Dangerous Devotion

by Robin Jo Margaret

A village being torn apart becomes the powerful break of a vicious cycle of lifelong abuse. Through the tragedy, Sister Marielle finds a safe place in one of God's Orders. That is, until she starts to question the entity she's sworn herself to.

This is a dark fantasy short story with religious themes, no romance and no happy ending.

Genres: Adult, Short Stories, Queer, Fantasy

42 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 25, 2024

About the author

Robin Jo Margaret is a pen name used by a queer disabled author from Italy for xyr adult stories centering queerness, magic and diverse bodies.

The profile picture was drawn by @/snowiisushii (instagram).

Reviews

[Grapie Deltaco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horrifying and deeply introspective.

Sister Marielle found solace in her religion after gaining freedom from a lifetime of abuse, only to question to true safety and care present in this new “family”.

Beautifully written, this story manages to pack a really strong punch with such dark subject matter despite its short length. This is my introduction the author but apparently this book stands out greatly compared to its cozy, romantic fantasy counterparts.

CW: blasphemy, on-page rape, non con, forced pregnancy, ritualistic sex, religious sex cult activity, references to past abuse, death, explicit sexual content

[Colleen (colleenreads40) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dangerous Devotion is a dark fantasy short story by author Robin Jo Margaret. Please note this is extremely different from xyr usual work, as this has heavy religious themes and no happy ending. This 35-page story is told from a third person point of view.

As always, ensure you review the content and trigger warnings to decide if this story is right for you. Note that this list of warnings and triggers may be incomplete. Please take care of yourself while reading.
⚠️ Religious trauma
⚠️ Religious fanaticism
⚠️ Death
⚠️ Brief description of corpses
⚠️ Destruction of village by fire
⚠️ Sexual content
⚠️ Sex-cult adjacent religion
⚠️ Blasphemy
⚠️ Description of past abuse (from parents and other family members)
⚠️ Allusion to starving oneself/intermittent fasting
⚠️ Group sex/orgy
⚠️ Ritualistic sex
⚠️ Rape
⚠️ Non-con
⚠️ Blood
⚠️ Forced pregnancy
⚠️ Degrading talk
⚠️ Talk of torture by fire and ending of the world
⚠️ Frequent use of the saying “children of God” but everyone involved is an adult

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect with this short story, but it definitely packed a punch in 35 pages. I think I went through a full spectrum of emotions in less than a half hour, and Robin Jo Margaret’s writing and storytelling in this dark fantasy is truly impressive. I identify as an Atheist, which is a choice I made after being raised as an Anglican. This story is a fascinating commentary on organized religion and the role it plays in our society. Sister Marielle’s character will strongly resonate with many, as well as her internal turmoil. This can’t be emphasized enough, but this story is very different from Margaret’s usual queer, cozy fantasies and has heavy religious themes including many instances of blasphemy. This story won’t be for everyone, and that’s okay. I thoroughly enjoyed this quick read, and I think it’s a story that will stick with me.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the author and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Liv (LivTheBookNerd) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so different from RJM’s previous work, but it was still well written and interesting.

Moodling over my full thoughts.

RTC

[Basil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrative voice of this short story in particular is among my favorites from Robin Jo Margaret, alongside xyr novella, In the Care of Magic (although the two stories truly could not be any more different lol). The religious content and themes of Dangerous Devotion also have clear inspiration without simply being an exact recreation of the religion the story draws its inspiration from. The narrative is well-contained, in that it did not need anything more for the story to feel “complete”— I would, however, really enjoy seeing Dangerous Devotion’s religious structure explored further in some capacity (whether it’s a prequel, a continuation, or something else entirely).

There is an on-page sexual assault right at the end that was perhaps more descriptive than I’d expected, but the content warnings (which I’ve listed at the end of my review, and are included in the introduction to the short story) do make mention that it will occur. And given who the protagonist, Sister Marielle, is meant to represent, it does… make sense…? within the context of the narrative. Again, it was just a bit more descriptive than I’d expected, so I figured it was worth noting for others.

