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mysteriesbooks 's review for:
Firebird
by Juliette Cross
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
No
DNF'd at 90%. I simply don't care how this ends and that's astonishing considering I never DNF. But this book is a WRECK of racialized stereotypes and despite Bramble and the author presenting this as Romantasy- IT IS NOT. This is dark taboo "romance". And that's certainly some peoples cup of tea, but it's not mine. And I think they knew they were intentionally deceiving readers by burying the lead of the fact it's a SLAVE/MASTER "romance" in the author's note rather than the back of the book.
Spoilers past this point cause oh boy do I have thoughts.
FIRST AND FOREMOST, why the hell is our FMC underage when we first meet her? I recognize that the "barely legal" trope and fetishization is my own personal ick, but ICK. A teenager whose first meeting of our colonizer- I mean, MMC, is a SEXY BELLYDANCE. What is wrong with making adult characters for your adult fantasy? Especially since it adds nothing to this story. We could have had this EXACT scene play out with her as 19-20 and it wouldn't have changed a damn thing. Which leads me to think the only reason she is underage for this prologue is because of fetishizing "barely legal" girls.
Anyway, hello 4 year time skip. (Again, if we are skipping into adulthood anyway, why couldn't we have started with adult ages) And hello TW's for attempted SA. Which while I'm glad the author's note did warn about, I kinda feel like the author wanted her cake and to eat it too. She clarifies that this isn't historical Rome. But then uses historical Rome to justify the sexual violence scattered throughout the book. But if this is the culture, and this is the expected norms, then our MMC Julian shouldn't have any moral objections to it at all. Especially since he's a general for the Empire. To hold his position I assure you he would have done terrible things. But I think the author was seeking a way to make him somewhat redeemable or likeable just moments after murdering Malina's clan and enslaving the survivors. So let's have him 'save' her from SA and enslave her for himself! #BoyfriendMaterial right? Who needs a ring when you have a literal collar with his name declaring you his property.
Early on into Malina's enslavement she notes how the empire is never satisfied with its wealth or power. And tbh, this is where we could have had a much more interesting fantasy had we leaned into these themes and decided to write more realistic (even for fantasy) rebellion story. Instead we get instalove! For the man- and I cannot emphasize this enough- who just SLAUGHTERED her adoptive family, enslaved the survivors, and then enslaved her. AND HOURS INTO THIS SHE THINKS HOW PRETTY HE IS AND HOW THRILLING THIS IS. BITCH, GET A BACKBONE. I could not handle how poorly this was executed. The few times she muses about running or attempting to kill Julian are so pathetically halfhearted and completely deflated when put next to her thoughts about how this is kind of thrilling. It lacks any sense. And reads like she drank up Stockholm syndrome the second she was placed onto the premises.
And while I'm talking about Malina-Malina is Romanian. Dacian more specifically, which is now Romania today. She speaks the language and according to the author's note, this is what she's supposed to be ethnically. But I genuinely believe that the author has gotten Romanian and Romani confused. Because Malina doesn't read like a Dacian woman. She reads like a Romani stereotype. From her clothing in her teenager dance for coin, to her clothes as we meet her later (all of which come off as a 'boho' style and nothing like Dacian or Roman wear for the time), to how her people are depicted as traveling caravans who perform for money and are largely looked down upon by the empire- she reads like a Romani caricature. Read that opening scene and tell me you couldn't perfectly place Esmeralda from the feast of fools in her place.
Her fetishized exotic beauty is used as an excuse for why she's kidnapped and enslaved. Julian can't stop thinking about the underaged girl who danced for him, and so using the guise of "his dragon" going crazy, he just HAS to have her when he sees her again 4 years later. And then uses her beauty as a self blaming tool to forbid her to leave the house even when other slaves are permitted to go on duties.
"My direct gaze?" I huffed in anger. "So you're saying I invite the attention of other men?"
"Yes." I flinched at the insult. He sat up from the lounge and faced me.
