A review by auntybum
Duende by E.E. Ottoman

1.0

Due to the lack of both male and female hormones, castrato bones took a long time to fuse and as a result castrati were incredibly tall. Their genitalia would usually have the girth of an intact male, with just over half the length. Their arms and fingers would be unnaturally long, and they would be prone to excessive weight gain. For some reason, whether consciously or subconsciously, the author has chosen to give the castrato character the height, build, hands and genitalia of a prepubescent child, then proceeded to write an explicit sex scene about him. (although I admit I was too sickened to read it). Proper physical depictions of castrati can be found in Game of Thrones, The Name of the Rose, and Anne Rice's Cry to Heaven, to name a few. The information isn't hard to find. The author brags at the end of the book about how much research he does for his books. I'm guessing this is completely false.