thewrongkenna's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Not as celebratory as I thought. A lot of sadness and shame. Lots of TWs. I enjoyed a few of the stories, much less than I’d hoped.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Hate crime, and Homophobia
mollyhodg's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
2.0
This collection was not for me. The stories ranged from enjoyable, to meh, to really didn't like. The one I liked the most was 'Oh, Youth.'
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime and Sexual violence
azariamckay's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Kink is an anthology and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I over its take on desire, sex, queer and trans love, and shameless sex. There were stories I wished were longer and stories I could’ve done without. I would preface this book with a couple trigger warnings: r*pe, s*xual assault, and transphobia. The stories get a little rocky at times and I don’t remember a single story ending on a happy note, which isn’t a bad thing for me, I tend to lean toward depressing reads. The compilation of writers for this novel was amazing and the styles of writing differed in the most interesting ways. Each story felt like it’s own but there felt like a common thread that grounded them all. I would reread a few of these stories in the future for sure! I’m interested in coming back to it later to examine how it ages and how I’ve changed with it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, and Violence
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Death of parent
quinwithonen's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, and Transphobia
Moderate: Deadnaming, Infidelity, Violence, and Vomit
lovelyandmorbid's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
3.0
All of these stories are very well written but they didn't really fit the theme. Most of the stories were only tangentially kinky and basically all of them were sad or melancholic? Pretty much every story had characters that were unsatisfied either emotionally or sexually and because they were short stories, that feeling never really resolves. Or worse, they center violence. One had a rape scene, several others had gore and death.
I rolled my eyes at the idea of "literary fiction writers writing about kink" because erotica and romance very lively genres that do kink perfectly well but the one rule in romance is happy endings and I don't think any of these stories were happy. Overall, it felt more like a sexual horror collection. The writing had this book comfortably at a 4 stars for most of the reading experience but by the end, I kind of felt, like, what is the point? Kink wasn't even centered in lots of the stories, and when it was, it wasn't really in a positive light. While I liked many of the stories, this collection felt unnecessary by the end.
I rolled my eyes at the idea of "literary fiction writers writing about kink" because erotica and romance very lively genres that do kink perfectly well but the one rule in romance is happy endings and I don't think any of these stories were happy. Overall, it felt more like a sexual horror collection. The writing had this book comfortably at a 4 stars for most of the reading experience but by the end, I kind of felt, like, what is the point? Kink wasn't even centered in lots of the stories, and when it was, it wasn't really in a positive light. While I liked many of the stories, this collection felt unnecessary by the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Rape, and Transphobia
More...