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rubeusbeaky 's review for:
A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
by Jennifer L. Armentrout
The first book was fun because it was so obvious to everyone but Poppy that she was in a vampire-infested warzone. But this second book is just played straight, and it loses a lot of what made it fun and interesting. There is no genre-saviness, no twist on vampires, no... heart. It's /just/ an angsty vampire romance novel. Misunderstandings abound which shouldn't, but our hero the empath keeps refusing to use her powers to pry. Vampire boi is overprotective, possessive, domineering, withholding, evasive, overly aggressive, and downright rapey, all of which is supposed to be hand-waved as romantic because he has a heart of gold.... Siiiiigh. Ladies, gentlemen, enbies of all shapes and sizes: A few notes on consent... Ahem...
1) Your partner doesn't get to assume how you feel. You tell /them/ how you feel. They don't get to counter by rejecting your feelings. "Nah, you like it, come on...." No.
2) You and your partner have to be honest about boundaries, protection, safe words, etc, before indulging in a rape fantasy. Asking if someone is okay /after/ is not enough. You should be performing aftercare AND outlining expectations and precautions beforehand.
3) Consent can be revoked at any time, for any reason. If you feel overwhelmed, stop. Your partner does not get to force you to continue, even if they /think/ they're being pleasurable or kind. Stop means stop, no means no, respect the red light!
Say nothing of the fact that Casteel victim-blames her for not violently retaliating against her abusers or their enablers. Or gaslights her, by denying Poppy her literal freedom and her free will but then outlining his thinking as "I won't force you...but here's my thinking, it's right, you'll agree with me, I just cut to the chase." Or condescendingly laughs every time she, rightfully, has a question, or feels insulted, or feels frightened. OR, mistakes lust for consent and imposes himself on Poppy as if he knows better than her; spoiler alert, lust doesn't trump feeling disrespected or afraid, and instead of alleviating the former maybe he could try a little harder to alleviate the latter!!!!
Yeah, Casteel is a piece of work. I could not, and did not want to, get lost in this fantasy.
But ignoring the Vampire by Numbers story, the rest... Is just a weird tapestry of other YA. Poppy and Casteel read equally as Genya/Darkling or Alina/Darkling fanfiction. Cas takes Poppy to a secret field of flowers, a la Twilight. Cas and Poppy were both trapped by abusive royalty, mistake each other for enemies or plot coupons, then realize they're fated mates, a la Rhys and Feyre from ACoTaR. Cas and Poppy do a lot of politicking and "pretending" to be in love by day, and they endured trauma which they relive in horrible nightmares by night, resulting in the two consoling each other and coaxing each other to remember what's real and what's fantasy, a la Peeta and Katniss in Hunger Games. WHERE IS THE ORIGINALITY?!?! I hate that instead of a sequel to FBaA, I'm just getting a tour through Armentrout's personal library!
AND FINALLY, the book has a biiiig setup about Poppy and Cas trying to get their brothers back....which it doesn't even deliver in this book! 558 pages of angsting and absolutely 0 pages of plotting!!!! Efffff me!!!
Not impressed. X_X
1) Your partner doesn't get to assume how you feel. You tell /them/ how you feel. They don't get to counter by rejecting your feelings. "Nah, you like it, come on...." No.
2) You and your partner have to be honest about boundaries, protection, safe words, etc, before indulging in a rape fantasy. Asking if someone is okay /after/ is not enough. You should be performing aftercare AND outlining expectations and precautions beforehand.
3) Consent can be revoked at any time, for any reason. If you feel overwhelmed, stop. Your partner does not get to force you to continue, even if they /think/ they're being pleasurable or kind. Stop means stop, no means no, respect the red light!
Say nothing of the fact that Casteel victim-blames her for not violently retaliating against her abusers or their enablers. Or gaslights her, by denying Poppy her literal freedom and her free will but then outlining his thinking as "I won't force you...but here's my thinking, it's right, you'll agree with me, I just cut to the chase." Or condescendingly laughs every time she, rightfully, has a question, or feels insulted, or feels frightened. OR, mistakes lust for consent and imposes himself on Poppy as if he knows better than her; spoiler alert, lust doesn't trump feeling disrespected or afraid, and instead of alleviating the former maybe he could try a little harder to alleviate the latter!!!!
Yeah, Casteel is a piece of work. I could not, and did not want to, get lost in this fantasy.
But ignoring the Vampire by Numbers story, the rest... Is just a weird tapestry of other YA. Poppy and Casteel read equally as Genya/Darkling or Alina/Darkling fanfiction. Cas takes Poppy to a secret field of flowers, a la Twilight. Cas and Poppy were both trapped by abusive royalty, mistake each other for enemies or plot coupons, then realize they're fated mates, a la Rhys and Feyre from ACoTaR. Cas and Poppy do a lot of politicking and "pretending" to be in love by day, and they endured trauma which they relive in horrible nightmares by night, resulting in the two consoling each other and coaxing each other to remember what's real and what's fantasy, a la Peeta and Katniss in Hunger Games. WHERE IS THE ORIGINALITY?!?! I hate that instead of a sequel to FBaA, I'm just getting a tour through Armentrout's personal library!
AND FINALLY, the book has a biiiig setup about Poppy and Cas trying to get their brothers back....which it doesn't even deliver in this book! 558 pages of angsting and absolutely 0 pages of plotting!!!! Efffff me!!!
Not impressed. X_X