The story was decent. The MC’s virtue signaling disappeared in the second half of the book. In the first half of the book the MC kept crushing on various guys, but the author forgot to keep it up in the latter part of the book. Not sure if it got in the way of the story, he was trying to impress someone, or something else. It was only a sentence or two at a time. There was no follow up. There is also a possible female interest, but that may be just one sided.
As noted by others this book seems aimed towards the LGBTQ community, but it is more virtue signaling than an actual LGBTQ story.
Overall the world is interesting, with enough teasing to keep you interested in the story through the long term. I’ll probably get the next book to see how the story goes. Other series start well then turn into teen fantasies in book two or three. I am hoping that doesn’t happen here.