Astaroth

by Freydís Moon

Once a year, every year, the Celestial Auction showcases a prime selection of Fallen and Damned, allowing angels who tumbled from their heavenly pedestals and humans who landed in purgatory the ability to expedite their hellish consequences…

Briar Wright, a fallen War Angel, has sold his body and soul. His buyer? The Great Duke of Hell—Astaroth.

As Briar explores the gothic estate he’s expected to call home, he wrestles with nightmares of past abuse, blooming curiosity about his recent buyer, and an uncomfortable—yet insatiable—feeling attached to the idea of desire. Empowered and free, he enters a heated courtship with the demon duke. Questioning everything he's been taught leaves him reeling, but soon, Briar finds himself in the middle of a sensual awakening and a spiritual revelation.

Award-winning, bestselling, and critically acclaimed author, Freydís Moon, is back with another deliciously dark tale. Content notes can be found on their website and inside the novella.

Genres: Demons, Angels, Abuse, M M Romance, Romance, Paranormal

143 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 7, 2025

About the author

Freydís Moon (they/them) is a bestselling, award-winning author, diviner, and creator with an affinity for quirky, speculative storytelling. A lover of culture, mysticism, history, and language, they constantly find themself lost in a book, trying their hand at a new recipe, or planning a trip to a faraway place.

Content Warnings are available for prose and poetry on their Carrd and inside each book. Read with care.

This account is not actively managed by the author. Please use the contact available on their Carrd or reach out via Twitter with any questions regarding their work/creative opportunities.

Reviews

[tyrosine · Rating 1 out of 5]

slave romance stories are fucking weird in whatever iteration they come.

also, look into the backstory of this writer because it’s IRL Yellowface

[Jamie · Rating 1 out of 5]

begone white demon

[Nick Wilde · Rating 1 out of 5]

White people love writing about slaves fr

[Sea Bee · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Allegations
Back in what was it, 2024? – Twitter dropped a little bit of someone else’s drama on my FYP. I’m nosey. I ate it up. It was so batshit crazy I assumed this had to be a made up story for free viral rage-bait advertising. No way this is real! Well, boooo it was. In the back of my mind, I couldn't help that parts of the outrage smelled of jealousy, that a person could go through multiple different aliases and still have a successful career. Since then, I’ve read some of the authors involved in the call out, and, uh, not particularly impressed. So I’ve always wanted to read Freydis Moon and see if my gut was right.

WELL…

The not good, the bad, the boring
Prefacing here: I think I read the first chapter, lost my mind, read every other line, then just started scrolling, wondering, does anything happen in this book? No, not really. Our MC Briar got in trouble for breaking an angel law (What did he do? Well, that’s supposed to create tension dummy!) and angel prison takes foreeeeeever it’s quicker to just be a slave for ten small human years. So that’s how we got here, at the heavenly auction, where Astaroth, the mysterious Duke of Hell, our ML, adamantly bids for Briar’s purchase. (Why does he want Briar? TENSION, dummy!)

Because Aster is so DTF, I mean, charmingly human and patient, but mostly because he’s DTF, you know, only if Briar wants to, they fall in love. Horseback riding dates, snowball fight dates, museum dates, and… I can’t say any of that built character or deepened their bond. But Briar is totally different from Aster’s ex-partners. They’re in LOVE.

Heaven doesn’t like that very much and the archangel Michael (Briar’s ex boss/dad/whatever who threw him in angel jail) calls Briar back for a job. Briar wants to go, because it’s what good angels would do and he’s a good angel. He tells Michael he’ll give him an answer tomorrow. This upsets Briar’s boyfriend, who is sooo proud of Briar’s recovery and soooo disappointed in this regression. But hey, he’s a good boyfriend. Whatever Briar decides, he’ll support him. It’s not like he OWNS him contractually or anything freakass like that haha.

And so Michael is like c’mon sunny boy, we got demons to slay.

BUT Briar says no, heart emoji.

And Michael leaves.

Briar and Aster fuck about it again, I think. Probably.

The end.

