#tigris margrave

[captainfairygodmother]

Took me 4/6ths of the book to realised that these gay idiots are yet again under the "Hey let's run away together because I love you and everything else around us is too much" "Hah no sorry lol" trope

[pagesandpothos]

Shoestring Theory by Mariana Costa

Sorry this is so late. I've been without power and internet since September 27th thanks to Hurricane Helene. Everything has finally been repaired, so things should be getting back to normal here now!

Official Blurb:

A queer, madcap, friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers time travel romance with the future of the world at stake, this charming fantasy tale is sure to satisfy fans of Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. The kingdom of Farsala is broken and black clouds hang heavy over the arid lands. Former grand-mage of the high court, Cyril Laverre, has spent the last decade hiding himself away in a ramshackle hut by the sea, trying to catch any remaining fish for his cat familiar, Shoestring, and suppressing his guilt over the kingdom’s ruin. For he played his part – for as the king, Eufrates Margrave, descended further and further into paranoia, violence and madness, his grand-mage – and husband – Cyril didn’t do a thing to stop him. When Shoestring wanders away and dies one morning, Cyril knows his days are finally numbered. But are there enough left to have a last go at putting things right? With his remaining lifeblood, he casts a powerful spell that catapults him back in time to a happier period of Farsalan history – a time when it was Eufrates’s older sister Tig destined to ascend to the throne, before she died of a wasting disease, and a time when Cyril and Eufrates’s tentative romance had not yet bloomed. If he can just make sure Eufie never becomes king, then maybe he can prevent the kingdom’s tragic fate. But the magical oath he made to his husband at the altar, transcending both time and space, may prove to be his most enduring – and most dangerous – feat of magic to date… Featuring a formidable great aunt, a friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romance, an awkward love quadrangle and a crow familiar called Ganache, this charming story is imminently easy to read and sure to satisfy fans of fanfiction who like their fantasy lite.

My Thoughts:

Shoestring Theory by Mariana Costa is a new queer fantasy romance about a mage who tries to give himself and his kingdom a second chance. It's fun, unique, and filled with strong characters and a truly captivating relationship dynamic that I think fans of romantasy and cozy fantasy will really enjoy.

The book starts off on a fairly dark note. The first chapter features the death of a beloved cat familiar and a very dark magic spell that Cyril, the main character, uses to send himself back in time. Once he's back several decades in the past, his goal is to prevent the tragic events that lead his husband to become a tyrant king.

Cyril is a truly delightful main character, He's always trying his best but he struggles with his self-esteem and mental health. He blames himself for not preventing Eufrates, his husband, from becoming a despot. Eufrates and Cyrill have an incredibly fascinating relationship. They grew up as friends and eventually became lovers. Now, they are bitter enemies scheming against one another while still linked by a magic oath made on their wedding day. One of my most unpopular bookish opinions is that I'm not usually a fan of enemies-to-lovers. However, I really love the relationship between Eufrates/Cyril. They are complicated and passionate. Their feelings for each other are always intense no matter what the current status of their relationship is. Their journey together has some surprising and emotional moments that made the two far more interesting to me than the standard enemies-to-lovers pair. Fans of the trope and those, like me, who don't usually enjoy that dynamic will both love this juicy and ever-evolving duo.

Along with Cyrill and Eufrates, there is also Tigris who is Eufrates' older sister. She's funny, loyal, and tough. I love Achillean romances but they don't often have many great women characters in them. Shoestring Theory overcomes this flaw with both Tig and Cyrill's aunt and mentor, Heléne. Both women are among the many highlights of the book - especially Tig!

Though it is described as cozy fantasy, and I can see why it's being described that way, it does have more stakes and plot than some cozy fantasies do. If you struggle with books with no or little plot, Shoestring Theory might be the perfect cozy fantasy book for you. There's an action-packed plot alongside the character and relationship growth that moves the story along quickly. There were also some great twists in the story which kept me flipping pages as fast as I could read!

I really enjoyed Shoestring Theory. It's creative, fun, and heartwarming. It also has a great blend of characters, relationship, and story. I recommend it to both romantasy and cozy fantasy fans especially those who like complicated relationship dynamics and stories with unique and complex characters.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tropes/Tags:  queer, romance, romantasy, Achillean, time travel, second-chance romance, love triangle

Content Warnings: A character kills himself as part of a magic spell. This scene is graphic enough that it could be triggering to anyone who struggles with self-harm. This event is also referenced later in the book and the character does have mental-health issues in the past too (including thoughts of self-harm). There is also an animal death.

