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scarlettereads's review against another edition
dark
tense
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
How is it that authors of the mid-late naughties got away with writing adult/minor relationships like they were romantic but just a bit frowned upon instead of actually illegal, and then get that p u b l i s h e d ? Certain scenes in this book made me feel physically ill just reading it. How could somebody write that?!
The Vampire Academy books continue to come so close to plainly saying that Dimitri is a paedophile but at the last second pivot one degree, just scraping by without saying what we all know to be true. So, so close, yet so far away.
Obviously I loved these books as a teen—I thought the fight scenes were cool, I enjoyed the vampire lore, and I thought Adrian was funny—though I was incredibly disturbed by Rose and Dimitri's "forbidden romance" being that I was only three years younger than Rose at the time. At fifteen it was very clear to me that Dimitri is a paedophile, so why did Richelle Mead feel okay writing something so despicable in a romantic light (rather than as a cautionary tale or something of the sort), and why was Razorbill so keen to publish it? And as a young adult romance, I might add!
Bad, bad, bad, terrible, very not good, disgusting, etc.
The Vampire Academy books continue to come so close to plainly saying that Dimitri is a paedophile but at the last second pivot one degree, just scraping by without saying what we all know to be true. So, so close, yet so far away.
Obviously I loved these books as a teen—I thought the fight scenes were cool, I enjoyed the vampire lore, and I thought Adrian was funny—though I was incredibly disturbed by Rose and Dimitri's "forbidden romance" being that I was only three years younger than Rose at the time. At fifteen it was very clear to me that Dimitri is a paedophile, so why did Richelle Mead feel okay writing something so despicable in a romantic light (rather than as a cautionary tale or something of the sort), and why was Razorbill so keen to publish it? And as a young adult romance, I might add!
Bad, bad, bad, terrible, very not good, disgusting, etc.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Sexual harassment