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shane_the_reading_rat's Reviews (1.21k)
what the fuck was this book.
[this review contains unmarked spoilers, because frankly i’m tired and can’t be bothered. you have been warned.]
i have never wanted to read monsterfucking yet unfortunately that’s what this book had in store for me.
there’s a major problem with the marketing~ this should not be promoted as horror. if anything, as someone who has continually avoided dark romance, this gives dark romance energy.
there’s another issue that is more of a personal one that just gives me a lot of ick~ Leslie (the MC) is 30. Stevie (the “””love interest”””) is 18. they have a romance (honestly its more just lust on leslie’s part) that includes multiple sex scenes. leslie’s entire personality seemingly is “gets bitches”, so honestly its not extremely surprising, but it is incredibly uncomfortable to have to read sex scenes obviously meant to be sexy (one of these is a pretty damn graphic monsterfucking scene), between a 30-year-old and an 18-year-old.
i honestly felt bad for stevie, as for most of the book, he had zero interest in leslie. it was leslie who was creepily fixated on this 18 year old (i did not see the romance coming. i saw it as more of a mentor-style relationship, that kinda classic thing where a young trans guy find an older trans guy and just kinda gloms on. then there was a graphic sex scene and i was like “oh god”). from how it seemed, leslie was attracted to stevie’s innocence and was taking advantage of stevie’s desperation. i was really hoping that leslie wasn’t specifically attracted to stevie’s innocence, but then he calls him “brat” shortly before the first sex scene. and then this quote in the epilogue drops:
[this review contains unmarked spoilers, because frankly i’m tired and can’t be bothered. you have been warned.]
i have never wanted to read monsterfucking yet unfortunately that’s what this book had in store for me.
there’s a major problem with the marketing~ this should not be promoted as horror. if anything, as someone who has continually avoided dark romance, this gives dark romance energy.
there’s another issue that is more of a personal one that just gives me a lot of ick~ Leslie (the MC) is 30. Stevie (the “””love interest”””) is 18. they have a romance (honestly its more just lust on leslie’s part) that includes multiple sex scenes. leslie’s entire personality seemingly is “gets bitches”, so honestly its not extremely surprising, but it is incredibly uncomfortable to have to read sex scenes obviously meant to be sexy (one of these is a pretty damn graphic monsterfucking scene), between a 30-year-old and an 18-year-old.
i honestly felt bad for stevie, as for most of the book, he had zero interest in leslie. it was leslie who was creepily fixated on this 18 year old (i did not see the romance coming. i saw it as more of a mentor-style relationship, that kinda classic thing where a young trans guy find an older trans guy and just kinda gloms on. then there was a graphic sex scene and i was like “oh god”). from how it seemed, leslie was attracted to stevie’s innocence and was taking advantage of stevie’s desperation. i was really hoping that leslie wasn’t specifically attracted to stevie’s innocence, but then he calls him “brat” shortly before the first sex scene. and then this quote in the epilogue drops:
Whenever he got nervy, though, the best treatment was stealing a peek at the starry-eyed way Stevie consumed the world around him. He tried to play it cool when he noticed someone watching, but the ice-cream float had knocked even that feigned maturity loose. The boy was grinning ear to ear, licking the neck of the spoon clean once the drink was gone. The pink curl of his tongue furrowed around and slid up the silver strut. Les cleared his throat.
all in all, leslie feels like a complete creep and i despise him and feel awful for stevie.
the only reason this gets two stars is because i liked the descriptions of scenery and the setting.
idk when or if i’ll ever come back to this
definitely cute, and i enjoyed it. but i’d wanted more plot, whereas this is mainly a collection of good one-liners and ASDFmovie-style art.
all the representation in here (disabled (both MCs use canes), t4t, ftm, and bigender) is wonderful, but this plot is so meandering and confusing that i just can’t continue.
supposedly all the elder rulers of these kingdoms were put into some magical sleep and that’s why the kingdoms are mostly run by teens/young adults, but i just have so many questions surrounding that. how long have they been asleep? was there no chain of command to ensure that their kids would not rule until they came of age? apparently they were all sent to sleep at a summit, so DID THEY LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND IN CASE OF POSSIBLE TRAPS???
it’s also incredibly unclear why they are at war in the first place, they’ve been fighting for a very long time but they worked together on an aqueduct system during that? and at the beginning of the story cade just waltzes over to the enemy castle to return gael and faces zero consequences? and a delegation just goes to the enemy kingdom and does some dances? doesn’t war mean you don’t hang out and work with this other kingdom?
i am so genuinely confused and this feels like i was dropped into the middle book of a trilogy and expected to understand.
supposedly all the elder rulers of these kingdoms were put into some magical sleep and that’s why the kingdoms are mostly run by teens/young adults, but i just have so many questions surrounding that. how long have they been asleep? was there no chain of command to ensure that their kids would not rule until they came of age? apparently they were all sent to sleep at a summit, so DID THEY LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND IN CASE OF POSSIBLE TRAPS???
it’s also incredibly unclear why they are at war in the first place, they’ve been fighting for a very long time but they worked together on an aqueduct system during that? and at the beginning of the story cade just waltzes over to the enemy castle to return gael and faces zero consequences? and a delegation just goes to the enemy kingdom and does some dances? doesn’t war mean you don’t hang out and work with this other kingdom?
