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A review by mspilesofpaper
A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
A Soul to Keep isn't my first monster romance novel nor will it be my last one but it will be certainly the only one from the series that I will read. Why?
First of all: Why is it 544 pages long? Sure, the author included more plot than most monster romances/paranormal romances have but it is still too long. Often it is just Reia's internal monologue, which repeats itself every four pages, which is so annoying. In addition to the fact that it is just too long, the pacing is just off. If it had been tighter, and maybe just 300 pages long, I might have enjoyed it more. However, my rating dipped from 3.5 stars to 2 stars due to the arc that happened in the last 30%.
Why?
A) It was unrequired to implement the "original woman" plot in such a way.
B) Reia "I'm not like other girls" is a fucking arse. She lives her monster fucking dreams with the version of Orpheus who is very humane as he went through 19 (!) relationship (attempts) and had countless of humans devoured by the time he takes Reia. Reia meets a Duskwalker who has extremely limited humanity and notices several times that he is very stupid and lacks humanity. (It is important to point out, trust me.) And while she loves to get fucked by Orpheus, the original woman (Katerina) was living with the version of Orpheus that lacks humanity and who was at his most dangerous. It irked me so much that the author then reduces Katerina to a caricaturish villain who is vilified for leaving Orpheus because "she never saw the humanity in him". Please be serious, what kind of humanity was he supposed to have when he didn't even have a name? Of course, she gave him when he pushed for sex to satisfy his desire and didn't say "no" because she wanted to survive. Technically, she was sexually abused and raped. The audacity of Reia to be like "you could have said no, he would have stopped" because present Orpheus would have done it. Past Orpheus would have been triggered and would have killed Katerina.
TL;DR: Katerina is portrayed as a slutty, greedy ex-girlfriend who willingly fucks the Demon King, accepted all the physical gifts by Orpheus, and then left him because she felt like it when she is the survivor of a horror story. Victim shaming isn't cool. (Her sexual relationship with the Demon King isn't any better, she just deals better with it because he has a higher level of humanity than Orpheus.)
C) Orpheus would have still picked Katerina if Reia wouldn't have been willing to be with him. He's still extremely hung up on her and just picked Reia because she was there and willing. I didn't buy that he loves Reia more than Katerina. The man would need therapy (or a few therapists as snacks to gain wisdom).
As for the romance between Orpheus and Reia: there's no chemistry. He imprints on every human that's with him and pretty much just fell for her because she didn't smell of fear and was willing to touch him. She flees from him and nearly dies in the process? He's angry for some time but quickly forgives her because she touches him. Also, the sex is ... something. Yes, it's monster sex but I wouldn't consider the scenes as good as they are utterly cringy and remind me of some very dark and twisted fan fictions that I might or might not have read. Concerning his size: his entire cock is pretty much over 40cm long (likely longer since he is described as massive and around 220cm tall (without his horns)). Please take a measuring tape and put it against your body to see where the cock would end; it should be directly beneath your breasts. Fun fact: the average length of a vagina is between 6cm - 15cm (depending if it's stimulated or not). If you are wondering how he is fitting his length (the girth is never stated but she can barely grasp it with both hands, so it will be thick) into her: magic. He manipulates her body to take her and it results in such a change that she would never find a human cock fulfilling.
The world-building is not as swallow as I thought it would be but it isn't as deep as it could be. For the majority of the time, I thought that it played in an apocalyptic USA until it is revealed that humankind never went through the Industrial Revolution and their most developed weapons were swords, bow & arrow etc. In the last third, it is then revealed that the story isn't taking place on planet Earth but happens in an unnamed world that is simply populated by humans. The reveal? The Demon King mentions that the canyon, in which the Veil is, covers 1/4 of the world, which is larger than all canyons on our planet. In the last third, elves are also thrown into the mix and Reia learns in the last chapter what Duskwalkers are, which doesn't help with the world-building. The explanation behind the Duskwalkers' existence is also so anticlimactic.
First of all: Why is it 544 pages long? Sure, the author included more plot than most monster romances/paranormal romances have but it is still too long. Often it is just Reia's internal monologue, which repeats itself every four pages, which is so annoying. In addition to the fact that it is just too long, the pacing is just off. If it had been tighter, and maybe just 300 pages long, I might have enjoyed it more. However, my rating dipped from 3.5 stars to 2 stars due to the arc that happened in the last 30%.
Why?
A) It was unrequired to implement the "original woman" plot in such a way.
B) Reia "I'm not like other girls" is a fucking arse. She lives her monster fucking dreams with the version of Orpheus who is very humane as he went through 19 (!) relationship (attempts) and had countless of humans devoured by the time he takes Reia. Reia meets a Duskwalker who has extremely limited humanity and notices several times that he is very stupid and lacks humanity. (It is important to point out, trust me.) And while she loves to get fucked by Orpheus, the original woman (Katerina) was living with the version of Orpheus that lacks humanity and who was at his most dangerous. It irked me so much that the author then reduces Katerina to a caricaturish villain who is vilified for leaving Orpheus because "she never saw the humanity in him". Please be serious, what kind of humanity was he supposed to have when he didn't even have a name? Of course, she gave him when he pushed for sex to satisfy his desire and didn't say "no" because she wanted to survive. Technically, she was sexually abused and raped. The audacity of Reia to be like "you could have said no, he would have stopped" because present Orpheus would have done it. Past Orpheus would have been triggered and would have killed Katerina.
TL;DR: Katerina is portrayed as a slutty, greedy ex-girlfriend who willingly fucks the Demon King, accepted all the physical gifts by Orpheus, and then left him because she felt like it when she is the survivor of a horror story. Victim shaming isn't cool. (Her sexual relationship with the Demon King isn't any better, she just deals better with it because he has a higher level of humanity than Orpheus.)
C) Orpheus would have still picked Katerina if Reia wouldn't have been willing to be with him. He's still extremely hung up on her and just picked Reia because she was there and willing. I didn't buy that he loves Reia more than Katerina. The man would need therapy (or a few therapists as snacks to gain wisdom).
As for the romance between Orpheus and Reia: there's no chemistry. He imprints on every human that's with him and pretty much just fell for her because she didn't smell of fear and was willing to touch him. She flees from him and nearly dies in the process? He's angry for some time but quickly forgives her because she touches him. Also, the sex is ... something. Yes, it's monster sex but I wouldn't consider the scenes as good as they are utterly cringy and remind me of some very dark and twisted fan fictions that I might or might not have read. Concerning his size: his entire cock is pretty much over 40cm long (likely longer since he is described as massive and around 220cm tall (without his horns)). Please take a measuring tape and put it against your body to see where the cock would end; it should be directly beneath your breasts. Fun fact: the average length of a vagina is between 6cm - 15cm (depending if it's stimulated or not). If you are wondering how he is fitting his length (the girth is never stated but she can barely grasp it with both hands, so it will be thick) into her: magic. He manipulates her body to take her and it results in such a change that she would never find a human cock fulfilling.
The world-building is not as swallow as I thought it would be but it isn't as deep as it could be. For the majority of the time, I thought that it played in an apocalyptic USA until it is revealed that humankind never went through the Industrial Revolution and their most developed weapons were swords, bow & arrow etc. In the last third, it is then revealed that the story isn't taking place on planet Earth but happens in an unnamed world that is simply populated by humans. The reveal? The Demon King mentions that the canyon, in which the Veil is, covers 1/4 of the world, which is larger than all canyons on our planet. In the last third, elves are also thrown into the mix and Reia learns in the last chapter what Duskwalkers are, which doesn't help with the world-building. The explanation behind the Duskwalkers' existence is also so anticlimactic.