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A review by kt2e56
A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Ugh. Admittedly, romance really isn’t my thing but this came highly recommended to me because I’m a mythology nerd so I thought I’d give it a shot.
It just was so, so bad.
First of all, the author did zero research about Greek mythology. She knew the bare bones (Hades is God of the Underworld, Persephone is Demeter’s daughter, etc.) but wasted so many opportunities to incorporate mythology and instead just kept reaching for the lowest hanging fruit. This extends to her world-building which was just so unbelievably dull and also didn’t fully make sense. It’s mentioned like ONCE that Hades owns a coffee shop called I believe The Café. Why would Hades own a coffee shop? Aphrodite has a competing nightclub to Hades’ called La Rose. Groundbreaking. They live in a city called New Athens. Yawn. Everything feels like a shapeless gray blob instead of full of life or originality.
The biggest issue of the book was of course, Persephone. She’s whiny, needy, and just so deeply foolish but because she’s a Mary Sue, we’re supposed to think she’s perfect at everything and so brave! and headstrong! and a bad bitch yas queen slay! There’s zero chemistry between her and Hades (more on that later). She’s both a student (who never goes to school) and has an “internship” at a news outlet where she’s literally told she can write whatever and get top billing with zero critiques or limits. I don’t think the author knows what an internship is…or what a journalist does. Also WHY is Persephone a journalist? Is it just because that’s the romance heroine job du jour? Because she’s awful at it. Her first assignment and she’s sleeping with her subject and allowing her feelings for him (good or bad, depending on her mood) to cloud her abilities to tell an honest story. And again, she is PRAISED for this. We’re supposed to believe she’s this phenomenal “investigative journalist” (who has the savvy and investigatory senses of a doorknob) even though she had literally no idea what she’s doing. Also apparently she has a passion for baking that only comes up like once. Which is wild because that makes more sense for the Goddess of Spring! Baking and creating things is a more logical career choice than “investigative journalist.”
There are zero real stakes here because the magical elements (including gods and goddesses’ true forms) keep being neglected until necessary for the plot. So many of the gods and goddesses seem pretty powerless. Why set your story in “a modern Ancient mythological Greece” if you’re not going to do literally anything with that aspect of your story?
Also what IS the setting? Real world places and people don’t exist in this world but both Clash of the Titans movies do? What?
And Persephone can only become a true goddess and unlock her powers after being dicked down by Hades? How is that empowering for this allegedly plucky, brave heroine who keeps insisting she doesn’t need him or his help yet literally can’t accomplish ANYTHING unless Hades (or his dick) does it for her?
I truly could go on and on and on about why this book is such a hot mess. I guess the sex scenes were okay? Standard and no different than what you’d find on r/dirtypenpals but they’re not Fifty Shades level awful.
Idk I wanted to like this but I’m just going to reread Lore Olympus (which I can not overstate was what this book is almost a direct copy of only well written and with a genuinely beautiful love story at the middle of it).
It just was so, so bad.
First of all, the author did zero research about Greek mythology. She knew the bare bones (Hades is God of the Underworld, Persephone is Demeter’s daughter, etc.) but wasted so many opportunities to incorporate mythology and instead just kept reaching for the lowest hanging fruit. This extends to her world-building which was just so unbelievably dull and also didn’t fully make sense. It’s mentioned like ONCE that Hades owns a coffee shop called I believe The Café. Why would Hades own a coffee shop? Aphrodite has a competing nightclub to Hades’ called La Rose. Groundbreaking. They live in a city called New Athens. Yawn. Everything feels like a shapeless gray blob instead of full of life or originality.
The biggest issue of the book was of course, Persephone. She’s whiny, needy, and just so deeply foolish but because she’s a Mary Sue, we’re supposed to think she’s perfect at everything and so brave! and headstrong! and a bad bitch yas queen slay! There’s zero chemistry between her and Hades (more on that later). She’s both a student (who never goes to school) and has an “internship” at a news outlet where she’s literally told she can write whatever and get top billing with zero critiques or limits. I don’t think the author knows what an internship is…or what a journalist does. Also WHY is Persephone a journalist? Is it just because that’s the romance heroine job du jour? Because she’s awful at it. Her first assignment and she’s sleeping with her subject and allowing her feelings for him (good or bad, depending on her mood) to cloud her abilities to tell an honest story. And again, she is PRAISED for this. We’re supposed to believe she’s this phenomenal “investigative journalist” (who has the savvy and investigatory senses of a doorknob) even though she had literally no idea what she’s doing. Also apparently she has a passion for baking that only comes up like once. Which is wild because that makes more sense for the Goddess of Spring! Baking and creating things is a more logical career choice than “investigative journalist.”
There are zero real stakes here because the magical elements (including gods and goddesses’ true forms) keep being neglected until necessary for the plot. So many of the gods and goddesses seem pretty powerless. Why set your story in “a modern Ancient mythological Greece” if you’re not going to do literally anything with that aspect of your story?
Also what IS the setting? Real world places and people don’t exist in this world but both Clash of the Titans movies do? What?
And Persephone can only become a true goddess and unlock her powers after being dicked down by Hades? How is that empowering for this allegedly plucky, brave heroine who keeps insisting she doesn’t need him or his help yet literally can’t accomplish ANYTHING unless Hades (or his dick) does it for her?
I truly could go on and on and on about why this book is such a hot mess. I guess the sex scenes were okay? Standard and no different than what you’d find on r/dirtypenpals but they’re not Fifty Shades level awful.
Idk I wanted to like this but I’m just going to reread Lore Olympus (which I can not overstate was what this book is almost a direct copy of only well written and with a genuinely beautiful love story at the middle of it).