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myzanm's review against another edition
1.0
Let's get it clear from the start. I have no idea how this book ended up on my TBR. But it did and it has been there for some time now. Taunting me...
Finally I faced the challenge and read it.
At the beginning we're thrown right in the trunk. Literally. You don't get much of an background before you're thrown to the wolves. Again, literally. Wolves are vicious, mean and controlling. But supposedly higher, not only on the food chain, but on the evolutionary scale as well. I think... it was a bit muddy. Humankind is obviously doomed and rotten to the core with very few exceptions (read:Wyatt).
Over all, this short (thank all the mighty powers it was short!) felt jumbled. The background story didn't make sense and contradicted it self. It was hard to read because of this.
I wish I could have read this as a humorous tale, but it was too far out for me to do that. I've seen several reviews that raise this to the heavens so I guess this wasn't my cup...
Finally I faced the challenge and read it.
At the beginning we're thrown right in the trunk. Literally. You don't get much of an background before you're thrown to the wolves. Again, literally. Wolves are vicious, mean and controlling. But supposedly higher, not only on the food chain, but on the evolutionary scale as well. I think... it was a bit muddy. Humankind is obviously doomed and rotten to the core with very few exceptions (read:Wyatt).
Over all, this short (thank all the mighty powers it was short!) felt jumbled. The background story didn't make sense and contradicted it self. It was hard to read because of this.
I wish I could have read this as a humorous tale, but it was too far out for me to do that. I've seen several reviews that raise this to the heavens so I guess this wasn't my cup...
cronchbonch's review against another edition
the non con got to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment
caroleheidi's review against another edition
2.0
I don't really know where to start with this one. Judging by the cover came back to bite me on the bum in this case - I didn't even read the blurb just saw the wolf and asked for a copy.
The cover is better than the contents.
For a start, the blurb is almost as long as the book and gives you all of the backstory you are going to get. There is little to no world-building, almost no character building at all and Wyatt's character is, quite frankly, a bit pathetic. He doesn't really have any redeeming features unless you can count being a successful businessman of some variety, his claims that everything is against his will are so pathetic that I didn't really believe him after about ten pages. He wasn't submissive so much as willing which I don't think was how it was supposed to read.
I got the impression that this was meant to be a risque fantasy of dubious consent on all levels with the fear level creating most of the 'appeal' but sadly Wyatt's patheticness meant that the lack of consent lost its edge very quickly and the wolves weren't particularly scary. So much so that the author had to regularly remind us readers that every full moon all the humans battoned down the hatches for three days in fear because if we hadn't had that reminder we probably would have forgotten they were even wolves.
They did torture some other bloke at one point but even that was a bit 'I'm putting this here so you remember that these people are dangerous and mostly animal' and didn't add anything to the story. Not there was anything to the story other than 'lots of sex', if I'm honest.
There were a couple of things that bugged me - Firstly, there didn't seem to be any girl wolves. From what I could tell they were all blokes and they were all gay which isn't really a great survival model if you ask me.
Secondly, somewhere near the start a wolf retracted his claws after using them. Really? A wolf retracted its claws? They aren't cats and I'm not an idiot. Get your wolf facts right if you're going to make it a characteristic of 95% of your cast.
I have given Tame A Wild Human two stars because the writing itself wasn't awful and because the author was at least capable of writing sex without using ridiculous euphemisms for everything. There were no epic rainbow orgasms or stirring love cauldrons to be found, which is always a good thing if you ask me.
My Rating: 2/5*
The cover is better than the contents.
For a start, the blurb is almost as long as the book and gives you all of the backstory you are going to get. There is little to no world-building, almost no character building at all and Wyatt's character is, quite frankly, a bit pathetic. He doesn't really have any redeeming features unless you can count being a successful businessman of some variety, his claims that everything is against his will are so pathetic that I didn't really believe him after about ten pages. He wasn't submissive so much as willing which I don't think was how it was supposed to read.
I got the impression that this was meant to be a risque fantasy of dubious consent on all levels with the fear level creating most of the 'appeal' but sadly Wyatt's patheticness meant that the lack of consent lost its edge very quickly and the wolves weren't particularly scary. So much so that the author had to regularly remind us readers that every full moon all the humans battoned down the hatches for three days in fear because if we hadn't had that reminder we probably would have forgotten they were even wolves.
They did torture some other bloke at one point but even that was a bit 'I'm putting this here so you remember that these people are dangerous and mostly animal' and didn't add anything to the story. Not there was anything to the story other than 'lots of sex', if I'm honest.
There were a couple of things that bugged me - Firstly, there didn't seem to be any girl wolves. From what I could tell they were all blokes and they were all gay which isn't really a great survival model if you ask me.
Secondly, somewhere near the start a wolf retracted his claws after using them. Really? A wolf retracted its claws? They aren't cats and I'm not an idiot. Get your wolf facts right if you're going to make it a characteristic of 95% of your cast.
I have given Tame A Wild Human two stars because the writing itself wasn't awful and because the author was at least capable of writing sex without using ridiculous euphemisms for everything. There were no epic rainbow orgasms or stirring love cauldrons to be found, which is always a good thing if you ask me.
