Scan barcode
A review by idratherbereading542
Pain by Jane Washington, Jaymin Eve
2.0
- Heroine: Willa
- Harem: Siret, Coen, Yael, Aros, Rome
- POVs Included: Single Female POV (Willa)
- Book Playlist (Curse of the Gods Series Playlist)
- Book Characters Cast: http://bit.ly/3Ci3abl
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
SUMMARY: (SPOILER WARNING)
In the final book of the Curse of the Gods series, everyone is preparing for an inevitable war against Staviti.
It all starts with a party that Pica helps plan to warm the other gods up to her power (which they discover she is a Creation God like Staviti) and try to gain allies.
During the party with the gods, chaos ensues when Willa inadvertently releases all the trapped souls from the banishment cave.
After the panteras help to escort them to their final resting places, a bunch of servers under Staviti’s control attack. In the midst of the attack, Pica kidnaps Willa to a “safe place” (aka prison) to keep her as her daughter forever cause she’s crazy.
Willa tricks Pica into the imprisonment realm, where she ends up actually being happy to go looking for her daughter. While there she meets up with Jakan, who confirms that he is her father, and they formulate a plan to escape together using Crowe’s weapons and the mortal glass.
Once back, they work with the other gods to unblock the waters of Topia that are supposed to be flowing to Minatsol. After they do this, the water causes a bunch of dead and buried dwellers to rise and attack so they start evacuating the outer rings in order to keep people safe.
They finally defeat Staviti by trapping him and Crowe in the death realm via a mortal glass he created and planned to used to gain more power.
Once Staviti is defeated, Willa marries the guys the traditional dweller way and decides to setup a community in Minatsol to live in where the dwellers, sols, and gods can all live together in harmony.
Also her mom and dad (Jakan) reunite and he puts her soul back together using a semanight stone, which somehow turns her into a god.
In the end the power of Topia is spread out now among Topia and Minatsol, creating a balance that both lands were lacking.
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
REVIEW:
Alright. I’m gonna try really hard not to turn this into a rant fest, but honestly no promises.
This series started off really adorable and funny and sweet. It had a slow burn romance with the sweetest group of guys and I loved the relationship Willa had with them. The first two books were so good.
By the third book in the series, the authors turn the focus from the relationship to this whole plot about Willa saving the world. At this point the series becomes more plot driven instead of character driven.
The problem with this is that as the series progressed the side characters (specifically the guys in her harem) became very watered down versions of themselves and are pushed to the background of the story. So you find yourself missing them even though (technically) they’re still there.
The other problem with changing the series from a character driven series to a plot driven series is that the plot is very messy and overly-complicated. There’s so much that happens in each book that it becomes almost too much. The plot seriously lacks focus with all the different side things going on that eventually need to be wrapped up. There’s also plot arcs that are started and then never followed through with (for example, what exactly was Karyn and Dru’s motives? What about the dweller/sol war at Blesswood?).
Another problem with the book/lore is that it’s not consistent. There are parts of the story that are written as they are because they are convenient and not because they fit with the rules of this lore. One example is Jarak dragging part of her mom’s soul to the imprisonment realm because they had a soul bond. If this were the case, then Willa also would’ve dragged part of each of the guys’ souls with her as well, and she didn’t. Another big one is the guys even being alive. Sure, their mom “tricked” Staviti into agreeing to let her have two pregnancies. That’s not to say he wouldn’t have killed or imprisoned them already just like he did with all the other god children. It doesn’t fit except to say that it’s written that way because it’s convenient for the storyline.
By the time this book rolls along we are neck deep in a very convoluted plot for Willa to save the world. The guys have been relegated to one dimensional side characters who have virtually no personality anymore. There is also very little humor like in the first couple of books.
And the sex? Gee don’t get me started on that. Why even bother with it when it’s so bad? When I realized this series wasn’t going to have good sex scenes I resigned myself to that fact and decided to just enjoy the relationship and plot. But the couple of sex scenes included are so bad I just…I don’t even get why they were included at all.
First off, as a reverse harem, they are pretty terrible at sharing. They have to have a sex schedule. And even Yael admits that most of them don’t like to share during the act itself (they prefer to take turns individually). So what’s the point? What a missed opportunity for a reverse harem! The one time she is with all of them at once, it’s honestly the lamest RH sex scene I’ve ever read. It’s basically a sex train. Woohoo. They take turns with her and by the end she’s too tired to even have sex with Coen (who was there the whole time), but he’s cool with it cause they had sex earlier. Seriously? You’re not gonna still have blue balls or anything? I don’t care that you had sex earlier, that’s still gonna be uncomfortable.
Honestly they are all a sweet group, but as a true reverse harem, they’re pretty lame. I’ve read a lot of RH books and this is not a good representation of the genre. Especially since Willa really doesn’t have the stamina required for so many guys sharing her. And they don’t even share her in a way that is natural, but rather forced by rigorous sex schedules and the insane idea that she has to constantly “keep things even” between them. Because nothing says sexy like a sex schedule!
I mean, five guys is too big of a haram in general anyways (I prefer only 3-4 guys or a ménage with 2 guys). But I’ve still seen large RH’s like this do it way better.
Overall I’m just happy to be done with the series and I’m ready to move on to something else. The first two books in the series were great and from there they go downhill as Willa becomes the hero and the guys become her background trophy husbands who barely help defeat the big bad despite supposedly being so powerful, and they hardly even get to have sex with her. The plot is overly complicated and the characters lost their shine by the end of the series. Sad, but true. Ready to move on!
