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The Darkness Within
Kindle Edition
Published December 17, 2021
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 19, 2022
I'm giving this one three stars on here. I have a love/hate relationship with this one. With that being said I'm going to bitch about this book before I tell you how good it is. I will note there is a minor spoiler in this review.
So, a trigger warning might have been nice for this book. I got 70% through the book and had been triggered multiple times by certain scenes. Rape and sexual assault are both mentioned and although the scenes are not very graphic at all, I was not in the headspace to deal with it being mentioned.
Not only this, but Thomas Allen included a trope in here that I've seen before and that I absolutely hate because it's sexist. That being said what happens is a girl/woman/female gets kidnapped with a few male counterparts and she's the one who gets embarrassed and abused for being a "whore" where she's forced to wear nothing at all or very revealing clothes.
I. Absolutely. Hate. This. Trope.
It really upset me that this was in the book to begin with.
And the scene with Jenny pulling the sheet down on Thomas? Seriously? The guy is dead for crying out loud that's extremely disrespectful and it felt more like she was taking advantage of him rather than helping him in a serious situation when they were supposed to be helping him. So to me that wasn't humorous at all.
Okay, now that I've ranted about everything that I hate about this book, let me tell you what I liked about it.
The world building is top notch in this book, just like in Working Wonders, the first book in this series. I absolutely love how the supernaturals entwine with the humans and I think it did a good job highlighting issues we have with minority groups in our culture. I also love the shop, Working Wonders. The name, the supplies, the background, the magic, what everything's used for, etc. I loved it all.
I loved learning about the different spells and think that Allen did a good job with the magic in this book. It's complex and multilayered and more often than not, intriguing. I'm in love with Thomas and Marcus andcantheypleasegettogethernowthnx??
Overall I enjoyed the plot of the story. I would recommend reading this if you've read and enjoyed the first one :)
However because of the things I ranted about above, I would advise caution if any of that could be a trigger for you.
So, a trigger warning might have been nice for this book. I got 70% through the book and had been triggered multiple times by certain scenes. Rape and sexual assault are both mentioned and although the scenes are not very graphic at all, I was not in the headspace to deal with it being mentioned.
Not only this, but Thomas Allen included a trope in here that I've seen before and that I absolutely hate because it's sexist. That being said what happens is a girl/woman/female gets kidnapped with a few male counterparts and she's the one who gets embarrassed and abused for being a "whore" where she's forced to wear nothing at all or very revealing clothes.
I. Absolutely. Hate. This. Trope.
It really upset me that this was in the book to begin with.
And the scene with Jenny pulling the sheet down on Thomas? Seriously? The guy is dead for crying out loud that's extremely disrespectful and it felt more like she was taking advantage of him rather than helping him in a serious situation when they were supposed to be helping him. So to me that wasn't humorous at all.
Okay, now that I've ranted about everything that I hate about this book, let me tell you what I liked about it.
The world building is top notch in this book, just like in Working Wonders, the first book in this series. I absolutely love how the supernaturals entwine with the humans and I think it did a good job highlighting issues we have with minority groups in our culture. I also love the shop, Working Wonders. The name, the supplies, the background, the magic, what everything's used for, etc. I loved it all.
I loved learning about the different spells and think that Allen did a good job with the magic in this book. It's complex and multilayered and more often than not, intriguing. I'm in love with Thomas and Marcus andcantheypleasegettogethernowthnx??
Overall I enjoyed the plot of the story. I would recommend reading this if you've read and enjoyed the first one :)
However because of the things I ranted about above, I would advise caution if any of that could be a trigger for you.
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