Reviews with content warning for Confinement - The Kraken's Sacrifice

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Of all the books in this series so far, my feelings on this one are the most complicated. Both of the main characters are deeply flawed from trauma. I do think this book handles the way trauma manifests in our actions beautifully. The driving actions have layers to them which is part of why my feelings are complicated. While I wouldn't want changes to how the characters act from a storytelling perspective, it made it really hard for me to actually want the two of these characters to end up together.

The MMC may not have a malicious bone in his body but that doesn't change the fact that his actions for the first half of the story are abusive. That's not to say that characters can't work through unintentional harm but I didn't feel like the book held him accountable for just how fucked up what he did was, regardless of intention. It was hidden behind empathy for why he acted that way and the fact that they clearly had healthy communication by the epilogue.

I suppose I wanted consequences. I wanted the same protection that Briar got in Dragon's Bride to be applied here and it felt deeply unfair that it wasn't.

Briar is a stereotypical damsel, described as soft and deeply kind, while Catalina is decidedly not those things. She's self-destructive, loud, and hyper-independent but she honestly needed someone standing up for her (i.e. her demon guardians) more than Briar. At least Briar knew what happened to her was wrong and spent the book advocating for herself. Catalina is so used to being abused that she doesn't even bother anymore. She deserved to be ripped away from Thane and then have him prove he was worthy of her.

All in all, the romance was less successful for me but the character studies were beautiful.

Content Warnings

rae_the_reader's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.0

This is a good LGBTQ+ friendly monster romance. The FMC has a lot of trauma she's overcoming and the MMC struggles with the loss of a spouse. It's not my favorite of the series, but there were parts I enjoyed. I didn't think the chemistry between the two characters was believable, and I'm not really a fan of Thane. He just rubbed me wrong and never really made up for the crap he put Lina through.

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ladydamonayde's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense

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

5.0

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mrsmishler's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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waterwolves's review

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

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

3.75

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crondeau_yvr's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

3.5

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itsgalactic's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

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

5.0

While often don’t like when the main couple fuck after just meeting, Katee Robert crafted two emotionally constipated people who would believably have sex right away rather than talking to each other about their attraction. I mean that positively as the character growth from each of our main characters during this smutty adventure was wonderfully done. I also appreciate the casual queerness of Thane and some of side characters.

spoilers and trigger warning for abortion. I also very much appreciated that while Catalina does get pregnant towards the end of the book when she did not want to due to her trauma. Thane also completely supports her decision and it is treated as a necessary for her mental health and wellbeing. The epilogue also doesn’t show her as being a mother in the future which I appreciated with the lore where it would be beneficial for Thane and Catalina to have a child but he puts her needs in this matter first.

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