Book Review: Jack of Thorns by A.K. Faulkner

You’d think seeing the future would make life easy, but Laurence Riley knows better.

No matter how hard he tries to master the chaos, everything slips out of control. His violent ex-boyfriend, his supernatural talents, his drug addiction—seeing what’s coming doesn’t help with any of them.

He needs help and he knows it. Help that only a god can provide.

The answer to his prayers is Jack, who offers help reining in his powers and mastering his life. In exchange, all Jack asks is regular offerings of sexual energy from Laurence’s conquests. A month ago, that would have been just fine with Laurence. If not for Quentin, it still would be.

Devastatingly handsome, incredibly desirable, and so far out of Laurence’s league it’s not even funny, Quentin is the flame to Laurence’s moth. Laurence doesn’t want anyone else, he can’t think of anyone else, and neither Quentin’s frustratingly chaste behavior nor his uncontrollable telekinesis are enough to put him off. Not even if his focus on Quentin means breaking his bargain with Jack and facing the consequences of disappointing a god.

Laurence doesn’t need to see the future to know that’s a bad idea, but he has no clue how dangerous Jack really is…

GENRE: LGBTQ+ Adult Urban Fantasy

PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon | Apple | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Kobo | IndieBound | Bookshop | Waterstones

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A.K. Faulkner is the author of the Inheritance series of contemporary fantasy novels, which begins with Jack of Thorns. A.K. lives just outside of London, England, with a charismatic Corgi. Together they fight crime and try not to light too many fires on the way.

For more information, check out the Inheritance series website!

Review & Recommended Listening

I enjoyed this book, but it's not without its faults. Before any of that, let's get the content warnings out of the way: there's gaslighting, coercive control, sexual assault, drug use, drug overdose, alcoholism, blood, death, classism, and vomiting. There's nothing overly graphic, but just putting that list out there for good measure.

Anyway, I love the new cover, since I don't really like people on covers for some reason. But I had a moment of confusion on the genre because the new cover feels more YA/NA than its supposed adult genre. And when I took the cover in alongside the blurb on the back of the book (which is what's on this Goodreads page instead of the more detailed version above), I also got confused, because there's no context as to who Jack is and why it's his name on the title (though I didn't dwell too hard on it since it's something we're meant to find out, or so I supposed). There's also what apparently Jack demands, which had me thinking that this book was probably more paranormal romance than urban fantasy, and that things were probably going to get spicy. (It didn't, but those were my initial impressions anyway. Also, I'm not much of a spicy reader. And there's the mismatch with the cover's implied genre.)

I was also initially worried about the length, but it turned out to be a quick, easy read. I had issues with some of the characters, but I managed to set those aside and continue reading, wanting to know where the magic and the mythology came in and the parts they played. See, the story starts with the protagonist overdosing. He gets some visions, but the impression you get is that they're in the past, so they're more like "your life flashing before your very eyes" rather than supernatural flashes of the future. So I was wondering where the fantasy was, and that maybe I really should just expect romantic fantasy from then on. Thankfully, that got addressed quickly enough in the next chapters.

Romance (and sex) is a prominent theme in the book, and while I had no problem with that (though I prefer more fantasy than romance in my books), I was a bit bothered by everyone being... super pretty or something. Laurence, Quentin, even Dan. I mean there are readers who'd love everyone to be pretty, I'm sure, but to me it felt just a tad overdone. I was also surprised by Quentin's characterization as he seemed to be the textbook example of a British snob stereotype, enough for me to check if the author was British or not. But I guess some people enjoy their Brits that way?

Still, it was a pretty interesting story and despite the events seemingly dragging on at times, I found myself flipping the pages until I got to the end. It was delightful to have a florist protagonist instead of a fighter, and with Quentin I just eventually looked forward to the next over the top thing he'd wind up doing, LOL. I loved the initial one-sidedness of their romantic relationship - there are like eight books in the series now, so surely they can take their time and build on their friendship first? - though they ended in a more romantic position than I'd thought.

The mythology was cool and something I wasn't familiar with, and I loved the little details of having an altar and praying and Laurence's reverence to the gods. Too many questions were left unanswered though, but I'm not holding it against the author since this is clearly a long series. And even with the themes of addiction and alcoholism, it was great to see the leads want to do better, and make good, though difficult, choices.

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Recommended Listening: As I mentioned in my open call for books to review, I’ll now be adding a song to my reviews! It’ll be one that either sums up the book for me, what I’d imagine in a trailer were it a movie, something that I associate with the story or one of the characters for whatever reason… or maybe even an original inspired by it 😉

Listen my child, you say to me

I am the voice of your history

Be not afraid, come follow me

Answer my call and I'll set you free