Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Never King - broché - Tome 01 Cruels Garçons perdus by Nikki St. Crowe, Bénédicte Bernier

23 reviews

readingincabeswater's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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folkofthebook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

I was excited to get a darker Peter Pan retelling and overall I give this a decent-mediocre score. There are some seeds of promise, but I feel the overall execution fell a bit short. It was a fast read though and perhaps later books will dive into the world more.

Firstly, I will say I'm not a fan of RH really, so this definitely colors my experience. That being said, the whole trope of "she's special, we don't know why, but she's special" and MMC(s) being obsessed over the FMC for unnameable reasons is too cliche for me.

Things I liked:
Neverland being comprised of multiple islands (though we only see one in this book)
Expansion of Fae in this world
The faerie language concept

Things I didn't like:
Lack of on-page action
Lack of foreplay in smut scenes
Ending situation felt way too coincidental for me
like they show up to the Darling house and the Brownie just happens to be there at the same time? Why that moment if he already knew where Pan's shadow was this whole time?


Would've also been nice to have the whole shadow thing explained in this book but we just get lots of vague references.

Overall, it hits a lot of the RH typical traits, so while the loyal fans of the genre may love it, overall as a fantasy fan I just felt it was lacking some oomph.
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saramackenzi's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

4.0

 
Peter Pan used to be my favorite movie so it’s no shock that I picked up a dark retelling that is also a reverse harem. I mean what could be better.

This book left me wanting more considering we’ve yet to meet all the characters *cough Hook Cough* plus we haven’t explored the entirety of Neverland yet PLUS the cliffhanger?!? I’m impatiently waiting for the second book, Miss Nikki if you could write faster please, thank you!

I really enjoyed all the characters we met in this book, they were all complex and had backstories that have me intrigued. While we do learn bits and pieces about them there’s still a lot to uncover about their pasts and the lore of Neverland. I really appreciated the multiple POV because we were able to learn more about each of the characters. I really feel like you could see the different personalities. In a reverse harem, I like the FMC to develop a relationship with each of the characters and I can see that starting in this book. I’m especially excited to see how her and Vane’s relationship develops since he’s Mr. Broody.

Winnie Darling is a baddie, she knows she’s attractive (yes, she says exactly that in the book) and she’s not afraid to use this to her advantage. She has had a rough childhood but it hasn’t killed her sassiness. I’m really looking forward to seeing how she develops throughout the books.

This one wasn’t *too* steamy, if I remember right there are 3ish spicy scenes. There is a bit of voyeurism and some group play so you don’t have to wait too long for that which I appreciated. We do have to wait a bit for Mr. Broody though but I feel like the wait will be worth it.

OH, this book also has the “touch her and I’ll kill you” trope… and he is NOT kidding. I love this trope with my whole heart.

Honestly, I’m so impressed with how Nikki was able to pack so much of the lore from the original story into this shorter book while still making it her own and expanding the world. This book read so quickly, I mean 2 hours, and I was done. I was intrigued with the mystery as well as the relationships between the characters and I’m excited to see where the next book takes us


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