Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by nickartrip102
God of Fury by Rina Kent
2.0
It seems like every time I checked what was big in M/M romance last year, God of Fury by Rina Kenta topped the list. Full disclosure, I don’t read M/F romance, and I typically dislike the random M/M installments that exist in such series. I also typically don’t read what could be termed “dark romance.” When I saw this book sitting on the shelf at my local Walmart, however, I couldn’t resist the temptation. Why not? I do occasionally like something a bit toxic. The relationship between mafia heir Nikolai Sokolov and wealthy, but straitlaced Brandon King definitely delivers on the toxicity. I truly had no idea what I was in for!
A list of random thoughts, with potential spoilers:
-the first chapter was wild, lol, but I rolled with it to get into the spirit of things. I kept on coming back to this, because if I were Brandon, I definitely wouldn’t be rolling up anywhere to save my twin.
-Lan seems like an absolute jerk, I’m not a twin so I guess this was lost on me, but he seems to treat Brandon pretty poorly
-describing a child’s erection and then proceeding to have him name and develop a relationship with his penis is an odd choice, particularly in a genre with such an erotic charge
-By the halfway point it didn’t seem like Brandon and Nikolai actually knew anything about each other. Nikolai knows Brandon likes to run. Brandon knows that Nikolai has a giant, donkey dick and likes to punch people. It was hot, but I didn’t get much emotional investment
-Is this story trying to use the issue of self-harm as the angle for emotional investment? It’s giving Girl, Interrupted, but with a lot more orgasms
-I couldn’t be a dark romance person full time. Why is the stalking acceptable?
-Brandon likes Agatha Christie. You spend your free time watching murder mysteries. You should know you’re in danger, girl! Obviously Nikolai doesn’t murder Brandon, but if this book were realistic this would absolutely be the first forty-five minutes of a Dateline special hosted by Keith Morrison
-Brandon, not at all douched, dieted, or ready is able to take Nikolai’s giant, donkey dick after a three finger wiggle because he’s a gold medalist in the Anal Olympics, honey. Won’t they do it!
-The only character who reads as intentionally written as queer is Simon, who falls into the trap of being both desperate and a means for narrative jealousy because how else can femme men exist in such a space of hypermasculinity?
-The dialogue in this book feels way off. I mean the dirty talk is for sure hot, but outside of the sex scenes the dialogue felt kind of stilted, too formal in some places, not formal enough in others. Also, “Lotus Flower” is used enough times to make me want to call for a protest against all flowers for the rest of my lifetime.
-Nikolai is essentially a murder puppy
-The story really gives “your love can heal my mental illness” fanfic realness
-There is some really problematic messaging about mental health and sexual assault in this book, I mean everything about God of Fury is problematic, but one character shows a video of another being sexually assaulted to their family…what the hell.
-I can’t rate this very highly in good conscience because of several issues (poor handling of mental health, sexual assault, gay/queer rep, codependency) but when I discovered that Kent has another M/M story being released in this series I did order it and will eventually be reading it. God of Fury may have been problematic as all hell, but it was definitely an addicting reading experience.
A list of random thoughts, with potential spoilers:
-the first chapter was wild, lol, but I rolled with it to get into the spirit of things. I kept on coming back to this, because if I were Brandon, I definitely wouldn’t be rolling up anywhere to save my twin.
-Lan seems like an absolute jerk, I’m not a twin so I guess this was lost on me, but he seems to treat Brandon pretty poorly
-describing a child’s erection and then proceeding to have him name and develop a relationship with his penis is an odd choice, particularly in a genre with such an erotic charge
-By the halfway point it didn’t seem like Brandon and Nikolai actually knew anything about each other. Nikolai knows Brandon likes to run. Brandon knows that Nikolai has a giant, donkey dick and likes to punch people. It was hot, but I didn’t get much emotional investment
-Is this story trying to use the issue of self-harm as the angle for emotional investment? It’s giving Girl, Interrupted, but with a lot more orgasms
-I couldn’t be a dark romance person full time. Why is the stalking acceptable?
-Brandon likes Agatha Christie. You spend your free time watching murder mysteries. You should know you’re in danger, girl! Obviously Nikolai doesn’t murder Brandon, but if this book were realistic this would absolutely be the first forty-five minutes of a Dateline special hosted by Keith Morrison
-Brandon, not at all douched, dieted, or ready is able to take Nikolai’s giant, donkey dick after a three finger wiggle because he’s a gold medalist in the Anal Olympics, honey. Won’t they do it!
-The only character who reads as intentionally written as queer is Simon, who falls into the trap of being both desperate and a means for narrative jealousy because how else can femme men exist in such a space of hypermasculinity?
-The dialogue in this book feels way off. I mean the dirty talk is for sure hot, but outside of the sex scenes the dialogue felt kind of stilted, too formal in some places, not formal enough in others. Also, “Lotus Flower” is used enough times to make me want to call for a protest against all flowers for the rest of my lifetime.
-Nikolai is essentially a murder puppy
-The story really gives “your love can heal my mental illness” fanfic realness
-There is some really problematic messaging about mental health and sexual assault in this book, I mean everything about God of Fury is problematic, but one character shows a video of another being sexually assaulted to their family…what the hell.
-I can’t rate this very highly in good conscience because of several issues (poor handling of mental health, sexual assault, gay/queer rep, codependency) but when I discovered that Kent has another M/M story being released in this series I did order it and will eventually be reading it. God of Fury may have been problematic as all hell, but it was definitely an addicting reading experience.