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A review by itchytit
Captive in the Underworld by Lianyu Tan
4.0
Originally upon reading the short story that came out before release I had very mixed feelings. My excitement was curbed by the sex scene being unconsensual, not really dubiously but overtly. Hearing about a dark bdsm like story of hades and Persephone had me more excited than you can imagine. However definite content warning that this isn’t bdsm and should not be looked at as such.
This is a dark retelling of Hades and Persephone with a sapphic twist. It isn’t dark in the fun, sexy way. It’s *dark*, it’s unsettling. But somehow, it was good because of that. I didn’t expect to like it and it took me a while to warm up to it enough to finished reading after I purchased the ebook and read a bit. My views of controversial fiction expanded while reading and finishing. With time to process, I’ve become more open to the telling of extremely taboo and politically incorrect stories. Fiction is a perfect place to explore these ideas and I don’t think they should be censored, as long as their ideas *remain* fiction.
As for the story itself, the writing is good, but I wasn’t a fan of how Demeter was handled, not because she was controlling and abusive because that fits. But because she wasn’t really given a motive or depth as to *why*. I like when characters are given motives, and I would’ve liked to see why Demeter was so controlling and cruel. She seemed very 2D and just a plot device. That’s the only thing I would’ve liked more of.
This is a dark retelling of Hades and Persephone with a sapphic twist. It isn’t dark in the fun, sexy way. It’s *dark*, it’s unsettling. But somehow, it was good because of that. I didn’t expect to like it and it took me a while to warm up to it enough to finished reading after I purchased the ebook and read a bit. My views of controversial fiction expanded while reading and finishing. With time to process, I’ve become more open to the telling of extremely taboo and politically incorrect stories. Fiction is a perfect place to explore these ideas and I don’t think they should be censored, as long as their ideas *remain* fiction.
As for the story itself, the writing is good, but I wasn’t a fan of how Demeter was handled, not because she was controlling and abusive because that fits. But because she wasn’t really given a motive or depth as to *why*. I like when characters are given motives, and I would’ve liked to see why Demeter was so controlling and cruel. She seemed very 2D and just a plot device. That’s the only thing I would’ve liked more of.