Gay Cowboys and Indians! Stallion, a Yaoi novel.
Written: Mar 22 '08 (Updated Feb 11 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful art and good stories of gay romance.
Cons: Men should not be that pretty. The homosexual content may offend some people.
The Bottom Line: While not flawless, this yaoi novel has some very strong points, and if yaoi is your cup of tea, well, have a sip!
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| talyseon's Full Review: Stallion |
Stallion by KOSEN.
This is a Yaoi novel. Yaoi is a Japanese art form, graphic novels featuring gay romances, written primarily by women and intended for women. They can range from sweet romances, to graphic depictions of sex between two men. If this is not your cup of tea, well, you have been warned.
Stallion is the story of the scallywag Bill Tempest, and two men who are drawn together by their hatred of him.
The first is Josey Blackwell. Josey is a bounty hunter. His beef with Bill dates back to a bank robbery. Bill took the banker’s daughter with him as a hostage, saying he would let her go outside of town. Josey was the one who went to get her. Bill was still waiting, something no one expected, and when she ran to Josey’s arms, Bill shot her. Josey tried to cover her, but all he got were scars on his arm and chest. She died in his arms.
The other person who hates Bill is an Indian brave named Savage Stallion. And as the story opens, we see Stallion jump Josey. Each had been tracking Bill, and Stallion thought Josey was part of his gang who would need taking out of the picture.
But their tussle lets ole Tempest gets the drop on them, and they find themselves naked, tied together face to face on horse back with a noose around their necks. As soon as Bill is out of sight, Stallion starts squirming; this has an embarrassing effect on Josey, and manages to use his mouth to work the noose off Josey’s neck. Josey returns the favor, and then they dump themselves off the horse, and wriggle free of their bonds. Naked, with out clothes or shoes or water, and one horse, Stallion offers to take Josie back to his tribe to get clothes and a horse.
Josie gets back in town, beats Bill’s location out of a local lowlife, and busts in on him at the local brothel. He thinks he has it all under control, until the soiled dove Bill was sparking clobbers him with a vase. She figures now Bill owes her a new dress.
Bill agrees, ties Josey to the bed, and then proceeds to rape him.
In the mean time, Stallion is undergoing a ritual to restore his spirit. The Shaman informs him that Josey is in great danger. Stallion rushes off. The Shaman hollers that if given the choice between Stallion and revenge, he will probably choose revenge. Stallion does not care.
He busts in on them in the nick of time. Bill is finished, and fixing to shoot Josey, when a very angry Indian busts in. Bill escapes out the window, and Stallion has problems of his own; the Sheriff! He is an Indian, in town, with a freshly raped man unconscious tied to the bed.
When Josey wakes up, he discovers what has happened. But the sheriff is leaving right then to follow Bill Tempest’s trail, so Josey leaves Stallion in jail, bruised and battered, and pursues his nemesis.
Will Josey find Bill? Will the town’s people hang Stallion? How will our heroes end up in the sack together?
This is not a standard Yaoi. First, the creators, Aurora and Diana, collectively known as KOSEN, are not Japanese. Second, this book reads left to right, like a normal book. Most manga, and yaoi is manga, reads right to left, like Japanese books.
Another thing that really sets this book apart is the art. The book is beautiful, with excellent use of half tone shading, and wonderfully detailed art. The anatomy of the horse is stunningly good, and the boys are….well, pretty.
I don’t mean Ashton Kutcher pretty, I mean Nagels art print flawless pretty, you wish your wife or girlfriend was this pretty. The anatomy looks like it uses a 6 to 1 body/head ratio, but the boys are slender enough that it looks 7 or 8 to 1. They have large, limpid eyes, and eyelashes that are only seen on camels and drag queens, and pretty slender faces with pointy little chins. Think Jolene Blaylock in boy drag.
I personally like my men to be unmistakably male. Still, they are lovely, and the girls can draw a hiney.
It is odd that such pretty boys live out such a dark story. Do not doubt that this is disturbing; both our heroes are raped by the villain, Stallion when he was a child, and Josey before our eyes. I am not a fan of rape fantasy. This disturbed me.
But the romance between the boys is sweet and very well done, and is almost, ALMOST, enough to make me overlook that.
The book has some very graphic depictions of sex, without ever showing a centimeter of cartoon, um, well, naughty bits. There is no doubt of what they are doing, you just don’t see with what.
Spoiler Alert, but read it anyway. It will save you some disappointment.
The second story is a throw away piece called Eien. Eien is hunting the vampire who seduced and killed his father. The vampire seduces Eien. Eien manages to drink some of his blood, and now has all of eternity to hunt him down. That’s the whole story.
The art looks like they stopped after the rough draft had been sketched in. It looks maybe 70% finished compared to Stallion. The men are even girlyer, if that is imaginable. I would have liked this volume better if they had left this story out.
The third story is called Cancellation of Darkness. It is by Laila Reimoz, and Amelia Woo.
Kai is a young man with problems. Any one who gets close to him is hurt. Bradley is a researcher who thinks he may have a handle on what is going on, and how to help Kai. Kai has a demon. It wants Kai all to itself. When Kai was a toddler, the demon inhabited his teddy bear, animating it. Then it sort of disembodied, and now it just spends its time hurting anyone who tries to get close to Kai.
Does Bradley know what is going on? Can he help Kai, or will the demon just kill him after he seduces Kai? I have to say the answers are pretty interesting. This Yaoi reads like an O Henry story. I liked it.
The art is nowhere near the quality of KOSEN’s and Kai is of the big eyes and slight frame of yaoi boy, but Bradley just looks like a guy with a goofy haircut. All in all, this story would profit from a better artist, but it stand on its own.
Over all, the volume falls short of Yaoi perfection. I do enjoy the lack of angst. (No, I can’t feel this way! He’s a man! But he’s so cute….No! I mustn’t! Yech!) I could have gone for a little more anatomy and a whole lot less rape in the Stallion story, but Japanese sensibilities are really different on this point. It happens in Yaoi. A Lot.
I guess Stallion is a four star story, Cancellation is three and half, marked down for art, and Eien, feh. Call the whole thing three and a half, maybe a bit more.
Try these Yaoi reviews:
Shards of Affection
Romantic Illusions
Ruff Love
Thunderbolt Boys Excite Vol 2
Thunderbolt Boys Excite Vol 1
Pathos
Pathos II
The Crimson Spell 2
The Crimson Spell
Incubus
Incubus Volume 2
Incubus Volume 3
Love + Alpha
Yellow
Yakuza in Love 2
Yakuza in Love
Beyond Scandalous Seiryo University
Return to Seiryo University
Scandalous Seiryo University
Wild Rock
Man's Best Friend
Shinobu Kokoro
Midaresomenishi: A Legend of Samurai Love
Stallion
Gerard & Jaques 2
Gerard & Jaques 1
And Yaoi Anime!
Kizuna, Volume One
Kizuna, Volume Two
Recommended:
Yes
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