Reviews with content warning for Blood - Barbarian Alien

i wanted to like this book. it had a strong beginning but i truly could not push past the stockholm syndrome shit going on. it was even worse than in the first book. liz rags on georgie’s relationship a lot without taking a closer look at her own and that irritated me so much because she’s such a strong and stubborn character. but she isn’t perfect and she fell for the dark, tall, and brooding man with the tragic past and parental issues that kidnapped her after she had just escaped another set of kidnappers. way to really stick to your own independence there, liz.

i did like that she mentioned all the shitty and unexplained things the sa-khui are keeping from the humans, unknowingly or not. especially this line: “I thought we were supposed to be equals but maybe the goal is to keep us all barefoot and pregnant and sewing.” bc that is essentially what the sa-khui are doing. she’s aware enough to stir up dissent but not self-aware enough to look at her own relationship and see that its toxic and unhealthy. raahosh is a very shy guy when you get down to it but we can’t just write off the fact that he forced their relationship on liz by shoving the khui into her when she was unwilling. whatever happened to people’s right to die on their own terms? mates a big thing in this universe dixon created, obviously, but they’re also the cause for a lot of dubious consent and plain, unforgiving non consensual sexual assaults too.

again, just more violence against women.

dixon’s writing is also very inconsistent and juvenile too. liz knows the name of the sa-khui’s language without ever being told it by georgie. raahosh acts like the concept of love is normal in their culture and then mentions later that its a big deal to liz without ever mentioning who he learned that from since it wasn’t from vektal or liz, the two most likely to explain that to him. in the epilogue raahosh turns from this mine-mine-mine possessive dude to oh-my-god-what-if-she-hates-my-guts kind of dude and the shift in his character was drastic enough to really catch me off-guard. there was so much being waved away and then explained later but, in the process, it made the first instance all the more confusing since you’re left wondering how characters even know that information.

the spice was alright. it was the only reason i finished this but i wont be continuing with this series any longer and will probably unhaul the copies i got too.

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kbairbooks's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

So. *sigh* It’s weird because in book one Liz did not come across as sarcastic and angry and just kinda awful… But she totally did in this book as well as in the first novella/short story. But it was really interesting seeing the differences in the characters and the romance and I’m still gonna keep reading of course but book 2 was just so different from the book one in an unfortunate way I’m really glad book 2 was not book one because then I probably wouldn’t have continued on with the series as always sex was fun and I’m excited to read book 3.

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veeronald's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

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pastelwriter's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

I had a lot of fun with this! It definitely improved on some of the issues I had in book one.

Was the romance still underdeveloped and with questionable consent? Sure. But at least the narrative acknowledged it.

It also acknowledged that it’s wack to expect all these human women to want to mate and have babies. So. I feel appeased but that. Lol.

And overall I really liked Liz and Raahosh. The two of them were grumpy as hell and I loved it. And I loved Liz doing her best to take care of and hunt for food when Raahosh was wounded!

The smut in this was also good! A nice touch. Bless.

Will I continue with this series? Only time will tell.

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