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A review by gillian0231
King of Flesh and Bone by Liv Zander
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Genuinely what the fuck was that??? I'm just going to make a list of everything bad about this book because I don't feel like this book deserves the energy that it would take to write a full, thought-out review
- RAPE!!! The MMC literally rapes the FMC the entire story. I understand dub-con, have read it in a few dark romances, and do enjoy it if done right, but that was not was what this was. He has to use his mind control powers to get her to fuck him and to get wet.
- The main characters literally have zero chemistry. She doesn't really end up liking him until the last ~20% of the book. No character development and it really feels like she develops Stockholm Syndrome that's how little chemistry there is
- Bad writing. Everything felt disjointed, there was no character development, time would suddenly pass or we would suddenly be in a new location. It was just chaotic
- Personal preference, but it was all kinda just too gross for me. Like enough about the rotting corpses. I know he's the king of the dead but it was a bit excessive
- Smut scenes didn't do it for me. I think it was a bit of a combination of personal taste (so much anal, which he used as a scare tactic/threat) and just plain bad writing. Also I think it started way too quickly in the book, but again that goes back to Enosh just straight up raping Ada
- SHE CALLED HER CLIT HER "NYMPH"!!!!!!!!! WHY?????????
- Why did Enosh have some morals ("I despise pain, Ada. But not as much as I despise those who inflict it without mercy") but was fine with raping her? Does the author not know what consent is?
- So much doesn't get explained, like why doesn't Enosh allow the dead to rest? Why did he abandon his duty? And this was a really big plot point, it definitely should have been explained
- It gets too close to the victim blaming territory with Njala (just like in A Soul to Keep)
- Honestly Ada's only personality trait is wanting to be a mother but not being able to and being a good wife to her abusive husbands. What a role model
Honestly this probably deserves less than a 2 star rating but the author did put time and effort into this and I hate giving someone's hard work such a bad score. 2 is usually the lowest I'll go. I always did think the world-building had potential and was interesting, it just wasn't executed great and was put on the back-burner to the rape
I don't usually put trigger warnings in my reviews because I believe there are better resources out there, but I will for this one, especially because the beginning of the book does a horrendous job of doing so
- RAPE!!! The MMC literally rapes the FMC the entire story. I understand dub-con, have read it in a few dark romances, and do enjoy it if done right, but that was not was what this was. He has to use his mind control powers to get her to fuck him and to get wet.
- The main characters literally have zero chemistry. She doesn't really end up liking him until the last ~20% of the book. No character development and it really feels like she develops Stockholm Syndrome that's how little chemistry there is
- Bad writing. Everything felt disjointed, there was no character development, time would suddenly pass or we would suddenly be in a new location. It was just chaotic
- Personal preference, but it was all kinda just too gross for me. Like enough about the rotting corpses. I know he's the king of the dead but it was a bit excessive
- Smut scenes didn't do it for me. I think it was a bit of a combination of personal taste (so much anal, which he used as a scare tactic/threat) and just plain bad writing. Also I think it started way too quickly in the book, but again that goes back to Enosh just straight up raping Ada
- SHE CALLED HER CLIT HER "NYMPH"!!!!!!!!! WHY?????????
- Why did Enosh have some morals ("I despise pain, Ada. But not as much as I despise those who inflict it without mercy") but was fine with raping her? Does the author not know what consent is?
- So much doesn't get explained, like why doesn't Enosh allow the dead to rest? Why did he abandon his duty? And this was a really big plot point, it definitely should have been explained
- It gets too close to the victim blaming territory with Njala (just like in A Soul to Keep)
- Honestly Ada's only personality trait is wanting to be a mother but not being able to and being a good wife to her abusive husbands. What a role model
Honestly this probably deserves less than a 2 star rating but the author did put time and effort into this and I hate giving someone's hard work such a bad score. 2 is usually the lowest I'll go. I always did think the world-building had potential and was interesting, it just wasn't executed great and was put on the back-burner to the rape
I don't usually put trigger warnings in my reviews because I believe there are better resources out there, but I will for this one, especially because the beginning of the book does a horrendous job of doing so
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Torture, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence