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Audiobook Review: The Shadow Queen, by Sloane Murphy

Quite some time ago, I received an audio code for a copy of Sloane Murphy‘s The Shadow Queen (narrated by Jeannie Sheneman). Unfortunately, I started a university program shortly after that and ended up with very little time to listen to audiobooks. So, it’s been sitting in the cloud since then. I finally got to listen to it.

Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived amongst the shadows and monsters…

Pampered and coddled, Morganna didn’t know any different, until her father took the person who mattered most away from her.

The brutal lesson taught her the truth. Nothing in her world is given. If you want it, you have to take it.

What she wants now is revenge and she will take the thing that matters most to her father.

She will claim The Shadow Realm… and it will be hers.

Meh, I thought this was mediocre, but it basically skirts by as fine. I have no desire to continue the series, but I didn’t dislike the book enough to DNF. So…I guess it is what it is. It felt like it was written with a lot of tropes, but not much of an apparent plot until right at the end.

The reader barely gets to know anyone. The character descriptions are very shallow. This is made worse by the fact that just about the time you get used to one mate, he gets left behind while the FMC goes off with the next. It felt abrupt and a bit like a betrayal. And I did not find the pseudo-noncon humiliation kink/trope to be a positive replacement. I could have done without that entirely. I suppose that leaves room for character development and growth on the part of mate number two. But since I won’t be around for it, the whole thing just left a bitter taste.

I found the descriptions of the FMC really inconsistent. She’ll threaten to kick someone’s ass, but she’s so weak and untrained. She talks like such a badass, but she’s so sheltered and untried. She’s so powerful, but completely unaware of what she’s capable of, and is chronically underestimated. She’s a princess, but not like other royals or girls. (She actually uses the phrase “I’m not like other girls” about herself, even.) This last one begs the question: if she’s raised in the same environment as everyone else, how did she and her brother miraculously turn out to be different?

Lastly, let’s talk about the “Fucks.” Look, I curse like a sailor and fully understand that a well-placed “fuck” can be very effective. So, I am not being prudish when I say this. But the word is used far, far, far too frequently in this book. It is so often unnecessary in the sentence that it clutters the dialogue, and, worse, makes all the characters sound the same because they all sprinkle it liberally in their speech in precisely the same way. Eventually, it just started to grate on my nerves.

Look, I’m not saying this was a bad book. It’s readable, and the narrator did a fine job. But I am saying it didn’t do anything for me. I just got to the end and was annoyed with it.

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Book Review: No Demons But Us, by A.S. Etaski

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I picked up a copy of A.S. Etaski‘s Treasure Revealed at Savers. Since it’s the second book in a series, I ordered the first one, No Demons But Us, with the intention of reading them together.

My sister deserved to die, but I didn’t kill her. The infamous Sisterhood couldn’t care less – it’s the perfect excuse to make their move. My name is Sirana. I am a young Noble trapped in a most wretched accused of assassinating my sister, the Matron’s heir. If I take the blame, I am next on the sacrificial altar.

Dark Elves live for intrigue in our underground matriarchy. We bend the rules for the cunning and the bold. To survive, I must play the game.

Court intrigue, demonic rituals, and mind-rending trials against deadly foes surround me, pervasive webs spun by our sadistic priesthood and the Queen’s brutal enforcers.

Through it all, the Red Sisters delight in watching me. I must prove myself beneath their ravenous gazes, engage in the power play, or become the next meal for our goddess.

Another reviewer described this book as if it “was written by the Dungeon Master that lost the point of the quest in favor of just getting down with everyone and everything in the campaign.” Personally, I think it feels like sexed-up R.A. Salvatore fan fiction, which is interesting because Salvatore is not among the inspirations the author gives in her GR author blurb. But you won’t convince me that the characters and events of this book are not set in Salvatore’s world. Period.

I wouldn’t hate that in general. I’ve not read all the Dritz novels, but I’ve been fine with the ones I have read, even if I didn’t love them. But this book…Yeah, I came pretty close to hating it. In fact, I actually own the first two books. As a book hoarder, getting rid of books I’ve not yet read feels very unnatural. But I won’t be reading book two (let alone searching out the next eight). It will go straight on the gieaway stack unread.

This is basically an erotic fantasy, which I read a lot of. So, this fact alone isn’t a problem for me. What was a problem was that I found absolutely none of the sex sexy. In fact, most of it is either rape or simply shoving things in a vagina…or netherlips…or netherhole 😬 . Even non-sexy sex might not have killed it for me. But despite the book’s lack of trigger warnings, there is almost no sex that involves people who both consent and enjoy themselves. There’s plenty of sex: sex as rape, sex as dominance, sex as duty, sex as hazing, sex to ‘learn’ someone, sex as a test, sex as a sign of endurance, magically impelled sex, the list goes on. But sex because someone wants to and is enjoying it? Very little of that is on the page. And if non-con is your jam, more power to you. The book is dedicated to “…my husband and companion, who did not know on our wedding day he had married one of his favorite authors.” So, apparently, Etaski’s husband does. But it is not my jam.

Just because most of the sexual abuse is at the hands or orchestration of other women does not give me any less of an ick. In fact, it adds an additional layer for me. Like Salvatore’s dark elven Drow, Etaski’s Davrin are matriarchal. But this matriarchy feels very patriarchal. As if Etaski merely made the men women, and the women men, but did not otherwise change the power structures or social hierarchies. As such, it still feels, to me, very misogynistic. I enjoyed none of it.

What’s more, so very much of it made no sense for its stated purpose. Want to test if someone will be a good spy? Let two men and a half demon rape her. That’ll for sure give you a good idea of her spy capabilities. Want to form a bonded, loyal group of women? Allow 40 other women to do whatever they want to the new one, so long as it includes sex. That broken arm and 2 weeks of coercive sex will for sure endear her to the group. Want to assess someone’s improvement in martial skills? Pit her against two fully-trained women wearing magical phalluses, winning points earned by forcefully penetrating the novice. What? Why? What exactly is any of this training her for?

And again, no judgment if this is something others enjoy. But this is my review of my experience with the book, and I am so glad to be finished with it and relieved to not be forcing myself to commit to completing the second.

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