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A review by tanilian
The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
This should’ve been a decent read. It failed.
I saw in some other review this book described as “torture porn” and yeah, completely agree. For a narrative that wanted to show the lives of women, it was way too obsessed with cocks. And yes, they are prostitutes, but did we need to rehash over and over and over again the various ways that men were only thinking with their cocks, to the exclusion of both any semblance of plot AND any and all character development? (On this note, were cock lamps so popular that they were ready made and in supply at the shop?)
Let’s mention the plot this book had. It was porn. This is the only thing that was allotted any time in the narrative. Amara deciding to make a side-hustle with loans? Mentioned maybe twice or thrice and completely behind the scenes. Amara seducing the idiot nephew of Pliny to dupe him into buying her freedom? Completely behind the scenes, let’s just roll right over to him being already seduced. The only skill I can remember we actually watched her attain (more like train a bit more) was a few new melodies.
The writing itself was really choppy. We jumped the timeline a lot for the only reason that I could perceive of “welp let’s just say she did this or that and not show a thing”. I think half of the book can be cut off and maybe then, though still doubtful, the story would be more streamlined.
Why don’t we talk about fridging? Cause in this oh so feminist novel one of our main characters gets fridged at the end. Cause Dido was absolutely killed off to further Amara. Did the way she die make sense? No, it was completely forced.
There was NO character development whatsoever. At the start the book Amara was the same as she was at the ending. There was no change. Neither did any other character have any growth.
Now, I would also like to talk about the ending as it infuriated me. Cause Amara, in her infinite wisdom, sent a child with a threatening message to her former owner whose name I can’t be bothered to remember. She sent a teenaged (barely) girl, to a man she watched abuse women and kill people to send a message. The same guy that at the beginning of the novel had a woman disfigured to get at his competitor. And Amara just sent a child to him with a threatening message))) As one wont to do. Why, for the love of gods, would you not only want him to KNOW you are gunning for his head but also send a child as a messenger? Anyone with half a brain would’ve waited till they actually established themselves as, quite literally, anything of consequences before doing such a blatant power move.
The way Amara regained her freedom was out of the blue and didn’t make sense. Oh, Pliny refused to buy her out before cause he had no use for her, but now that his nephew wanted to have her as his mistress, he graciously decided to give him money and grant Amaya his family name?
The setting of this novel was also barely there. 74 AD Pompeii? This was not. It could’ve been any other time and setting, not to mention how modern it read.
I saw in some other review this book described as “torture porn” and yeah, completely agree. For a narrative that wanted to show the lives of women, it was way too obsessed with cocks. And yes, they are prostitutes, but did we need to rehash over and over and over again the various ways that men were only thinking with their cocks, to the exclusion of both any semblance of plot AND any and all character development? (On this note, were cock lamps so popular that they were ready made and in supply at the shop?)
The writing itself was really choppy. We jumped the timeline a lot for the only reason that I could perceive of “welp let’s just say she did this or that and not show a thing”. I think half of the book can be cut off and maybe then, though still doubtful, the story would be more streamlined.
Why don’t we talk about fridging? Cause in this oh so feminist novel one of our main characters gets fridged at the end. Cause Dido was absolutely killed off to further Amara. Did the way she die make sense? No, it was completely forced.
There was NO character development whatsoever. At the start the book Amara was the same as she was at the ending. There was no change. Neither did any other character have any growth.
Now, I would also like to talk about the ending as it infuriated me. Cause Amara, in her infinite wisdom, sent a child with a threatening message to her former owner whose name I can’t be bothered to remember. She sent a teenaged (barely) girl, to a man she watched abuse women and kill people to send a message. The same guy that at the beginning of the novel had a woman disfigured to get at his competitor. And Amara just sent a child to him with a threatening message))) As one wont to do. Why, for the love of gods, would you not only want him to KNOW you are gunning for his head but also send a child as a messenger? Anyone with half a brain would’ve waited till they actually established themselves as, quite literally, anything of consequences before doing such a blatant power move.
The way Amara regained her freedom was out of the blue and didn’t make sense. Oh, Pliny refused to buy her out before cause he had no use for her, but now that his nephew wanted to have her as his mistress, he graciously decided to give him money and grant Amaya his family name?
The setting of this novel was also barely there. 74 AD Pompeii? This was not. It could’ve been any other time and setting, not to mention how modern it read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Rape