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whatthefridge's review against another edition
I have read a lot of Lily Mayne’s work, so I was curious about the collab with someone else. Unfortunately, this reads, beat for beat, like a Lily Mayne work with me being unable to tell where the collab is.
The plot is pretty straightforward and predictable.
Cody is in a shitty situation where he’s forced to be the primary caregiver of a disabled and ill father. He’s unable to move out or move on because of a combination of being stuck and being guilty. The father is also a toxic scumbag who rebukes Cody at every opportunity, no matter what Cody does. Could be triggering for anyone who’s dealt with caring for parents you can never appease.
Cody also has a mother who’s always working, so she’s barely around, and a half-brother who is physically abusive and a sexual predator. Even without the trigger warning at the beginning of the book, you just know the guy is going to try to sexually assault Cody. Every interaction between them is building up to that catastrophe.
Then comes along Nor, a nightmare demon who grows enamored with Cody. The two of them grow closer every night until sex—and love—starts to happen and now Cody wants to see the world that Nor comes from, which is suspiciously similar to the world of his favorite MMORPG, Black Oasis.
The budding relationship between Cody and Nor quickly becomes saccharine sweet, and that’s not even my top complaint. My primary issue is that Nor loses all his edge once they get to his world, particularly when they meet his friend Lau. I don’t dislike Lau, but he completely overshadows Nor in the narrative to the point that Nor becomes boring to me. You can’t bring in a snarky, competent character with impressive skills and expect me to settle for an awkward, bumbling sweetheart. That’s not how I’m wired. Nor is depicted as far too passive, ignorant, and naive around Lau too. At least give Nor some sort of advantage over Lau in something. But there’s nothing there, and it’s incredibly disappointing.
So, yes, even though I gave a valiant attempt to keep going, my ability to care about Nor got shot dead in the water once Lau got going. Did not help that Cody started calling Nor things like innocent and cute puppy. That’s not what I signed up for with a nightmare demon boyfriend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Alcoholism and Child abuse
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