I don’t know if Astaroth is connected to any sort of extended universe. Maybe, maybe not. It’s a 100 page novella, though, so I can’t expect it to answer all the neurotic questions I have. I tried to nod and go along, but the neuroticism persists.

“Briar Wright” is THE white girl name of all time (you are soooo lucky your boyfriend owns starbies). I have to ask, why does he have a surname? When a mommy angel and daddy angel love each other very much, do they… you know? Hatch a baby? “Replicating birth isn’t easy. It took a long time for us to understand the mechanics of creation.” Okay, that still leaves me with more questions than I originally had. Angels clearly fuck, they clearly WANT to fuck, but conception is weely weely hawd? Do angels have ED? Can they go through menopause? How old does an angel have to be before that biological clock gets to ticking and they hit the wall?

Astaroth, cutely nicknamed Aster, Mr. Prince of Hell. He’s such a nice guy. Man, he’s just sooo human. This humanity is strange and incomprehensible to Briar, who has a human first and last name, who acts pretty human himself. They both appreciate and understand human art. They eat human food; nice ritzy meals by a not-actually-professional chef, instead of utilitarian protein shakes, boiled unseasoned chicken, or idk photosynthesis or the power of prayer. They’re out here iMessaging each other good morning using emojis and I’m supposed to believe angels aren’t just human bird furries? That somehow Aster’s humanity is so mind bogglingly unique?

‘[Aster] sounded so, so human.’

‘You act human, Briar wanted to say. So, so human. … Was human a learned thing?”

‘“Aster has always had an open heart,” he murmured.
“Yes, he has. But he’s never had a foolish heart. It’s a very human thing, I think, to become childlike and vulnerable with someone. I’m sure it frightens him.”’

I get it, I get it! Humanity sure is beautiful and persistent and fun and – what type of human is the author again? A shitty person and a backstabbing friend who likes to racefake for free promos. Oh, well, it’s a nice thought though, isn’t it?

Freydis Moon is unintentionally hilarious trying to imagine how some Old Money Demon would live a life of luxury. Because what do you mean Mr. Prince of Hell likes his starbies so much he owns it! He drives an Escalade because, hey, the president drives around in a Cadillac. Aster doesn’t have a chauffeur because that’d be weird, right? Rich people like to drive! Name brand high fashion gets (Amazon?) next day delivery. Aster’s friends with the facebook guy. Or like, not friends, but he knows him, because Satan knows Zuck, and Satan is bad! You know, because facebook is BAD and Aster’s not a bad guy. He’s good! Or maybe I’m just prejudiced against Satan, and I’m the bad guy? Too many moments like that had me putting my epub down and contemplating if I’m just old and unfun. (It’s just a jooooooke, okayyyyy. But I haven’t laughed at any of this quirky tumblrina shit.)

And then, is a novella really the best format to tackle God’s not real levels of reddit atheism? “What if demons are nice and angels are EVIL” – wow, you got me there! Gotta go sit on the porch and think about that one. I’ll be up all night just pacing. Pondering. Wondering if These Types of authors have any actual religious trauma or just have normal criticisms about Christianity? There were so few religious elements in here it bordered on a miracle itself. Why do angels have sex drives? Why is homosexuality okay? No hang ups, queernormative. Where’s my GUILT, where’s my SIN? What’s the POINT?

The MC Briar Wright is sold as a slave and the process goes a bit like this: hey sorry do you have any special pronouns for us to use when talking about buying you? Yeah, do you have any preferences for like, the guy who's buying you for sex? Yeah like we totally want you to be comfortable during this experience. Are you by any chance… vegan? Yeah, just gunna jot this down because buying a slave is the same as adopting from the SPCA (society for the prevention of cruelty to angels). Wouldn't want you to go to a BAD slave owner who doesn’t respect your pronouns, consent, or dietary preferences.