"You may not mean to, Malina, but that fire burning in your eyes is a challenge to any man. But to a Roman and especially a dragon, it's like summoning a siren's call. Not to mention the rest of you."
I wonder where I've heard this kind of rhetoric before?
And again, we use the sexual violence of a colonizing empire to make a point but still try to make Julian the exception.
Anyway, I cannot emphasize enough how much I detest the COMPLETE LACK of build up or consent for this "relationship." They barely speak the first week. Aside from BUYING her maternal figure, (because remember how he killed her clan and enslaved the survivors?) Julian has done nothing to earn her trust much less any sort of attraction. It's been only DAYS since he MURDERED HER CLAN, ENSLAVED THE OTHERS, AND ENSLAVED HER. Even if I could get past the fact that he owns her, there's no courting or romance here. There's NOTHING to justify Malina's horny thoughts.
"There should be absolutely nothing living inside me but disgust and hatred for this man. This Roman." YES BITCH, THAT'S THE POINT. If only she could stick with that thought for longer than a few paragraphs before thinking how pretty he is again.
Enemies to lovers only works when you ACTUALLY build it up. And this is far beyond that, so the fact it couldn't even TRY to manage a genuine slow build is massively disappointing along with the rest of this book.
-5000 aura points for using "cunny" unironically.
And you know what's extra disappointing as I got about 50% into this? It was boring. Our build up is with the wrong things. Because Malina is established to already instaloving or at the very least, insta-atrraction in her mind, we're left with trying to build up Julian as a "good" colonizer- I mean, person, to the reader. By trying to show that 'oh but he's trying to establish a coup'. But it's just dreadfully boring.
By the time we have engaging battles and wounds to patch up, they've already been messing around. And to me, heavy petting and fingering count as sex. She can't consent. She is owned. And I don't care that before "going all the way" he offers to free her and take her anywhere. Because by this point she still read like a Stockholm case who's in love with her captor BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT SHE IS. If he actually gave a shit, he'd fly her someplace far from the empire with a bag of gold and let her go.
I think the folks who enjoy the gratuitous sexual violence in Game of Thrones would probably like this. But most of the romance readers I'm in circles with require more consent and less on page assault.
Spoilers past this point cause oh boy do I have thoughts.
FIRST AND FOREMOST, why the hell is our FMC underage when we first meet her? I recognize that the "barely legal" trope and fetishization is my own personal ick, but ICK. A teenager whose first meeting of our colonizer- I mean, MMC, is a SEXY BELLYDANCE. What is wrong with making adult characters for your adult fantasy? Especially since it adds nothing to this story. We could have had this EXACT scene play out with her as 19-20 and it wouldn't have changed a damn thing. Which leads me to think the only reason she is underage for this prologue is because of fetishizing "barely legal" girls.
Anyway, hello 4 year time skip. (Again, if we are skipping into adulthood anyway, why couldn't we have started with adult ages) And hello TW's for attempted SA. Which while I'm glad the author's note did warn about, I kinda feel like the author wanted her cake and to eat it too. She clarifies that this isn't historical Rome. But then uses historical Rome to justify the sexual violence scattered throughout the book. But if this is the culture, and this is the expected norms, then our MMC Julian shouldn't have any moral objections to it at all. Especially since he's a general for the Empire. To hold his position I assure you he would have done terrible things. But I think the author was seeking a way to make him somewhat redeemable or likeable just moments after murdering Malina's clan and enslaving the survivors. So let's have him 'save' her from SA and enslave her for himself! #BoyfriendMaterial right? Who needs a ring when you have a literal collar with his name declaring you his property.
