Review by alejandra_guerrero - The Lord of the Labyrinth

alejandra_guerrero 's review for:

The Lord of the Labyrinth by Emma Castle

DID NOT FINISH

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

The characters are very shallowly constructed and I had trouble connecting with them. We’re told Kate is fierce, and doesn’t want anyone to control her, and the second Roan starts touching her she’s a doormat. She forgets all he’s done to her and her brother whenever the plot deems it convenient, and she hardly thinks of anything other than Roan and how hot he is. In the beginning, we’re told going to college is so important for her, yet I have no idea what she was going to study (other than one subject we see in a memory Roan steals), and she doesn’t think of college beyond: “Oh, I was going to college to be free”. Her stepmother seems to be mean for the sake of being mean, and she doesn’t even seem to have friends.

She thinks about how intelligent she is, but she doesn’t show it. Roan or someone else has to save her over and over from the consequences of her foolish and rash decisions. The most grievous of which is the “bargain” she makes with Roan. She asks no questions, not even about giving a piece of herself to him every night. What does he mean? a limb? or something else? How big is the piece he’s going to take? Is something of herself going to remain after the 29th day? Is he going to return the pieces he took if she solves the labyrinth? She asks none of that, yet I’m supposed to believe she’s intelligent.

We’re told Kate’s so virginal, yet the author based the relationship between Roan and Kate solely on sexual attraction. I have no idea why Roan is so obsessed, he just says, over and over, she changed him, but it didn’t seem that way to me. He’s a possessive asshole, and everytime he talks to or about Kate, it is to say how he owns her, how she’s his, and how she must submit herself to him. He constantly uses his magic to manipulate Kate, to show her visions, to make her feel a certain way, and he never hesitates to use the power he has to get his way. That bothered me. Kate didn’t have any power to change things, not really, because he had decided she would stay with him before even asking, so he was essentially gaslighting her. Plus, 50% in and they had talked a total of four times, one of which ended in him fingering her (consent be damned, BTW), but they just did some small talk, nothing more. These two can’t be in love, they don’t know each other! It felt more like they fell for their ideal of the other, not the real person. Because I sure as hell couldn’t understand how Kate saw all those good things she said she saw in him, when all he’s talked about is owning her, and all he’s done is kidnapped her and her brother (who, for all she knows, is in a dungeon cell; he isn’t but she doesn’t know). She pushes back for all of one chapter, and then she just gives in without a thought for anything else.

Content Warnings