Warning: Contains spoilers!
Hex is not only a novel of love spells, but also the love of relationships, unrequited and sex. It contains elements of the supernatural, occult and horror. Throughout the story and more importantly, it has a wonderful sense of humor.
The novel opens in Miami, where news of Castro’s death has sent the city into a frenzy of excitement and celebration, especially among the gay Cubans. Several friends visiting get caught in the midst of the revelry and strange sightings of the supposedly past-on Cuban dictator. Langston Fleetwood, his straight(?) best friend Azaril, friends Reynaldo and Quentin search for Damian who vanished under very serious circumstances during one of these episodes. Their quest takes Langston and Azaril to Key West where Langston’s Aunt Reginia, a respected and formidable psychic sends the foursome on a journey that takers them to the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut to New York City and back to Miami. They learn the strange and bizarre family history of their friend Damian, are stalked by a warlock bent on capturing their secrets and a poor little rich girl who is an odd wild card with the power to bend time and space. In the midst of the chaos, Azaril disappears in a fashion very similar to Damian’s.
Scott’s writing takes a little getting used to at first, since he writes in the present tense. His prose gets a bit wordy at times but he soon grabs the readers and pulls them into a fantastic world of alternative universes, sorcery and the joy and heartaches of gay love. At six hundred and one pages, Hex is a lengthy read but again Scott doesn’t forget his readers. One could easily get bogged down on some of the lengthy descriptions, but not with this author. He keeps us grounded and back in the story, experiencing the action instead of merely reading it.
I found myself absorbing Aunt Reginia Jameson Wolfe’s teachings to Langston to the point that I actually reacted as she did when he asked her a question about the powers in which he was tapping. That’s great writing when you can connect with a character so closely.
Although a powerful psychic, Reginia remains down-to-earth and fiercely protective of her family, including her two sons, typical teenagers in their own world, clueless as to the scope of events happening around them. Reginia is not bothered by four o’ clock in the morning phone calls from her nephew unless, of course, he interrupts her favorite movies. She has some of the best lines in the entire book.
Another character that injects humor into the story is the rich Roan Gillory. She accidentally turns her husband into a dog, morphs her hotel room into a tropical rain forest, and moves it out of the real of the hotel’s physical reality. Roan never completely loses touch with her earthly side as she checks out the warlock’s butt and admits to Langston that she wouldn’t mind making out with his aunt.
The fascinating climax, the rescue of Damian and Azaril, is a journey into the alternate realities with Aunt Reginia leading the way and taking charge. On a hysterical note, as they emerge from the experience, the five young men discover that Reginia used the power they tapped into to bless their already significant endowments and give herself and Roan Gillory a nip and tuck. Who among us wouldn’t take the same advantage of an opportunity like that for a little physical enhancement?
Hex is one of the best books I’ve ever read and certainly the best in gay literature. The not-too-happy ending is a nice dose of reality when Langston must give up the love of his life, Azaril. This digression from the usual pretty-boy-gets-pretty-boy-in-the-end (no pun intended) kept it real and that’s the biggest thing I applaud Darieck Scott. He gives us a powerful love story complete with sci-fi and fantasy elements that blissfully casts a love spell on its readers and keeps them enchanted to the end.
