Jay Kirkpatrick
Autor von Freedom
Werke von Jay Kirkpatrick
Getagged
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- Geschlecht
- female
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It's a great story. Much more a science fiction adventure story than a m/m romance, but that's a good thing. The last forty pages or so get a bit muddled, because the transitions move too quickly (but, to be fair, I may only be thinking that because I really wanted this novel to stretch out). I preferred the first segment with Jac and Patrick working through Jac's trauma to the other segments--again, I'd have liked that segment to stretch out. This would make a fantastic Indy sci fi film--if you're a producer or Indy director, get the rights to this one.… (mehr)
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4.8 Stars
Splendor/Tragedy
Serenity/Anguish
Humanity/Brutality
Touch/Disconnect
An absorbing read that was equally exhilarating and thought-provoking. I was immediately pulled into this book by expressive writing and palpable characters.
Written in a Part 1 – Confinement / Part 2 – Escape format; Freedom is a captivating look at post-apocalyptic earth where psychic ability determines your status in society. Everyone is tested and ranked according to their abilities and usefulness. The higher one tests is not necessarily a good thing. Having “Talent” is the difference between living a hard street life or being a useful member of society. OR, being a tool to be broken.
Plus, the cover is striking and perfect for the story. It's the best depiction I've seen in a while.
THE CHARACTERS
Patrick Harvey (Paddy) - Naïve, intelligent, gentle and kind. Patrick has much to learn about a world he though he knew well.
John Doe 439 (Jac) - Unique, special, Talented. Jac changes Patrick’s world while relearning it himself.
The additional characters; Charlie, Sam, Rob and more are all fully realized and completely interesting. Ms. Kirkpatrick truly fleshed out each secondary creating a very full story.
THE STORY
Newly promoted Patrick gets a crack at his first solo case, John Doe 439. John Doe has seemingly lost all decipherable communication skills, but Patrick is determined to make progress. Slowly the two learn to communicate and then, more importantly, to connect. The astounding beauty within Jac (John Doe) reveals itself to Patrick gradually, but others are becoming aware of his ‘specialness’ too. The world is turned upside down when we see that it isn’t Jac who is unclear, but instead Patrick who must decide whether to follow Jac into the unknown or remain in a world of deception.
A tender moment, one of the most special lovemaking scenes I have read, cements the reader’s need to see Paddy and Jac survive. But there are many, many difficulties and even interesting current (real life) moral issues you may have to come to terms with in deciding whether their relationship works for you. Lots of food for thought here.
No onscreen sex, but the stunning impressions made by the romance are dazzling.
THE WRITING
There’s an interesting usage of mixed POV’s which flowed surprisingly well. I believe this is a first published work for Jay Kirkpatrick, and if that’s true, this is an outstanding effort. The author has shown humanity's capacity for ugliness and brutality, compassion through touch, and how strong community can adapt to survive to create awareness of what is truly important.
EXCEPTIONAL
~ ~ ~
I truly want to thank Dreamspinner Press for taking a chance and sending me an ARC of this fantastic novel. Thank you.
~ ~ ~
Take a look at my Male/Male Romance Book Blog:
http://www.attentionisarbitrary.blogspot.com
… (mehr)
4.8 Stars
Splendor/Tragedy
Serenity/Anguish
Humanity/Brutality
Touch/Disconnect
An absorbing read that was equally exhilarating and thought-provoking. I was immediately pulled into this book by expressive writing and palpable characters.
Written in a Part 1 – Confinement / Part 2 – Escape format; Freedom is a captivating look at post-apocalyptic earth where psychic ability determines your status in society. Everyone is tested and ranked according to their abilities and usefulness. The higher one tests is not necessarily a good thing. Having “Talent” is the difference between living a hard street life or being a useful member of society. OR, being a tool to be broken.
”People like you and me, Paddy, we’re the lucky ones,” he said quietly. “We tested nicely into pre-established categories. We’re Talented enough to be usedful, but not Talented enough to be interesting.”
Plus, the cover is striking and perfect for the story. It's the best depiction I've seen in a while.
THE CHARACTERS
Patrick Harvey (Paddy) - Naïve, intelligent, gentle and kind. Patrick has much to learn about a world he though he knew well.
I wanted to know what was in his mind, what his Talents were, how his life had been. I wanted… I wanted to taste his mouth again, to feel those hard but tender fingers touch my skin. I wanted… wanted…
You can have.
John Doe 439 (Jac) - Unique, special, Talented. Jac changes Patrick’s world while relearning it himself.
The additional characters; Charlie, Sam, Rob and more are all fully realized and completely interesting. Ms. Kirkpatrick truly fleshed out each secondary creating a very full story.
