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A review by faeonyx
Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James
1.0
The third book in the Fifty Shades trilogy seems to have had a much heavier hand editing it than the other two did. The pacing was much better and that made the book a lot easier to read. The story was also a little more interesting, even if it was overblown with drama. A lot of stuff happened in the third book and there were a lot of branching, disconnected stories that didn't get enough face time to be truly developed. It honestly might have been better as a series of novellas or even if it was split up even further into more books (though I can't imagine there being more than three). It's not hard to follow by any means, but it is jarring in certain places because of the amount of drama the author felt necessary to press into such a small space/amount of time.
The bdsm elements weren't as glaringly incorrect in this book, but I am pretty sure that's just because there are honestly so few of them now because Ana has put a stop to a lot of what Christian was doing so incredibly wrong. Their relationship as a whole, however, is extremely childish. Christian is, yes, very abusive and selfish, and Anastasia responds the way a teenage girl might, instead of someone fresh out of college. Instead of talking things through, they scream at each other or ignore each other until something dramatic happens and they get to cry and promise each other it will never happen again. Ew.
Anastasia has her own problems with reacting in an extremely childish manner, but Christian's abuse is the really disturbing element in the story. There are massive arguments on the internet about his behavior, and there are thousands of people every day defending him. "Well, if you read the books you'll understand what motivates that." No. His troubled past doesn't make his abuse okay, and it becomes even clearer throughout the third book that he is a scary, controlling, jealous abuser. His reactions to Anastasia's actions do not constitute anything about the safe, sane, consensual code that thrives within bdsm relationships. His reactions are straight out abuse, and there is no other way to argue it.
Whenever Anastasia does something he doesn't approve of, he dramatically flies cross country to chastise her. Whenever Anastasia speaks out of turn or says something he doesn't like, he shuts down and she is forced to modify her behavior to please him again. It is worth pointing out that there is no contract at this point and they are not operating under discussed and agreed-upon terms of a bdsm relationship. This is flat out abuse. Christian manipulates and bullies Anastasia into acting how he wants throughout the entire story, but it is especially bad after they get married.
He bullies her into changing her name at work, which was something she did not want to do. He came to her place of work, barged into her office, and demanded her attention when he didn't get his way. When Anastasia changes her mind and decides to go out with her friend instead of staying in, he flies all the way back across the country to chastise her. When she tells him she is pregnant, he freaks out and screams at her, calls her stupid, and then accuses her of doing it on purpose. Following that outburst, he leaves to see the ONE woman that Anastasia has requested he not see (which is a problem in its own right). Following all of this, in every one of these instances, Christian apologizes, and then places the blame squarely on Ana for not acting the way he wants her to. Classic signs of emotional abuse.
In addition to the problems with the characterization, the plot takes an insane turn in this book. There are so many different story lines that I am honestly not sure which story was trying to be told here. The drama is so overblown that all the threads detract from the other story threads and it just creates unbelievable chaos. It was more interesting, but it wasn't necessary at all, and coupled with Christian's behavior, it just made the entire thing worse.
The characters were also not allowed to speak for themselves or develop outside of what they were destined to be. As fanfiction. Christian and Ana had to fit certain roles and fall into certain characterizations. Unfortunately, this means that as novels there are times when there seems to be an interesting character development that gets shut down immediately because it's not something Edward or Bella would do. The editing there could have been better to allow the characters to break free from their fanfiction forms, and I do think that would have made the books better by a large margin. The development is never there because there was a formula to follow. Had the characters spoken for themselves, they might have taken the story in a more interesting direction.
Decent as fanfiction, but terrible as a series of novels. The problems in these books are just too large to garner any true appreciation from me.
The bdsm elements weren't as glaringly incorrect in this book, but I am pretty sure that's just because there are honestly so few of them now because Ana has put a stop to a lot of what Christian was doing so incredibly wrong. Their relationship as a whole, however, is extremely childish. Christian is, yes, very abusive and selfish, and Anastasia responds the way a teenage girl might, instead of someone fresh out of college. Instead of talking things through, they scream at each other or ignore each other until something dramatic happens and they get to cry and promise each other it will never happen again. Ew.
Anastasia has her own problems with reacting in an extremely childish manner, but Christian's abuse is the really disturbing element in the story. There are massive arguments on the internet about his behavior, and there are thousands of people every day defending him. "Well, if you read the books you'll understand what motivates that." No. His troubled past doesn't make his abuse okay, and it becomes even clearer throughout the third book that he is a scary, controlling, jealous abuser. His reactions to Anastasia's actions do not constitute anything about the safe, sane, consensual code that thrives within bdsm relationships. His reactions are straight out abuse, and there is no other way to argue it.
Whenever Anastasia does something he doesn't approve of, he dramatically flies cross country to chastise her. Whenever Anastasia speaks out of turn or says something he doesn't like, he shuts down and she is forced to modify her behavior to please him again. It is worth pointing out that there is no contract at this point and they are not operating under discussed and agreed-upon terms of a bdsm relationship. This is flat out abuse. Christian manipulates and bullies Anastasia into acting how he wants throughout the entire story, but it is especially bad after they get married.
He bullies her into changing her name at work, which was something she did not want to do. He came to her place of work, barged into her office, and demanded her attention when he didn't get his way. When Anastasia changes her mind and decides to go out with her friend instead of staying in, he flies all the way back across the country to chastise her. When she tells him she is pregnant, he freaks out and screams at her, calls her stupid, and then accuses her of doing it on purpose. Following that outburst, he leaves to see the ONE woman that Anastasia has requested he not see (which is a problem in its own right). Following all of this, in every one of these instances, Christian apologizes, and then places the blame squarely on Ana for not acting the way he wants her to. Classic signs of emotional abuse.
In addition to the problems with the characterization, the plot takes an insane turn in this book. There are so many different story lines that I am honestly not sure which story was trying to be told here. The drama is so overblown that all the threads detract from the other story threads and it just creates unbelievable chaos. It was more interesting, but it wasn't necessary at all, and coupled with Christian's behavior, it just made the entire thing worse.
The characters were also not allowed to speak for themselves or develop outside of what they were destined to be. As fanfiction. Christian and Ana had to fit certain roles and fall into certain characterizations. Unfortunately, this means that as novels there are times when there seems to be an interesting character development that gets shut down immediately because it's not something Edward or Bella would do. The editing there could have been better to allow the characters to break free from their fanfiction forms, and I do think that would have made the books better by a large margin. The development is never there because there was a formula to follow. Had the characters spoken for themselves, they might have taken the story in a more interesting direction.
Decent as fanfiction, but terrible as a series of novels. The problems in these books are just too large to garner any true appreciation from me.