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A review by apalershadeofwhite
A Touch of Malice by Scarlett St. Clair
3.0
3.5
First and foremost, I want to express how funny I think it is that the chapters in a book about the Greek gods are numbered using Roman numerals. Also, Ben is sus and Zofie is a cutie. Now, onto the actual review:
Persephone just seems to keep making the same mistakes. Then, when she does wrong she compares the hurt of others to her own and almost makes their seem inferior or not as bad as hers. Also, why do we only see Hades for the spicy scenes? He's the God of the Dead, Ruler of the Underworld! And yet he only makes an appearance to pleasure Persephone. I get that this tale is primarily about her - with her being the protagonist and a lot of the plot being dedicated to her coming into and learning her power/s - but Hades almost seems like a glorified sex doll and it's sad to see. I'm almost certain this isn't how they are meant to be portrayed, but that's just how it came across to me.
On a more positive note, the writing was pretty good! I'm a sucker for a couple getting married and then referring to each other as their new titles. It was so cute! A calm amongst the storm of this book, really. When starting the book, it was such a shock to the system to go from such a violent and dark opening chapter, only to be transported to a white quilt in Elysium. Great symbolism and juxtaposition. I also loved that there was a use for St. Clair calling Hades' magic and glamour smoke! The smoke and shadows rolling off of him when he was releasing his glamour, only to immediately dart towards Zeus? IMPECCABLE. This definitely a more action-packed novel, though I found, thankfully, that the descriptions were not lacking because of this! The author still described things beautifully and created some amazing scenes to imagine.
But that cliff-hanger? Criminal. I need the next instalment now, please.
(Also, don't judge me but as awful as everything was with Harmonia, I started howling when Apollo described that the assailants wore, what were essentially, scream masks haha)
First and foremost, I want to express how funny I think it is that the chapters in a book about the Greek gods are numbered using Roman numerals. Also, Ben is sus and Zofie is a cutie. Now, onto the actual review:
Persephone just seems to keep making the same mistakes. Then, when she does wrong she compares the hurt of others to her own and almost makes their seem inferior or not as bad as hers. Also, why do we only see Hades for the spicy scenes? He's the God of the Dead, Ruler of the Underworld! And yet he only makes an appearance to pleasure Persephone. I get that this tale is primarily about her - with her being the protagonist and a lot of the plot being dedicated to her coming into and learning her power/s - but Hades almost seems like a glorified sex doll and it's sad to see. I'm almost certain this isn't how they are meant to be portrayed, but that's just how it came across to me.
On a more positive note, the writing was pretty good! I'm a sucker for a couple getting married and then referring to each other as their new titles. It was so cute! A calm amongst the storm of this book, really. When starting the book, it was such a shock to the system to go from such a violent and dark opening chapter, only to be transported to a white quilt in Elysium. Great symbolism and juxtaposition. I also loved that there was a use for St. Clair calling Hades' magic and glamour smoke! The smoke and shadows rolling off of him when he was releasing his glamour, only to immediately dart towards Zeus? IMPECCABLE. This definitely a more action-packed novel, though I found, thankfully, that the descriptions were not lacking because of this! The author still described things beautifully and created some amazing scenes to imagine.
But that cliff-hanger? Criminal. I need the next instalment now, please.
(Also, don't judge me but as awful as everything was with Harmonia, I started howling when Apollo described that the assailants wore, what were essentially, scream masks haha)