Let's talk about the supporting cast. The Gay Best Friend fashionista introduces themselves “They, them, theirs,” and then no other character introduces themselves with pronouns and Briar just kinda sorta knows. There’s some lesbians who walk off the page immediately after their introduction. Shout out to them, now I can’t whine about the author forgetting we exist. Thwarted! None of this bloated cast matters. I assume they’re LeFou, Mrs. Potts, etc since the promo mentioned beauty and the beast. But they’re so so soooo bland. They contribute nothing but token points to prove Aster is such a nice guy. Could an asshole reallllly be friends with a nonbinary f slur, a couple of dykes, and a black woman?

Just fuck your therapist, it’d be easier
Moon has the material for messy mental illnesses. Instead, Briar is the perfect victim. He’s been hurt and abused by an authority figure he trusted with his whole life. And yet, he never lashes out or says anything hurtful. He’s sad, he cries, he mopes. Poor little uwu bean. He’s just sooo sad and sooo sexy and sooooo underfucked :(

Which is funny because… let me break out my good ole armchair psychiatrist degree. Something is deeply, clinically, wrong with this author. Freydis Moon is mean spirited and two faced. There are no friends, just people to be used as a means to an end; to flatter yourself and make you feel like a good person because deep down you know you’re rotten. Like a trained bloodhound, I smell the BPD diagnosis all over Moon. And YET none of this translates because like Briar Wright, I’m sure Freydis Moon hasn’t done anything bad in their whole entire life. People just hate them for NOOOO reason :(

The sex scenes were formulaic and boring. A whole lot of girl power, reclaiming your sexuality for yourself, but for a twink who actually has very few hangups about sex. There’s no getting around the fact that these dudes have no chemistry even with my yaoi goggles set to maximum strength. I’ve been unwittingly strapped to the cuck chair while Moon weirdly therapizes every conversation, every sexual and romantic aspect of this couple’s relationship.

This novella is… a mess. Freydis Moon wanted to explore all these dark edgy tropes but was too chickenshit to actually engage with the subject matter.

Obviously normal people would see “Master Slave Romance!!” and go ew what is wrong with you? I however have several things wrong with me, so sign me up! But what does Freydis Moon mean by “subverting” the dynamic? Oh, good question. I don’t know! Is it subverted because the “master” is ethnically ambiguously brown, while the slave is white? Maybe. Is it subverted because they stop being master and slave? Probably. There’s less than a chapter of tension and immediately upon introduction that dynamic gets dissolved. Disappointing! Maybe it’s subversive because the master takes it up the ass in like, one sentence out of the whole novella. Wow, brave!

The whole trope of the sexy totally-not-a-rapist bf that ignores the MC’s consent because he knows they “really want it” is hot because, yeah, the MC “really wants it.” But here he’s gotta stop every five seconds to ask is this okay? Can we keep going? And that’s more than FINE if continuous explicit consent turns you on or whatever, but it’s not exactly what I have in mind when picking up a novella where the MC gets bought as a sex slave in an auction to the Evil McEvil duke of hell.

So here’s the problem.

If master/ slave dynamics squick you, this novella isn’t for you. And if these dynamics DO interest you, it’s also not for you.

If you think: “EW why does it matter if the MC is a virgin?” – This isn’t for you. And if you think: “That’s kinda hot” – IT DOESN’T MATTER; he’s a natural born slut! So it’s not for you, either.

Beauty and the beast? More like beauty and the hot guy who has a monstrous other form we never actually get to see. BORING.

Who exactly is the intended audience here? The author’s ego? Me in hatersville and my sick fascination with other people’s drama? Freydis Moon, I See you, I Hear you. You’re weird as fuck.

[YuQian Zheng · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stop romanticizing slavery you fucking white weirdo

[Linn · Rating 5 out of 5]

To all the clowns proudly review-bombing this: hi, hello, have you ever actually opened this book? Because if you’d made it past page 18, you’d notice that this is very much not the slave/master romance you’re pretending it is. Spreading misinformation because you skimmed the blurb is… embarrassing, honestly.

Now — let’s address the elephant in the room. Yes, the author has been involved in serious, well-documented controversy. If you choose not to read their work because of that, that’s completely valid. Genuinely. You are allowed to curate your shelves based on your ethics, your comfort, your principles — whatever guides your reading. I don’t defend the author’s behaviour; I don’t excuse it; and I absolutely get why some readers won’t touch their books ever again.

