Reviews with content warning for Slavery - A Promise of Fire

Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet

2 reviews

vagrantheather's review against another edition

Finally DNFing this book at 78%, much past when it was due. It's a fun, light read for the most part, but the conceptualization is terribly poor. I'd place the writing at ACOTAR level (pretty bad IMO, but readable). My biggest gripe is, of course, the abduction and subsequent sexualization of a captive. Yes, the male MC is kind, hot, strong, and generous - but the main character is still a captive! She was taken against her will, physically bound to him with magical rope, and repeatedly denied release despite constant petition. We see from the perspective of the victim, so there's this thin veneer of acceptability; we know how she feels about Griffin, that she is attracted to him and wants him around. But she REPEATEDLY rejects his advances, and he REPEATEDLY breaks those boundaries. Then ALL OF THE SURROUNDING CHARACTERS pressure her to give in and let him have his way with her. In fact, she outright tells one sister that he abducted, threatened, and kept her captive, and the sister says, "you'll get over it." !!! From any other perspective, his advances are grossly unfounded sexual harassment on a trafficking victim / slave. I cannot move past this. It does not get better over time. Griffin constantly makes demands on the FMC that restrict her agency - magical vows that cause her untold physical pain when they are broken. He sees this, it scares him, and he CONTINUES TO ASK HER TO MAKE THESE VOWS. He acts like he's going to kiss her, she tells him not to, and he says "why shouldn't I?" then does it anyway. Hello, the WHY is BECAUSE SHE F*CKING TOLD YOU NOT TO. I honestly have to question the author's ethics, that she would write such a toxic dynamic as a young adult romance. It's way more disturbing than Twilight, where Bella could at least walk away.

More minor gripes - it's written like fanfiction, in the sense that a lot of phrasing makes no sense for the world. It uses Greek deities (despite being a different world/universe), but very poorly researched. The author makes numerous references to the Underworld being hot (it is not hot in Greek mythology). Characters use Brit-ified curses ("it's too bloody hot," "hasn't let me out of his sight for a bloody month," "I'm not a bloody dog," etc). The supposedly wise, empathetic, beloved new Alpha has no personality outside of eye movements - her eyes widen with surprise, that's about it. Hyperbole is not enough, so the author tacks hyperbole onto more hyperbole to try to give things impact - it's not "I'd rather die than do x," it's "I'd rather die a thousand painful deaths than do x." It can't be "I freeze," but "I go impossibly still." It's lazy writing. Dynamics with other characters are shallow and trite. Griffin's previous bed buddy, who takes an instant dislike to Cat and slutshames her, tries to attack her, and publicly cries to Griffin about how Cat's not as good as she is, to which Griffin does the corny, "but I looooove her." Very lame. Very "pick me" girl. There are comments about her getting dirty looks from all of the other women in the city because she associates with the good looking Beta team, and I am disgusted by this characterization of the majority of women as petty, shallow, and jealous of each other.

Characters do not move like people. Anyone outside the main duo acts as a hive mind, all hovering around with no motivation until it's time for them to play a role in a scene (a side comment, all moving to attack at once, overhearing a conversation they're "part of" (but not really)). Griffin walks through a city towing someone with a rope and no one intervenes or looks twice, because apparently everyone in the city thinks this is an ok, normal thing to do? The plotting is lazy, too - Cat is a runaway from a household full of abuse (mental, physical, emotional) who lives life as a transient, yet she's simultaneously intimately familiar with court etiquette and manipulation/strategy. She never has to wonder what people will do, because she's capable of instantly profiling their motives and flaws and setting forth exactly the right plan. She has unlimited powers, her flaws are only things that make people love her, and she's got like three or more gods (real characters who have physical forms in this book) ready to jump in and give her extra powers at any moment.

I like my characters to feel like real, complex people. I like the world to be ambiguous, difficult to judge. I like when carefully laid plans go awry because that's just how the world is, one little misstep and the plan careens off the rails. This book is the opposite of that. Characters are predictable and everyone is beautiful and powerful and righteous. It's OK to murder 60 people in one page, because they were "the bad guys," and no one has to struggle with pesky little emotions over their deaths. In fact we never even need to question if they were evil, because obviously they must have been.

It is fun to read, if you can look past the bad writing, bad characters, predictable plot, and toxic dynamics. I couldn't.

Content Warnings

katievallin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

1.0

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