Reviews - Red: A Dystopian World Alien Romance

157 reviews for:

Red: A Dystopian World Alien Romance

Really could have been half this long. I think a good editor would have helped with a lot of the inconsistencies, grammar errors, and cutting back on needless filler. Still, it was fairly steamy and I liked the fairy tale twist.

bres's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous funny 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: No

greystory's review

4.0

adventurous hopeful lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Red was a solid read and felt autumnally appropriate for October. I enjoyed this take on the Little Red Riding Hood story since it really flipped things around a bit more than I'm used to, complete with anthropomorphic wolf aliens and a creepy religious order of huntsmen. There were lots of great little scenes of warmth (and a little spice) I enjoyed between Arie and the Ragoru and I loved the unexpected introduction of other Ragoru in this book. The Ragoru as a species were very interesting to me and I enjoyed some of the wordbuilding going on, but was definitely left with some questions I was hoping we might get more on in other books of the series.

Some of the plot points were kinda eh but I came to like the characters quite a bit. Arie could have had more depth but she stood alright for the purposes of the story. I was uncertain how I'd do personally with a Reverse Harem story and figured it would depend on how it's handled. In this book, I think it was handled well and I enjoyed the dynamic of the Ragoru triad.

Overall I liked it a lot but I wouldn't say I super loved it. I still look forward to checking out other Ragoru books, Emala's story and the Huntress. This is my 3rd book by SJ Sanders and each one has been pretty good. I'd rather read a consistently solid author than one that is wildly hit or miss. :)

Content Warnings

poplora's review against another edition

4.0

Alright so, I don't see too many tags or shelves about what kind of story this is, so first of all I'll list that out with potential trigger warnings.

Genre
This is a sci fi reverse harem, meaning one lady multiple dudes (alien wolf dudes in this case) nobody has to choose and everyone ends up together. It's good fun if you have no idea what that is. You get your cake and eat it too. This is also a bit of an erotica, there is some gratuitous and detailed alien werewolf smut. As for if it is a happy ending:

Spoiler

This has a true happy ending as well.

Trigger Warnings
Violence in gory detail
Near sexual assaults
Violence against women
Torture
Mention of forced sexual interactions
Mention of infant death
Mention of abortion

So, now that that's over let's talk about the book.
I haven't really read a whole lot of smut before, and I found this wasn't too bad. The characters are flat, but still enjoyable. I'm sure a lot of people who get a kick out of alien romance type stuff may enjoy this. This is also a very unique and fun twisted version of the little red riding hood story. You DO have to suspend some of your belief in this, there are a few places where logic seems to defy all reason

Spoiler

(like if red hair apparently is so bad why not cut it off)

but it wasn't a huge detriment to me.

So. In short, if you like werewolf alien dicks, sexy red riding hoods, alpha lovers, gratuitous adorable affection, and a unique, dark sci fi setting maybe check this one out.