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A review by inmydreams
Sick Bargain by Nordika Night
1.0
Another MM book I was looking forward to and ends up being a major disappointment, what is happening? I did not get any positive thing out of this, so I'll just go ahead and mention the bad stuff:
-This book isn't as dark as many say. Maybe not the author's fault because I saw the advertisement was alright, but the amount of people saying this is the darkest book ever? I was baited and hyped because the product is just flat and mild.
-Worldbuilding. I'm still not sure about what the author was trying to do with this, how they came up with such confusing nonsense. At moments it felt like the place had paranormal undertones, but nope. If it would've had supernatural elements, most of the things happening here wouldn't feel so disconnected from reality. How am I supossed to believe murders and cults are known by everyone, tourists coming to the place because of how "dark" it is, multiple kills, kidnappings and more but there are barely consequences because no one does anything? What am I reading? And don't come at me with the secret society or cult thing, that's not a good excuse.
-Writting. The dialogue felt as if the characters were edgy teenagers instead of adults in dangerous situations, very unrealistic. It tried really hard to sound dark and deep, but it just felt dumb and corny. The amount of times the characters mention words such as rape and assault is crazy, I got it the many first times! No need to include them in every single conversation, I understand the author wants to make their characters appear metal as fuck but spoiler: it doesn't work. The drop title near the end was cringey as well.
-Characters and their dynamics. I love a freak4freak couple, but the development was terrible. First, Remi makes a deal/bargain with Krypt and he hates his guts which is fair because Krypt sexually assaulted him. That happens twice more, and then suddenly Remi tells him that now he craves for Krypt to hurt him. I can't even call this stockholm because it wasn't, it's just the author not knowing how their own characters' minds work. It would've been better to build up tension with a lot of manipulation. I didn't feel the escalation until that point, he just changed his mind out of nowhere, less than 40% in and he was already going crazy over Krypt.
-The book was boring and took itself too seriously. This one was a challenge to finish, and not for the topics included. I mentioned in one of my updates that I really wanted to DNF and maybe I should have. I went through the last chapters faster because I couldn't take it anymore. I haven't even mentioned anything about Krypt hating the letter C and him saying over and over how sick he was. I was rolling my eyes all the time.
It's important to mention that this is coming from someone that enjoys dark themes in books and unhealthy couples. Instead, this only got me feeling very disappointed and bored out of my mind. I wanted it to end already at 30%. It also made me realize books about secrets societies and cults aren't my thing, or maybe this was a really bad example (highly possible it's the later, but I rather not try a similar one for a long time).
Tags: (might miss some of them)
-POV: first person
-Content warnings:
-Elements:
-Kinks:
-Sexual act(s):
-Dynamic:
-This book isn't as dark as many say. Maybe not the author's fault because I saw the advertisement was alright, but the amount of people saying this is the darkest book ever? I was baited and hyped because the product is just flat and mild.
-Worldbuilding. I'm still not sure about what the author was trying to do with this, how they came up with such confusing nonsense. At moments it felt like the place had paranormal undertones, but nope. If it would've had supernatural elements, most of the things happening here wouldn't feel so disconnected from reality. How am I supossed to believe murders and cults are known by everyone, tourists coming to the place because of how "dark" it is, multiple kills, kidnappings and more but there are barely consequences because no one does anything? What am I reading? And don't come at me with the secret society or cult thing, that's not a good excuse.
-Writting. The dialogue felt as if the characters were edgy teenagers instead of adults in dangerous situations, very unrealistic. It tried really hard to sound dark and deep, but it just felt dumb and corny. The amount of times the characters mention words such as rape and assault is crazy, I got it the many first times! No need to include them in every single conversation, I understand the author wants to make their characters appear metal as fuck but spoiler: it doesn't work. The drop title near the end was cringey as well.
-Characters and their dynamics. I love a freak4freak couple, but the development was terrible. First, Remi makes a deal/bargain with Krypt and he hates his guts which is fair because Krypt sexually assaulted him. That happens twice more, and then suddenly Remi tells him that now he craves for Krypt to hurt him. I can't even call this stockholm because it wasn't, it's just the author not knowing how their own characters' minds work. It would've been better to build up tension with a lot of manipulation. I didn't feel the escalation until that point, he just changed his mind out of nowhere, less than 40% in and he was already going crazy over Krypt.
-The book was boring and took itself too seriously. This one was a challenge to finish, and not for the topics included. I mentioned in one of my updates that I really wanted to DNF and maybe I should have. I went through the last chapters faster because I couldn't take it anymore. I haven't even mentioned anything about Krypt hating the letter C and him saying over and over how sick he was. I was rolling my eyes all the time.
It's important to mention that this is coming from someone that enjoys dark themes in books and unhealthy couples. Instead, this only got me feeling very disappointed and bored out of my mind. I wanted it to end already at 30%. It also made me realize books about secrets societies and cults aren't my thing, or maybe this was a really bad example (highly possible it's the later, but I rather not try a similar one for a long time).
Tags: (might miss some of them)
-POV: first person
-Content warnings:
Spoiler
dubcon/noncon between MCs, non consensual drugging, suicidal themes, stalking, blood during sex, murder-Elements:
Spoiler
cults/secret society, possessive and toxic/psycho love interest, best friend's brother-Kinks:
Spoiler
choking, knife play, primal play(?), sadomasochism-Sexual act(s):
Spoiler
handjobs, barebacking, creampie, blowjobs, fingering, frotting, riding-Dynamic: