Joanna

The story was ridiculous. There were some good ideas, issues of magic and corruption, but none of them were handled well. They were all just used as thinly veiled excuses for more sex. And don't get me wrong, I love smut in my book. But here it's just over used and outrageous. The characters are laughable. Their actions so removed from what we are told their motivations are that they're either the two stupidest men in the world or so unaware of themselves that that it's honestly unbelievable. The book probably would have done much better if it hadn't been written in alternating first person perspective. The characters are too shallow and ill conceived to stand up to the point of view. The poor development wouldn't have been so painful in third person, maybe. The fact that this is meant to be a society where homosexuality is entirely banned and almost unthinkable and yet every single male character in the book (and there are no female characters) has sex with one of the protagonists. EVERY ONE. The author has no other ideas for how to handle any situations that don't involve sex, coerced sex, magically necessary sex or out and out rape. I'm not joking, almost every chapter is about one of the main characters having sex and usually not by their free choice. The whole plot reads like a game where the author tries to figure out new ways to get these two faithful lovers to sleep with everyone else in the world. I can't imagine how anyone takes this book seriously.