If you liked this I think you will like Shoestring Theory: This Will Be Fun, Evocation, or other queer romantasy novels that focus heavily on the characters and relationships

Links: Storygraph | GoodReads | @marinscos

Shoestring Theory was released on October 8, 2024, and is available to order!

I received an advanced copy of this book for free thanks to NetGalley and Angry Robot. The above are my honest feelings about the book provided.

[jetwhenitsmidnight]

Shoestring Theory by Mariana Costa

Release date: 8 October 2024

Genre: (new?) adult rom-com fantasy

If you like:

gay wizards

time travel

shenanigans

friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫

Synopsis

The kingdom of Farsala is broken and black clouds hang heavy over the arid lands. Former Grand-Mage of the High Court, Cyril Laverre, has spent the last decade hiding himself away in a ramshackle hut by the sea with his cat familiar, Shoestring, and suppressing his guilt over the kingdom’s ruin. For as the King, Eufrates Margrave, descended further and further into paranoia, violence and madness, Cyril, his Grand-Mage—and husband—didn’t do a thing to stop him.

When Shoestring wanders away and dies one morning, Cyril knows his days are finally numbered. But are there enough left to have a last go at putting things right? With his remaining lifeblood, he casts a powerful spell that catapults him back in time to a happier period of Farsalan history – a time when it was Eufrates’s older sister Tig destined to ascend to the throne, before she died of a wasting disease, and a time when Cyril and Eufrates’s tentative romance had not yet bloomed. If he can just make sure Eufie never becomes King, then maybe he can prevent the kingdom’s tragic fate. But the magical oath he made to his husband at the altar, transcending both time and space, may prove to be his most enduring—and most dangerous—feat of magic to date…

Content warnings

Graphic suicide, self-harm, blood, drowning

Animal death

Injury, violence

Mentions of fatal illness

Parental death

Mentions of war and famine

Harrassment

Review

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

TBH, this isn't the best book. The writing style is humorous (good!) but it's very dialogue heavy, with not enough dialogue tags which makes it confusing to follow, especially when there are multiple characters in conversation (bad!). I also struggled heavily with the pacing. It starts out ok, but towards the middle everything slows down to the point of nothing happening, until it suddenly picks up again, and then it's full speed, non-stop action until the end.

THAT BEING SAID. I had lots of fun reading this! This book fully delivers on the premise. A wizard turns back time to stop the evil king from destroying the kingdom but the king is the wizard's ex-husband and he catches feelings again? Sign me up!!!

Going into this, I was a little worried about the potential age gap between Cyril and Eufrates, given that the Cyril is an older guy going back in time to his younger body, but this was quickly resolved in a way I am quite satisfied with.

There is a sort of love-triangle situation, with Cyril catching feelings for someone else, but I really didn't care for it. I found it entirely unconvincing, like, why are we bothering with this farce when OBVIOUSLY these characters are not ending up together.

I also wished there was more interaction between Cyril and Eufrates, like they actually don't interact that much. Cyril mostly talks to Tigris, whom I love VERY much, so I am completely fine with that, but since this is supposed to be a romance between Cyril and Eufrates I feel like they should have interacted more? Between all the ongoing plotting and scheming, most of their interactions are Intense Charged Moments™️, which is fine, but I wanted more relationship building stuff.

This book is also pretty light on the world-building. There's nothing wrong with this, as most of the focus is on the plot and the romance anyway, so don't go into this expecting intricate world-building and magic systems.

I realise this review might sound quite negative, like I have a lot of things to criticise, but this book really was a lot of fun!

The dynamic between Cyril and the other characters are very entertaining, and I know I criticised the amount of dialogue at the start of this review, but I loved how much time the characters spent just talking to each other. The characters are really over-the-top and dramatic, in a way that I found silly and endearing.

I noticed that some of the negative reviews for this book bring up that fact that it's marketed as a cozy fantasy, but the plot has action and pretty high stakes. That is true, but this works in my favour as I personally enjoy fantasy with more action anyway. (Although I agree that this book shouldn't have been marketed as cozy fantasy. While the writing style and settings does feel like cozy fantasy, this book has pretty intense moments that are not in line with the genre.)

A few of the other reviews also state that this book should have been marketed as MG. I strongly disagree. While the writing style is simple and humorous in a manner that may appeal to middle graders, a lot of the content is straight-up not appropriate. Like, the first chapter literally has a graphic depiction of suicide.

Anyway, if you're looking for a funny, high stakes adventure with romance, do be sure to check this book out!