loses all his belongings and his faithful servant. Lonely, penniless and unadjusted to such a life, the young man finds an apple harvesting work on a large farm, belonging to a strength and power loving brute. Winter seems to be an easy target, so he almost immediately gets into trouble, but unexpectedly the attractive farmer's son, Adam, who's nothing like his father, takes his side. An affection between this two young men, banned in this part of the country, is immediately born, and it begins to grow with every moment.
"Apple Boy" is the first volume of the fantasy series "The Quiet Work", and I think we should take a look at this world which we enter and see how Isobel Starling builds it. I must admit that to some extent the author has impressed me, as we immediately sense the passion with which she creates the universe of this series, and she does so with intensity from the very beginning of the novel. We can say that the readers are kind of shown around this world like during a guided tour, and in this case their guide is the main character and narrator, Winter Aeling. It is worth noting that by getting to know the world of "The Quiet Work" we get acquainted not only with the topography of the place where our protagonist currently stays, but also have the opportunity to learn some things about other provinces, that are part of the Empire of Osia, which we can check out on the map attached to this book. Thus, step by step, we learn about the culture of the region, its laws and we are familiarized with the differences between individual provinces. And finally, among all this normality, appears the thing that starts to completely change the image of this series universe – magic. The author really did great and thanks to the way in which she created this world the reader feels encouraged to get to know it better.
As for the characters, especially the main ones, also in this case we see how meticulously Isobel Starling creates them and presents them step by step. She doesn't offer us the entire package of their characteristics at once, but allows us to watch them in action, get to know them through their deeds, learn something new as the story moves forward. I admit that what I really like about "Apple Boy" is that Winter and Adam represent two completely different worlds, which, through their encounter, clash with each other naturally and openly. These two young men don't close off to new experiences, knowledge, learning, but to some extent they influence each other, they learn to be able to evolve and change. What's more, the differences between the environments in which they were raised can be seen both in the language they use and in their behavior. They are not just described, but they seem to take a more realistic shape step by step.
In a few words, I would like to refer to the plot of the novel and its pace. "Apple Boy" is undoubtedly an interesting book and we cannot complain about the action, but I admit that we are getting to everything rather slowly. For while we don't lack the intriguing, absorbing events, the pace in which everything takes place is rather sluggish, unhurried. On the one hand it sometimes makes the readers get impatient, as they want to skip some parts of the text a little and move further, like a child who can't focus their attention on one activity for too long. On the other hand such and not the other pace allows a very descriptive world building and a closer understanding of Winter. And so it's hard to classify all of this as a disadvantage or advantage.
I mentioned the slow pace of the action and now I would like to write something about the reason behind it. Of course the one who's guilty of it is our narrator, Winter. Oh, how much this boy thinks before he does anything! Believe me, Winter thinks, meditates, contemplates, observes, analyzes. In short, he thinks, thinks and thinks. In fact, it shouldn't surprise us, as it all fits this character perfectly. In the end Winter is an educated young man from the upper classes, who until recently didn't know the world at all and who probably thought to be its center, or at least the center of his province. He wasn't taught to take action, but to think, and he really does it great. There is no doubt, therefore, that all the readers have to check for themselves how much they like this way of narrative and story building, and how much they don't.
In summary, "Apple Boy" is an interesting novel set in a meticulously constructed universe, the action of which develops rather slowly, although it can sometimes surprise us. People who like fantasy and fairy tale stories should definitely read this book, if only to have their own opinion about it. If you ask me, I find this novel interesting and I will gladly come back to this world again.
Headcanon: When Winter and Adam fight and have their "quiet days", to make his man angry, Adam speaks loudly to himself about his sexual fantasies, so that Winter can hear him.
Fanfiction idea: During their journey through the Empire of Osia, Adam and Winter stay in a city where male-female couples can stay in a tavern for half a price on the occasion of some special lovers holiday. The men decide to make use of it, but the one who has to dress up as a woman is Winter. Of course, he doesn't like it and is very sulky.
AU idea: Real world!AU, Winter owns a chain of exclusive restaurants. Wanting to buy the products he uses there straight from the farmers, he personally searches for the farms with which he works. That's how he meets Adam, the son of an apple farmer.
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Here's some more about:
Blurb
Book Title: Apple Boy (The Quiet Work #1)
Author: Isobel Starling
Cover Artist: Valentine Pascadian (Lennel)
Heat Rating: 3 flames
Release Date: February 15, 2019
After a traumatic event, Winter Aeling finds himself destitute and penniless in the backwater town of Mallowick. He needs to travel to the city of Serein and impart grave news that will bring war to the Empire, but without a horse, money, and with not a soul willing to help him, he has no choice but to line up with the common folk seeking paid work on the harvest.
As wagons roll into the market square and farmers choose day laborers, Winter is singled out for abuse by a brute of a farmer. The only man who stands up for him is the farmer's beguiling son, Adam, and on locking eyes with the swarthy young man Winter feels the immediate spark of attraction.
Winter soon realizes there is a reason he has been drawn to Blackdown Farm. The farmer possesses a precious item that was stolen long ago from Winter’s family, and he determines to retrieve it. He also cannot take his eyes off the farmer's son, and as the young man opens up Winter can’t help wondering if Adam is just kind or his kind!
About the Author
Isobel Starling spent most of her twenty-year professional career making art in Ireland. She relocated to the UK and, faced with the dreaded artist’s creative block, Isobel started to write and found she loved writing more than making art.
Isobel is currently working on her nineteenth book.
"As You Wish" (Shatterproof Bond#1) narrated by Gary Furlong won the Audiobook Reviewer Award for Romance 2018. It is the first M/M Romance audiobook to win a mainstream audiobook award.
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