Reviews with content warning for Stalking - Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian

I read the original trilogy and thought getting an insight into Christian’s thoughts would be interesting. I really should quit doing this to myself as this is the second male POV book that when read, makes the male character worse.

The one thing I was hoping to understand more was his childhood and time with Elena but it’s still just cryptic and non-existent as it was in the main trilogy. It seems that aside from his nightmares, Christian doesn’t confront his trauma and Dr. Flynn is absent until the very end… conveniently to tell him to try to do it Ana’s way and give her more.

The scene where Elena tells Christian to go to Georgia was horribly underwhelming and I wou,d have thought her more manipulative than she was.

Christian shows many stalker tendencies throughout the book, running and driving by her place many times before, during, and after their breakup.

The punishment scene scared me as in Christian was clearly enjoying it and didn’t see why it would inevitably lead to pushing Ana away. “She didn’t safe word” got old. For someone so brilliant in business, he doesn’t seem to have any brains about what an inexperienced young woman might need, want, and for all his I want to protect you and keep you safe moments, it all goes out the window when it’s pain he causes.

In many ways I found Christian to be immature, possessive to a degree that went on to stalker tendencies, and emotionally unstable because it’s clear he’s falling for her, yet the thought is something he pushes away constantly. This book also makes Ana too willing to please and dumb, which also contradicts Christian’s constant she is smart compliments. Both leads suffer and truthfully, I wish I’d stayed far away from this series.

Content Warnings

kaetheluise_nckl's review

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dark sad tense slow-paced

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

This was worse than the one from Ana’s POV. Christian Grey is one pathetic man, ngl.

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whrohala's review

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challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.75

This was... tough. Thankfully I was well aware going into it that that would be the case. I've read it before, but it's been several years and I have a vastly different understanding of the world now than I did when this first came out.

The writing is fine. Not the worst, but certainly reads like many of the fanfics I've read. Makes sense since this was a twilight fanfic.

The way that Christian is written is hard to work through. Very juvenile way of thinking - which makes sense if you think about it psychologically, but its pretty clear that that wasn't entirely the motivation for his behaviors and mind set. Definitely reads more as a bastardization of BDSM and the motivations and culture behind it.

For the most part I actually really like the way that Anastasia is written. Funny, strong-willed, and true to herself. While still being a believability curious but inexperienced participant in this relationship dynamic.

Content Warnings

rini's review against another edition

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reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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