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books_ergo_sum 's review for:
Captive of the Horde King
by Zoey Draven
adventurous
medium-paced
Everyone but me loves this book, and I’m probably wrong… but let’s get into it.
The narration:
▪️ single POV, not my fav
▪️ the narrative voice felt stiff and distant (I DNFed this book in the first chapter last year for this reason)
The spice and… gaslighting?
▪️ as I was reading I had so many notes like, “No doesn’t mean no, she’s fighting and scratching him…” and, “there’s an ‘I own you, I’m using you’ vibe but she’s the last person who would be into that??” So the spice was giving me the ick…
▪️ … but then, the tone changed. They had a dry spell (that was her fault?) because suddenly he was a consent king and wouldn’t touch her without her being obviously consenting? It was such a bizarre shift that I went back and reread everything up to that point. And yeah, I standby my original notes. The beginning was non-con, maybe dub-con, and his change in behaviour was a departure from his original character. And the book was trying to convince me otherwise--nope.
The instalove:
▪️ this aggressive of a love-at-first-sight situation without fated mates… kinda creeps me out? (is there fated mates later in the series? “chosen mates” are meh)
▪️ I didn’t think these MCs were compatible. They were both stubborn and stuck in their ways, though loyal and tough. To make it work, the book did that thing I hate—periodically making the heroine a different person. Even she was like, “Whoever that woman had been last night… it wasn't me.”
The Dothraki/Dakkari thing:
▪️I was so confused about the world building and plot (why was it Bronze Age but also spacefaring? Why was she immediately made queen? etc) and I was having a little rant about it when my husband replied "Because the Dothraki did it on Game of Thrones in 2011.” And I was like, “Oh. Yeah, that is probably why.” But the GoT Dothraki made sense and these Drakkari didn’t.
▪️ my alien romance cravings weren’t satisfied—because they felt too Dothraki, aka human. I wanted more alien-human culture clash, body horror, language barrier, etc.
The plot:
▪️ it was boring. She stayed in her tent, complained about being bored (same, girl), mucked space-horse stalls, and the predictable thing was done to her by the predictable baddies.
Once again, I am SO ALONE with this review. So I am clearly wrong lol
The narration:
▪️ single POV, not my fav
▪️ the narrative voice felt stiff and distant (I DNFed this book in the first chapter last year for this reason)
The spice and… gaslighting?
▪️ as I was reading I had so many notes like, “No doesn’t mean no, she’s fighting and scratching him…” and, “there’s an ‘I own you, I’m using you’ vibe but she’s the last person who would be into that??” So the spice was giving me the ick…
▪️ … but then, the tone changed. They had a dry spell (that was her fault?) because suddenly he was a consent king and wouldn’t touch her without her being obviously consenting? It was such a bizarre shift that I went back and reread everything up to that point. And yeah, I standby my original notes. The beginning was non-con, maybe dub-con, and his change in behaviour was a departure from his original character. And the book was trying to convince me otherwise--nope.
The instalove:
▪️ this aggressive of a love-at-first-sight situation without fated mates… kinda creeps me out? (is there fated mates later in the series? “chosen mates” are meh)
▪️ I didn’t think these MCs were compatible. They were both stubborn and stuck in their ways, though loyal and tough. To make it work, the book did that thing I hate—periodically making the heroine a different person. Even she was like, “Whoever that woman had been last night… it wasn't me.”
The Dothraki/Dakkari thing:
▪️I was so confused about the world building and plot (why was it Bronze Age but also spacefaring? Why was she immediately made queen? etc) and I was having a little rant about it when my husband replied "Because the Dothraki did it on Game of Thrones in 2011.” And I was like, “Oh. Yeah, that is probably why.” But the GoT Dothraki made sense and these Drakkari didn’t.
▪️ my alien romance cravings weren’t satisfied—because they felt too Dothraki, aka human. I wanted more alien-human culture clash, body horror, language barrier, etc.
The plot:
▪️ it was boring. She stayed in her tent, complained about being bored (same, girl), mucked space-horse stalls, and the predictable thing was done to her by the predictable baddies.
Once again, I am SO ALONE with this review. So I am clearly wrong lol