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jessshine's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I read all 3 books basically back to back in 3 days -- they are short, quick reads and hard to put down, but also hard to separate out in my head as different books, so this review kind of encompasses all of them.
First, on a practical level -- there are a ton of editing mistakes throughout these books, which is annoying. But the story was so engaging that for the most part I overlooked it, but want to give other readers a heads up.
These books are definitely intriguing and engaging -- hard to put down -- but very very dark. I picked the Order up thinking it was a dystopian / alternate society novel -- but it is not -- it is very much set in the modern day. The level of indoctrination of these characters existing in this cult society was very difficult for me personally to read, and difficult for me to really accept in some of the characters -- the things that they do under the pretext of "owning" their female property are horrifying -- but also make sense since they ha e also been indoctrinated into this twisted belief system. I can't really say that I actually liked any of the male characters except one -- the others had done things that I found unforgivable but they were still our heroes, so that was difficult to read as well -- I think the story would have benefitted from a little more character and relationship development, at least between 2 or 3 of the main relationships, and then I would have found the redeeming character arcs a little more believable. Yet somehow, I still ended up rooting for them all. Although very difficult to read, the cult indoctrination and dynamics were fascinating and I found myself tearing through these books.
First, on a practical level -- there are a ton of editing mistakes throughout these books, which is annoying. But the story was so engaging that for the most part I overlooked it, but want to give other readers a heads up.
These books are definitely intriguing and engaging -- hard to put down -- but very very dark. I picked the Order up thinking it was a dystopian / alternate society novel -- but it is not -- it is very much set in the modern day. The level of indoctrination of these characters existing in this cult society was very difficult for me personally to read, and difficult for me to really accept in some of the characters -- the things that they do under the pretext of "owning" their female property are horrifying -- but also make sense since they ha e also been indoctrinated into this twisted belief system. I can't really say that I actually liked any of the male characters except one -- the others had done things that I found unforgivable but they were still our heroes, so that was difficult to read as well -- I think the story would have benefitted from a little more character and relationship development, at least between 2 or 3 of the main relationships, and then I would have found the redeeming character arcs a little more believable. Yet somehow, I still ended up rooting for them all. Although very difficult to read, the cult indoctrination and dynamics were fascinating and I found myself tearing through these books.
Graphic: Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Drug abuse
So many potential triggers in these books that I don't think I could remember them all -- extreme emotional manipulation and control measures including forced calorie restrictions, public humiliation, sexual assault, sexual violations, out right rape, questionable consent, BDSM, sexual punishments, physical abuse, sex trafficking, enslavement, etc etc. Also, very explicit and frequent sex sometimes at the expense of moving the plot forward in my opinion