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A review by pewter
Sub Rosa by Amber Dawn
3.0
Sub Rosa had a lot to say, but rather dropped the execution. That's not to say that it wasn't worth reading, but I think I rather fell for the hype that it would be meaningful and well executed.
To begin: this is a dark book, hard to read as an outsider of the sex industry because the life that the protagonist has fallen into is magical but devastating. Her admiration and excitement for her own abuse and oppression makes it all the more realistic and difficult to read. This is probably the strongest aspect of this book - not the story, characters, or world building, but this horrific juxtaposition of what the reader feels in exact opposition of the protagonists motivations.
Beyond this excellent reversal, however, we follow almost 1/2 of the book of this exact set-up. A very grinding, slow, beginning is followed by... the main story? Actually, it's hard to tell where exactly the main plot is supposed to take off; at one point, I thought we might move towards a very adventurous "hero's journey" style dive, but then it's cancelled out, and we're back to the beginning with no real growth whatsoever until the final ~20 pages or so.
Why wait so long? Why spend 50% of a book world building and 4% with actual payoff? Well, it's realistic, at least. Often, real life doesn't have story climaxes and tangible growth and nice wrap-ups; character arcs and conclusions are left out here entirely, a "slice of life" story with very little loose-ends satisfied. Just like real life, but not like novels I generally want to read.
If you are/were part of the sex industry, or are studying sex trafficking, you could probably appreciate the interesting social commentary on the emotional ties of pimping and the trafficking world... otherwise, maybe not.
To begin: this is a dark book, hard to read as an outsider of the sex industry because the life that the protagonist has fallen into is magical but devastating. Her admiration and excitement for her own abuse and oppression makes it all the more realistic and difficult to read. This is probably the strongest aspect of this book - not the story, characters, or world building, but this horrific juxtaposition of what the reader feels in exact opposition of the protagonists motivations.
Beyond this excellent reversal, however, we follow almost 1/2 of the book of this exact set-up. A very grinding, slow, beginning is followed by... the main story? Actually, it's hard to tell where exactly the main plot is supposed to take off; at one point, I thought we might move towards a very adventurous "hero's journey" style dive, but then it's cancelled out, and we're back to the beginning with no real growth whatsoever until the final ~20 pages or so.
Why wait so long? Why spend 50% of a book world building and 4% with actual payoff? Well, it's realistic, at least. Often, real life doesn't have story climaxes and tangible growth and nice wrap-ups; character arcs and conclusions are left out here entirely, a "slice of life" story with very little loose-ends satisfied. Just like real life, but not like novels I generally want to read.
If you are/were part of the sex industry, or are studying sex trafficking, you could probably appreciate the interesting social commentary on the emotional ties of pimping and the trafficking world... otherwise, maybe not.