Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Titan's Bride Vol. 1 by ITKZ

1 review

seriouslybookedup's review

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2.0

The reviews really make me wonder: did we all read the same thing? This is an egregiously bad execution of insta-love and yaoi. I like smut and I don't consider myself easily triggered, but I prefer slower burns and emotional connections to make smut successful and immersive. I figured that this would be somewhat out of my comfort zone but entertaining and titillating.

However...

 “What is it about that smile? Why is it…that even though he’s forcing himself on me…I’m not crying and telling him no…?”

C’mon ya’ll. Really? My biggest problem with this story is the Titan essentially forcing himself on the protagonist. There's a scene (that happens prior to the quote above) where he is in literal tears and protesting before being penetrated against his will. There’s no way to reinterpret or reframe or rationalize that. I don't know why reviewers are afraid to say rape but that's what these panels depict, a rape fantasy. Near the end of the volume, the protagonist becomes much more enthusiastic about the arrangement, but I just don't understand why it needed to start off the way it did. A couple of tweaks to the dialogue and panels would have made this palatable, at minimum. I can't imagine a bigger turn off than your protagonist crying and struggling to get away before having sex forced on them.
 
And, hey, I admit - there are a handful of elements I didn’t mind, like the Titans having a sex-positive culture which is just easy pretext for getting as many sex scenes on the page. Traumatic depictions aside, there’s also zero chemistry between the love interests (if you can call them that). They barely get to know each other in this volume. Plus, I wasn’t a fan of the Titan’s character design who reminded me of Dolph Lundgren circa 1983. This was a misfire.

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