Reviews

After enjoying Ironside's last two books, I wanted to like this foray into swords and spiders fantasy but I couldn't.

While I'm willing to accept that the fault may lie with me, for trying to read erotic short stories for the plot, I didn't find the stories to be terribly well written. The plot that was there meandered and was largely devoid of conflict, descriptions and dialogue were noticably repetitive, and I struggled to follow who was talking during the many long, back-and-forth conversations.

While I liked that the relationships were never a source of tension - even if all the women seem preternaturally understanding and accepting of the fact that one of their lovers is becoming steadily less human - that slack wasn't picked up by anything else. There was a single character who could have been a source of conflict introduced in the first story and brought back in another, but who had no impact on the plot of either. The final story had genuine stakes, but one out of four isn't good.

In short, the collection feels more like bonus content for a novel that has already established the characters.if so, I don't think that novel is out yet, and this book doesn't make me hungry for it.

Content Warnings

cucuriouscarnifex's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

spooky_ceph's review

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

jumblejen's review

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adventurous fast-paced

5.0

ryuutchi's review

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I really wanted to like this book, I really did. It had some spectacular moments. But the plots were shallow and most of the characters were basically cardboard cut outs. Steff and Freydis were the only characters who got actual character development, and even then their interior lives weren't given the kind of depth I would have liked.

Sex scenes were great, but honestly the best part for me was the ovipositor scene at the beginning.

The character voices all tended to blur together, to the point where Freydis and one of her friends separately describe dissatisfaction with the Nameless Queen as "royal consort not doing enough consorting" two scenes apart. The pet names are all basically the same (there are only so many times I can handle "little pet" and "pretty girl" before I start wanting to mix it up a bit.)

The weird choice to include IRL gods as the point of worship for all of the non-protagonist communities REALLY threw me. Why is Christianity in this universe? How are Pan and Dionysus gods that supposedly exist in this universe that is not using contemporary stuff anywhere else. (Also Yasmine mentions "the prophet, peace be upon him", so Islam exists I guess too). Maybe there's world building that didn't make it into this book that explains why Christianity and Greek gods and maybe Islam exist in Celtic/Viking Spider Magic Land.

Content Warnings

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