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queenluaFor some goddamn reason I’d gotten the idea that this was a YA trilogy, in the vein of a Megan Whalen Turner novel. So when I read the opening of book one, and there’s a prince being passed off as a slave to some foreign kingdom, I was like, “woah, that’s a little edgelordy for YA.” Then we get to chapter two, there’s a lot of weirdly sensual bits describing how slavery works in this world, but there’s also some sense of danger, and I’m like, am I supposed to be getting turned on by this? like that would make sense in a slavefic AU thing or Harlequin romance, but I thought I was reading a YA adventure?
Then we get to chapter three and there’s a literal orgy, and I turn over the book because whaaat is even happening who published this, and I notice something on the back that says MATURE AUDIENCES, and I’m like, oh, okay, good, this makes so much more sense now.
(Apparently this novel started as serial fiction posted to a fandom-adjacent corner of Livejournal, so yup, this tracks.)
So. With the obvious caveat of, this is definitely a slavefic erotica thing so look into your own heart to decide if that's something you're into—I found the first book page turner-y and highly readable, if not quite remarkable. It was advertised to me as “good political intrigue,” and while I wouldn’t quite describe it like that—genuine intrigue, I think, has to have a larger cast, more characters, more competing motivations, and this book basically only has, uh, three real characters—well, it does have a satisfyingly plot-y aspect with a pretty clever resolution, which was diverting enough to keep me reading (think, I dunno, a House of Cards episode with less menace).
The second book was also a quick read, but less satisfying—it read like slowburn but without... the burn... which is sort of important, yaknow? For hundreds of pages of mutual pining to work, you need to have all these smoldering gazes and accidental touches and will-they-won’t-they moments and such, and there’s just... not a lot of that here. Zzz. (It doesn’t help that Laurent and Damen are the only real characters, and Damen’s barely a character.)
Not sure whether I’ll read the third book or not—I might save it for if I’m on a plane or sick, and thus in need of a diversion but can’t process anything too complicated. The writing style here suits that perfectly, particularly if it follows the model of the first book moreso than the second.
Then we get to chapter three and there’s a literal orgy, and I turn over the book because whaaat is even happening who published this, and I notice something on the back that says MATURE AUDIENCES, and I’m like, oh, okay, good, this makes so much more sense now.
(Apparently this novel started as serial fiction posted to a fandom-adjacent corner of Livejournal, so yup, this tracks.)
So. With the obvious caveat of, this is definitely a slavefic erotica thing so look into your own heart to decide if that's something you're into—I found the first book page turner-y and highly readable, if not quite remarkable. It was advertised to me as “good political intrigue,” and while I wouldn’t quite describe it like that—genuine intrigue, I think, has to have a larger cast, more characters, more competing motivations, and this book basically only has, uh, three real characters—well, it does have a satisfyingly plot-y aspect with a pretty clever resolution, which was diverting enough to keep me reading (think, I dunno, a House of Cards episode with less menace).
The second book was also a quick read, but less satisfying—it read like slowburn but without... the burn... which is sort of important, yaknow? For hundreds of pages of mutual pining to work, you need to have all these smoldering gazes and accidental touches and will-they-won’t-they moments and such, and there’s just... not a lot of that here. Zzz. (It doesn’t help that Laurent and Damen are the only real characters, and Damen’s barely a character.)
Not sure whether I’ll read the third book or not—I might save it for if I’m on a plane or sick, and thus in need of a diversion but can’t process anything too complicated. The writing style here suits that perfectly, particularly if it follows the model of the first book moreso than the second.
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Date: 2020-09-29 08:33 pm (UTC)she says: "so, fair warning, they are very problematic"
and i'm like "sure whatever it's literally impossible to phase me"
so she says "ok, you're free to borrow them if you want, because like, they ARE very fun so long as you're cool with that"
that's all the warning i had!!! i text her halfway in and i'm like "oh i didn't know this was porn, that's not what i think of when i think 'problematic' lol" and she's just like "...what did you THINK it was?!?!" and we had a good laugh :P