Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Lord of Population

This is a post-apocalypse dystopian story with some sci-fi, paranormal and vampirism thrown in there. Abel is a strong FMC who is scrappy and witty. She’s going to fight her way out or die trying. Like my girl is a warrior! After a series of unfortunate events, she meets Kane. She lives by certain rules that keep getting amended the longer she’s in his presence. Kane has honestly been protective from the start. Mikey is not a good person. He definitely sexually assaulted her then tried to blame her in addition to all his faults. This book is gritty. Some things are hard to read and make no mistake there’s no shortage of having to survive when gangs, Others and scavengers are out in the population. I think one of the main lessons learned is that it’s okay to have hope. This book would’ve been a 4 for me if not for the grammar mistakes. Around 90% the book felt a little dragged out.

How they trying to be stealthy and they’re slamming doors and calling out names? They do a lot of yelling for people not trying to be found. I also don’t understand why Jack looked like Kane.

More grammatical errors as the story progressed.

TW: Minor/adult relations, sexual assault, violence, murder, loss of parents, pedophilia, cannibalism.

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weezy's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

3.0

This book requires some serious editing. There were sentences that just... Didn't make sense? It could of easily been 2 or 3 books and fleshed out more fully. Probably wouldn't read again and wouldn't continue on

I adored Kane.

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bookishbrenbren's review

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

It's complicated...

Let me start with the good: The first 50% of this book (what used to be book 1 in the population series) is amazing. Easily the best fantasy romance/paranormal romance/alien romance I've ever read. EASILY. The scene is set: a dark dystopia, pacific northwest, think of Cormac's The Road or The Walking Dead (sans zombies), gritty, survivalist, hard; the characters are charming: independent, fierce, capable, out for revenge main character, allies with strong silent type; the love is natural: trials bring them together, chemistry builds, love and trust blossom, together they face the cruelties of this new world. The writing is pristine, amaze.

Jump to 51%: eeeeeyikes. let me say, I did not see a single trigger warning for this book but there is definitely a sex scene in this which the main character does not consent to in advance. So what basically happens is,

LOML is captured, his long-lost brother whom I just met is obligated to rescue him, and I actually want to rescue him, so naturally, what do we do? we fuck each other. WHUT, plz... also there is simply no other way to characterize what he does to the MC beyond sexual assault.

and while I can go for the dubcon that comes with fated mates... noncon is a no-go for me, and I wish someone had told me beforehand. Anyways, this development means that this book (after 50%) is mired in two of my least favorite tropes:

cheating and love triangle

. Then, (really don't open this spoiler if you plan to read the book)

after like 200 pages where the love interest is just entirely absent, we get a short reunion where things don't really seem that peachy, our MC dies and comes back to life

meaning a third trope I really hate is included.

So ultimately, I am just very conflicted about this book because the first half was so amazing (and also I just really love the writing) and the second half was so... not. Anyways, eep, I mostly came here to warn about the noncon scene.

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peddlerofpages's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.0

What a world!

I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic worlds and I think Stephen's did a great job in creating this one. The first 100 pages of this book sucked me in completely and I really enjoyed the world building we received. The alien's are very close to humans, just with a lot of handy extra senses and indestructability, so this would probably be a good alien romance for those who aren't ready for horns or tails :D

At the time of reading, I didn't realise that this novel is two books combined into one (my fault, it does state in the amazon description and author's website), if I had know this it might have made my overall rating a bit higher, as I did spend most of this book confused as to why there was way too much going on for a single novel. I don't necessarily think combining the books was a smart idea, it makes it feel way too overwhelming and lengthy and the volume of 'bad vibes' scenes overshoots the 'good times' to a point where I was desperate to get through to the end just in the hopes my emotional misery would be relieved, rather than out of excitement. Some extra editing to cut down what was the second novel - hopefully taking out the wave of characters sticking their tongues out and squabbling - would have solved this issue.

The smut in this book is quite light, in my opinion, and from other reviews I was definitely expecting more. I would class this more as a brutal sci-fi novel with romance, than a romance in a sci-fi world.

I will try the other books in the series and more from this author though, as I liked her writing style and world building and I can see that the other books were written as one novel, so I like to believe my main issues with this one will not apply.

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bratt713's review against another edition

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3.5

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sashawins's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

📚Book Review📚
Rate: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

📚My Review

This was definitely a instagram made me do it read. Yall, I am disappointed.

❤️What I Enjoyed
This book started off good. I was invested in Abels story, her rule book of survival in Population, and her warrior kick ass persona.
●When Abel kick Beast ass on the road🤣
●I like the little girl Ashely and her strength after dealing with trauma.

Then, shit went down hill...

😑Stuff that made no sense
●Chapters long and no action got extended periods
● Kane & Abels relationship It wasn't believable at all. Even if it first the trope--- instant love. They went from I am stab you to, you are my life👀
●Kane brother Mikeal added no value to the story accept that he likes being a nasty freak. They could just left him in that cave because he was a WHOLE ass hazard.

🤢Shit that made me sick
The whole eat the coochie while it's bloody👀👀👀. The way this author went into details was beyond me.
Yooo I died and came back to life reading that scene.
She made it worst by doing another scene of let chew on the period coochie and suck on bloody fingers🤮
✌🏾✌🏾✌🏾I legit stopped reading at 90% of the book. Nothing made sense. Stuff dragged. Kane was growling mess.

Overall this was not favorite read of March. Will I continue with the Lord of Population series:No.
Will I read her new series: maybe

Until then yall enjoy your weekend!

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