With His Words I'm Not Alone by Lucas RykerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read about Lucas Ryker’s novel With His Words I'm Not Alone on Instagram and thought it sounded like an unusual LGBTQ read. Noel Walker lives in fear of another human being touching him. Despite a sweet dog and a robot cat, Noel also lives in loneliness.
Noel’s friendship with Marsha, his former boss, seems to teeter on becoming romantic, but he makes contact online with a young gay man who calls him “Daddy.” That person uses the screen name “Faded” and seems uninhibited with his claims and advances. Noel keeps finding Faded annoying and plans to stop their correspondence, but he continues their ongoing, unpredictable dialogues.
I’ve read many LGBTQ books and seen many LGBTQ movies over the past few decades, but I’ve never encountered another story quite like With His Words I'm Not Alone. In fact, I think this novel could make an intriguing movie that breaks the mold of familiar queer cinema.
The twists involving artificial intelligence and how it impacts writers add more conflicts. Noel falls into temptations and controversies confronting the writing community and society in general, complicating his already conflicted life.
Faded also complicates Noel’s life, in good ways. I sometimes wondered why Noel doesn’t realize the truth about Faded sooner, but Noel’s been through a lot and has become cynical, afraid to explore positive possibilities. We learn more about Noel’s condition, its causes, and its effects on him as the story progresses. No spoilers, but I found the ending, and everything leading up to it, highly satisfying.
Fortunately, this novel is just Book 1 of Ryker’s series This Is Us Now. I’m sure we’ll hear more about Lucas Ryker and his characters.
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Thanks for visiting my blog! Please also read about The Acorn Stories, a slice-of-life book with diverse characters. “A lush tangle of small-town life branches out in this engrossing collection of short stories.” –Kirkus Reviews.
