coral reviewed The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice (The Sleeping Beauty Series, #1)
None
1 star
So much not my thing.
This book, which is nominally "BDSM erotica"—I have yet to determine whether BDSM erotica might be my thing or not, because so much of it is so bad—is really just a series of extended rape scenes, interspersed with violence. Some of the scenes of violence are probably legitimate depictions of BDSM scenes, give or take the concept of "consent"; but others are outright beatings. Much of what is described would lead to serious injury, and some of it would lead to permanent disfigurement.
I really did not enjoy [b:The Marketplace|125466|The Marketplace (The Marketplace, #1)|Laura Antoniou|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366550095s/125466.jpg|120835], which people point to as the other foundational book/series in the genre, along with this one, but at least the participants in that story have all agreed to be there, and the depictions of their brutalization are realistic. As a contrast, every submissive in Beauty has been captured or …
So much not my thing.
This book, which is nominally "BDSM erotica"—I have yet to determine whether BDSM erotica might be my thing or not, because so much of it is so bad—is really just a series of extended rape scenes, interspersed with violence. Some of the scenes of violence are probably legitimate depictions of BDSM scenes, give or take the concept of "consent"; but others are outright beatings. Much of what is described would lead to serious injury, and some of it would lead to permanent disfigurement.
I really did not enjoy [b:The Marketplace|125466|The Marketplace (The Marketplace, #1)|Laura Antoniou|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366550095s/125466.jpg|120835], which people point to as the other foundational book/series in the genre, along with this one, but at least the participants in that story have all agreed to be there, and the depictions of their brutalization are realistic. As a contrast, every submissive in Beauty has been captured or given by their kingdom as "tribute"; none of them are volunteers. None have given consent. It's disgusting and deeply upsetting, not erotic at all.