Titles

 

The sixth entry of author Kyell Gold’s Out of Position / Dev and Lee series opens with a two-part prologue, narrated respectively by the tiger Dev and fox Lee, the former training for the current football season and the latter at his divorced father’s marriage to another woman. Dev worries if Lee is bored with their relationship, even when the couple makes love, and has in the approximate decade since the previous book established a foundation for troubled LGBT youth. Dev will have to separate from Lee for several weeks training for a championship football game.

While Dev is away from his boyfriend, Lee himself is offered a position in a place called Cansez, which I assume is the Forrester Universe’s equivalent of Kansas, with the sixth installment being slightly less shy about its obvious American setting, with occasional references to the political spectrum, and the issue of Nativism frequently raised throughout the story, Dev himself a target due to his Siberian ancestry. Dev at some points clashes with fellow footballer Colin, given his homophobic leanings. The championship tournament for which Dev trains ultimately comes, its outcome occupying the last few chapters.

All in all, I found the sixth entry to be a slight step above its precursor in the series, especially given that the author doesn’t devote an afterward to ranting about politics, although he still injects the topic into the latest entry at times, which somewhat spoils the hypothetical escapism of the furry fandom, and makes even more restrictive its appeal. The illustrations, however, are good, with some being explicit, and a different anthro artist handling them this time. The book definitely has its issues, but sometimes makes good points; regardless, like its precursors, it definitely has a niche audience.