swolerabbit's review against another edition
and i'm supposed to read the whole series??? nope.
Graphic: Trafficking, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Child death, Blood, Sexism, Rape, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Death, Confinement, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Violence, War, Slavery, Infertility, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Death of parent
abinthebooks's review against another edition
1.0
All that has happened in this book so far is the FMC, Auden, getting SA’ed at every turn, and her supposed love interest, Midas, gaslighting her that it’s all for her own good. Literally made me fucking sick to my stomach. There absolutely needs to be trigger warnings for this book for graphic sexual assault, graphic rape, emotional abuse and extreme gaslighting. Absolutely nothing else has happened in this book so far, I’m snoring and highly triggered. Also Midas is an absolute asshole and I cannot stand him and the way he’s allowing other men to sexually assault Auden literally right in front of him???Idk if Auden is going to get with his goofy ass or not but I’m not sticking around to find out.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Slavery
Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol
Minor: Pedophilia
ajthequeen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Spoiler
I should've stopped reading on page one when I learned that the harem was called saddles. But alas I continued, and I will never get the hours back that I spent reading this book.My takeaways:
FMC has TENTACLES. another spot I should've just shut the kindle down at.
A golden cage is still a cage. This is repeated constantly, just in case you forget.
All men are r-pists and/or don't care about women. The 1-2 who aren't were killed off, because men are bad or they're dead.
Bright side? Bright side.
The use of the word "cum" thrown in for shock effect when there's actually very little cursing in this book.
Did anything actually happen in this book? I blacked out around tentacles.
FMC was whiny, useless, and overall unlikable. The author did a great job telling us how things felt rather than showing us through emotion on the page. I felt like I was watching a TV show rather than reading a book. Which, if this is a device where we readers are watching FMC through the cage and in subsequent novels gets better as she breaks free, that's incredible. But I'm not going to waste money buying the rest to find out.
The author felt like she had a point about grooming, trafficking, poverty, and misogyny, but missed the mark entirely. Perhaps these opinions would be best spent on nonfiction writing or opinion pieces rather than... Whatever this was.
F*ckin tentacles, man. </Spoiler>
Graphic: Infertility, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual content
missgarceau's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Spice: 🔥🔥🔥
I couldn’t put this down from start to finish.
Although it felt somewhat predictable, I found myself not anticipating major plot twists.
This is not a “happy” retelling, and deals with dark & difficult topics. Please be advised.
However, I found the world, characters, and plot absolutely riveting.
This ends on a cliffhanger, is an unfinished series, but the final book is scheduled to be released this year.
Graphic: Bullying, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Blood, War, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Murder, Hate crime, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Classism, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Body shaming, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Gaslighting, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Hate crime, Infidelity, Cursing, Deportation, Gore, Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Physical abuse
zia_c's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
= Then why the hell did I finish reading it?
Because I'm going through a major reading slump and nothing could hold my interest and I read it out of spite because a reviewer said it gets super better in the next book but honest to the reading gods, I'm not sure if I'll read the second book.
Seriously, the story is so bland and out of order. Nothing makes sense other than the constant misogyny. Not to mention that there's no CW about Harem. I was upset from the start. I let it slide because I didn't knew he was the ML or I'd have dropped it right there and then. He's such an ass. I don't get what other readers sees in him even if it's fiction. Girll! Chuck him outta the palace and your life like the Captain.
And the heroine... EWWW~~
There's one thing to be a doormat and I can somewhat tolerate them but to be a fucking shredded doormat??? I wanted to hurl the same book at her so many times. She's so damn annoying. I felt like I was reading about a major pick me girl who thinks with her pussy half of the time and other half with her ass. Jesus Christ!!! What's wrong with female characters these days??? I refuse to acknowledge such shitty things as characters. The writers have made the prostitutes and their profession a joke. Do they even do their homework before writing about such characters??? I'm so done with it. Just stop it. It just gets disgusting.
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Pedophilia
jordanez's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Slavery, and Sexism
Minor: Pedophilia, War, Death, and Child abuse
cominguproses's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Trafficking, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Rape, and Sexual violence
tylerseguinsduck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Misogyny, and Death
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Alcoholism, Violence, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Infertility
lauraeerika's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Sexism
Minor: Pedophilia
etdavenport's review against another edition
0.25
Not only is the main character entirely gold, but for some fucking reason she has magic ribbons that grow from her back and act as extra limbs. Again, I couldn’t help but laugh at this absurdity every time she used her magic ribbons (which were mostly used to help her do some cool hairstyles while she lived in her sex slave cage?!!?). Was the author watching Spider-man when writing this? Did she see Doc Ock and think “hmmm yes my gold main character in this fantasy book should have extra appendages growing out of her back, just like this comic book villain”? Furthermore, Midas, a king who owns sex slaves and brainwashed a teenage girl into liking living in a cage, reminds me entirely too much of Gold Member from the third Austin Powers movie. Basically, I skimmed the last 50% of the book as its lack of plot and good characters bored me.
Graphic: Slavery, Murder, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Adult/minor relationship