Also very interesting to see how you spotted the inclusion of elements from other novels by Broster, since I haven't read so many of those yet.
She knows what she likes, that's for sure! When I've finished reading my way through her novels I'm going to make a bingo card. I think the middle square will just say 'HONOUR' in big letters.
That is a very good point about the potential order of different elements of the stories, and how the love interests are so much more peripheral to the plots. Yeah, and I suppose it's evidence in favour of the 'write the central m/m story you really want to write, then add in a socially-acceptable canon romance as an afterthought' theory!
I did not see the parallels between Ewen and Aymar until you pointed them out. I guess Aymar likes to wallow in self-pity a bit--even Laurent points it out!--and Ewen doesn't, so that kind of blurred the comparison for me.
They're tall, handsome, auburn-haired (I love how Broster goes out of her way to explain why Aymar manages to have red hair despite being French—she certainly has a type :P), scrupulously honourable, bitterly ashamed of something that wounded their honour even though it wasn't really their fault (although in Ewen's case there wasn't actually any damage done—Aymar's is rather more serious, of course), young military leaders of loyal but volatile men, attached to a beautiful and meaningful ancestral home, behave gracefully towards enemies, involved in bird-related folklore, prone to sleep-talking, get injured in ways that provide plenty of opportunity for iddy hurt/comfort...
And yes, Keith's character is much more balanced—being madly in love with Ewen is only one of many interesting traits of his :D
no subject
She knows what she likes, that's for sure! When I've finished reading my way through her novels I'm going to make a bingo card. I think the middle square will just say 'HONOUR' in big letters.
That is a very good point about the potential order of different elements of the stories, and how the love interests are so much more peripheral to the plots. Yeah, and I suppose it's evidence in favour of the 'write the central m/m story you really want to write, then add in a socially-acceptable canon romance as an afterthought' theory!
I did not see the parallels between Ewen and Aymar until you pointed them out. I guess Aymar likes to wallow in self-pity a bit--even Laurent points it out!--and Ewen doesn't, so that kind of blurred the comparison for me.
They're tall, handsome, auburn-haired (I love how Broster goes out of her way to explain why Aymar manages to have red hair despite being French—she certainly has a type :P), scrupulously honourable, bitterly ashamed of something that wounded their honour even though it wasn't really their fault (although in Ewen's case there wasn't actually any damage done—Aymar's is rather more serious, of course), young military leaders of loyal but volatile men, attached to a beautiful and meaningful ancestral home, behave gracefully towards enemies, involved in bird-related folklore, prone to sleep-talking, get injured in ways that provide plenty of opportunity for iddy hurt/comfort...
And yes, Keith's character is much more balanced—being madly in love with Ewen is only one of many interesting traits of his :D