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olive2read 's review for:
The Darkest Night
by Gena Showalter
Bits of this were enjoyable but they were so hard to find and impossible to relish, considering the wretchedness of so much of this.
First, the premise. I love the idea of Pandora’s box demons possessing immortal warriors that then get the chance to fall in love and there’s the nice long series potential with the various warriors, the jets vs sharks divided warriors, the centuries long feud with the Hunters, the problematic paranormal institute (another fave device of mine), the Gods vs TItans, the mysterious demi goddess ... so many avenues of potential ... and all poorly executed. Foreshadowing that leaves bruises, clunky af dialogue, wonky timelines (um, Pandora’s box wouldn’t have been 400 years ago if it were real ...), inconsistent details. *sigh*
Second, the romance. I’m not a huge fan of instalove even when done well and this isn’t. There’s a scene when he realises he wants to talk to her, get to know her, but still must interrogate - and so he asks her about her job and then suddenly announces he wants to bang her. Many many times the mood changes were too fast and without context. The MC even joked about getting whiplash from it. Dude. No. Plus, this is full of all the eye roll laden misogynistic ideas about masculinity and femininity, super problematic cisheteronormativity, and paranormal devices that don’t belong here (like the typical shifter mating bite ... when he’s not a shifter). He’s huge, she’s a virgin, he wants to be slow and gentle for her but can’t and it’s cool cuz she’s panting for it harder/faster/more and yet is deeply sex negative and we’re all drowning in “shouldn’t”s. *sigh*
That shower scene had SUCH potential to at least let me say the sex was hella hot but it ends up being pretty meh. Don’t bother, imo.
First, the premise. I love the idea of Pandora’s box demons possessing immortal warriors that then get the chance to fall in love and there’s the nice long series potential with the various warriors, the jets vs sharks divided warriors, the centuries long feud with the Hunters, the problematic paranormal institute (another fave device of mine), the Gods vs TItans, the mysterious demi goddess ... so many avenues of potential ... and all poorly executed. Foreshadowing that leaves bruises, clunky af dialogue, wonky timelines (um, Pandora’s box wouldn’t have been 400 years ago if it were real ...), inconsistent details. *sigh*
Second, the romance. I’m not a huge fan of instalove even when done well and this isn’t. There’s a scene when he realises he wants to talk to her, get to know her, but still must interrogate - and so he asks her about her job and then suddenly announces he wants to bang her. Many many times the mood changes were too fast and without context. The MC even joked about getting whiplash from it. Dude. No. Plus, this is full of all the eye roll laden misogynistic ideas about masculinity and femininity, super problematic cisheteronormativity, and paranormal devices that don’t belong here (like the typical shifter mating bite ... when he’s not a shifter). He’s huge, she’s a virgin, he wants to be slow and gentle for her but can’t and it’s cool cuz she’s panting for it harder/faster/more and yet is deeply sex negative and we’re all drowning in “shouldn’t”s. *sigh*
That shower scene had SUCH potential to at least let me say the sex was hella hot but it ends up being pretty meh. Don’t bother, imo.