Caitlin’s Reviews > Kink: Stories > Status Update

Emotional Technologies: I'm giving up here. It's the last story but I do not think I'm the audience for this art critique essay? I don't know that I have context/understanding to engage with this.

Retouch/Switch: I'm not a fan of the perspective switching, I'm not sure how many people this involves? I'm thinking there's at least two versions of one person (a trans man), but I'm not really sure. Yet another example of something that barely engages with kink, so it feels really out of place to me.

Maybe I'm just not absorbing this one because I want to be done with this book.

The Voyeurs: I quite liked this story, but I'm not sure how to feel about the kink part just being a transphobic peeping Tom. Loved the tenderness and humanity of the couple in this story, but this is another one that isn't quite what I expected for this collection.

The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror: A very unique story, loved the setting, the gothic vibes, and the sapphic desire. This one was fun.

Scissors: This one is one of the few that has felt like a mutual celebration of kink, tbh. There's a level of fear, but that is part of Dee's desire. I kind thought more of the stories would feel like this.

Gospodar: One of the best written stories In this collection thus far. The prose is lush, and Greenwell balances eroticism, humanity, and fear so well. This encounter between the narrator and the man he meets does become very scary and violent, but it does feel purposeful, if shocking and stomach turning. It seems that this is an excerpt from a book, so maybe that's why it feels so fleshed out.

Reach: Felt a little uncomfortable with how the narrator recognizes their wife's anger with certain acts (to the point of not speaking to them for days), but continues to do them because the wife doesn't safeword. I guess this is to allude to the unreachable part the narrator is hoping to access, but idk, this one didn't really land for me.

Impact Play: Hate hate hate it. Was this intended to be a reflection on trauma, it just shock value? If it was the former, I don't know how successful it was.

Oh, Youth: This was a good one. Very melancholy but beautifully written.

Safeword: Some mixed feelings on this one. I thought the couple felt real and it was kind of charming to see them learn together, but the husband's discomfort and reluctance sort of made this sad by the end.

Canada: I quite liked the writing and set-up here, but this feels out of place in this collection, imo.