Imme [trying to crawl out of hiatus]’s review of God of Malice (Legacy of Gods, #1) > Likes and Comments

That's Rina Kent for you. I am so glad I didn't read the other books in the series. This is pretty much why I hate most dark romances. The supposed 'Hero" Rapes his love interest and people defend it by labeling it dark romance. I don't even know how this is the same author that wrote God Of Fury

This was my least fav book in the series lol….i dislike Killian very much. Because of what he did to Glyn at the beginning of the book literally tainted the rest of it so I couldn’t enjoy it and ended up dnfing it. God of Pain is much better than this one imo. Creighton is so broody and never talks but he’s so soft for his girl 🥹 I HATE when the author just makes the fmc give in because the mmc won’t fuck off…and then they go and make it “okay” bc she likes it 🙄🙄🙄 Rina is annoying for doing that and I wish she didn’t. I’m so sorry this didn’t work for you ❤️

@Jayden — Honestly, I can deal with a morally gray character, but I definitely draw the line at RAPE. It just makes me sick that books like these normalize and even romanticize sexual assault and abuse. For me it’s pretty simple with dark romances; the hero can murder whoever he likes and act towards other people like an angry pitbull, but if he abuses the heroine it’s over for me. The hero NEEDS to treat the heroine with damn respect or otherwise it’s just NOT a love story. Honestly, I just can’t believe people are into literal rapists… Makes my head spin.
And yup, I can’t believe the author who wrote God of Fury wrote this trash💀💀

@hope — exactly!! there was no way I could ever get into this relationship after it started with literal rape. It tainted the entire “romance” from the very start; there was no coming back from that. Not that Killian even tried to come back from it, cus he literally continued to rape her throughout the rest of the book💀💀 Using sex as punishment, forcing her to do things she didn’t want to do? I could have puked. I don’t care he “made her lunch with a smiley face that one time” or “liked 500 of her pictures on instagram”; as if those menial things somehow take away from the fact that he abuses and rapes her all the rest of the time??😟😟 I hate how this book basically sends the message that “yes means no” and “if you push long enough, eventually she’ll give in”😣

Omg it really sounds awful 😕 I’ve read my share of dark romances and non-con/dub-con, but the way you describe it both characters are awful in their own way ☹️

Sounds awful. 😬 Do you plan to continue with the series, since you liked book 5?

WTF sounds about right, Imme. I'm sure I would have either thrown my e-reader to the wall or dnf'd the book (ok I would have dnf'd the book). This sounds beyond awful.

damn now i really wonder how you managed to read it all

YIKES

oh my god that sounds terrible! sorry you had to read it - hope you have an enjoyable read soon!

O my... Now this is something I had not heard about this book before today. That's just scary tbh...

lol this doesn’t surprise me. rk is definitely known for writing these types of heroes. they work for some and not for others.

WTF indeed. I would not have made it through this book, I draw the line at rape, torture and cruelty to animals in my reading. I thought your review was fair and informative and I appreciate you saying what you said.

How this is considered romance is so beyond me 😃 I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to read this series now. Great review tho and I hope your next read is sm better! 💗💗

@Cat — yea, I know a lot of romances like the idea of using dub-con as something spicy (which I also hate), but this was on a whole different level. This was just straight up rape, and it was even more sick cus it happened during their very first meeting at some sort of abandoned cliff. It felt like a real situation where someone could get raped…

@Snjez — Honestly, I think I want to know whether this author is someone I want to put on my “never reading again” list or not, so I’ll have to try another one of her books to see if her usual style is more like this monstrosity of a book or more like book 5 (which I loved)🫡

@Angelika — It really made me so angry, but I also wanted to finish it to see if there would be any redeeming factors that could explain why people simp over this guy (I wasn’t ready to loose my faith in humanity just yet lol), but it turns out there were no redeeming factors whatsoever. He was just a rapist and apparently a lot of readers are into that…😟😔

