I'll admit, I enjoyed the drama and energy before the middle of the book - the story was rich with period drama and silly societal squabbles and fun dialogue, but I feel like some of that excitement really fizzled out even before we got to the

sexual assault on the main male protagonist, meant to show "the change" in the main female protagonist.

  I am disappointed, I don't expect perfect characters - but this method of "character development" is not my cup of tea. It doesn't make me want to read any of the other books in the series, where I otherwise would have. 

Toxic transphobic trope