But this review is about the book itself, and unfortunately for my sanity, Astaroth is an annoyingly, infuriatingly, disgustingly good book. The kind of good that makes you want to slam the book shut and yell at a wall because HOW DARE the prose be this sharp, visceral and tender? The relationship between Aster and Briar is one of the healthiest, gentlest, most trauma-informed dynamics I’ve seen in fantasy romance in a long time.

Some of my favourite lines:

❤️ "Well I certainly can’t court you if I own you," he mumbled. His thumb found a red droplet lingering at the corner of Briar‘s mouth. "I could have you, though."

❤️ "You're desired, Briar. I would kill a man - several men, actually - for the chance to prove it."

❤️ Sparring with him had been a prelude to the inevitable, as if holding themselves apart while holding each other defenseless had turned their violence into vulnerability.

❤️ The High Court called it cleansing and extraction and purification, but life was life, judgment was judgment, choices were choices, and killing was killing.

❤️ Deeply, illicitly, I love you.

[Incunabula_and_intercourse · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boy, I love beating dead horses. I've actually had this review saved for a while, but I figured that the longer I embargo it, the funnier it gets. (And don't worry: I didn't spend money on this.) Onward with the execution!

~~~~~

Known racefaker and alleged plagiarist Freydís Moon finally came out with their latest novella, and for once, the racism isn’t even the worst part.

Before we begin, I have to mention the absolutely shitty way Astaroth talks about food and drink. The narration describes champagne as “citrusy” and pork lungs as “delicate,” thinks braising and stewing is the same thing, braises and/or stews mutton in nothing but cognac and bone broth, calls stock “bone broth,” mentions red wine a gajillion times without specifying varietal, talks about chardonnay once because it’s the only white wine Freydís knows off the top of their head… You know how Van Halen allegedly put a line in their contract rider requesting a bowl of M&M’s without any brown ones to test if the venue staff properly set up their complicated and dangerous equipment? These right here are my brown M&M’s. If Freydís couldn’t be bothered to google “types of red wine,” then I have no reason to trust that they’ll be bothered to write a good book. And boy howdy, a good book this is not.

Freydís markets this as a “modern gothic,” and then you pick it up and realize that not a single goddamn thing about this book is gothic. Gothic is a subgenre of horror, mainly focused on atmosphere, derelict manors, the decline of the upper class (or any socioeconomic group that holds power), and occasionally supernatural elements. Mexican Gothic and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth both have romantic subplots–in houses where the owner was clearly plotting against the protagonist and even sexually assaulting them. Helpmeet uses its central romantic relationship to fundamentally deconstruct the hegemonic patriarchal marriage structure. What Moves the Dead, even with its goofy cast of characters, had a doomed ending for the Ushers true to its source.

Aster is a demon lord who wears all black, drinks varietal-free red wine, hangs famous edgy paintings in his manor, and owns a pet snake–but there are no themes about the fall of the landed gentry, no discomforting atmosphere, no sense that Briar’s in danger but doesn’t know it yet. Aster’s not even, like, goth; fucker listens to classical music. Briar thinks that Aster’s cultured after mentioning “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” and Romeo and Juliet–the most generic poem and play you could have gone with, and not even Gothic staples like Shelley or Poe. He celebrates Christmas, for God’s sake. I know it’s actually Solstice, but between the ornament-ridden tree, the stockings, the big lavish feast, the time spent with loved ones, the lack of esoteric Yuletide traditions, it’s just fucking Christmas, but stripped of any Christian guilt to let them keep celebrating it, as if secular Jews like myself don’t celebrate Hanukkah and Passover and Rosh Hashanah. The only thing being deconstructed here is a very surface-level Tumblr-esque subversion of how Christianity represses sexual and queer expressions by making the angels baddies and the demons goodies. I’d compare it to My Immortal, but at least My Immortal has vampires and fight scenes and depictions of uncomfortable sexual topics.

