Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Bound to the Shadow Prince

Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Bound to the Shadow Prince by Ruby Dixon

4 reviews

marie_thereadingotter's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I received this book from NetGalley for review

I went into this book with zero exceptions, I’ve heard of Ruby Dixion before. But I didn’t think to look up who that was before requesting this book. Ice Planet Barbarians, so this book is technically part of the omega-verse. Would’ve liked to know that before hand.

That being said, this book was fine. I did skim over the copious amount of smut scenes, since this type of “intimate” scene isn’t my cup of tea. But I liked the banter between the characters before they started having sex. It was amusing and realistic. But the sex scenes, as the book neared the end, often happened at such odd times in my opinion (Shortly after the FMC was almost SA’d for example). It just felt out of place.

The world-building was pretty weak at times. The magic was very glossed over, to the point where I’d prefer zero explanation over the flimsy descriptions that were given. The dynamic of being locked in a tower for years, didn’t make sense to me. They were given more supplies, during that time, but other than that, there are no windows and the door is bricked shut… It’s not very clear why exactly they had to be locked in complete darkness either. My suspension of disbelief was broken even more by the fact that they would’ve run out of air, even with the slight breeze under the door. It just didn’t make sense to me. Why couldn’t they have one of those windows that you can’t even stick your arm through. Or why they couldn’t have lights. I also didn’t understand why the country the FMC was from wasn’t a Matriarchal society, especially if the women born from their bloodline are supposed to be important. It was just another trope this book had that I’m tired of seeing. Sexism for the sake of sexism.

The characters were, meh. I didn’t care for any of them. There was an attempt to make them multi-dimensional, but it just came across as them being inconsistent. I also saw the twist to Candra’s “cursed blood” a mile away. Something else that bothered me throughout the book is the over use of the swear “dragon shite” It was the only swear used… and it got old fast.

Ultimately, the two main problems with this book are 1) it is way too long, and 2) there’s too many twists. The final 10% was just bonkers, where another 10+ twists happen in a very short span. The conclusion also came abruptly compared to the rest of the book, where things moved so fast they felt glossed over.

This book was both gratuitous in sex and violence, and also very silly.

Content Warnings

bear_ridge_tarot's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Princess Chandra is locked into a tower as a spoilt, soft and curvy femme with a backbone of steel. Warrior Prince Nemeth, locked in with her, is not human and outwardly not soft in the slightest. When they are forced to make a huge choice, one that could end with both of them dead either way, they face a world outside the tower that they no longer understand or recognize.

I picked up this book having missed the smut warnings, and was pleasantly surprised that it was written so well. I typically avoid pure smut novels because they become repetitive and predictable. Candra and Nemeth's story is not predictable, other than the enemies-to-lovers trope. The overarching weaves a web of court intrigue, misguided assumptions about other countries/races, and two-but-really-one religions. I wanted to know what would happen between the pair, and what was going on in the outside world too! Ruby Dixon writes a beautiful, gritty story and I could hardly put the book down.

I received this book as an advanced reader copy through NetGally. It does not affect my review in any way.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a shameless, knows-what-she-wants MC and a storyline that is actually more interesting than the smutty parts!

Content Warnings

hgriz511's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book was fun. I do feel like it dragged a bit longer than necessary. This book was over 500 pages and probably could have been edited down 100 pages or so. However, I liked the main relationship in this and the twist at the end was good. It was a bit predictable at times but in a way that made me want to get to the end to have all my questions answered. I was curious about a new Ruby Dixon book after Ice Planet Barbarians. This was certainly different but I’m glad I got my hands on it. She really is one of the spice queens. And it was my first Knotted Romance and I can’t say I’m mad about it lol.

Content Warnings

brennaa's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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