Fallow

By: Jordan L. Hawk

Narrated by: Julian G. Simmons

Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's Summary

When Griffin's past collides with his present, will it cost the lives of everyone he loves?

Between the threat of a world-ending invasion from the Outside and unwelcome revelations about his own nature, Percival Endicott Whyborne is under a great deal of strain. His husband, Griffin Flaherty, wants to help - but how can he, when Whyborne won't tell him what's wrong?

When a man from Griffin's past murders a sorcerer, the situation grows even more dire. Once a simple farmer from Griffin's hometown of Fallow, the assassin now bears a terrifying magical corruption, one whose nature even Whyborne can't explain.

To keep Griffin's estranged mother safe, they must travel to a dying town in Kansas. But as drought withers the crops of Fallow, a sinister cult sinks its roots deep into the arid soil. And if the cult's foul harvest isn't stopped in time, Fallow will be only the first city to fall.

Fallow is the eighth book in the Whyborne & Griffin series, where magic, mystery, and m/m romance collide with Victorian era America.

©2016 Jordan L. Hawk (P)2016 Jordan L. Hawk

An upswing in the series.

This is one of those series that I wasn't sure about tackling at all, in the beginning. Historical fiction in the mm genre hasn't really been my thing, overall. These books are in fact much more fantasy than history though, and the things that I often find annoying about historical romances aren't really present in this series - I fell in love with Whyborne & Griffin from the very beginning.

Since I have read (or listened to) all of the books in the series it is difficult for me to judge if this book would work as a stand alone. I think it would be an okay stand alone - I don't think the listener would be completely lost as far as the plot of this book, though to be sure it features characters and makes mention of plots from earlier books - so would be best read as a part of the series as a whole.

I was all on board for the first handful of books in the series, but around book 5 I started to get a little nervous. Every time a new book comes out in this series I am both excited, but also anxious. Just by the nature of it being a relatively long running series, it is bound to either get repetitive or ridiculous as the jeopardy continues to inflate, by necessity, to retain the tension and reader interest. I live in dread of the volume where it finally completely jumps the shark.

Not yet. In fact, while I've only rated the story in the last couple of books with 4's (I liked them a lot, but they fell short of the first few that I totally loved), this one gets another 5 from me. It feels like it has returned a bit to the flavor of those earlier stories, and I was completely happy and satisfied at the end of this book. I will undoubtedly continue to look forward to future volumes with the same bit of trepidation - but I will also absolutely keep buying them.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Just keeps getting better.

One of my favorite things about Jordan's writing, is to quote one green ogre, is the layers of world building we see peeled away as the story continues. The downside is the books really need to be read in order but as it's a great series I'd say, if you haven't discovered Widdershins, you have some mighty fine reading to look forward to. Angst levels bubble along at a steady pace, there but not on ed whelming.
Will I read / listen to again? Definitely.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Another great installment in Whybourne and Griffin

I love these characters and the world that they inhabit. Hearing them brought to life is a wonderful experience. Fallow is particularly enjoyable for its message of acceptance and love and finding one's place in the world as well as chosen family.

Stay in your lane voice announcer!

This is for the Audio Version Only!

This is a first for me. I have never read a gay urban supernatural fiction centered romance located in the 1890s Lovecraftian Universe. To be honest this is my first gay romance, and it was pretty darn good.

That seems at first an almost bizarre combination, but it is great. I absolutely enjoyed this book and I am thankful my husband pushed me to read it. Don't worry I won't spoil the book, but I just had to comment on how much I did like it.

The story itself is great, I love the romance that develops in the book. The main character is very much in the same vein as Randolph Carter in Lovecraft's stories, in fact this book could very well take place in Lovecraft. The big difference is Jordan writes better.

The story is full of the horror we expect, the small towns, underground passages and things man shouldn't read. The big difference is there is no inherent racism or sexism directed at others in a hurtful way. The prejudices in the book are appropriate for the time and are written carefully to make it clear the author is telling a story of the time period, not that people in the real world are the monsters. Lovecraft was problematic at the best. This book avoids his pitfalls and shows the pains a homosexual man and a woman trying to push into the male dominated fields handle being professors at a university.

Oh, and the sex scenes (and there are some pretty explicit ones) are pretty good.

The only flaw in the entire setup isn't Jordan, its the narrator. He is pretty good overall, however he cannot affect an accent to save his life. He doesn't need to either, he is fine just reading the book like he does for most of it. However, the Irish accents and the women's voices are cringeworthy.

Once again, he was great overall, just stay in your lane sir, stay in your lane.

Bringing back the real mystery of the series

This honestly was probably my favorite in the series. We've gone back to the original feel of the first few books. I was very excited to see things brought back around to Griffin which I feel his story has been only told in relation to Wyborne lately so that was great to see!