Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Land of the Beautiful Dead

This was so weird. The writing felt unnecessarily flowery, and I had to go back over scenes like, "Wait, when did it progress to her giving an old man a sex act?" The characters just felt very much like characters, with no dimension.

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downtown_kb's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The world has been ravaged by war trying to defeat Azrael, an eldritch horror who has an army of undead and cannot be killed. Lan, who has nothing left to lose, sneaks into Azrael’s palace prepared to recklessly bargain with the Lord of the Undead to get him to stop destroying the world.

This was a reread for me.

It was interesting to revisit this because the second read always removes the angst, and this book has a lot of angst. Although, it still tugged at my heartstrings.

These two struggle so hard because they just are so different. Lan’s lack of education and small world vs Azrael who is tens of thousands of years old and surrounded by violence, hatred, and death. It shouldn’t work but R. Lee Smith did a great job of illustrating just how not on the same page they always are. It’s miscommunication but more than that. And not to say that I didn’t understand where he was coming from on the first read but I think I saw Azrael more clearly this time around. You see where the bitterness, cruelty, and apathy comes from. But also, there is so many times he does little things that show you he's actually thoughtful and kind.

I’m glad I reread this. It was just as good and I saw it all on another level. The first time I read this book it wrecked me emotionally to the point I just stared at the wall for a while after. The reread allowed me to face the boogeyman so to speak.

If you like cold MMCs, true enemies to lovers, angst and some dark/horror themes - this book is a must read.

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ayuming_reads's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I cannot stop thinking about this book. I sobbed so hard. And I thought I finally got over it and then I saw someone’s fanart of the characters and just looking at them made me start crying uncontrollably again. Like I feel so much for these characters oh my god. My heart hurts so much as if they’re real people.
If someone asked me to explain this book I wouldn’t be able to do it without immediate tears.

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