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A review by iam
The Flowered Blade by Taylor Hubbard
3.5
Loved this trans romantasy featuring an elven prince held hostage by an orc-chief - but despite the sometimes dark themes of abuse, I would not classify this as dark romantasy.
Content warnings include: abduction, hostage situation, child abuse, whipping, (consensual) rough sex on-page, torture (mostly off-page), injury, violence, murder.
The delicate elven royal abducted by the rough orc, just for the two to see past their differences and fall in love (partially because of their differences), is not a new story, but I enjoyed reading this with a trans main character.
The romance was a bit cliché in parts, mainly due to the instant attraction between the main characters that, to me, felt overdrawn, particularly considering the circumstances of their meeting.
I also was very bothered by how often the characters had "a feeling they couldn't describe/they couldn't name" or "saw something in each other's faces they can't name". It happened so often and with such a variety of emotions that it became really intransparent what was meant.
This was not the only narrative quirk that was repeated a bit too much - another example was that there were several conversations where one character catches another staring, always leading to the same conversation of being called out and denying it and being teased for it. I felt like I was reading the same scene again and again, multiple times.
Another issue I had with the narration was the time skips. The story plays out over several months, and there are multiple instances were several days or even weeks are skipped over between chapters. The problem was that it never felt like any time passed at all. Despite time having supposedly passed between chapters, the characters start at the exact same positions emotionally (and sometimes even physically), with the exact same conversations, as if no time had passed at all. I get that the reader is only meant to see the pivotal moments between the characters, that's completely fine and normal. I even appreciated that the story played out over such a long time, as I prefer romances to develop slowly. However, here there was a very noticable dissonance between the time supposedly passing, and what happened in that time. It really felt like the time skipped over was a black void where nothing happened, no conversations, where everything freezes except time.
I was also disappointed by the lack of worldbuilding surrounding being trans and gender expression in general. There is no acknowledgement of Silvyr being trans at any point in time. No-one ever remarks on it. There are two very small instances: a conversation about Silvyr organising his own top surgery, and two brief and very glossed over hints about Silvyr possibly having dysphoria, except they are never acknowledged or mentioned again that I was more confused by them than anything else.
I was glad for the overall lack of transphobia, but the way Silvyr's being trans seemed to exist almost in a vacuum was also weird. We don't even know how any of the mentioned cultures view queer relationships, in any way. That sort of lack of worldbuilding felt lazy, as it could have been so easily established in a side sentence here or there.
Despite my complaints about narration, writing, and worldbuilding, I overall had a great time with this. I absolutely loved seeing such a typical romantasy with a trans main character, and cannot wait to read more like it!
Content warnings include: abduction, hostage situation, child abuse, whipping, (consensual) rough sex on-page, torture (mostly off-page), injury, violence, murder.
The delicate elven royal abducted by the rough orc, just for the two to see past their differences and fall in love (partially because of their differences), is not a new story, but I enjoyed reading this with a trans main character.
The romance was a bit cliché in parts, mainly due to the instant attraction between the main characters that, to me, felt overdrawn, particularly considering the circumstances of their meeting.
I also was very bothered by how often the characters had "a feeling they couldn't describe/they couldn't name" or "saw something in each other's faces they can't name". It happened so often and with such a variety of emotions that it became really intransparent what was meant.
This was not the only narrative quirk that was repeated a bit too much - another example was that there were several conversations where one character catches another staring, always leading to the same conversation of being called out and denying it and being teased for it. I felt like I was reading the same scene again and again, multiple times.
Another issue I had with the narration was the time skips. The story plays out over several months, and there are multiple instances were several days or even weeks are skipped over between chapters. The problem was that it never felt like any time passed at all. Despite time having supposedly passed between chapters, the characters start at the exact same positions emotionally (and sometimes even physically), with the exact same conversations, as if no time had passed at all. I get that the reader is only meant to see the pivotal moments between the characters, that's completely fine and normal. I even appreciated that the story played out over such a long time, as I prefer romances to develop slowly. However, here there was a very noticable dissonance between the time supposedly passing, and what happened in that time. It really felt like the time skipped over was a black void where nothing happened, no conversations, where everything freezes except time.
I was also disappointed by the lack of worldbuilding surrounding being trans and gender expression in general. There is no acknowledgement of Silvyr being trans at any point in time. No-one ever remarks on it. There are two very small instances: a conversation about Silvyr organising his own top surgery, and two brief and very glossed over hints about Silvyr possibly having dysphoria, except they are never acknowledged or mentioned again that I was more confused by them than anything else.
I was glad for the overall lack of transphobia, but the way Silvyr's being trans seemed to exist almost in a vacuum was also weird. We don't even know how any of the mentioned cultures view queer relationships, in any way. That sort of lack of worldbuilding felt lazy, as it could have been so easily established in a side sentence here or there.
Despite my complaints about narration, writing, and worldbuilding, I overall had a great time with this. I absolutely loved seeing such a typical romantasy with a trans main character, and cannot wait to read more like it!