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motnaty's review against another edition
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Homophobia, Sexual violence, and Violence
rosalind's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, and Cursing
bloomingeyes's review against another edition
3.0
I have such conflicting feelings on this one. Many of the stories seemed to frame kink in a negative light or were straight up disturbing, but there was a handful that I found really beautiful. Quite a few of the stories left me thinking about them for quite some time. I was hoping for more joy and celebration of kink and sexuality in this collection—there is some, absolutely, but that felt more like the exception than the guiding theme. Having such different expectations and hopes of what my reading experience with this would be made this a bit of a disappointing read, but I’m still glad for having read it. Highly recommend looking at the content warnings for this one though, a few of them really caught me off guard.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest and Rape
Moderate: Transphobia and Death
starwitness's review against another edition
Started off steamy but then it was like three or four cis hetero stories in a row that left me feeling uninspired and bored :( I wanted this to be more gender expansive inclusive - maybe try to pick it up again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Drug use, Rape, Sexual content, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing
mosswood's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I’m glad I finished this book, because the last story was my favourite. I felt this topic could have so much incredible nuance to explore and expansive varieties of thought but it really didn’t deliver for me.
I also want to note that this is such a minority topic that’s in popular culture it had a certain responsibility to the kink community. I, in places felt it really failed this due to depictions of that which is clear (within the community) NOT kink and that should be explicitly noted to those outside looking in.
I also want to note that this is such a minority topic that’s in popular culture it had a certain responsibility to the kink community. I, in places felt it really failed this due to depictions of that which is clear (within the community) NOT kink and that should be explicitly noted to those outside looking in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Rape
archiveofrasa's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Honestly, this read was to see how explicit content differs from fanfiction and original work. Only really liked 4 stories, (by Larissa Pham, R. O. Kwon, Brandon Taylor and Carmen Maria Machado, but Kim Fu's Scissors was nice too.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Incest
kojali's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Eh. I read this within a few hours today and I was woefully unimpressed. I was attracted to what this book could have been, but it fell short for me. I felt like a lot of these stories were kinky for the sake of being kinky, that’s it. On a positive note, the selection of authors is decently diverse, which shows through the differing tones throughout this volume. I think that the best stories are “The Cure” by Melissa Febos; “Oh, Youth” by Brandon Taylor; and “The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple” by Carmen Maria Machado. Besides these three, the stories in these pages lacked sufficient nuance and edge. I won’t read this again, but I will certainly read more works by the authors of my favorite 3 stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Minor: Incest
wngwendy's review against another edition
2.5
some stories are amazing, and some of them fell very flat.
Read the tw's before starting this books!
Read the tw's before starting this books!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Rape
Moderate: Blood
tbagherlee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
I wanted more from this book - maybe a collection of short stories isn’t for me because it’s such a mixed bag. There were a few I liked - The Cure, Reach, Voyeurs - but overall I was getting the feeling that some nuance was missing, and the literary elements of some of the stories made it difficult to understand what was going on. I did like how queer it was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
violetends's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Check Content Warnings before reading this review or this book!
I have a full bag of mixed feelings about this, ufff. First of all, I have been active in kink and kink communities for a while now and consider many of the people I have met in these contexts or ventured into them with, as my found family. Therefore, I do consider myself to have some knowledge and experience on the overall topic of kink, even though it is obviously a very very broad field in which many experiences can be made that are vastly different.
There were some stories I enjoyed a lot. "The Voyeurs" for instance, was a great albeit painful narrative about being othered as a trans person and craving the care and closeness of loved ones. And the reocurring use of 'being looked at' at a theme, chef's kiss!
However, a majority of stories shows kink as something that lacks consent and consideration, care and empathy and just general kindness for the people engaging with each other. Foundational kink practices like aftercare, safewords or negotiation talks were pretty much missing from all of the stories. Several of the stories even contained scenes in which a dominant partner intentionally crossed boundaries to play with their partner or 'challenge' them. Characters were oftentimes rude, inconsiderate or outright violent to each other and I got the feeling that the authors mostly perceived kink as something that goes along with bad communication and boundaries as well as a heightened possibility for interpersonal violence.
Naturally, there will be people who practice kink in these ways. And in my opinion its important to also portray characters whose struggles transfer to the way they show up to kinky situations with their partners. However, I find it to be insensitive (at best) to show kink in this continously unfriendly light. People who have not had contact with kinky communities and individuals who value communication, the well-being and joy of everyone involved and consent, might just find a whole lot of stereotypes reinforced. And that makes me so so angry and so so sad.
Lastly, one story made me so angry that I briefly wanted to throw the book against a wall. (CW for r*pe going forward.)
I have a full bag of mixed feelings about this, ufff. First of all, I have been active in kink and kink communities for a while now and consider many of the people I have met in these contexts or ventured into them with, as my found family. Therefore, I do consider myself to have some knowledge and experience on the overall topic of kink, even though it is obviously a very very broad field in which many experiences can be made that are vastly different.
There were some stories I enjoyed a lot. "The Voyeurs" for instance, was a great albeit painful narrative about being othered as a trans person and craving the care and closeness of loved ones. And the reocurring use of 'being looked at' at a theme, chef's kiss!
However, a majority of stories shows kink as something that lacks consent and consideration, care and empathy and just general kindness for the people engaging with each other. Foundational kink practices like aftercare, safewords or negotiation talks were pretty much missing from all of the stories. Several of the stories even contained scenes in which a dominant partner intentionally crossed boundaries to play with their partner or 'challenge' them. Characters were oftentimes rude, inconsiderate or outright violent to each other and I got the feeling that the authors mostly perceived kink as something that goes along with bad communication and boundaries as well as a heightened possibility for interpersonal violence.
Naturally, there will be people who practice kink in these ways. And in my opinion its important to also portray characters whose struggles transfer to the way they show up to kinky situations with their partners. However, I find it to be insensitive (at best) to show kink in this continously unfriendly light. People who have not had contact with kinky communities and individuals who value communication, the well-being and joy of everyone involved and consent, might just find a whole lot of stereotypes reinforced. And that makes me so so angry and so so sad.
Lastly, one story made me so angry that I briefly wanted to throw the book against a wall. (CW for r*pe going forward.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Racism, Sexual content, Rape, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Body horror