Foreign to You (Foreign to You, #1)by Jeremy Martin
Published by NineStar Press
Young Adult, fantasy, paranormal
The harmony between humans and fianna, a species of shape-shifting deer, begins to wither as racial tensions and deeply rooted resentment turns violent.
Ruthless hunter Finn Hail and prophesied liberator Adelaide may be heroes to their own species, but they are enemies to each other. With war on the horizon, the reluctant pair must team up to find the most elusive of prey: the god of the Forest.
As enemies press in from all sides, true intentions begin to show. For Finn to save the boy he cares for most, he might need to aim his gun at the very god he seeks. And Adelaide, with her festering hatred for mankind, will have to determine if peace holds true salvation for her people.
Foreign to You left me in a confused state, because I don't know how I feel about the story. First third of the book was quite enjoyable and I liked the story; world-building was intriguing and Jay and Finn quickly became my favourite characters, Jay just being so darn precious. I did think that Adelaine, the female lead, was naive and bland character; she's the legendary Maiden, who's supposed to save her people, but in reality she's clueless, passive and naive. From the beginning, I was more excited about Finn's chapters; he's more complex and he's more active character than Adelaine.
Then came a defining moment, where everything started to fall apart. Oh, don't get me wrong, there's one so emotional scene that I'm not sure I've still recovered from. But the story stagnated after it and became almost aimless journey in search of the Stag, the god of the forest. Plot started to go in different directions, but nothing made sense. The writing style's very flowery, there's a lot of purple prose and it just, well, it became a bit too extra when the plot stagnated. For me, it all felt pointless and there was moments when I just hated the story. To be honest here, I was ready to give Foreign to You one star at that point - for being marketed as LGBT+ fantasy, but never acknowledging anyone's sexuality or feelings (Finn and Jay were referred as friends, and nothing's confirmed on page) and then becoming the worst case of Bury Your Gays that I've ever read, and having absolutely bland Adelaine as second main character.
Then the last few chapters happened. Now, I'm still angry about the whole Bury Your Gays and the purple prose was a bit too excessive, but the explanations behind the myth of the god of forest and fianna redeemed the story a little bit in my eyes. I still think the characters, especially Adelaine, needed more development and the plot more direction, and certain aspects should have been handled better. I'm still a bit bitter; I expected LGBT+ fantasy and was so for it, to have two main characters, boy and girl, who weren't romantically involved with each other. Instead, there's don't-acknowledge-the-feelings-and-bury-your-gays trope, which just makes my blood boil.
The premise of Foreign to You is interesting and absolutely unique, but sadly the execution didn't meet the expectations. And Jay's such a precious cinnamon roll, I loved him so much. I'm so torn apart how to rate this, that I'm just going to give it two stars and they're for Jay alone.
2 of 5 stars
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