If you expected a plot, even a bog-standard Romancing the Beat-style kissing book, then forget it. As soon as Aster nobly frees Briar from bondage, the entire novella is wasted on Aster and Briar happily falling in love set to slice-of-life billionaire romance plot beats like horse riding, museum parties, and sparring. Any potential for an emotional push and pull is snuffed out by the therapy-speak dialogue where Briar and Aster are both wonderfully in touch with their emotions and thought patterns, despite the fact that the conflict is supposed to hinge on Briar deconstructing his past abuse or whatever. There’s not a single misunderstanding or meaningful clash of viewpoints aside from, like:

Aster: Heaven is fake and angels are evil
Briar: But that makes no sense, angels taught me they were good!
Aster: Well they were mean and abusive to you so they’re evil
Briar: Omg you’re so right can you touch my ding-dong now

Now, not all romantic couples in fiction need to have conflict to make an interesting story; they can be happily in love as they overcome outside conflicts together as a unified front. Sadly, we don’t even get that. There’s some tension towards the end when Uriel and Michael pay respective visits, but those are over before they begin, and Aster and Briar come close to an argument–but then ultimately come to an understanding and then have sex about it. There’s one sword-fighting scene that’s vaguely described and ends before it has a chance to pick up.

The sex scenes are nothing to write home about if you’ve read literally any fanfiction or popular romance novel. Briar is a virgin, but he still begs for Aster to be rough with him and successfully deep-throats on his first ever attempt sucking dick. A few pages later, Mr. Throat GOAT “no gag reflex” apologizes for being clumsy during sex, right before an anal sex scene that, aside from one change in position, has nothing go wrong or even goofy. Aster doesn’t find poop while unnecessarily fingering Briar because he never told Briar about shitting beforehand; Briar doesn’t walk funny afterwards to the bathroom. Aster pays lip service to consent before pulling shit like unnegotiated knifeplay or springing anal sex on Briar without a heads up (butitsokaybriartotallywanteditthewholetimelol). The one time Briar tops, it’s mentioned in a few sentences as an incidental “lol that happened.” The very last page ends with them having sex, which isn’t making the case that these two have any meaningful chemistry (like an idiot, Freydís skipped any small talk, meaning we never get to see these two–hell, ANY characters–grow meaningfully close to each other).

If Freydís really wanted to subvert the master/slave dynamic, they could do literally whatever they wanted. Make Briar the dom! Make Aster a bottom! Make them vers and/or switches! Shit, make Briar more sexually experienced and Aster the awkward virgin who resorted to buying (and then freeing) a sex slave just to get a boyfriend! Instead, we’ve got yet another “short slender virginal pale subby bottom white boy getting on his knees for bigger confident fucks-a-lot wears-all-black tan vaguely non-white dom top man.” You’re not subversive: you stole your ideas of gay male sex from AO3 and your edgy religious themes from Hazbin Hotel.

(Also, take a shot every time Briar compares his budding sexual desires to Henry Fuseli’s The Nightmare. It’s like To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods’ “jade green eyes” but worse.)

And yes, the racial implications are really gross. A soft white boy who’s too feminine to fight and preferred to be a healer submitting himself to a macho aggressive man of color who likes solving problems with violence isn’t the subversion you think it is just because the MoC is the temporary slaveowner, Freydís. Aster also has a valet-type servant named Luca (“They, them, and theirs,” the only character who introduces themself with pronouns), really just a sassy Black friend who’s obsessed with fashion and throws bitchfits that everyone laughs off bc Ha Ha Black People Angry Ha.

Just as bad as the racial implications, though, is the class commentary. Freydís accidentally wrote a metaphor for why ending class consciousness at abolishing slavery is meaningless. Aster is a nice boss who doesn’t enslave people, but he’s still a rich and lazy investor who thinks a sex slave isn’t “breaking the bank” and admits to liking being a homebody. He doesn’t cook, he doesn’t clean, he doesn’t even take care of his horses. His staff of interchangeable freed-slave personality-free side “characters” joyfully do all the hard work for him, with no mention of wages, benefits, a life outside the manor… Not once does Aster think about what it means to make money without working and if he couldn’t possibly use his gajillions of funds to better the world without any selfish gain–and he’s our good guy love interest!