Early on into Malina's enslavement she notes how the empire is never satisfied with its wealth or power. And tbh, this is where we could have had a much more interesting fantasy had we leaned into these themes and decided to write more realistic (even for fantasy) rebellion story. Instead we get instalove! For the man- and I cannot emphasize this enough- who just SLAUGHTERED her adoptive family, enslaved the survivors, and then enslaved her. AND HOURS INTO THIS SHE THINKS HOW PRETTY HE IS AND HOW THRILLING THIS IS. BITCH, GET A BACKBONE. I could not handle how poorly this was executed. The few times she muses about running or attempting to kill Julian are so pathetically halfhearted and completely deflated when put next to her thoughts about how this is kind of thrilling. It lacks any sense. And reads like she drank up Stockholm syndrome the second she was placed onto the premises.
And while I'm talking about Malina-Malina is Romanian. Dacian more specifically, which is now Romania today. She speaks the language and according to the author's note, this is what she's supposed to be ethnically. But I genuinely believe that the author has gotten Romanian and Romani confused. Because Malina doesn't read like a Dacian woman. She reads like a Romani stereotype. From her clothing in her teenager dance for coin, to her clothes as we meet her later (all of which come off as a 'boho' style and nothing like Dacian or Roman wear for the time), to how her people are depicted as traveling caravans who perform for money and are largely looked down upon by the empire- she reads like a Romani caricature. Read that opening scene and tell me you couldn't perfectly place Esmeralda from the feast of fools in her place.
Her fetishized exotic beauty is used as an excuse for why she's kidnapped and enslaved. Julian can't stop thinking about the underaged girl who danced for him, and so using the guise of "his dragon" going crazy, he just HAS to have her when he sees her again 4 years later. And then uses her beauty as a self blaming tool to forbid her to leave the house even when other slaves are permitted to go on duties.
"My direct gaze?" I huffed in anger. "So you're saying I invite the attention of other men?"
"Yes." I flinched at the insult. He sat up from the lounge and faced me.
"You may not mean to, Malina, but that fire burning in your eyes is a challenge to any man. But to a Roman and especially a dragon, it's like summoning a siren's call. Not to mention the rest of you."
I wonder where I've heard this kind of rhetoric before?
And again, we use the sexual violence of a colonizing empire to make a point but still try to make Julian the exception.
Anyway, I cannot emphasize enough how much I detest the COMPLETE LACK of build up or consent for this "relationship." They barely speak the first week. Aside from BUYING her maternal figure, (because remember how he killed her clan and enslaved the survivors?) Julian has done nothing to earn her trust much less any sort of attraction. It's been only DAYS since he MURDERED HER CLAN, ENSLAVED THE OTHERS, AND ENSLAVED HER. Even if I could get past the fact that he owns her, there's no courting or romance here. There's NOTHING to justify Malina's horny thoughts.
"There should be absolutely nothing living inside me but disgust and hatred for this man. This Roman." YES BITCH, THAT'S THE POINT. If only she could stick with that thought for longer than a few paragraphs before thinking how pretty he is again.
Enemies to lovers only works when you ACTUALLY build it up. And this is far beyond that, so the fact it couldn't even TRY to manage a genuine slow build is massively disappointing along with the rest of this book.
-5000 aura points for using "cunny" unironically.
And you know what's extra disappointing as I got about 50% into this? It was boring. Our build up is with the wrong things. Because Malina is established to already instaloving or at the very least, insta-atrraction in her mind, we're left with trying to build up Julian as a "good" colonizer- I mean, person, to the reader. By trying to show that 'oh but he's trying to establish a coup'. But it's just dreadfully boring.
By the time we have engaging battles and wounds to patch up, they've already been messing around. And to me, heavy petting and fingering count as sex. She can't consent. She is owned. And I don't care that before "going all the way" he offers to free her and take her anywhere. Because by this point she still read like a Stockholm case who's in love with her captor BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT SHE IS. If he actually gave a shit, he'd fly her someplace far from the empire with a bag of gold and let her go.
I think the folks who enjoy the gratuitous sexual violence in Game of Thrones would probably like this. But most of the romance readers I'm in circles with require more consent and less on page assault.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Colonisation
Moderate: Violence, War
Minor: Vomit
Slave/Master "romance", GRAPHIC on page rape scenes multiple times. Physical abuse.