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A review by see_sadie_read
The Dragon of New Orleans by Genevieve Jack
2.0
2.5
*Le Sigh* It’s not that this was bad, it was competently written and edited. But it’s just that everything in it has been done before…better in other places. This felt like nothing more than a cobbled together collection of tropes and often-read PNR scenes. At 10 percent into the book I made the following comment here on Goodreads.
While this comment was directed particularly at the attempted rape—because I am SO sick of authors reaching for this low hanging fruit to endanger their heroines so that the hero can step in—the point is also that I’m so bored with reading the same scenes in book after book after book. And Jack even sexually imperiled her heroine, not once but twice. Then even hinted at a third at the bar in Paragon. Geeze, get some new material, please.
But it wasn’t just the attempted rapes, the whole book gave me déjà vu, like I’d read it before. And I have, every scene, in about a thousand other books. There was nothing new here.
I appreciate that Jack made Raven fiercely independent and Gabriel weaker than most PNR heroes. But it wasn’t enough to rescue what was a structurally passable, but contextually blasé read. Plus, Raven became too strong too easily and I never really felt the romance develop.
*Le Sigh* It’s not that this was bad, it was competently written and edited. But it’s just that everything in it has been done before…better in other places. This felt like nothing more than a cobbled together collection of tropes and often-read PNR scenes. At 10 percent into the book I made the following comment here on Goodreads.
I have to ask AGAIN, is attempted rape really the ONLY plot point authors can come up with? At this point I’ve read essentially the same scene in SO MANY BOOKS that I consider it nothing but laziness on authors’ part & THINK LESS OF THEM FOR IT.
It’s not just that I don’t want to read ANOTHER rape scene, it’s that it’s been done so many times. Writing the SAME THING AS EVERYONE ELSE is boring & lacks creativity.
While this comment was directed particularly at the attempted rape—because I am SO sick of authors reaching for this low hanging fruit to endanger their heroines so that the hero can step in—the point is also that I’m so bored with reading the same scenes in book after book after book. And Jack even sexually imperiled her heroine, not once but twice. Then even hinted at a third at the bar in Paragon. Geeze, get some new material, please.
But it wasn’t just the attempted rapes, the whole book gave me déjà vu, like I’d read it before. And I have, every scene, in about a thousand other books. There was nothing new here.
I appreciate that Jack made Raven fiercely independent and Gabriel weaker than most PNR heroes. But it wasn’t enough to rescue what was a structurally passable, but contextually blasé read. Plus, Raven became too strong too easily and I never really felt the romance develop.