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A review by daniellestarredpages
This Fatal Kiss by Alicia Jasinska
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This Fatal Kiss by Alicia Jasinska. Highly Anticipated, Hugely Disappointing.
This Fatal Kiss did not give me the reading experience I was expecting. I struggled through the first 35% or so of the book, DNFed it, then gave it another try and then felt disappointed by the last 15%. My issues with this book can fall into a few different categories:
1. Writing
2. World Building/Setting
3. Et Cetera
Let's tackle my issues with the writing. The writing of this book struggled since the author - at least in my opinion- tried to include "tiktok humour" By this I mean, there were a couple of phrases or descriptions that were intended to be funny but instead came off so jarring as they didn't match the setting of the story (we'll get to my issues with the setting later). Phrases like "Sky Daddy" and "That's a mood" felt extremely out of place.
Now, World Building/Setting. My biggest issue with the setting was, that I had no idea what the setting was. Most of the setting had a vague historical vibe (what stage in history, don't ask me) but then there would be some throwaway phrases that had more modern or technically advanced items with no explanation of how they fit into the story. Now there was magic in this story, and magic was used as an explanation for some details but those details are not what I am focusing on. I was mostly confused about the transportation but there were a few other things that felt odd. I didn't judge this book too harshly for these issues since the book is Fantasy and because the author didn't give us a specific time period to work with I couldn't exactly say those details didn't belong there.
The final category isn't necessarily a category but these issues didn't fit into one specific category. I took the biggest issue with the ending of the book. I went into this book, thinking "This Fatal Kiss" was a standalone but Jasinka wrote the ending in a way that left space for a sequel. This would've been fine except it resulted in the last part of the book feeling rushed and instead of the open-endedness feeling purposeful it just felt like Jasinka had no idea how to resolve some issues so she. . . . didn't.
I also felt that the dynamics in this book surrounding this poly romance could've used a bit more work. The only dynamic I felt was sufficiently fleshed out was between Kazik and Gisela, I couldn't didn't understand why I was supposed to believe Kazik had such a huge crush on Aleksey when all we know is Kazik finds him attractive and he was nice to everyone. But the initial impression I got was that even though Kazik found Aleksey attractive he didn't really like him. So I wasn't sure why he was so against Gisela choosing Aleksey to be the human to kiss her. Then Gisela and Aleksey didn't interact much without Aleksey there and I felt their connection was more friendship than romance.
There were parts of this book that I enjoyed. I loved the Slavic folklore and how it was included and explained throughout the plot. The discussions around sexuality (particularly bisexuality) and polyamory were interesting and enjoyable to see discussed and defended in the setting of the book.
The middle section of this book was very quick to read and I enjoyed that part of my reading experience. (Although I'm not sure if I actually liked it or if it was just a relief after struggling through the first section)
This Fatal Kiss did not give me the reading experience I was expecting. I struggled through the first 35% or so of the book, DNFed it, then gave it another try and then felt disappointed by the last 15%. My issues with this book can fall into a few different categories:
1. Writing
2. World Building/Setting
3. Et Cetera
Let's tackle my issues with the writing. The writing of this book struggled since the author - at least in my opinion- tried to include "tiktok humour" By this I mean, there were a couple of phrases or descriptions that were intended to be funny but instead came off so jarring as they didn't match the setting of the story (we'll get to my issues with the setting later). Phrases like "Sky Daddy" and "That's a mood" felt extremely out of place.
Now, World Building/Setting. My biggest issue with the setting was, that I had no idea what the setting was. Most of the setting had a vague historical vibe (what stage in history, don't ask me) but then there would be some throwaway phrases that had more modern or technically advanced items with no explanation of how they fit into the story. Now there was magic in this story, and magic was used as an explanation for some details but those details are not what I am focusing on. I was mostly confused about the transportation but there were a few other things that felt odd. I didn't judge this book too harshly for these issues since the book is Fantasy and because the author didn't give us a specific time period to work with I couldn't exactly say those details didn't belong there.
The final category isn't necessarily a category but these issues didn't fit into one specific category. I took the biggest issue with the ending of the book. I went into this book, thinking "This Fatal Kiss" was a standalone but Jasinka wrote the ending in a way that left space for a sequel. This would've been fine except it resulted in the last part of the book feeling rushed and instead of the open-endedness feeling purposeful it just felt like Jasinka had no idea how to resolve some issues so she. . . . didn't.
I also felt that the dynamics in this book surrounding this poly romance could've used a bit more work. The only dynamic I felt was sufficiently fleshed out was between Kazik and Gisela, I couldn't didn't understand why I was supposed to believe Kazik had such a huge crush on Aleksey when all we know is Kazik finds him attractive and he was nice to everyone. But the initial impression I got was that even though Kazik found Aleksey attractive he didn't really like him. So I wasn't sure why he was so against Gisela choosing Aleksey to be the human to kiss her. Then Gisela and Aleksey didn't interact much without Aleksey there and I felt their connection was more friendship than romance.
There were parts of this book that I enjoyed. I loved the Slavic folklore and how it was included and explained throughout the plot. The discussions around sexuality (particularly bisexuality) and polyamory were interesting and enjoyable to see discussed and defended in the setting of the book.
The middle section of this book was very quick to read and I enjoyed that part of my reading experience. (Although I'm not sure if I actually liked it or if it was just a relief after struggling through the first section)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Biphobia, Death, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail