Another Review Round-Up
I’ve been in something of a reading rut lately, with a mix of okay, meh, and good-grief reads, none of which I want to dwell on at length . . . so here we are.
Title: The Death RelicAuthor: Chris Kuzneski
Publication Date: August 6, 2013 by Berkley Books
Genres: Fiction | Thriller
Representation: None
Okay, so the blurb promised Aztec and Mayan civilizations, legends of a deadly artifact known as “the Death Relic,” missing archaeologists, and one of the darkest mysteries of the New World. It sounded like fun, a popcorn treasure hunting adventure, and honestly, my expectations were pretty low.
But now low enough.
I chose to DNF this at Chapter 38, a little more than 40% of the way through, when we were still stuck talking about the missing professor, still bickering about relationship issues, and still bantering about race with the black guy who you really know is black because he reminds you every few pages that he’s black. We literally just left the hotel, where we finally saw some artifacts, but we still haven’t even talked about the treasure. The only redeeming quality of the book has been the villain, who served as our conduit to an info dump as a tour guide details the history of the Aztec people. 2 stars for the history and the tour guide, who I quite liked.
Rating: 
Author: C. S. Pacat
Publication Date: April 7, 2015 by Berkley
Genres: Fantasy | Romance
Representation: Gay/Bisexual
I first attempted to read this a few years ago, back when I was still dealing with undiagnosed anxiety, and likely was not in the best headspace or mood to enjoy it. All I remembered of it was being sickened by the nonconsensual sex, cruel torture, and disturbing glimpses of child exploitation.
It has such a good reputation, though, and I wanted an edgier sort of M/M fantasy romance, so I decided to give it a second shot. So, how did it go? Well, it’s still full of nonconsensual sex (the gladiator ‘triumph’ sticks in my head); and Damen does get whipped, beaten, and flayed far more than even I, with my fetish for BDSM kinks, is comfortable with; and it’s still deplorable what happens to Nicaise. In fact, the first half of the book is pretty much exclusively a masochistic fantasy of sexual slavery and sexual violence, far more explicit than anything you’d find in John Norman’s Gor novels, and lacks the philosophy (problematic as it is) of those books. There’s neither commentary, justification, or apology for the violence, just a sort of underlying suggestion that it’s okay since they’re men.
There is something of a political plot in the second half that was interesting enough, but what I had come for – the enemies-to-lovers romance – falls utterly flat. There’s a hint of respect building there as we journey from fiery loathing to cold hatred, but that’s it. What’s more, in the context of the society, against the backdrop of what the Prince inflicts on Damen, I found myself actually relieved that the ‘romance’ never went anywhere because the idea of validating that abuse is the most sickening part of the book.
Rating:
Author: Kit Rocha
Publication Date: May 6, 2025 by Montlake
Genres: Fantasy | Romance
Representation: Bisexual throuple
This wasn’t a horrible read, it just wasn’t a very good one. The pacing is very uneven, with a chaotic opening where we’re dumped into a lot of names and facts (apparently it makes much more sense if you’ve read her other series, which the blurb does not mention), a middle that is so slow as to feel stalled, and then an ending that is frantic and fierce, but all sex and no plot.
The poly/throuple aspect was fun, and I was glad to see it explored, but everything felt instalove sudden and rushed, with nothing to build a relationship, just the fact of relationships we were expected to accept and follow through. Again, maybe there’s history to these characters, I don’t know, but I felt like much was missing.
Rating:
