Novella Control Hammer Falls Book #2.5
Futuristc Fantasy, Gay Romance, Fantasy Romance
Independent
Jan 5,2023
Kindle
103
Amazon
Control is a 36K add-on novella (2.5) that should be read AFTER Sons of Heaven & Hell (Hammer Falls: 2) and before The Tree of Life (Hammer Falls: 3). It isn't crucial reading for the trilogy but is highly recommended for fans of the series - adding details Nate has missed and deepening both characters and the significance of certain things that relate to books 2 and 3. It is NOT a standalone and cannot be read in that way.
The Story: Grappling with a terrible truth only he knows, Leo Crow is doing all he can to prove his loyalty to the shadowy, controlling Seminary whilst keeping his siblings safe. Three things are working against him: his guilt about things he couldn't stop, a brother who won't stop researching things he shouldn't and sexy, carefree Zeke, who seems to be bringing everything up that Leo wants to keep crushed down. As Zeke tries to get closer and Leo tries to keep his distance, who will prevail? And what will the consequences be?
Content Warnings - High-angst MM Romantic fantasy. Control contains very high-heat male-male romance scenes, strong swearing, gaslighting, violence (to demons). Dealing with a death is a major theme including questions about suicide & murder. The book refers to & plays off various events in the first two books of the series. You may like to know this novella is free to newlsetter subscribers.
Review by Ulysses Dietz
Member of The Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
This is only four stars because it is a bonus novella for the Hammer Falls series, and feels exactly like what it is. With its abrupt ending and bleak outlook, it is not meant to satisfy, but to amplify—something it does admirably.
The title is apt and powerful—like a needle-sharp awl. Most interestingly, it all from the points of view of two characters only present secondarily in the first two books of the series: Leo Crow, Nate’s older brother; and Zeke Hafez, Nate’s roommate at the Seminary.
This novella finally gives us the truth we’ve been sort of suspecting all along, from what we’ve learned about the demon stalker Seminary at which all three of the Crow children are enrolled. Imagine if you will a Hogwarts run by Severus Snape, at which Harry, Hermione, and Ron are all in permanent disgrace and treated with disdain (at best) and gross unfairness for the sins of their father.
The Seminary, considered sacred by the community of demon stalkers, is more than just a dark place: there is something seriously wrong at the very core of its foundation. Nate had begun to discover things before his desperate flight to the mainland in “Sons of Heaven and Hell,” but in this book, it is Leo who begins to doubt the history he has been taught all his life, and Zeke who witnesses that doubt take hold.
Once more, intense sexual activity and a not-entirely-candid disavowal of feelings related to it is central and important. Frost is good at writing sex scenes, but he also fully understands how to use this as a tool for emotional exploration. These are teenagers, after all, driven by hormones as much as by their sharp, determined minds. They are learning about lust and love and how difficult it is to pretend the two are not linked. There’s a third “L” in this episode, however: loyalty.
Loyalty is a noble concept, unless it is twisted and misused and becomes something sinister. In fact, the Seminary is exactly comparable to a fundamentalist evangelical religious community. Outside ideas are seen as damaging to loyalty; indeed, thought itself is seen as potentially dangerous and corrupting. Nate’s research, Leo’s questions, Zeke’s involuntary feelings for Leo and Sadie Crow: all of these are potentially dangerous for these young people in the context of a controlling institution.
And there you have it. Not entirely satisfying as a stand-alone, “Control” gives focused and painful insight into the challenges that face the Crow children and the people about whom they care.
Now we wait for book 3 in the Hammer Falls series.