My Rating: 2/5*
see_sadie_read's review against another edition
1.0
1.5
I decided to read this as part of some bastardised version of Weird Shit Wednesday. I'm not part of any group officially doing it, but it seemed like a fun idea. So, I appropriated it. Granted, Tame a Wild Human isn't as out there as [b:Taken By The Gay Unicorn Biker|23796534|Taken By The Gay Unicorn Biker|Chuck Tingle|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420081628s/23796534.jpg|43410827] or [b:My Billionaire Triceratops Craves Gay Ass|23903366|My Billionaire Triceratops Craves Gay Ass|Chuck Tingle|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420855118s/23903366.jpg|43510997], both of which I've seen pass my Goodreads feed on Wednesdays, but it's weird for me. I chose it because someone said it had knotting in it and I'd never read a shifter book that explored this aspect of canine physiology.
[The rest of this review will likely have spoilers in it, as venting my frustration at the book usually requires mentioning what annoyed me. Be warned.]
Now, I'll grant that I chose this book because I was pretty sure it would be outside my comfort zone. I like challenging my limits on occasion and I usually have pretty good results. This was not one of those times. I did not enjoy this book. I'd say it was a 1-star read, but I'll give in and allow it an extra half star for being structurally sound and adequately edited. But it would get a 1-star, at most, for my enjoyment factor.
If rape and serious non-con is your kink, this book is for you. It's not my kink and I did not enjoy spending at least half the book inside the mind of a man as he rationalises submitting to 3 days of constant gang rape in an attempt to save his own life. (Because the wolves have no problem f*cking a human to death, as we're shown.) Plus, all I could think was, 'This man's been raped by 6+ others multiple times for 3 days straight, with no bathing facilities or even an attempt to wipe him down. He must freakin' stink!'
Then, after over half the book had been dedicated to rape, rape, rape and the victim has given in to Stockholm syndrome and the apparent fact that regardless of terror, pain or self-preservation if you touch a man's prostate he'll get aroused, the victim was given something (I won't say what) that made him 'understand the wolves' and want to be with them and submit to them. So, instead of constant rape we have a man who's now begging for his abuse.
All of this was somehow wrapped up in the idea that human's are cruel and wolves are caring, because, you know, they lubed him before gang raping him. Honestly, that whole plot-point made no sense at all. "Yeah, my 5 or 6 mates and I are going to gang rape you while you're bound and blindfolded, for three days, all because we care so much for you. *cough* Bullshit!
Then the throw-in about the father...hey great, the willingness to submit to horrendous atrocities on one's person runs in families. How wonderful for you. *cough* Bullshit!
Plus, you never get the satisfaction of finding out what happens to the brother who betrayed Wyatt. I suppose because by that point you're supposed to have seen it as a good thing that he was bound, drugged and abandoned in the woods with a bunch of sodomite savages. Yeah, thanks bro, for real. *cough* Bullshit!
All of this might have been something I could have dealt with if the book had had any significant world building to situate it in. But it didn't. We're told humans make no effort to stop the wolves from kidnapping and gang raping people on the full moon and that any human who then returns without a token of protection is essentially an untouchable (or untouchable in any sense but to be further abused). But we're not told why or anything about how society works. What's more, being as there are obviously multiple wolf packs, who kidnap more than one human a month and almost no one gets a token, shouldn't a fairly large swath of the city's populous be untouchable? This isn't made out to be a rare occurrence.
The book is also very violent. Again, I'm not particularly bothered by gore. I'm not even always bothered when violence and sex converge. But none of the violent sex in this book, which is essentially all of it (including watching a human get killed while you're being f*ucked and only being able to save his life if you can climax in time) was erotic. Not once in the whole book of basically ceaseless sex did I feel a tingle. Nope, I might as well have been reading the Spam section Joy of Cooking, for as much as it turned me on. And that was sort of the whole point.
If I'm generous I could say I think I know where the author was trying to go with the story, though not wholly successful. But I'm not sure that would be true. I don't know what was supposed to have been the payoff for the reader, Wyatt's happy slavery maybe. I don't know. I'm all for the occasional taboo read, but I wish I hadn't read this one. It definitely wasn't for me.
I decided to read this as part of some bastardised version of Weird Shit Wednesday. I'm not part of any group officially doing it, but it seemed like a fun idea. So, I appropriated it. Granted, Tame a Wild Human isn't as out there as [b:Taken By The Gay Unicorn Biker|23796534|Taken By The Gay Unicorn Biker|Chuck Tingle|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420081628s/23796534.jpg|43410827] or [b:My Billionaire Triceratops Craves Gay Ass|23903366|My Billionaire Triceratops Craves Gay Ass|Chuck Tingle|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420855118s/23903366.jpg|43510997], both of which I've seen pass my Goodreads feed on Wednesdays, but it's weird for me. I chose it because someone said it had knotting in it and I'd never read a shifter book that explored this aspect of canine physiology.
[The rest of this review will likely have spoilers in it, as venting my frustration at the book usually requires mentioning what annoyed me. Be warned.]
Now, I'll grant that I chose this book because I was pretty sure it would be outside my comfort zone. I like challenging my limits on occasion and I usually have pretty good results. This was not one of those times. I did not enjoy this book. I'd say it was a 1-star read, but I'll give in and allow it an extra half star for being structurally sound and adequately edited. But it would get a 1-star, at most, for my enjoyment factor.
If rape and serious non-con is your kink, this book is for you. It's not my kink and I did not enjoy spending at least half the book inside the mind of a man as he rationalises submitting to 3 days of constant gang rape in an attempt to save his own life. (Because the wolves have no problem f*cking a human to death, as we're shown.) Plus, all I could think was, 'This man's been raped by 6+ others multiple times for 3 days straight, with no bathing facilities or even an attempt to wipe him down. He must freakin' stink!'
Then, after over half the book had been dedicated to rape, rape, rape and the victim has given in to Stockholm syndrome and the apparent fact that regardless of terror, pain or self-preservation if you touch a man's prostate he'll get aroused, the victim was given something (I won't say what) that made him 'understand the wolves' and want to be with them and submit to them. So, instead of constant rape we have a man who's now begging for his abuse.
All of this was somehow wrapped up in the idea that human's are cruel and wolves are caring, because, you know, they lubed him before gang raping him. Honestly, that whole plot-point made no sense at all. "Yeah, my 5 or 6 mates and I are going to gang rape you while you're bound and blindfolded, for three days, all because we care so much for you. *cough* Bullshit!
Then the throw-in about the father...hey great, the willingness to submit to horrendous atrocities on one's person runs in families. How wonderful for you. *cough* Bullshit!
Plus, you never get the satisfaction of finding out what happens to the brother who betrayed Wyatt. I suppose because by that point you're supposed to have seen it as a good thing that he was bound, drugged and abandoned in the woods with a bunch of sodomite savages. Yeah, thanks bro, for real. *cough* Bullshit!
All of this might have been something I could have dealt with if the book had had any significant world building to situate it in. But it didn't. We're told humans make no effort to stop the wolves from kidnapping and gang raping people on the full moon and that any human who then returns without a token of protection is essentially an untouchable (or untouchable in any sense but to be further abused). But we're not told why or anything about how society works. What's more, being as there are obviously multiple wolf packs, who kidnap more than one human a month and almost no one gets a token, shouldn't a fairly large swath of the city's populous be untouchable? This isn't made out to be a rare occurrence.
The book is also very violent. Again, I'm not particularly bothered by gore. I'm not even always bothered when violence and sex converge. But none of the violent sex in this book, which is essentially all of it (including watching a human get killed while you're being f*ucked and only being able to save his life if you can climax in time) was erotic. Not once in the whole book of basically ceaseless sex did I feel a tingle. Nope, I might as well have been reading the Spam section Joy of Cooking, for as much as it turned me on. And that was sort of the whole point.
If I'm generous I could say I think I know where the author was trying to go with the story, though not wholly successful. But I'm not sure that would be true. I don't know what was supposed to have been the payoff for the reader, Wyatt's happy slavery maybe. I don't know. I'm all for the occasional taboo read, but I wish I hadn't read this one. It definitely wasn't for me.
adjnn's review against another edition
So, I'm not sure if I should admit to having read this. This novella is... something else. It's basically just a porno with the barest of plot and world building thrown in. My biggest issue with this book is that I'm not sure what it's trying to be, so I don't know how to rate it. Is it trying to be a dark romance (god I hope not because if so it faaaaailed), is it trying to be a horror novel, is it trying to simply be a kinky, taboo read for people to get their rocks off to? Whatever the case may be, it needed more world building and more character and plot development. It could have been a pretty effective, disturbing horror novel. As it is, it's not much of anything.
elementchaos's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
walford's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 rounded up. Well, this was neither as BAAAD as it's made out to be, nor as good as I had hoped it would be. Kind of a reversal of the 'magic dick' trope. Magic Ass? Alpha falls for our protagonist (sure looked like it to me) after raping him. Is this a thing and I just haven't been paying attention?
'Course, Alpha does have a magic dick, but it's also heavily implied that Any Straight Man who's had his prostate Awakened becomes unable to resist the siren song of the Cock.
So you can see that I was a little annoyed, which took away from my enjoyment. But it is kinda hot if you like that sort of thing...
'Course, Alpha does have a magic dick, but it's also heavily implied that Any Straight Man who's had his prostate Awakened becomes unable to resist the siren song of the Cock.
So you can see that I was a little annoyed, which took away from my enjoyment. But it is kinda hot if you like that sort of thing...
lainy122's review against another edition
1.0
Although the blurb was problematic to start, dubious consent did not to even begin to cover it. Rape, gang rape, physical abuse, mental abuse, enforced stochholme syndrome, magical manipulation, oh my god.
Not the worst I've ever read, but definitely not one you want floating about in your head :(
Not the worst I've ever read, but definitely not one you want floating about in your head :(