- Harem: Siret, Coen, Yael, Aros, Rome
- POVs Included: Single Female POV (Willa)
- Book Playlist (Curse of the Gods Series Playlist)
- Book Characters Cast: http://bit.ly/3Ci3abl
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
SUMMARY: (SPOILER WARNING)
In the final book of the Curse of the Gods series, everyone is preparing for an inevitable war against Staviti.
It all starts with a party that Pica helps plan to warm the other gods up to her power (which they discover she is a Creation God like Staviti) and try to gain allies.
During the party with the gods, chaos ensues when Willa inadvertently releases all the trapped souls from the banishment cave.
After the panteras help to escort them to their final resting places, a bunch of servers under Staviti’s control attack. In the midst of the attack, Pica kidnaps Willa to a “safe place” (aka prison) to keep her as her daughter forever cause she’s crazy.
Willa tricks Pica into the imprisonment realm, where she ends up actually being happy to go looking for her daughter. While there she meets up with Jakan, who confirms that he is her father, and they formulate a plan to escape together using Crowe’s weapons and the mortal glass.
Once back, they work with the other gods to unblock the waters of Topia that are supposed to be flowing to Minatsol. After they do this, the water causes a bunch of dead and buried dwellers to rise and attack so they start evacuating the outer rings in order to keep people safe.
They finally defeat Staviti by trapping him and Crowe in the death realm via a mortal glass he created and planned to used to gain more power.
Once Staviti is defeated, Willa marries the guys the traditional dweller way and decides to setup a community in Minatsol to live in where the dwellers, sols, and gods can all live together in harmony.
Also her mom and dad (Jakan) reunite and he puts her soul back together using a semanight stone, which somehow turns her into a god.
In the end the power of Topia is spread out now among Topia and Minatsol, creating a balance that both lands were lacking.
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
REVIEW:
Alright. I’m gonna try really hard not to turn this into a rant fest, but honestly no promises.
This series started off really adorable and funny and sweet. It had a slow burn romance with the sweetest group of guys and I loved the relationship Willa had with them. The first two books were so good.
By the third book in the series, the authors turn the focus from the relationship to this whole plot about Willa saving the world. At this point the series becomes more plot driven instead of character driven.
The problem with this is that as the series progressed the side characters (specifically the guys in her harem) became very watered down versions of themselves and are pushed to the background of the story. So you find yourself missing them even though (technically) they’re still there.
The other problem with changing the series from a character driven series to a plot driven series is that the plot is very messy and overly-complicated. There’s so much that happens in each book that it becomes almost too much. The plot seriously lacks focus with all the different side things going on that eventually need to be wrapped up. There’s also plot arcs that are started and then never followed through with (for example, what exactly was Karyn and Dru’s motives? What about the dweller/sol war at Blesswood?).
Another problem with the book/lore is that it’s not consistent. There are parts of the story that are written as they are because they are convenient and not because they fit with the rules of this lore. One example is Jarak dragging part of her mom’s soul to the imprisonment realm because they had a soul bond. If this were the case, then Willa also would’ve dragged part of each of the guys’ souls with her as well, and she didn’t. Another big one is the guys even being alive. Sure, their mom “tricked” Staviti into agreeing to let her have two pregnancies. That’s not to say he wouldn’t have killed or imprisoned them already just like he did with all the other god children. It doesn’t fit except to say that it’s written that way because it’s convenient for the storyline.
By the time this book rolls along we are neck deep in a very convoluted plot for Willa to save the world. The guys have been relegated to one dimensional side characters who have virtually no personality anymore. There is also very little humor like in the first couple of books.
And the sex? Gee don’t get me started on that. Why even bother with it when it’s so bad? When I realized this series wasn’t going to have good sex scenes I resigned myself to that fact and decided to just enjoy the relationship and plot. But the couple of sex scenes included are so bad I just…I don’t even get why they were included at all.
First off, as a reverse harem, they are pretty terrible at sharing. They have to have a sex schedule. And even Yael admits that most of them don’t like to share during the act itself (they prefer to take turns individually). So what’s the point? What a missed opportunity for a reverse harem! The one time she is with all of them at once, it’s honestly the lamest RH sex scene I’ve ever read. It’s basically a sex train. Woohoo. They take turns with her and by the end she’s too tired to even have sex with Coen (who was there the whole time), but he’s cool with it cause they had sex earlier. Seriously? You’re not gonna still have blue balls or anything? I don’t care that you had sex earlier, that’s still gonna be uncomfortable.
Honestly they are all a sweet group, but as a true reverse harem, they’re pretty lame. I’ve read a lot of RH books and this is not a good representation of the genre. Especially since Willa really doesn’t have the stamina required for so many guys sharing her. And they don’t even share her in a way that is natural, but rather forced by rigorous sex schedules and the insane idea that she has to constantly “keep things even” between them. Because nothing says sexy like a sex schedule!
I mean, five guys is too big of a haram in general anyways (I prefer only 3-4 guys or a ménage with 2 guys). But I’ve still seen large RH’s like this do it way better.
Overall I’m just happy to be done with the series and I’m ready to move on to something else. The first two books in the series were great and from there they go downhill as Willa becomes the hero and the guys become her background trophy husbands who barely help defeat the big bad despite supposedly being so powerful, and they hardly even get to have sex with her. The plot is overly complicated and the characters lost their shine by the end of the series. Sad, but true. Ready to move on!