Mirage, 10th Anniversary Edition

Rating:
Summary: Cardboard characters, canned exposition
Review: I really couldn't get into this one, although I tried several times -- so I haven't actually finished it, and it's possible the second half is better than what I read. But I felt that the characters were overblown caricatures, the world-building was something like those cheesy styrofoam sets from the original Star Trek, and the plot just wasn't holding together. The part I really couldn't stand was the fact that in the main couple, one character was younger, smaller, weaker, more naive, *and* always on the bottom (also gentler, weepier, smarter, etc). I like more equality in gay relationships, and I just wasn't seeing it here. I was also bothered that both of these characters (but especially the younger one) had little or no knowledge of the world or culture they grew up in. There were a few weak explanations for this fact, but I just didn't buy it -- it seemed to me like a poor excuse for a heavy-handed exposition.

Rating:
Summary: Just plain creepy
Review: This never gets off of the ground and I really was turned offby it. Remember those seedy books without illustrated covers that hadpretensions of being more than adult sex novels because they threw in a little plot? Well, this is the same thing for the late '90's. The characters were so wooden and sterotypes - if mannequins could be gay, that is.