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A review by shawnthulhu
The Flowered Blade by Taylor Hubbard
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I really, really, really wanted to like this book.
First of all, I am a transman and I was very, very excited to see a romance book that featured a trans main character. That being said, there were a few things that I wished were handled a little differently. First of all, I wish there would have been a trigger warning about what terms were going to be used when describing Silvyr's genitals (disphoria, unfortunately). It really really threw me off in a bad sort of way when feminine terms exclusively were used. It's not a bad thing, but I feel like I would have been better prepared, and the saving grace here is that the book isn't written in First person. I also feel like it was a missed opportunity to not have characters react to Silvyer's transness. I know the fantasy part is that it can just be an accepted thing, but it wasn't really clear of it was a secret thing or not and it left me confused when there was no reaction to it with some characters and some reaction with others. I also feel like the book could have been 100 pages shorter and had too much filler with Silvyer's inner dialog. He got a little too much with trying to find his footing.
There were also A LOT of grammatical errors. This books desperately needs another edit. Badly.
That being said, I did enjoy the book. It dragged REAL hard in the middle, but I liked the story it told. It's worth a read, but I probably won't ever read it again.
First of all, I am a transman and I was very, very excited to see a romance book that featured a trans main character. That being said, there were a few things that I wished were handled a little differently. First of all, I wish there would have been a trigger warning about what terms were going to be used when describing Silvyr's genitals (disphoria, unfortunately). It really really threw me off in a bad sort of way when feminine terms exclusively were used. It's not a bad thing, but I feel like I would have been better prepared, and the saving grace here is that the book isn't written in First person. I also feel like it was a missed opportunity to not have characters react to Silvyer's transness. I know the fantasy part is that it can just be an accepted thing, but it wasn't really clear of it was a secret thing or not and it left me confused when there was no reaction to it with some characters and some reaction with others. I also feel like the book could have been 100 pages shorter and had too much filler with Silvyer's inner dialog. He got a little too much with trying to find his footing.
There were also A LOT of grammatical errors. This books desperately needs another edit. Badly.
That being said, I did enjoy the book. It dragged REAL hard in the middle, but I liked the story it told. It's worth a read, but I probably won't ever read it again.