THE STORY
Newly promoted Patrick gets a crack at his first solo case, John Doe 439. John Doe has seemingly lost all decipherable communication skills, but Patrick is determined to make progress. Slowly the two learn to communicate and then, more importantly, to connect. The astounding beauty within Jac (John Doe) reveals itself to Patrick gradually, but others are becoming aware of his ‘specialness’ too. The world is turned upside down when we see that it isn’t Jac who is unclear, but instead Patrick who must decide whether to follow Jac into the unknown or remain in a world of deception.
He is changing me in ways I didn’t know I could change.
A tender moment, one of the most special lovemaking scenes I have read, cements the reader’s need to see Paddy and Jac survive. But there are many, many difficulties and even interesting current (real life) moral issues you may have to come to terms with in deciding whether their relationship works for you. Lots of food for thought here.
No onscreen sex, but the stunning impressions made by the romance are dazzling.
THE WRITING
There’s an interesting usage of mixed POV’s which flowed surprisingly well. I believe this is a first published work for Jay Kirkpatrick, and if that’s true, this is an outstanding effort. The author has shown humanity's capacity for ugliness and brutality, compassion through touch, and how strong community can adapt to survive to create awareness of what is truly important.
Patrick stared at the white toilet on the white floor against the white wall in his tiny white bathroom and listened to the sound of illusions shattering.
EXCEPTIONAL
~ ~ ~
I truly want to thank Dreamspinner Press for taking a chance and sending me an ARC of this fantastic novel. Thank you.
~ ~ ~
Take a look at my Male/Male Romance Book Blog:
http://www.attentionisarbitrary.blogspot.com
… (mehr)
4.75 stars. I loved the first half of this story. Loved. Jac is such a sweet and gentle soul that it literally tears you apart to see him having been tortured and treated so badly. He literally broke my heart. The author's skill in crafting her characters clearly shows through with him. The story itself is very dark and sometimes difficult to read, but Kirkpatrick tempers it with hope as she takes us on Jac's struggle back to himself. How someone who had been victimized by such cruelty and hatred could still learn to trust again and be as kind as he was really makes you think about the inherent strength in people.
The second half of this story is equally as good, but didn't affect me as strongly as the first.
This story takes place in a post-apocalyptic/dystopian type world where touch is forbidden because it fosters emotion which leads to unpredictability making people much harder to control.
Patrick is an Empath who is issued his first case in a medical type facility that aids people who have been discovered on the escapeway. Without giving away a great deal of the plot, his journey with Jac leads him to question everything he's been taught and which values/behaviors are ultimately the right ones. His or Jac's.
It's a GFY type story, and some people don't like that, but I enjoyed reading about how these two grew closer together.
If I had one criticism for this story, it would be that I wish the author's worldbuilding had been a little bit stronger. I really loved reading about her world, but I wanted more of it. I wanted to know how it happened, who was responsible in ultimately shaping this world. I wanted to be able to see the city through the characters eyes. And while there were glimpses of it, there wasn't enough to satisfy my curiosity I guess.
I would love to see more of Patrick and Jac. I think they still have so much more to say.… (mehr)
The second half of this story is equally as good, but didn't affect me as strongly as the first.
This story takes place in a post-apocalyptic/dystopian type world where touch is forbidden because it fosters emotion which leads to unpredictability making people much harder to control.
Patrick is an Empath who is issued his first case in a medical type facility that aids people who have been discovered on the escapeway. Without giving away a great deal of the plot, his journey with Jac leads him to question everything he's been taught and which values/behaviors are ultimately the right ones. His or Jac's.
It's a GFY type story, and some people don't like that, but I enjoyed reading about how these two grew closer together.
If I had one criticism for this story, it would be that I wish the author's worldbuilding had been a little bit stronger. I really loved reading about her world, but I wanted more of it. I wanted to know how it happened, who was responsible in ultimately shaping this world. I wanted to be able to see the city through the characters eyes. And while there were glimpses of it, there wasn't enough to satisfy my curiosity I guess.
I would love to see more of Patrick and Jac. I think they still have so much more to say.… (mehr)
Statistikseite
- Werke
- 1
- Mitglieder
- 24
- Beliebtheit
- #522,742
- Bewertung
- 4.3
- Rezensionen
- 4
- ISBNs
- 2
While the dystopian aspect of the book is very intriguing, at its heart, Freedom is very much an emotional human story. Within this landscape, we’re introduced to Patrick, who is a mid-level empath, working in the psychiatric wing of a medical facility. He and his two best friends were tested years before. His friend, Charlie, didn’t have enough talent to qualify to move into the city, but Patrick and Charlie’s girlfriend, Evie, did. Patrick was trained for the job he now holds, while Evie was taken elsewhere and later released back into the Outside. After being tested, she was said to be too psychologically damaged to work and hasn’t been the same since. However, no one really suspects that it was the TMC who did the damage to her. Patrick is pretty content in his job and has just been given his first solo case working with a John Doe who was found nearly dead by the Escapeway. The man is practically wild and doesn’t appear to speak or write except in gibberish. Using his empathic talents, Patrick soon realizes that his John Doe is much more than he seems on the surface and the longer he works with the man, the more he comes to care for him in a non-professional way. He also starts to realize some things about himself and about what’s going on in a wider sense, not only within the facility but the world outside as well. Patrick eventually comes to understand that his patient is in grave danger and he knows he cannot betray him, but he must make a difficult decision about whether he can give up the comfortable life he has in the city for the unknown world beyond.