i am so genuinely confused and this feels like i was dropped into the middle book of a trilogy and expected to understand.
ok i need you to not trust the transphobes over on goodreads and to please read this
interesting, but tried to cover too many things at once
i would’ve liked this better if it had solely focused on mabel and audre, cause they needed the time to develop the romance. afua and queenie were definitely interesting characters, but were more suited to books or novellas of their own rather than being crammed into this book.
favorite pov was absolutely mabel, towards the end i was skimming through everything else to get to her parts.
that ending really seems like one that will have people split, but personally i loved it. i think it really fit (and for once i dont dislike magical realism! yay!)
i would’ve liked this better if it had solely focused on mabel and audre, cause they needed the time to develop the romance. afua and queenie were definitely interesting characters, but were more suited to books or novellas of their own rather than being crammed into this book.
favorite pov was absolutely mabel, towards the end i was skimming through everything else to get to her parts.
that ending really seems like one that will have people split, but personally i loved it. i think it really fit (and for once i dont dislike magical realism! yay!)
there’s just something with Hafsah Faizal’s writing style that makes my eyes glaze over,
happened when i read We Hunt The Flame and its happening again here despite how much i wanted to give Faizal’s writing another shot and how excited i was over the synopsis :/
i should not be feeling as bored as i am over this story but i am. im dnf’ing this, not putting myself through the same reading experience as We Hunt The Flame
happened when i read We Hunt The Flame and its happening again here despite how much i wanted to give Faizal’s writing another shot and how excited i was over the synopsis :/
i should not be feeling as bored as i am over this story but i am. im dnf’ing this, not putting myself through the same reading experience as We Hunt The Flame
cute wholesome ya contemporary :) i was much more interested in charlie’s journey with her body and her self-confidence than the romance, but oh well. there were also just too many pop-culture references for my liking, and the references felt very mid-2010s (hamilton was mentioned entirely too many times, and the characters never mentioned liking theatre or any other musicals, and like. i like hamilton fine but it’s not mainstream like that anymore and was just a little odd to read). so all the references made me cringe a bit, but otherwise this was pretty light and sweet :D
man somehow this book managed to be both really weirdly lesbophobic and transphobic at the same time. i’d give a more detailed review, but once i reached the weird portions i turned this to the highest speed i could manage, then played tetris a lot until it was done. so here are some bullet points:
- the d slur did not need to be used at all in this, yet it was used so many times (usually to describe women). first time it happened i kinda just was very 😳, surprised and all, then it just kept continually happening. not great. if this is how Sol thinks about the people in his life, he’s not a character i could ever root for.
- it takes Sol way too long to realize that
yes, leaving your packer on your desk in plain view of your coworkers is shitty and will get you in trouble with your job for good reason. 1, it’s gross, 2, just really weird to make others see that. - every butch in this book is either really transphobic, secretly a trans guy, or both, and it was super weird. ick. just bad bad vibes.
- i just dont like instalove
- the love interest very much fetishizes the fact that sol is a trans guy (without that fetishization being opposed at all ever) and like being a trans guy myself that felt especially weird to listen to. also just plain ick
- the vampire stuff was interesting enough? but it genuinely did not need to be in the book. if you removed all the vampire shit this would straight up be the same story. and if it’s supposed to be a big metaphor for transness (which is how i was reading it) thats all fine and dandy but just doesnt make sense when Sol being trans is already a massive part of the story???
- just generally despised this honestly. glad it was short
- forgot to mention this originally but we find out Sol’s deadname + the love interest went out of their way to find his deadname and it both 1: made me mad 2: made me mad that Sol wasn’t telling them that that was really awful. deadnaming is really really shitty and yeah i hate this book so much
- theres more transphobia but i just dont have the energy to cover it all. i hate this book actually it is my least favorite of this year and probably ever by a landslide
an addition: else being like “yeah i was just in a car crash bad enough that the hospital is keeping me for a few days but you gotta bang me rn in this hospital room!!!” will forever be so funny to me. like My Sibling In Christ you do not need to get off that badly calm down
fun fact about me: i love pretty much any piece of media that has the same energy as Heathers: The Musical. it’s one of my favorite pieces of media ever.
this feels like gay Heathers and i love it dearly
its fighting and sapphic and filled with the dark glitter energy that i love oh so much and it also feels so poly (even if, according to the acknowledgements, the polyamorous part was mostly removed). THIS IS SUCH A GOOD BOOK
i love all of the POVs (though my favorite characters are sunju and clementine :)) )
i need you to read this i am begging you its such an incredible queer indie book that i have seen no one talk about. i only knew about it from scrolling through the newly added page of one of my libby libraries and putting in a hold cause it looked interesting
this feels like gay Heathers and i love it dearly
its fighting and sapphic and filled with the dark glitter energy that i love oh so much and it also feels so poly (even if, according to the acknowledgements, the polyamorous part was mostly removed). THIS IS SUCH A GOOD BOOK
i love all of the POVs (though my favorite characters are sunju and clementine :)) )
i need you to read this i am begging you its such an incredible queer indie book that i have seen no one talk about. i only knew about it from scrolling through the newly added page of one of my libby libraries and putting in a hold cause it looked interesting