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rosehoneytea 's review for:
Feathers So Vicious
by Liv Zander
DID NOT FINISH: 40%
I listened to this book instead of reading it so my experience would be different.
I thought this was a creature-feature erotica at first. Perhaps something darker? What I got instead was just some standard Romantasy dreck that is virtually indistinguishable from the rest of the genre. More meat for the meat grinder.
There is so much that’s wrong but I don’t really want to waste my time over explaining myself. In short, I stopped listening when one of the characters discussed something utterly repugnant happening to a child in a descriptive, yet matter-of-fact tone. Just out of the blue. Ugh.
From what I’ve read, there is no romantic sex in this book. Instead, there is rampant and justified sexual assault and rape. It is trivialized and fetishized. It’s honestly sickening how detailed it was and discussed without any sensitivity or gravitas. While the heroine attempts to rationalize her feelings, it appears that her abusers always have the last word to make their assault seem justifyiable.
The male main characters are awful. One gets off on inflicting pain while the other justifies his actions as revenge. The heroine never really found her voice? For someone named “Gallantia” she really had no spine. I also thought the setting felt generic? Standard fantasy setting but with bird people?
I do give the book some credit for the theme unique raven-shifting magic system! I wish this was the focus of the book (in relation to tje political intrigue going on in the background) rather than stiff, stilted dialogue interjected in between graphic depictions of sexual violence masquerading as “love”.
Audiobook narrators struggled with their delivery (Sabian sounded like a middle manager) and the text gives off “AI” by how it sounds syntactically. The fact that the writing also feels very juvenile and elementary-grade and leads into a graphic “sex” (rape) scene with a VERY young and “virginal” heroine really rubs me the wrong way. Yuck!
I like and often seek out dark, often disturbing content. But this conflates non consensual sexual violence with love throughout for the purpose to elicit arousal in the reader. Can’t you see how dangerous this rhetoric is?! And I’m not even halfway through!
Anyways, women who read romantic fantasy deserve better. You deserve better. I deserve better. This was honestly upsetting.
I thought this was a creature-feature erotica at first. Perhaps something darker? What I got instead was just some standard Romantasy dreck that is virtually indistinguishable from the rest of the genre. More meat for the meat grinder.
There is so much that’s wrong but I don’t really want to waste my time over explaining myself. In short, I stopped listening when one of the characters discussed something utterly repugnant happening to a child in a descriptive, yet matter-of-fact tone. Just out of the blue. Ugh.
From what I’ve read, there is no romantic sex in this book. Instead, there is rampant and justified sexual assault and rape. It is trivialized and fetishized. It’s honestly sickening how detailed it was and discussed without any sensitivity or gravitas. While the heroine attempts to rationalize her feelings, it appears that her abusers always have the last word to make their assault seem justifyiable.
The male main characters are awful. One gets off on inflicting pain while the other justifies his actions as revenge. The heroine never really found her voice? For someone named “Gallantia” she really had no spine. I also thought the setting felt generic? Standard fantasy setting but with bird people?
I do give the book some credit for the theme unique raven-shifting magic system! I wish this was the focus of the book (in relation to tje political intrigue going on in the background) rather than stiff, stilted dialogue interjected in between graphic depictions of sexual violence masquerading as “love”.
Audiobook narrators struggled with their delivery (Sabian sounded like a middle manager) and the text gives off “AI” by how it sounds syntactically. The fact that the writing also feels very juvenile and elementary-grade and leads into a graphic “sex” (rape) scene with a VERY young and “virginal” heroine really rubs me the wrong way. Yuck!
I like and often seek out dark, often disturbing content. But this conflates non consensual sexual violence with love throughout for the purpose to elicit arousal in the reader. Can’t you see how dangerous this rhetoric is?! And I’m not even halfway through!
Anyways, women who read romantic fantasy deserve better. You deserve better. I deserve better. This was honestly upsetting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment