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A review by strixvaria
Shadow Game by Christine Feehan
1.0
DNF
I'm trying to expand my horizons. I realized I'd never read a book in the "romance" categorization, and was wondering what they were all about. I mean, aside from the obvious. I didn't come in expecting to like it, but I wanted to learn what it was people liked about them. I figured I would pick one with a sci-fi setting to ease myself into it.
I was not prepared for how fucking awful writing can be. I made it almost 150 pages into this book through sheer morbid curiosity before I couldn't stand it anymore. This book is like a laundry list of things not to do in a novel:
* The characters, who had never met before the start of the novel, were in love with each other by page 3. Lust would have been fine, but love is utterly unbelievable.
* The way characters talk is so far removed from anything anyone would ever say in real life. Overt explanations of everything they're feeling moment to moment. Recaps of how two characters know each other and what they feel about each other.
* Repetition. There are like 2 ideas here and they're stated over and over, ad nauseum.
* The author referred to Lily's vagina as a "sheath" three times in under 2 pages.
* Ryland's laser-focus on "I knew you were mine from the moment I saw you" is super rapey. He's a super-creep who doesn't give a shit about Lily as a person and just wants what he views as his. I can't even begin to understand how Lily feels anything for him but disgust. All her actions in light of his behavior are unbelievable.
* Adverbs. This book is like a case study in why writers are advised to use adverbs sparingly.
* It's actually difficult to follow what's going on. The characters' unbelievable emotions are the focus to the point where what's actually happening is kind of left mentioned in passing.
Anyway, I don't want to entirely write off a genre because the first book I happened to pick out was a complete waste of the paper used to print it. But there are like 18 sequels to this book, so that means that there is an audience for this kind of thing. Do I just hate everything that makes romance books what they are? If you happen to read this review and have a recommendation for a beginner to the genre that is actually worth reading, I'd love to hear it.
I'm trying to expand my horizons. I realized I'd never read a book in the "romance" categorization, and was wondering what they were all about. I mean, aside from the obvious. I didn't come in expecting to like it, but I wanted to learn what it was people liked about them. I figured I would pick one with a sci-fi setting to ease myself into it.
I was not prepared for how fucking awful writing can be. I made it almost 150 pages into this book through sheer morbid curiosity before I couldn't stand it anymore. This book is like a laundry list of things not to do in a novel:
* The characters, who had never met before the start of the novel, were in love with each other by page 3. Lust would have been fine, but love is utterly unbelievable.
* The way characters talk is so far removed from anything anyone would ever say in real life. Overt explanations of everything they're feeling moment to moment. Recaps of how two characters know each other and what they feel about each other.
* Repetition. There are like 2 ideas here and they're stated over and over, ad nauseum.
* The author referred to Lily's vagina as a "sheath" three times in under 2 pages.
* Ryland's laser-focus on "I knew you were mine from the moment I saw you" is super rapey. He's a super-creep who doesn't give a shit about Lily as a person and just wants what he views as his. I can't even begin to understand how Lily feels anything for him but disgust. All her actions in light of his behavior are unbelievable.
* Adverbs. This book is like a case study in why writers are advised to use adverbs sparingly.
* It's actually difficult to follow what's going on. The characters' unbelievable emotions are the focus to the point where what's actually happening is kind of left mentioned in passing.
Anyway, I don't want to entirely write off a genre because the first book I happened to pick out was a complete waste of the paper used to print it. But there are like 18 sequels to this book, so that means that there is an audience for this kind of thing. Do I just hate everything that makes romance books what they are? If you happen to read this review and have a recommendation for a beginner to the genre that is actually worth reading, I'd love to hear it.