Thank you so much to author Robin Jo Margaret for providing me with a digital ARC of this short story as a part of xyr permanent ARC team! All opinions within this review are voluntarily given and entirely my own.

CW, as provided by the author: religious trauma, religious fanaticism, death, brief description of corpses, destruction of village by fire, sexual content, sex-cult adjacent religion, blasphemy, description of past abuse (from parents and other family members), allusion to starving oneself/intermittent fasting, group sex/orgy, ritualistic sex, rape, non-con, blood, forced pregnancy, degrading talk, talk of torture by fire and ending the world, frequent use of the saying “children of God” but everyone involved is an adult.

[Kaidee McMillan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was different from most of what I've been reading lately, and it's a bit tough to review.

Dangerous Devotion follows a young woman, Marielle, who grows up in an abusive household. After surviving an attack on her town, she finds refuge with the Sisterhood and finds peace in faith. But what happens when Sister Marielle starts to question her faith and the existence of the God she has devoted her heart and soul to?

Overall, it was well written, definitely dark (please read all of the content warnings for this book first), but it also left me wanting for so much. I'm just not sure whether I love or hate that about it quite yet. This definitely has a future if Robin Jo Margaret decides to follow this story along the path that is projected.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this was something completely new that I’ve never read anything like before, mainly because I tend to avoid religious books. That being said, I did actually enjoy it and I liked the way the book played out. I’d definitely say to read the content warning first, because there’s quite a few things that could be triggering for others. If you want a book that’s basically just trauma, then look no further. I would definitely be interested if there was more to the story, because it’s an interesting concept and I’d be interested in what happens after the book finishes.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolute icon behavior to (publicly) drop a blasphemous short story in which a nun who is questioning her faith is subsequently punished for it on Christmas Day.

I always find books exploring (Christian) religious trauma that portray God as being sexually violent to be particularly interesting for, well, many reasons. That this story approaches religious trauma through the lens of a sex-cult adjacent religion, and the implications of such, was perhaps my favorite part. The story ended too abruptly for me to be fully satisfied with it, however.

Thanks to the author for the advance copy! P.S. Support an indie author by purchasing this short story on itch.io!

[Irina · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Then God took pieces of Their own flesh and made the continents, surrounding them with seas born of pleasure. Blue stretch marks broke the land, beautiful in their irregularity."

What an interesting story! Messed-up religious devotion, trauma, a non-binary deity — this was twisted and scrumptious in all the ways I enjoy.

Honestly, I'd read a full-length book about this universe, and that's my only (non-)issue with Dangerous Devotion: I want moooore 👀

[K.C. Norton]

If you’d like to read a short story/novella that amounts to watching someone process their religious trauma on-page, this story is for you! As a story, there wasn’t much of an arc, but there’s so much feeling in here, and so much anger at the way faith can be used to groom and manipulate people. Oof.

[Finding Sky Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really don’t know how to rate this at all. It’s written well (I very much so love the authors writing) but I just…. I feel like I read something that could have really gone somewhere, but it kinda just fell flat. It feels more like a buffed out idea rather than a novella.

[Moth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting portrayal of religious trauma and belief. It was also a good erotic horror, which doesn’t tend to be my thing but I liked this.
CW: sexual content; SA (& forced pregnancy); child abuse (past)

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this story in exchange for an honest review.


Honestly, I enjoyed this novella, but it felt way too short! It presents a mysterious word and I would love to see more of it.

[Brizzle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy Hell!
Literally!
Mouth open. Shook. I had to take a moment to compose myself after the read.
But in all realness I did enjoy the hell out of this!

Well done! 🙏🏽

[Kienn Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

religious trauma to the extreme

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise sounded interesting, and I thought the world building around this religion sounded interesting as well, but the main character's storyline did not really grip my attention and then on top of that there was a horrible graphic rape scene at the end? Ugh