Talker’s Graduation is the third installment in Amy Lane’s Talker series. It picks up the story several years into the relationship between Tate Walker and Brian Cooper. It’s clear that Tate, aka Talker is more settled within himself and Brian is also developing new skills.
Lane is adept at creating characters that make you want to root for them and Tate and Brian are no exception. Talker’s Graduation touchingly reveals the pain and joy of these two characters as they discover new aspects of their relationship. You can almost see Tate about to twitch apart when he stumbles upon a confrontation between Brian and Mark, his boss at the gallery where he works. You can feel the heat of Brian’s anger in that same encounter.
There are some weaknesses in Talker’s Graduation. Sometimes the timeline gets a little confusing as the story moves back and forth in time and it’s also sometimes not clear why Lane switches between Tate and Talker. Still, this is a great conclusion to the Talker series. Talker’s Graduation opens some whole new roads for these two wounded characters to explore and neither of them are afraid of new experiences.
Lane closes this series with her main characters Tate and Brian coming to some maturing decisions about their separate lives and their relationship together. Talker’s Graduation is full of passion and action, love and pain. It’s worth 5 stars for the writing skill exhibited and the character development.
Stars: [rating=5]
Review originally appeared on Queer Magazine Online
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Image courtesy of Dreamspinner Press