Title: Trin
Author: J.M. Snyder
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Pages: 113
Characters: Trin, Gerrick
POV: 3rd person
Sub-Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Kisses: 4.5
Blurb:
In a future where outposts swelter beneath a nuclear sun and run-gunners patrol dusty wastelands to protect against winged creatures known as devlars, Trin is the mech at the waystation in Arens. He has a thing for the gunners: rough men with strong hands and hard bodies, who roll through his garage like the hot desert wind.
Gerrick’s the best gunner around, a quick draw with a deadly aim and a penchant for sharing his pallet with young men. He has a roving eye and roaming hands, and has left a string of broken hearts in his wake.
Having heard the tales of Gerrick’s bravery and seen the man in action for himself, Trin has fallen in love with the man he believes Gerrick to be, and he’s sure he can change the gunner’s mind if given the chance. Gerrick’s all he wants out of this blasted world, and he tells anyone who will listen.
Then Gerrick rides through Arens. He’s heard the rumors of what Trin will do for a gunner who only mentions his name. What he wants to know is, what will Trin do for him?
Review:
Trin’s heroes have always been gunners. Or, more specifically, one gunner in particular, Gerrick, a man whose prowess with the guns he uses to defend humans from the predatory creatures that rule the skies, is the stuff of legends. Young Trin has idolized the older man for years, has placed Gerrick so high upon the pedestal of the fantasies Trin has built that there was nowhere else for the gunner to go but down. And in this poignant story of shattered illusions and failed dreams, Gerrick falls spectacularly.
Set within the framework of a post-apocalyptic future, one in which the dusty landscapes and sense of despair lures the reader directly into the hopeless vacuum of a world desolate of happiness, Trin tells the story of a young man whose sole means of optimism has been the stories he gathers of Gerrick’s exploits. Willing to trade himself—his mouth, his hands—to the random gunners who travel through Arens in exchange for news of Gerrick’s latest victories, Trin himself has become something of a legend, as the news of his obsession travels through the grapevine, finally reaching the object of his desire.
When Gerrick roles into the waystation to have his truck serviced and to find the boy who idolizes him, Trin finds himself entirely under the gunner’s spell, willing to forgive the man’s roving eyes and hands, ignoring the warnings of both his brother and best friend that Gerrick will break his heart, and giving himself body and soul to a man who can’t return the offer and doesn’t deserve the gift of Trin’s love and admiration. But very few people could aspire to live up to the myth the boy has built upon the imperfect foundation that Gerrick represents. Discovering Gerrick with another man, behaving precisely as everyone but Trin expected him to behave, the castle Trin has built in the sky comes tumbling down around him, dragging him back down to earth in the bitter anguish of lost possibilities, leaving him wondering why he wasn’t enough for the man who, to Trin, is everything.
I’ll give fair warning to those who might consider reading Trin: this is not a warm, fuzzy, happily-ever-after romance. This is the story of a young man who dreamed of doing the impossible—capturing the heart of a man who had nothing to offer but a few morsels of his attention—and failing. Trin learns the very difficult truth that sometimes, in a dank and gray world, you have to settle for what scraps of hope are offered, even if that means waking up to the reality that the man you’ve loved and idolized as the epitome of heroism is only human after all.
Reviewed By: Lisa
