{"id":13438,"date":"2020-09-18T17:18:17","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T21:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=13438"},"modified":"2022-08-14T09:04:24","modified_gmt":"2022-08-14T13:04:24","slug":"the-enforcer-enigma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13438","title":{"rendered":"The Enforcer Enigma"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Enforcer Enigma<\/a><\/em> (2020) G. L. Carriger<\/a> (San Andreas Shifters)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>When Colin’s brother returned from college, to find him completely withdrawn, Kevin decided they would both join the new pack moving out to San Francisco where Colin could be himself without fear of retribution.<\/p>\n

Judd has been a werewolf since before the Saturation. He may have been born free, but that did mean his life as a Black man–and a gay man–has been an easy one. Especially in a culture as homophobic as werewolf culture. But from the minute he laid eyes on Colin, Judd wanted him for his mate–even if he was certain he didn’t deserve such a beautiful young man.<\/p>\n

What did I like about this story? I liked both Colin and Judd, as well as Trick (the shifter who works at the coffee shop) and Floyd, the old man who hangs out at the coffee shop.<\/p>\n

Against the side wall sat dour old Floyd who liked to knit, and blessedly never tried to make small talk. (Colin supposed he could nick the man\u2019s knitting needles and stab the selkie with them, only that\u2019d get blood on the guy\u2019s knitting, which was probably rude.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What I found problematic was first and foremost, making any sense of the story line surrounding Trick. Why did the selkie mobsters know who he was if no one else did? How did they connect Trick to his family at all, if Trick was living unregistered?<\/p>\n

Second, I really really wanted to learn more about Saturation and what on earth happened to the world, and Judd was old enough to have lived it. But we not only did we get nothing about this world changing event, Judd really didn’t feel like someone who was 150 years old. <\/p>\n

And if this world is supposed to have paralleled ours, I’m not sure that spending time in Canada would have saved Judd from the racism of that century and a half off living. I’m not saying he should have been bitter or angry, just that he didn’t feel as aware of the world around him–and how he fit into it–as someone who would have had to watch his back for so long. Watched how he fit into the world and how other people saw him. And Judd as too self-aware a character for me to believe he didn’t know these things.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that world wasn’t as racist as ours is, but if there was slavery, it seems unlikely Judd wouldn’t have dealt with overt racism. But instead we just get a brief passage about how he’s tired of dealing with how other people deal with racism. Which is important and I was delighted to see him telling people he wasn’t responsible for helping them unpack their own baggage.<\/p>\n

He just didn’t read to me like someone who had spent most of his life being seen as a threat. And any man who is more than six feet tall and solid muscle is going to be perceived as a threat at many points in their life, all other characteristics being equal (which in this case they were not).<\/p>\n

To be clear, I don’t think Judd should have been damaged by his past, or needed to deal with it. Only that he didn’t feel<\/em> like the man he was described as being–someone who had been alive for 150 years and probably spent much of that time being either looked down upon or seen as a threat. <\/p>\n

I didn’t need him to be broken in any way, I just needed him to feel not oblivious to how he fit into the world. <\/p>\n

I feel like I’m explaining this terribly. I suppose the short of it goes back to my first statement, that Judd did not feel at all like a man who had lived through the kind of world he would have moved through for so long.<\/p>\n

We had long chapters and paragraphs about how Colin saw himself as fitting into the world, and how he tried to make himself smaller, more invisible. <\/p>\n

Colin wasn\u2019t good at making people feel welcome, so he did the next best thing and provided quiet reassurance from afar.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It just felt weird that Judd would be completely lacking in any of that same awareness.<\/p>\n

Publisher : GAIL CARRIGER LLC
\nRating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Enforcer Enigma (2020) G. L. Carriger (San Andreas Shifters) When Colin’s brother returned from college, to find him completely withdrawn, Kevin decided they would both join the new pack moving out to San Francisco where Colin could be himself without fear of retribution. Judd has been a werewolf since before the Saturation. He may […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[194,2,148,26,56,35,16],"tags":[50,226,544,525],"class_list":["post-13438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-5-10","category-fantasy","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","category-short-story","category-supernatural","tag-boinking","tag-gail-carriger","tag-mm","tag-werewolves"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3uK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13432,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13432","url_meta":{"origin":13438,"position":0},"title":"The Omega Objection","author":"Michelle","date":"September 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Omega Objection (2018) G. L. Carriger (San Andreas Shifters) Tank came east with the rest of what eventually eventually came to be the San Andreas Pack. Although he's big enough to be an enforcer, he's truly submissive and doesn't like to fight, even if he does a lot of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Omega Objection","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/The-Omega-Objection.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13980,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13980","url_meta":{"origin":13438,"position":1},"title":"How to Marry a Werewolf","author":"Michelle","date":"February 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"How to Marry a Werewolf (2018) Gail Carriger (Claw & Courtship) Set in alternate London in 1896 Faith Wigglesworth is being sent to England to marry a werewolf. They must be desperate to be rid of me, she thought, to be considering werewolves. Or Mother hates werewolves so much, she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"How to Marry a Werewolf","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/How-to-Marry-a-Werewolf.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13422,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13422","url_meta":{"origin":13438,"position":2},"title":"The Sumage Solution","author":"Michelle","date":"September 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Sumage Solution (2017) G. L. Carriger (San Andreas Shifters) Max is a sumage and, as far as his father was concerned, a complete failure. Instead of being a Surge, he's a Placer, and instead of continuing the family line, he's gay. So now he works for DURPS and lives\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Sumage Solution","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/The-Sumage-Solution.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1419,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1419","url_meta":{"origin":13438,"position":3},"title":"Soulless","author":"Michelle","date":"October 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Soulless (2009) Gail Carriger Alexia Tarabotti doesn't have a soul. This isn't a particularly well known fact, since the only people who can recognize this are the supernatural--vampires, werewolves etc. But when she is attacked by a vampire at a ball, she is (quite willingly) drawn into an intrigue, against\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"soulless","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/soulless.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1936,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1936","url_meta":{"origin":13438,"position":4},"title":"Blameless","author":"Michelle","date":"September 6, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Blameless (2010) Gail Carriger I loved Soulless, the first book in this series. I thought Changeless was good with the exclusion of the ending, which I despised, so I had mixed feelings about starting Blameless. Alexia is pregnant, and Lord Maccon--who is a werewolf and an immortal--has thrown her out,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/blameless.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13991,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13991","url_meta":{"origin":13438,"position":5},"title":"Soulless","author":"Michelle","date":"February 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Soulless (2009) Gail Carriger (Parasol Protectorate) Set in alternate London in Queen Victoria's reign. Supernatural creatures, especially vampires and werewolves, are influential members of British society, although in the united states they are seen as monsters to barely tolerated, of not outright destroyed. 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