My Fair Captain by J.L. Langley – Review
Title: My Fair Captain
Author: J.L. Langley
Genre: Science Fiction/Historical Romance/Gay Erotica
URL: Samhain Publishing
Price: US$15.50
Other Information/warnings: Explicit m/m sex, light S&M/discipline.
Summary [from the publisher]: Talk about a compromising situation! A storm of political intrigue, murderous mayhem and sexual hungers is brewing on planet Regelence. Swarthy Intergalactic Navy Captain Nathaniel Hawkins ran from a past he had no intention of ever reliving. But when his Admiral asks him to use his peerage, as an earl and the heir to a dukedom, to investigate a missing weapons stash, hes forced to do just that. As if being undercover on a Regency planet where the young men are supposed to remain pure until marriage isnt bad enough, Nate finds himself attracted to the kings unmarried son. All Prince Aiden Townsend has ever wanted was to be an artist. He has no interest in a marriage of political fortune or becoming a societal paragon. Until he lands in the arms of the mysterious Earl of Deverell. One look at Nates handsome face has Aiden reconsidering his future. Not only does Nate make a virile subject for Aidens art, but the great war hero awakens feelings in Aiden he has never felt, feelings he can’t ignore.
My Review: If you’re part of the very exclusive niche market who enjoy a good old-fashioned anachronistic mash-up of Sci-Fi, Regency romance and hardcore gay erotica, J.L. Langley has written the book for you. My Fair Captain is the story of Nate Hawkins, dispossessed nobleman, war hero and captain of an intergalactic spaceship, who, when called upon to investigate a weapons heist from the palace of the royal family on the patriarchal planet Regelence, finds true love.
The book definitely has more in common with a bodice ripper romance than a science fiction novel. The prose style is very basic and the story moves along swiftly without getting bogged down in too much technical detail (as is the norm in the science fiction/fantasy genre). This suggests to me that Langley didn’t have her heart entirely in the book’s peculiar conceit and, to be perfectly honest, the marriage of sci-fi and historical romance didn’t really work for me either. I derived the most enjoyment from the interplay between the characters in the Regelence royal family, a gay version of Pride and Prejudice’s Bennett clan replete with marriage-minded parents and five mischievous and flirty sons subbing for Elizabeth and her sisters. In addition, we get duels and dance cards, society balls and wealthy suitors, secret noble origins and unexpected inheritances.
While Langely is by no means a modern day Jane Austen, I think the novel would have worked much better if she ditched the hardware and committed to a historical romance that takes place in some alternative universe where being gay is not only acceptable, but desirable, rather than concoct a whole futuristic setting simply to accommodate this fact. As far as the characters are concerned, the author makes the cardinal error of telling rather than showing, both with their personalities and emotions. She’s created such a fascinating group of people – Nate, the macho starship captain with the mysterious, tragic past, Jeremy, his impish adopted son (who has some mysteries of his own), Aiden, Nate’s love interest, an independent, but sheltered, artist who has vowed never to marry, not to mention a large secondary cast, all equally unique – it’s a shame she didn’t just get out of their way a bit and let them interact without constantly telling the reader what they were feeling or thinking.
The sex is somewhat steamy, particularly if you enjoy a bit of [very light] S&M and discipline. Personally, I found the erotic aspect a bit jarring, coming, as it were, in the middle of a book that in many ways attempts to mimic the settings, morality and tone of Bronte and Austen. Plus, the two main characters tendency to get erections every time they encounter one another (anywhere – even in public) becomes a wee bit wearisome after, say, the twelfth time it happens. But that aside, much of the sex is undeniably hot. This appears to be the first of a series. Presumably, the subsequent novels will follow the romantic lives of each of the Regelence heirs with the conspiracy behind the stolen weapons continuing to play out as a backdrop. I’ll be interested to see where Langley takes the characters and how they develop. File this one in under guilty pleasures.
