beta
Never in my life have I gone from a 5 star read to a 1 star in one chapter. Everything was going relatively well until they shoe-horned in a r@pe scene, destroyed the king's characterization up until that point, and then just rushed the ending. I read it all just to make sure the author wasn't going to actually have Michael end up with Albert only to see I was, in fact, not hallucinating. They ended up together. Or really Albert forced his will in Michael and they're going to continue in this sick song and dance until they die, I guess? And it was so fucking jarring that they had sex during the time Michael was in that child-like state. It was like the author was suddenly switched out for a sadistic, pedo, r@pist all of a sudden with those last chapters. And for what? To ruin that delicious tension and interesting dynamic? Heide (the aide I dunno if I spelled his name correctly) was the better choice romance wise for Michael. I'm so upset. Like genuinely I'm so mad.
Really upsetting to see an S tier plotline devolve into the amnesia + rape trope. I had a feeling it was coming (and after reading through some of the comments I see people saying this would happen) but honestly I'm so disappointed. For once I thought we'd get a good top that helped the bottom deal with trauma in a healthy, respectful way. Whatever, guess I shouldn't hope for better out of this genre :/
considering the author also wrote palace of bardo (which i personally haven't read but have seen very horrible reviews on)
it is to be expected lowkey
I dropped palace of barado for the same. The top was psychotic and tormented bottom through his second life. Truly irredeemable