Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice

64 reviews

caladbolg's review against another edition

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2.0

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themis_biblos's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

2.0

No.

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lindzboots's review

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3.5

This was unapologetically erotica. I almost skipped the prelude - it was long, redundant, and almost apologetic - but I'm glad I didn't because otherwise I would've been so unprepared for what this was that I would've put it down within the first chapter. This is not a smutty book about people practicing BDSM and roleplaying their fantasies; this IS the fantasy. This IS the scene some couples might roleplay after having a discussion and getting proper consent. This is AFTER that, meaning it is rough, torturous, intense, not consensual, and disturbing in many ways. But the author makes it very clear that the purpose of this is to serve AS the fantasy. For example, you have consenting couples that roleplay SA... this would be the SA they roleplay, you get me?

All that said, it was highly - often grotesquely - erotic and well-written for the most part. The voice was very fairy-tale like, which could be jarring if you aren't in the mood to be along for the ride. And not all of the sexual appetites will likely be to your taste. But there's good stuff in there, for sure.

The end, though? That made no sense. WTF was that.

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meecespieces's review

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dark fast-paced

4.0

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austinweis's review

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relaxing slow-paced

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

3.25

Not particularly well written but I enjoyed it. It is far more pornographic than literary (or anything else really).

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mparish33's review

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dark medium-paced

1.0

Weird and boring

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ohheyitsalexis's review

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dark medium-paced

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

2.0

Gosh was I excited to read this and boy was it rough. Look, I'm a freaky deaky, the go-to gal friends reach out when they've got weird sex questions, the one who's actually got stories about boot lickings and spankings and found way too many parts of this book #relatable.

But this was a lot.

The pace is absolutely breakneck, going from 0 to hardcore in literally three seconds and never letting off the accelerator. The problem is that it gets old, since there's only so many times you can jam something in a guy's butt before it's like, "this again, Anne?" And it's every paragraph. Some things occasionally hit, but there's a lot here that's filthy like trash can in the hot sun filthy, not smut filthy.

Also the language doesn't help. I had to double check when this was written because it reads even older than Lady Chatterley's Lover. I assume it was to keep the fantastical/medieval vibe, but the whole things feels like it was translate from Middle English scrolls, which jump tamps down any spice that's left.

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ivi_reads_books's review against another edition

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Cruel, portrays rape as sexy, nonconsentual bdsm

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shayh's review against another edition

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It starts with a sleep kink that is obviously non-con (not consented). From there, it remains dub-con (the lines of consent are blurred).

The world-building and plot are structured well, but I stopped reading because there were a few kinks that didn't make sense to the plot. Kitten-play was out of place, for one.

I'm a fan of Anne Rice's work, but this one is a miss for me. I enjoyed what I could. This would have been a 3.50-star from me.

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hogana79's review

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The themes of rape were too much. I'm all for BDSM, but prefer it to be consentual. The idea of sex slaves being forced into doing horrific sexual acts all for the amusement of a spoiled prince held no appeal to me. Maybe it wouldn't have been so disturbing if Beauty isn't been crying in literally every scene, but I couldn't get past the crying one second and then wanting to have sex the next. I get that it was exploring the conflict, but with absolutely no character or story development, I just couldn't get into it.

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