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A review by suzjustsuz
Red by S.J. Sanders
3.0
The best I can do for this is a three, and that's entirely due to editing. Both content and copy editing.
I found the subtle references to the Red Riding Hood fairy tale to be well done. It was definitely not a rehash of an old story. It definitely is a reverse-harem erotic romance complete with alien, if a bit on the canine nose, biology. But then Sanders has a rather creative imagination in general, especially when it comes to that sort of thing.
Sanders' use of minority and religious persecution was done deftly enough to not be a reminder of recent political pop culture or to feel like getting hammered with an agenda stick, but well enough done to evoke empathy and compassion for specific characters and character groups. Sanders is quite good at making me root for her characters, even when the heroine is a bit of a sweet wet-noodle that serves no purpose but to need to be rescued. Here she is revered by her three guys simply for existing and accepting them, not such a high bar to get over. In fairness she does a pretty good job early on of fighting for herself. Once she meets the triad she kind of lets them do the heavy work, though.
But none of that would have made me reduce from 4 stars (it really is a pretty creative take on Red Riding Hood). It's the copy editing here. It really is abysmal and it constantly pulled me out of the story.
I would revisit this world if the author returns to it, but I would open the new book hoping she had gotten a copy editor.
I found the subtle references to the Red Riding Hood fairy tale to be well done. It was definitely not a rehash of an old story. It definitely is a reverse-harem erotic romance complete with alien, if a bit on the canine nose, biology. But then Sanders has a rather creative imagination in general, especially when it comes to that sort of thing.
Sanders' use of minority and religious persecution was done deftly enough to not be a reminder of recent political pop culture or to feel like getting hammered with an agenda stick, but well enough done to evoke empathy and compassion for specific characters and character groups. Sanders is quite good at making me root for her characters, even when the heroine is a bit of a sweet wet-noodle that serves no purpose but to need to be rescued. Here she is revered by her three guys simply for existing and accepting them, not such a high bar to get over. In fairness she does a pretty good job early on of fighting for herself. Once she meets the triad she kind of lets them do the heavy work, though.
But none of that would have made me reduce from 4 stars (it really is a pretty creative take on Red Riding Hood). It's the copy editing here. It really is abysmal and it constantly pulled me out of the story.
I would revisit this world if the author returns to it, but I would open the new book hoping she had gotten a copy editor.