John Doe 439 is really a young man named Jac, who has partial amnesia. Due to severe injuries, as well as emotional trauma, he sustained when attacked by the Purples, humans who’ve gone feral, he’s forgotten who he is or how he came to be at the medical center. All he knows is that his older brother always taught him to fear the All-Whites, and now he’s locked up in a place that’s completely white and only tended by people dressed in white. Into this frightening landscape comes Patrick, who treats Jac with gentleness, dignity, and respect. Gradually Jac begins to trust Patrick, especially after they connect psychically. To say that Jac is a sweet and gentle soul is almost an understatement. To many around him, he’s viewed as weak and easy prey, because he possesses an almost childlike quality. Even after he remembers how to speak, he does so in the way a small child might, dropping syllables and sometimes mispronouncing words, something his friend, Rob, calls a form of baby talk. Jac has an interesting backstory as to why this is that I won’t spoil for readers, but one of the reasons is that it’s much easier for him to simply communicate telepathically. There aren’t a lot of scenes from Jac’s POV, but on the rare occasions we get a look inside his mind, particularly after he starts to calm for Patrick, we see an intelligent man with a tremendous gift. He has psi talents above and beyond anyone who works with him has ever seen before. Patrick isn’t even certain what to call some of his talents. Again, I won’t spoil anyone by saying what they are, but he truly is a wonder. He’s also a deeply affectionate human being who loves to give and receive touch from the right people and in the right way, which as a touchy-feely person myself, I loved. When he finds out that Rob also survived the attack and they’re reunited, Jac is like a clinging vine who must be physically connected to him at all times, which made me question at times which of the men he was meant to be with, Rob or Patrick. The answer is kind of both but in different ways.
Initially the bulk of the POV scenes belong to Patrick with a few glimpses inside Jac’s troubled mind, but as the story progresses and moves outside the medical center, we get more and more scenes from other characters’ perspectives. There’s Patrick’s top-level empath supervisor, Sam, who recognizes Jac’s talents early on and starts covering up some of the things he can do. Sam ends up being a whole lot more than he seems at first. Patrick also has a co-worker, Dana, who works with Jac, too, and ends up helping in a lot of ways. We get to see things from Rob’s POV as well, as he supports Jac and gives so much of himself to the man he thinks of as a brother of sorts. Then there’s the evil Julia from TMC, who’s a bully determined to get her man and break him, but she didn’t count on him having help and being so powerful himself. If memory serves I think these were the only characters who got their own POV scenes but there are plenty more supporting players such as Charlie and Evie, and several other Talents, as well as at least one Non-Talent who we meet as they make their escape and who played integral roles.
Overall, Freedom was a story that very much drew me in and kept me reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it, so that being the case you might be asking yourself why I knocked off the half-star. Well, the main reason is that as wonderful as it was, I still felt it had a few weaknesses. First, I was a little reluctant to even classify this book as romance, because that part of the story is rather subdued and kind of secondary to other events in the story. The plot simply doesn’t follow the two men on the same track that most romances do with them meeting, forging a relationship, and falling in love. These things do happen, but in a much different way than what I’m used to. There’s no explicit sex and I don’t even recall them saying, “I love you,” although it’s fairly apparent by their actions. So for me, this was more of a sci-fi story with a light romance on the side. Then there were the questions I mentioned earlier about the greater world outside New Las Vegas and exactly what was motivating the TMC. Lastly, the author wrote the book in a number of different styles. Patrick alone was written in first person present tense when he’s interacting with Jac, first person past tense when he’s taking case notes, and third person past tense when he’s interacting with other characters. Once we start getting into the other characters’ POVs, they could be either first or third person, and I can’t say I understood the differentiation on those. I did get used to it and was never confused as to whose perspective I was reading because each POV change is clearly labeled with the character’s name and setting, but for some readers this may be jarring. Despite these perceived weaknesses, I still couldn’t help giving the book keeper status. I’m fascinated by all thing to do with the inner workings of the human mind and psychic phenomena, so that alone kept me glued to the pages. I also loved all the characters and felt like I was very much a part of their world. This was such a good read, I was quite surprised and a little disappointed to discover that this is, so far, the only book Jay Kirkpatrick has written, but if she (yes, despite the male-sounding name, this is a female writer) ever writes another, I’ll definitely pick it up.… (mehr)