by Leigh (link)
Genre cest, drama/angst, romance, supernatural
Pairings Taylor/Natalie, Taylor/OMC, Zac/Kate, Zaylor
Length 15 chapters
Status Unfinished
In spite of its unfinished state, this is a story I’ve seen recommended and talked about quite a few times over the years. With just a hint of something like magical realism to go along with the much loved Zaylor genre, Cloud Shapes has a lot going for it and a lot to set it apart from other stories.
From the very beginning, it’s clear this isn’t going to be a happy story. Isaac is dead and Taylor is dying from the inside out. He and Zac are effectively sent into exile in England and it’s only there that their relationship changes into something more than brotherly. There’s something beautiful and heartbreaking about stories where it takes some tragedy to push the two of them together, and I gobble it up every time.
As if these large doses of angst weren’t enough, Leigh then adds in a supernatural element with the mysterious appearance of Hayden. Re-reading the story now, I see hints from the very beginning of an unusual presence that I didn’t pick up on the first time around. Leigh leans a little too heavily on exposition and summary to move the story along, but I can hardly blame her when she has so many layers to reveal.
Unfortunately, Leigh did not finish Cloud Shapes and so many of those layers remain hidden. The plot can be a bit rushed and muddled, with a few niggling inconsistencies and two awkward interludes in third person, but her strong prose carries it through in spite of the fact that it is occasionally quite purple. Perhaps the most heartbreaking part of Cloud Shapes is not anything that actually happens in the story–but all that doesn’t get a chance to happen or be fully explained.
Review by Bethany (website)