For all Freydís’s progressive posturing, this is a liberal capitalist wet dream. It’s a Joe Biden voter’s idea of progress with more fellatio. It fails at being gothic, at being romance, at being meaningful religious commentary, at being progressive–shit, at being a story. This should have stayed on Wattpad where it belongs and not sold for profit.

[Amy K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous little book replete with lush language, profound passion, and powerful themes of love, loss, recovery, and hope. Aster and Briar are lovely together, their tenderness and passion especially beautiful, but the others in the Great Duke’s house are also lovely, a family found and bound together by love.

[Anna Voltaire · Rating 1 out of 5]

“...full of sound and fury, / signifying nothing.” - macbeth

astaroth is, at its core, a book afraid of itself.

the result is vacuous and contradictory. it wants to explore deep motifs like guilt, sexual shame, and freedom, but it’s like going to walk into the atlantic ocean & you end up in the kiddie pool. i cannot say why the book feels like it’s afraid to be what it wants to be, but that’s my feeling. it wants to be something challenging, daring, erotic, and beautiful, but it’s hollow.

firstly, the marketing does this book no favours. again, contradictions. words like intricate and gothic for a “cosy” novella. i don’t think i’ve ever read a gothic book i would call cosy. they’re about the uneasy status of the aristocrats in the industrialised world as a lot of new money factory owners and robber barons came into power, as well as the rise of communist sympathies. it often explores fallen wealthy families, abuse, trauma, grief, incest, rape, etc. the premise itself could be good for a gothic story. maybe you could do something with fallen angels and fallen aristocrats, but i don’t understand the use of the word “gothic” to describe astaroth. besides lurid and taboo subject matter, gothic literature makes me think of long, languid, sumptuous descriptions and foreboding places in decay. the ghosts have meaning, whereas the ghosts and candlewicks in astaroth are shallow window dressing. the gothic sublime is an excess of emotion, that overwhelming bubbling of terror, awe, and arousal. ann radcliffe or oscar wilde, this is not. besides the sharpness and transgressiveness of these older works (wilde had dorian grey used against him in court), the shortness of the story works against it. there’s no room for development & most conflicts are ended because it would extend the story.

the setting and worldbuilding are sparse. the lens is far too close where, right off the bat, i got no sense of the shadowed auction stage. there are times when the prose is almost there. it’s a shame. briar’s physical reactions and food are well-described, sometimes we get good descriptions of rooms, but there’s no cohesion of setting, only inconsistent screenshots when the story becomes vivid, and then we’re subjected to demons who own iphones and drink starbucks. starbucks !!!! nothing says gothic beauty and the beast, sleep token lyrics like iphone emojis and starbucks. angela carter is weeping. these changes in tone and atmosphere are jarring. one second, astaroth tells briar that he reminds him of eden because he’s a pure, delicate white flower, i guess, and next, they’re joking about lucifer being a business partner of mark zuckerberg. the book doesn’t understand what it wants to be. it’s not that these elements can’t be balanced, but they just aren’t.

i don’t understand why an angel has a name like briar wright. why do angels and demons have last names? do they have families? is there a wright angel family? but not all of the angels and demons are given family names.

what’s worse is that the attempts to sublimate the offensive subject matter only make it more offensive. briar is “pure as a lily” & associated with white cloth. he’s a virgin. he’s delicate and “fair” and, of course, white-skinned. he’s the beauty of the author-described beauty and the beast retelling, while astaroth, the demon king and the beast, the “brute” as briar calls him once, has an “olive” complexion and is “swathed in black from head to toe.” the story is sold as subverted master/slave. if it’s because the taller, darker-skinned man is the (temporary) owner of the delicate white man, then it has problems. besides that, the story tries its best to lure the reader in with a lurid premise while refusing to engage with it. the slavery and act of slave-owning are made to be harmless. the celestial slave auction is an abnormally nice slave auction, and astaroth is a nice master. you choose if you’re auctioned off. there’s a box to check if you’re vegetarian. they let you keep a box unchecked if you, the slave, don’t want to be a sex slave. astaroth almost immediately dissolves the contract, all the messiness and complications of this arrangement where briar is at astaroth’s mercy thrown away. their relationship is fine now, right? he can just leave! but where? where is an angel with no home and clipped wings supposed to go? the fallen angel vs. the duke with legions at his disposal. we’re meant to think that there’s no tension. it’s just not examined. wtf? imagine if briar felt obligated to try to seduce astaroth & be his lover. or something. just. something. i would respect the book if it just let the characters be something of any substance.

