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A review by jugglingpup
Exit to Eden by Anne Rampling
1.0
To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.
I picked up this book because I expected something like The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, but I was really disappointed. Instead it was an attempt to discuss BDSM intellectually that fell short of capturing any of the conversations that happen in the BDSM community but instead show views of people not in the community. There is the notion that one doesn’t engage in BDSM if one is in love (that seemed to be the main moral of the story), but that is not the case. There is also the idea that only someone psychologically damaged would engage in BDSM, again not so though there are many people with PTSD, MDD, and more that do engage in BDSM.
The plot of the novel was very badly paced. Within a week the two characters had fallen madly in love and were willing to give up everything that they had built for themselves for the other. They even agreed to be married by the end (big spoiler, sorry, but really that was predicable from the first chapter). The fact that they made that big of a jump in a week made the story unbelievable and added to the feeling that the author was trying to make the characters mentally unstable to justify their BDSM leanings.
There was little to no kink in the story despite it taking place partially in a kink paradise. The kinkiest thing that happened was really dangerous, but lasted only a few pages. Anne Rice, and many other authors, fail to recognize the danger of anal sex play. The characters she writes have to undergo anal torture without any form of stretching or lubrication which can rip the anus and cause terrible pain and complications. Yet the scenes that Rice has written there is no mention of preparation for any form of penetration (one scene had a guy that was well endowed involved). This is common for her books and so is the lack of any form of birth control. This is almost as troubling as the attempts to over analyze kink and in the end shame many of those involved in the scene. Though I was happily surprised at how well she knew the lingo (knowing that scenes are called playing), I in the end was sadly surprised at her attempts to explain why people engage in BDSM.
Over all this book was one I regret reading as it was predictable, very un-sexy, and it is very limited in its attempt to be intellectual. Rice even references two of her previous novels as kinky classics! At first I laughed thinking that she was going to outshine herself, but by the end I was so upset that she had the audacity to connect the two works. She also compares BDSM to war. BDSM is often done out of love and trust, war is a very destructive force. I was disturbed by the author saying the BDSM was very similar to war and I very concerned that people believe this notion.
I picked up this book because I expected something like The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, but I was really disappointed. Instead it was an attempt to discuss BDSM intellectually that fell short of capturing any of the conversations that happen in the BDSM community but instead show views of people not in the community. There is the notion that one doesn’t engage in BDSM if one is in love (that seemed to be the main moral of the story), but that is not the case. There is also the idea that only someone psychologically damaged would engage in BDSM, again not so though there are many people with PTSD, MDD, and more that do engage in BDSM.
The plot of the novel was very badly paced. Within a week the two characters had fallen madly in love and were willing to give up everything that they had built for themselves for the other. They even agreed to be married by the end (big spoiler, sorry, but really that was predicable from the first chapter). The fact that they made that big of a jump in a week made the story unbelievable and added to the feeling that the author was trying to make the characters mentally unstable to justify their BDSM leanings.
There was little to no kink in the story despite it taking place partially in a kink paradise. The kinkiest thing that happened was really dangerous, but lasted only a few pages. Anne Rice, and many other authors, fail to recognize the danger of anal sex play. The characters she writes have to undergo anal torture without any form of stretching or lubrication which can rip the anus and cause terrible pain and complications. Yet the scenes that Rice has written there is no mention of preparation for any form of penetration (one scene had a guy that was well endowed involved). This is common for her books and so is the lack of any form of birth control. This is almost as troubling as the attempts to over analyze kink and in the end shame many of those involved in the scene. Though I was happily surprised at how well she knew the lingo (knowing that scenes are called playing), I in the end was sadly surprised at her attempts to explain why people engage in BDSM.
Over all this book was one I regret reading as it was predictable, very un-sexy, and it is very limited in its attempt to be intellectual. Rice even references two of her previous novels as kinky classics! At first I laughed thinking that she was going to outshine herself, but by the end I was so upset that she had the audacity to connect the two works. She also compares BDSM to war. BDSM is often done out of love and trust, war is a very destructive force. I was disturbed by the author saying the BDSM was very similar to war and I very concerned that people believe this notion.