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A review by sapphisms
Villains, Inc by Casssandra Pierce, N. Sumi, Helena Maeve, Michelle Chow, Stephanie Rabig, A.D. Truax, Tan-ni Fan
2.0
I received this book through NetGalley and Less Than Three Press in exchange for an honest review
This book is a collection of short stories written by different people, so, instead of reviewing it as a whole, I'll be reviewing them story-by-story.
Overall, the quality of this collection was incredibly poor. Issues with the stories ranged from relationships that straddled the line between obligation and actually wanting to be in the relationship to flat out rape. I only enjoyed two of the six stories (Strait of Monsters and Mandelbrot), which were the only ones with decent writing and a good plot. I also think it's ridiculous that there is only one story where there are women loving women- it makes the rest of the stories seem like they're attempting to fetishize gay men (considering the sheer amount of sexual content in the collection, and the lack of consent, this isn't exactly unlikely).
When Shadows Touch Mountains: 2/5 stars
[Shelves: arthurian legend, classism, erotica, fast track romance, historical fiction, internalized homophobia, lgbtq, ok writing bad plot, unhealthy relationships, unnecessary prose, world building, mlm]
There's something that just doesn't... sit right with me with this tale. The writing isn't that good- it's rife with grammatical and spelling errors and there's so many male characters that it doesn't even pass the Bechdel test. On top of that,. Could've been good, but the random erotica at the end of it had me rolling my eyes... Next.
Strait of Monsters: 4/5 stars
[Shelves: lgbtq, trans characters, mythology, beautiful characterization, wlw]
In all honesty, I was really ready to give up on this collection of stories... This one definitely repaired my faith- trans woman main character in a relationship with Medusa, topped with mythology interpretation??? This one hooked me back in again, and I'd go as far to say that it's maybe the best in the collection.
Famished: 1/5 stars
[Shelves: you're better off not reading this, fast track romance, bad writing bad plot, unnecessary prose, mlm]
You know this is bad when it made me almost drop the entire collection. It's just so long and nothing of substance actually happens- you just get tired of reading purple prose with nothing concrete to back it up.
Vinc: 2/5
[Shelves: tell not show, casual misogyny, addiction, bad writing bad plot, world building, mlm]
Got gay in the last 2% of the story, and the rest of it wasn't too great either. It had me worried that the whole weresalamander thing was just gonna be a metaphor for being gay, which isn't something I should have to worry about. Awful, and not even in a hilarious way.
Good Things: 2/5
[Shelves: erotica, pedophilia {not central, but mentioned/discussed}, slutshaming, explicit sexual assault {sleeping characters cannot consent}, good writing bad plot, mlm, homophobia {against the main character}, asian characters, hypersexualization of gay people]
You know what, the writing for this was actually pretty good. It was very explicit and very uncomfortable but I mean, this is a book about queer characters so I kinda expected the hypersexualization at some point. The thing that made it unbearable, though, was the sheer amount of rape in it- and it's explicitly stated to be rape, so there's no dodging the question! The whole concept of incubi could've been executed without the rape if only they asked before the sex (and that's even more in line with the mythos!). -2 for the constant rape, -1 star for the incubus talking about a little girl hitting puberty and explicitly talking about raping her.
Mandelbrot: 5/5
[Shelves: heroes, mlm, good writing good plot, casual misogyny {not shown in a positive light}, unhealthy relationships]
Okay, so this is one of two stories that I wholeheartedly enjoyed. Honestly, the 'villain falls in love with superhero's love interest because the hero is a douchebag' premise is the one way straight to my heart (or... not so straight, if I'm joking around). I loved Lew, I loved Evander, and I wanted to kick George in the throat. I probably would've been more satisfied with this story if it was a 300 page novel though.
This book is a collection of short stories written by different people, so, instead of reviewing it as a whole, I'll be reviewing them story-by-story.
Overall, the quality of this collection was incredibly poor. Issues with the stories ranged from relationships that straddled the line between obligation and actually wanting to be in the relationship to flat out rape. I only enjoyed two of the six stories (Strait of Monsters and Mandelbrot), which were the only ones with decent writing and a good plot. I also think it's ridiculous that there is only one story where there are women loving women- it makes the rest of the stories seem like they're attempting to fetishize gay men (considering the sheer amount of sexual content in the collection, and the lack of consent, this isn't exactly unlikely).
When Shadows Touch Mountains: 2/5 stars
[Shelves: arthurian legend, classism, erotica, fast track romance, historical fiction, internalized homophobia, lgbtq, ok writing bad plot, unhealthy relationships, unnecessary prose, world building, mlm]
There's something that just doesn't... sit right with me with this tale. The writing isn't that good- it's rife with grammatical and spelling errors and there's so many male characters that it doesn't even pass the Bechdel test. On top of that,
Spoiler
Kirth, Tusandro, and Mordred's relationship comes off as extremely unhealthy, as Kirth's attraction to Mordred and Tusandro felt a lot like it was forced due to their proximityStrait of Monsters: 4/5 stars
[Shelves: lgbtq, trans characters, mythology, beautiful characterization, wlw]
In all honesty, I was really ready to give up on this collection of stories... This one definitely repaired my faith- trans woman main character in a relationship with Medusa, topped with mythology interpretation??? This one hooked me back in again, and I'd go as far to say that it's maybe the best in the collection.
Famished: 1/5 stars
[Shelves: you're better off not reading this, fast track romance, bad writing bad plot, unnecessary prose, mlm]
You know this is bad when it made me almost drop the entire collection. It's just so long and nothing of substance actually happens- you just get tired of reading purple prose with nothing concrete to back it up.
Vinc: 2/5
[Shelves: tell not show, casual misogyny, addiction, bad writing bad plot, world building, mlm]
Got gay in the last 2% of the story, and the rest of it wasn't too great either. It had me worried that the whole weresalamander thing was just gonna be a metaphor for being gay, which isn't something I should have to worry about. Awful, and not even in a hilarious way.
Good Things: 2/5
[Shelves: erotica, pedophilia {not central, but mentioned/discussed}, slutshaming, explicit sexual assault {sleeping characters cannot consent}, good writing bad plot, mlm, homophobia {against the main character}, asian characters, hypersexualization of gay people]
You know what, the writing for this was actually pretty good. It was very explicit and very uncomfortable but I mean, this is a book about queer characters so I kinda expected the hypersexualization at some point. The thing that made it unbearable, though, was the sheer amount of rape in it- and it's explicitly stated to be rape, so there's no dodging the question! The whole concept of incubi could've been executed without the rape if only they asked before the sex (and that's even more in line with the mythos!). -2 for the constant rape, -1 star for the incubus talking about a little girl hitting puberty and explicitly talking about raping her.
Mandelbrot: 5/5
[Shelves: heroes, mlm, good writing good plot, casual misogyny {not shown in a positive light}, unhealthy relationships]
Okay, so this is one of two stories that I wholeheartedly enjoyed. Honestly, the 'villain falls in love with superhero's love interest because the hero is a douchebag' premise is the one way straight to my heart (or... not so straight, if I'm joking around). I loved Lew, I loved Evander, and I wanted to kick George in the throat. I probably would've been more satisfied with this story if it was a 300 page novel though.