@martina — I was hoping something would happen to redeem him or maybe that everything was a misunderstanding, cus I really didn’t want him to be a literal rapist since so many readers love him and it just makes me sad that nobody cared anymore about rape…😔

@ancientreader — YIKES sounds about right😭😭

@Liv — Thank you! It genuinely took a lot of emotional energy to get through this one, im not gonna lie🫣🫤

@SK — Right!?? It’s actually crazy that we didn’t know this already, because everyone just keeps simping over the rapist in their reviews… I never would have thought the “hero” would be like this. It’s sick😣

@elena — I don’t think it’s as simple as that, or, I sure hope not; there is nothing wrong with writing a morally gray, or even morally dark, character, but it’s a whole different story when an author writes a story romanticizing rape and basically sending the message that “no actually means yes”. It’s truly harmful, and I don’t think it’s a matter of preference if you enjoy that or not. I genuinely think it’s wrong. It would be totally different if it was consensual non-consent; that’s a kink, and to each their own, but this was RAPE😟

@Charles — Thank you🩶 I’m happy to hear that, and I definitely share your morals about this x

@Grace — I know right!? This shouldn’t be considered a romance; it’s literally a horror story. Also, if you do ever want to give this series a go, I’d suggest you read the fifth book. All the books seem to work as standalone and I read the fifth book first, which was honestly really good and nothing like this book😅

are you trying to read the whole series now? What an epic fail to start with. 😅

@Kati — that was the plan, yea, but I don’t think I can get through them all. I do wanna read another one before making final decisions about the author though, cus I genuinely did love the fifth book, so I hope her usual style is more like that and that this book was just a big mistake. I fear it’s the other way around though, and that book 5 was the fluke while her usual books are more like this one…😬🫣

Ohhh 😢

@Celia — yea…🙁🙁

Imme wrote: "@elena — I don’t think it’s as simple as that, or, I sure hope not; there is nothing wrong with writing a morally gray, or even morally dark, character, but it’s a whole different story when an aut..."

hmm, we can just agree to disagree. i have a few mutuals who enjoyed this. some readers see it as romanticizing, like you, and others don’t. a lot of rina’s older books are like this too, especially her bully romances, where i’ve seen some people say it’s dubcon and others say it’s rape. i mean, i know you loved god of fury, but some people commented on a lot of problematic things the author did that you didn’t, so i’d say it really depends on how the reader interpreted it. 🤷🏻‍♀️ and i’m not saying you’re wrong, i’m just saying what i see. 😂 i’ve only read one book by this author and won’t ever read her again. her heroes aren’t for me and i’m sure i’d feel the same as you tbh.

@elena — Yea but if you haven’t read the book I’m not really sure how you know whether it’s actually romanticizing rape or not? Not every book is the same, and I’m sure not all of this author’s books are the same either. Some dark romances are indeed dubcon (like her third book in this series), while this one was very much rape. It’s not really something people can disagree on; that’s like the whole point I’m trying to make. No means no, and when some readers act like that no actually means yes, then I find that problematic. Rape is not subjective… But books like these are apparently making people think that it is… I mean, I also have mutuals who liked this book, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be critical of it.
Also, not sure what would be the moral problem that people have with God of Fury, but there’s no rape or dubcon in that book, so if people had issues with that book, it’s about something else entirely😅

I'm sorry you've had so many misses lately!

@Mai — most have been at least in the three star range, which is pretty okay i guess, but this one was just horrendous💀😬

Three is fine, but I hope you get a four or five soon

@Mai — thank you, love, I hope so too❤️❤️

i always thought after seeing all the negative reviews this book received, rina went- nopes gotta tone down the others in this series

maybe try reading the second book? creigh-annika have a sadomasochism relationship but it's safe as far as i remember. the rest of the books in this series are actually safe. i mean yes there is stalking, manhandling, gaslighting, and every other red flag you can think of, but there's no rape or abuse for that matter. jeremy's and landon's book have rape fantasy, but it's consensual. this is no spoiler, i'm just giving you a heads up. enjoyy love <3

