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A review by intheblackout
Counterpoint by Rachel Haimowitz
2.0
I'm always on the look out for more high fantasy gays, so I was excited to pick Counterpoint up. Unfortunately, I was let down big time.
In this world humankind is supposedly on the brink of extinction. The main plot of the book is a battle with the 'dark race', which read as animals who were somehow corrupted and now regularly attack humans. It was never adequately explained, which became a bit of a theme for Counterpoint.
Elves in this world are seen as the enemies by humans. They're blamed for the 'dark race' attacks. So when Ayden is captured, he becomes prince Freyrik's prisoner.
The romance betwen Freyrik and Ayden was not done well. Ayden was treated so poorly by all the humans around him, and Freyrik never does anything to stop it. Apparently, Ayden should be happy Freyrik treats him like an actual living being when they're in private... yikes.
I love a good enemies-to-lovers but this was not it. The 'enemy' portion was so boring and repetetive, and then boom they're in love *eye roll*. Give me an ounce of believable angst I beg!
The worst thing about this book was the misogyny. The humans all treat women like shit. I guess the author might have been drawing parallels with the real world, but the women hate here was caricature like. It makes for an unenjoyable read when one of the main characters, Freyrik, is a bigot.
The audiobook is the only reason I managed to get through this.
In this world humankind is supposedly on the brink of extinction. The main plot of the book is a battle with the 'dark race', which read as animals who were somehow corrupted and now regularly attack humans. It was never adequately explained, which became a bit of a theme for Counterpoint.
Elves in this world are seen as the enemies by humans. They're blamed for the 'dark race' attacks. So when Ayden is captured, he becomes prince Freyrik's prisoner.
The romance betwen Freyrik and Ayden was not done well. Ayden was treated so poorly by all the humans around him, and Freyrik never does anything to stop it. Apparently, Ayden should be happy Freyrik treats him like an actual living being when they're in private... yikes.
I love a good enemies-to-lovers but this was not it. The 'enemy' portion was so boring and repetetive, and then boom they're in love *eye roll*. Give me an ounce of believable angst I beg!
The worst thing about this book was the misogyny. The humans all treat women like shit. I guess the author might have been drawing parallels with the real world, but the women hate here was caricature like. It makes for an unenjoyable read when one of the main characters, Freyrik, is a bigot.
The audiobook is the only reason I managed to get through this.