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now_booking's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
2.75
After reading the first part of Savage and Seychelle’s story in Annihilation Road, I really debated whether or not I wanted to read this optional continuation of their story. I appreciated that the author split the books into two and gave readers and option about how much more of the problematicness they wanted to read. Based on how I felt about the romance in Annhiliation Road, I wasn’t excited to check this out, but just for the fact that I’ve read every single book published by this author, I decided to give it a try, especially since it seemed like some of the problematic issues in AR were going to be addressed here.
As the author says, this would be an incredibly difficult read emotionally for anyone, but I would recommend caution if you may be at all possibly triggered by child abuse, sexual abuse, issues around autonomy and consent in sex, emotional blackmail etc etc. The author does not at all oversell the need for caution in approaching this. I feel like indeed a similar warning could have gone out with the first book which honestly isn’t much less brutal than this on- if anything, I thought this was a little more sympathetic because in this one, you see Savage’s sensitivity and him putting in the work for Seychelle, and this definitely does a much better job expanding on a safer S&M practice than the previous book which was highly problematic.
The premise of this book is that Savage and Seychelle are in a relationship that has major problems because of the unequal emotional investment in openness and vulnerability they’re putting in. Furthermore, Savage’s club and his commitment to their causes over Seychelle’s emotional needs and the club member’s doubts cast doubts over the future of their relationship. When danger surrounds Seychelle over her psychic ability, and suddenly a hit is put out on multiple Torpedo Ink members, things come to a head and Savage and Seychelle have to enter the fight of their lives for their relationship.
With this book, much like with AR, I think there persisted this to me, problematic idea that Seychelle was constantly being punished for the anger issues and ill-adjusted emotions of the Torpedo Ink club. It is just as well that she is also into the S&M kink but even then, she’s not into it to the extent that Savage is, and yet he feels a lot of entitlement over her body and over convincing her that she is. I don’t think this book really addressed or overcame the fact that Seychelle and Savage’s relationship is problematic, not at all because of their kink, but because of the fact that the kink and the enactment of it is therapy for one partner but based on the punishment of another’s body in a way that isn’t dependent on anything but the suffering of that other person’s body. That said, I think this book addressed better how the relationship couldn’t only be about Savage’s needs but that Seychelle also had to have a voice and be empowered in this relationship. I was happy to see Savage walking back some of his edicts from the first book about no safe words or no changing minds about consent. That was beyond problematic. I was also happy to stop seeing a Torpedo Ink main character own up to their BS and stop making excuses for being a 💩 partner and just actually do better.
I can’t say I particularly liked either book but I definitely found Savage Road to be the better book, the more romantic one, the more real and actually less problematic one. It’s about a relationship in jeopardy and healing that doesn’t necessarily look like what we want healing to look like but is no less healing because of the effort and the equal emotional investment of partners in the relationship.
As the author says, this would be an incredibly difficult read emotionally for anyone, but I would recommend caution if you may be at all possibly triggered by child abuse, sexual abuse, issues around autonomy and consent in sex, emotional blackmail etc etc. The author does not at all oversell the need for caution in approaching this. I feel like indeed a similar warning could have gone out with the first book which honestly isn’t much less brutal than this on- if anything, I thought this was a little more sympathetic because in this one, you see Savage’s sensitivity and him putting in the work for Seychelle, and this definitely does a much better job expanding on a safer S&M practice than the previous book which was highly problematic.
The premise of this book is that Savage and Seychelle are in a relationship that has major problems because of the unequal emotional investment in openness and vulnerability they’re putting in. Furthermore, Savage’s club and his commitment to their causes over Seychelle’s emotional needs and the club member’s doubts cast doubts over the future of their relationship. When danger surrounds Seychelle over her psychic ability, and suddenly a hit is put out on multiple Torpedo Ink members, things come to a head and Savage and Seychelle have to enter the fight of their lives for their relationship.
With this book, much like with AR, I think there persisted this to me, problematic idea that Seychelle was constantly being punished for the anger issues and ill-adjusted emotions of the Torpedo Ink club. It is just as well that she is also into the S&M kink but even then, she’s not into it to the extent that Savage is, and yet he feels a lot of entitlement over her body and over convincing her that she is. I don’t think this book really addressed or overcame the fact that Seychelle and Savage’s relationship is problematic, not at all because of their kink, but because of the fact that the kink and the enactment of it is therapy for one partner but based on the punishment of another’s body in a way that isn’t dependent on anything but the suffering of that other person’s body. That said, I think this book addressed better how the relationship couldn’t only be about Savage’s needs but that Seychelle also had to have a voice and be empowered in this relationship. I was happy to see Savage walking back some of his edicts from the first book about no safe words or no changing minds about consent. That was beyond problematic. I was also happy to stop seeing a Torpedo Ink main character own up to their BS and stop making excuses for being a 💩 partner and just actually do better.
I can’t say I particularly liked either book but I definitely found Savage Road to be the better book, the more romantic one, the more real and actually less problematic one. It’s about a relationship in jeopardy and healing that doesn’t necessarily look like what we want healing to look like but is no less healing because of the effort and the equal emotional investment of partners in the relationship.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Fatphobia, Car accident, Bullying, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Eating disorder, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Torture, and Trafficking
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