@Betty — Thank you so much for the heads up, gorgeous!!❤️ I actually really appreciate it! I think you’re absolutely right, by the way; I think Rina knew she went too far with this book, and it would make sense for her to not make that mistake twice when people seriously called her out of it.
I’m definitely not a fan of the sadomasochism kinks myself, so I probably wouldn’t enjoy the second book, but then again, I don’t like the rape fantasy either, so book 3 and 4 would not be a great fit me either then🤣 but really, considering there’s at least CONSENT in those books, I’d feel safe reading any of them. I don’t judge kinks, I judge rape💀 anyhow, I read book 5 a little while ago and I actually loved that one and that’s probably cus there were no toxic vibes or bdsm-ish kinks in that one. It was actually pretty cute, which was a shock for me, cus I thought Niko would be more of a red flag (like all Rina’s other heroes seem to be) LOL

personally i do think that their FIRST scene was sexual assault and non-consent. Killian was literally on the verge of doing actual rape and ofc glyn had no other choice. the others have been put to dub-con category because rina is misogynist like that 😭 their first sex scene was forced but not entirely rape because glyndon was like OKAYY YEAH (but i won't say you're wrong for interpreting it like that as elena ^ said) because rina just likes to write about females enjoying this type of behaviour or make them think that they don't really have choices (even tho they literally have 1002718th resources to get rid of these wanna be psychos)

i read one of her other books and noticed the same thing so i dnf’d so fast cause don’t piss me off with that😑 safe to say this author is not for me and im not a fan of “dubcon” either🚮

Ughhhhh, I will never understand books like this being “romance“

Imme wrote: "@Betty — Thank you so much for the heads up, gorgeous!!❤️ I actually really appreciate it! I think you’re absolutely right, by the way; I think Rina knew she went too far with this book, and it wou..."

i think what made god of fury so different was brandon. he actually stood up for himself as contrary to all the rk heroines who love being a doormat😭 that made nikolai appear less toxic than he is.

judging by your taste, i don't think you'll like book 3 or 4. however creigh-annika's book has several cute domestic moments in them (if you can even call that in a rk book😃) there's drama and there's love confessions, and there's plot. the s&m relationship is only during smut, so it's not bothering. if you feel like giving this series another chance, i'd highly advice you to go for the second book💗

hated this book sm 🥰️

This sounds horrible 😭

@anum — yea, that makes sense. I think it’s definitely non-debatable that the first scene was rape, but I can see how the rest of their relationship can be seen as more dubcon by a lot of people. The difference is probably that Killian threatened to murder Glyn in that first scene if she didn’t do what he wanted, whereas all the other rape (in my opinion) scenes included threats of a less physical variety, and, like you said, she had chances to tell someone in between, so I can see why some people might see it as her “chosing” to not do anything about it. But idk, for me a no is a no, so I see it all as rape…🫣

@Krysta — yea, I’ve heard from a lottt of people that she writes plenty of dubcon. I actually picked up another book of hers and that turned out to be dubcon as well, so that sucked. Still, at least it’s better than non-con like this one😬

@Rain — Right!? It’s crazy!!💀

@Betty — Actually, yea, I think you’re right; I do think Niko was a better hero than the other ones, but what made the book work so well was probably indeed Brandon. Rina seems incapable of writing a strong heroine with a backbone, so I guess it makes sense that her MM book would be better cus Bran didn’t let Niko get away with anything.

Anyway, okay, I really thought to myself that I would not like book 2 and I was never going to read it, but I think you might have convinced me to give it a try anyway. It sounds much better than I thought it would be, and it’s definitely promising that the sadomasochism scenes are only during the smut (I can just skip that then lolll). Thank you so much for the tipss, sweetheart💙💙

@Ozge — Yup, my hatred for this book knows no bounds😭 im glad to see others agree

@María — It truly was terrible🙁

excuse me he WHAT?