this is more offensive than if slavery were shown to be traumatising for briar because it suggests that there is a “good” way to buy someone as a slave. astaroth does everything “right” as a master, the “good master.” (ugh.) astaroth does this for all his house servants, but despite his talks against heaven and the angels, there’s no sense of rebellion or revolution. it’s a very narrow and individualistic sense of what makes astaroth a “good,” liberating demon. and boring. a boring demon who’s just meant to be the perfect, understanding partner right from the beginning, the man with an ambiguous race who saves the delicate, virginal white hero. again, given that this book is supposed to be gothic, the lack of any class consciousness or consideration re: stories that depicted isolated aristocrats as sickly and depraved and antagonistic to the working class (or petty bourgeoisie), scientifically minded hero is really something.

as someone who experiences insomnia nightly, i struggled to stay awake reading astaroth. better than trazodone. i read it in one sitting because i knew if i walked away i’d never pick it up again. there is zero chemistry between briar and astaroth. even when they argue, there’s no tension, no threat. any resistance is mild banter. within a page, the matter is settled. if the beauty and the beast retelling aspect is more like the disney movie, there’s tension in that film because the beast is unkind and must change, and belle resists him and even flees the castle. when he saves her and chastises her, she chastises him back. if it’s like the fairy tale, the beast is kind, but the beauty is not attracted to a beast. the pace is too quick, and the romance is tepid. the sex is tepid. dark? gothic? erotic? no. there’s no longing. there’s no conflict. surely, even a cosy novella should have relationship stakes; even a lot of stories people call “cosy” have dark themes and conflict. briar’s initial sexual reluctance and shame have nothing that puts him at odds for long with the good and patient astaroth. a character’s issues don’t matter if the plot isn’t built to challenge them. the plot bends to be convenient for briar. angels and demons, and no interesting conflicts? what a waste. no amount of pretty writing, when it gets there, can save a flat story. writing style has to tell us something and serve the story. “no wonder eve ate that fruit. eden was probably rather boring.” i don’t know about that, but i do know boring.

i don’t know why astaroth is like this. is it guilt or shame? is it fear of being too sexual or dark, of being too problematic? of exploring harsh themes? of letting the reader sit in discomfort? can’t say. but i don’t recommend astaroth to anyone. just thinking about it gives me a dirty soap water taste in my mouth. wasted potential.

[Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who’s just getting into male romance novels, I definitely thought this was a great place to start. Not too crazy, but really impressive with the storyline. It’s simple, fun to read, and goes by fast.

The storyline of this book is a little confusing at first, but just keep reading, a lot of other reviews state that it’s uncomfortable because there’s an slave auction in it but as the story progresses, you realize that the buyer frees anyone who he purchases and leaves them to their own will. They may stay or leave. Creating a great storyline of a love the grows, slowly and hopelessly.

[Lisa Tobleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

not what I expected but so well done

I have not read anything by F Moon before, but this popped up in a “for you” recommendation. Color me intrigued especially since it’s near the end of the year and the story sort of felt timely. Anyhow, the spice is there, but it’s less smut and more art if that makes sense. The prose is poetic at points but doesn’t make me want to scream in purple. Overall this was a neat twist on angels in romance genre. Off to find more by said author.

[Plague Rat · Rating 4 out of 5]

More slice of life than the angsty book I thought I was getting. Romantic, fast paced but pretty fluffy. Don’t go in expecting there to be much drama or really anything to do with the auction, most of that happens in the first page or two.