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A review by toribth
Gild by Raven Kennedy
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Well, damn. That was certainly something.
The story was fast-paced and easy to binge, I enjoyed that! I also liked the writing, even though the editing was a bit bumpy here and there, as the beginnings of chapters sometimes felt like the author took a writing break and then repeated a lot of the things she just said in the previous chapter.
HOWEVER, this is far too rapey for my taste. Too much sexual assault, too much ON PAGE sexual assault, too much verbal assault and misogyny. Yes, I did read the TW, and yes, I'm aware it's an adult fantasy book, and if you're fine with it, good for you, but I feel like there's a difference between SA as a plot point (which is valid) and SA just for shock factor. Like, I don't need to read 400 pages of degradation of women to get that they don't hold a very high social standing in this world. I got it after the first 3 rape attempts.
I've seen the term torture porn thrown around in some of the reviews here, and I'm not sure if I'd go that far, but it does come across as a bit fetishised at times. If you're gonna include that much misogyny, at least give us some saving graces, something to keep the spirits up, because I thinks there's very little enjoyment to get out of a book that constantly makes you hate every single person in it. Give us ONE person who respects women, ONE conversation that does not include some form of degradation, I'm begging you.
The only characters I loved were Digby and Sail and they were A) minor side characters and B) dead lol. At least one of them. Which I'm still mad about.
Anyway, I do think I'll continue with the series, cause despite everything I'm kinda hooked, and I have high hopes for the tall dark mysterious fae dude at the end who I'm like 99% sure will be the actual love interest. I do really hope the other parts have less sexualised violence though, cause I'm sick of it and I certainly don't need to accumulate more hate for men than I already have.
The story was fast-paced and easy to binge, I enjoyed that! I also liked the writing, even though the editing was a bit bumpy here and there, as the beginnings of chapters sometimes felt like the author took a writing break and then repeated a lot of the things she just said in the previous chapter.
HOWEVER, this is far too rapey for my taste. Too much sexual assault, too much ON PAGE sexual assault, too much verbal assault and misogyny. Yes, I did read the TW, and yes, I'm aware it's an adult fantasy book, and if you're fine with it, good for you, but I feel like there's a difference between SA as a plot point (which is valid) and SA just for shock factor. Like, I don't need to read 400 pages of degradation of women to get that they don't hold a very high social standing in this world. I got it after the first 3 rape attempts.
I've seen the term torture porn thrown around in some of the reviews here, and I'm not sure if I'd go that far, but it does come across as a bit fetishised at times. If you're gonna include that much misogyny, at least give us some saving graces, something to keep the spirits up, because I thinks there's very little enjoyment to get out of a book that constantly makes you hate every single person in it. Give us ONE person who respects women, ONE conversation that does not include some form of degradation, I'm begging you.
Anyway, I do think I'll continue with the series, cause despite everything I'm kinda hooked, and I have high hopes for the tall dark mysterious fae dude at the end who I'm like 99% sure will be the actual love interest. I do really hope the other parts have less sexualised violence though, cause I'm sick of it and I certainly don't need to accumulate more hate for men than I already have.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death