i love this author, been following them and their works for a long time and one of their other works is literally in my top 10. I love their storytelling, and the way they build the characters. so when I found out they had a new bl i was really excited, couldn't wait. and yet i just can't seem to like this one. it feels like it wasn't as thought out as the author's previous works. the characters aren't compelling and they're very one-dimensional, often repetitive and boring, and the storyline feels like it's regressed from their other works, rather than improved with experience. I don't mind the rape trope, in fact I find it was done quite well in their other bls, it was shown as wrong and the devastating act it is, it was explicitly shown to break and damage the MC the way it should, and it was depicted as horrific and unequivocally bad. more importantly, it was never done by the endgame love interest. I liked that about those stories, I thought it was handled better than in many other bls where it's romanticised, and I knew to expect it cause it's a constant w this author. however, in this work, it let me down. it's depicted as a joke, a travesty of the suffering that should follow, almost a game. it's honestly appalling, not because I didn't expect it in a bl, but because I didn't expect it from this author. the ML is absolutely unlikable and more than that, he's not interesting. he's what a second ML is expected to be. he's not compelling, there's no other side of him, there's no second guessing what he does cause he's too one-dimensional to think about his actions or theorize what they mean. he's just boring and shows absolutely no potential for interesting growth or writing that isn't the same old forgive and forget I've changed cause I'm miraculously in love now. which is all fine and dandy, but just not what I've become used to, with this particular author. the MC is not as bad, and I got some hope for him, hut I just really can't recognise the writing in this. what a shame.
i love this author, been following them and their works for a long time and one of their other works is literally in my top 10. I love their storytelling, and the way they build the characters.
so when I found out they had a new bl i was really excited, couldn't wait. and yet i just can't seem to like this one.
it feels like it wasn't as thought out as the author's previous works. the characters aren't compelling and they're very one-dimensional, often repetitive and boring, and the storyline feels like it's regressed from their other works, rather than improved with experience.
I don't mind the rape trope, in fact I find it was done quite well in their other bls, it was shown as wrong and the devastating act it is, it was explicitly shown to break and damage the MC the way it should, and it was depicted as horrific and unequivocally bad. more importantly, it was never done by the endgame love interest.
I liked that about those stories, I thought it was handled better than in many other bls where it's romanticised, and I knew to expect it cause it's a constant w this author.
however, in this work, it let me down. it's depicted as a joke, a travesty of the suffering that should follow, almost a game. it's honestly appalling, not because I didn't expect it in a bl, but because I didn't expect it from this author.
the ML is absolutely unlikable and more than that, he's not interesting. he's what a second ML is expected to be. he's not compelling, there's no other side of him, there's no second guessing what he does cause he's too one-dimensional to think about his actions or theorize what they mean. he's just boring and shows absolutely no potential for interesting growth or writing that isn't the same old forgive and forget I've changed cause I'm miraculously in love now.
which is all fine and dandy, but just not what I've become used to, with this particular author.
the MC is not as bad, and I got some hope for him, hut I just really can't recognise the writing in this.
what a shame.