Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Den of Vipers

Honestly, it was poorly written.

I've read fanfics that had better writing then this book and that was deeply upsetting since people raved about this.

The characters were rushed in fleshing out their development, and everything felt sloppy.

Content Warnings

katvou's review against another edition

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dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

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bbygirl21's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I honestly went into this not sure if I would like it for to the amount of bad reviews and videos I saw on TikTok prior to reading this. But I actually really enjoyed this.

And I was just reading the reviews that are on here and was shocked by what people actually didn't like and complained about compared to what I thought people wouldn't like. A lot of them talked about minimal plot and the book being too long as their reasons for not enjoying the book. Which if your going into this looking for plot I guess to others they don't think there's much of it, and to some extent I agree with them, even though I found the plot along with everything else quite enjoyable. So if you want more plot over spice then this probably isn't for you. But I thought the plot was good.

But what shocked me about the reviews the most was that people weren't mentioning the graphic sexual scenes in their reasonings for not enjoying the book. I thought those would be taken about more. But I guess it really just comes down to plot and book length for most people.

But aside from that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I could not stop reading it. I just wanted to keep reading and see what would happen next. I was actually laughing a lot throughout this entire book. I found Diesel particularly hilarious. He's just that funny brand of crazy. I honestly don't know people hate on him so much(aside from the obvious torture and violence of his job and sex life) I found him very entertaining and enjoyable.

I love so the characters. Roxy is a badass and I love that she doesn't take anything from no one. The guys were just amazing. I loved each and every one of them. Diesel of course which I already talked about was just hilarious. I loved how crazy and obsessive he is. Kenzo was just a sweetheart most of the time. I loved how he just wanted to spoil Roxy especially knowing his and Ryder's past.

Ryder and Garrett both frustrated me a little bit, but their behavior is slightly understandable given their rough backgrounds. It doesn't excuse them but I understand them. What Garrett went through with his ex Daphne was brutal and heartbreaking. And I couldn't help but love Garrett despite his angry outbursts and violence towards Roxy. And it's the same with Ryder. The way he's always felt the need to protect Kenzo since they were kids from their father and then all of the guys and eventually Roxy. It was bound to get to him eventually. Despite the fact that they kidnapped her, I'm happy that she was able to help them overcome their fears and allow love in.

The chemistry in this group was just phenomenal. I love how they just gravitate to each other. And I loved the fact they ate breakfast together daily. It was just a sweet little thing that they made sure to do where everyone was together all at once.

I will say the end of the book after all the action doesn't really add much to the story plot wise. But I actually loved it. I haven't read a lot of books where there's a period after the climax of the story where we see the characters actually living life and being happy. Most books usually skip over all that detail. But I loved that there's actually several chapters of them recovering from everything and being happy or at least making progress towards being happy before there's the six month time jump at the end.

So overall, I absolutely loved this book. I definitely wouldn't recommend it to everyone. But if you really love dark gruesome stories with lots of spice this is for you. Definitely check the trigger warnings though.

Content Warnings

alxisrae's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

geesusbeesus's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Genuinely gave this book a shot because I saw so much hype about it on TikTok. I feel like it was overhyped a little, but there were also some really good parts worth reading. I really loved how they touched on a lot of sensitive subjects, and I'll give it credit for having some laughable moments. Some of the smut scenes were decent. I'll never judge anyone for how dark they like their books, I love dark romance, so that's not why I gave it such a low rating.

The cringe level just made it really difficult to read, I almost DNFd half way throught and part of me regrets reading the rest. It was giving 2015 Wattpad vibes and not in a good way. Roxanne is very "im not like the other girls, im a badass, just one of the guys lol" and the guys' personalities were overexaggerated. It felt like it was dragged out way too long and I found myself skimming the last 200 or so pages of the book. Definitely couldve been shorter. Not to mention the ultra-unrealistic feel to it. I get it, it's fiction, but majority of this book is simply not realistic or on par with "mafia/gang". Fair warning, there's a lot - and I mean a lot - of violence and smut in this. Every other scene is either torture/maiming/murder, or smut. It's a bit over the top.

Also, finding out how quickly this all progresses was a shocker. I was surprised at such a fast pace, I thought this took place over the span of maybe a few months.

Going into specifics-

The funeral for Sam was a good idea, but it also didn't make sense because they didn't really show her developing a friendship with him like that. I loved Roxy in the beginning, but she kinda turned into a power hungry and rude person towards the end, specifically noting when they were in the casino towards the end and she treats a security guard like crap... for what reason? This one is more of a personal pet peeve but the whole play on words with Vipers thing was kinda overplayed - using venom, coiled, like a snake, the snake pit, ect. - and the overuse of the petnames gets to me too - using "love" at the beginning and end of every sentance. And the sheer amount that they maimed/killed people.. theres a club scene where, in the span of probably about 15 minutes, Roxanne runs into a guy who calls her a whore and she beats him up, then a security guard mistakes her for a dancer and Garrett beats him half to death, and then the first guys brother confronts them and Diesel kills him. Its a little overkill, pun intended.

Content Warnings

cait's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-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

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