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evitrii 's review for:
Initiation
by Alethea Faust
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A book for those who can’t distinguish fantasy from fiction and get offended if the characters do anything morally gray. My eyes hurt from rolling when the MC was reminded for the 50th time that he can safeword and the scene will end. I don’t know why this gets praised as ‘good’ kink (implying that other books are not), when so much of kink is fantasies about things that are scary/dangerous/not actually something I want to happen to me in real life - which is why exploring it in fiction is fun and hot.
This instead feels preachy and edu-porny in a way that is a complete turnoff. I will say that the author clearly has at least some experience with kink and the play and sex is described relatively well and without glaring problems, except for the utter lack of any kind of chemistry between the characters. They agree to fuck, undress, do it, get dressed again, carry on about their day. I also found it quite funny that despite the insistence on everything else being realistic the book is full of simultaneous orgasms and characters with vulvas orgasming from penetration.
Not that we read porn for the plot but the plot was naive and forced, the characters flat and the conflicts between them ludicrous, the MC is a complete Mary Sue, and the writing is just plain bad. Diversity is entirely shoehorned in, going as far as having exactly roma/gypsy characters except under a different name because fantasy. I liked the relationship anarchy and non mono-normative world, but this is not a queer book. There is gay sex and lesbian couples, and one utterly androgynous character with both a vulva and a penis, with utter gender conformity from all other characters. If a book is marketing itself as queer, especially a smut book, I expect at least a slither of interesting genderfuckery.
Try something else unless you’re an eighteen year old tenderqueer who lives on TikTok, or someone completely new to kink who wants a badly written instruction manual masquerading as a story.
This instead feels preachy and edu-porny in a way that is a complete turnoff. I will say that the author clearly has at least some experience with kink and the play and sex is described relatively well and without glaring problems, except for the utter lack of any kind of chemistry between the characters. They agree to fuck, undress, do it, get dressed again, carry on about their day. I also found it quite funny that despite the insistence on everything else being realistic the book is full of simultaneous orgasms and characters with vulvas orgasming from penetration.
Not that we read porn for the plot but the plot was naive and forced, the characters flat and the conflicts between them ludicrous, the MC is a complete Mary Sue, and the writing is just plain bad. Diversity is entirely shoehorned in, going as far as having exactly roma/gypsy characters except under a different name because fantasy. I liked the relationship anarchy and non mono-normative world, but this is not a queer book. There is gay sex and lesbian couples, and one utterly androgynous character with both a vulva and a penis, with utter gender conformity from all other characters. If a book is marketing itself as queer, especially a smut book, I expect at least a slither of interesting genderfuckery.
Try something else unless you’re an eighteen year old tenderqueer who lives on TikTok, or someone completely new to kink who wants a badly written instruction manual masquerading as a story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Rape, Violence