Review: False Feathers by Adara Wolf (Grim and Sinister Delights)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Horse rating: 🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴 of 7 horses
My original opinion was based on expecting more of an HEA, or perhaps something slightly less horror. Innocent(ish lol) me, having never read Adara Wolf or this series before.
Upon reflection, and having read much more Wolf, this is delightfully bleak. I had the wrong expectations going in originally, but it works for me now.
My original review text, formerly a 3/5:
This is kind of hard to review. First, it’s a retelling of a Grimm fairytale, which hedges it in for both plot and resolution. Extra challenge for a dark romance, which I think are especially difficult to pull off a HEA (or HFN, or a subjective HEA) in the first place, let alone when the end is already written for you.
The kinks - they were a little matter of fact almost. It seemed to be more of a focus on humiliation than eroticism, which was fine, just not what I expected when I started this book.
Aidan - poor baby never had a chance. He was hard to connect to with how blasé he was about everything, but then he had some sad moments where it was clear he was pretty beaten down by his mother and kind of everyone. He just wanted to be a goose herder with his goose friends but he’s trapped into the permanent king’s consort role regardless of what he wants, since he was designed for the king. Pulls that darkness in at the end.
I did like that Aidan learned some compassion (sort of, barely) for others, and he bonded with the animals and Falada well. Which also made it a bit more tragic since it didn’t even matter in the end.
It read kind of distant, both for how disconnected Aidan was from everything that happened to him, but also storywise. In some ways that vibes with the fairytale retelling, since I’ve always found those distant in their telling.
Overall, it was an interesting read, and a bit sad for Aidan overall. At least he still has Falada.
My original review text, formerly a 3/5:
This is kind of hard to review. First, it’s a retelling of a Grimm fairytale, which hedges it in for both plot and resolution. Extra challenge for a dark romance, which I think are especially difficult to pull off a HEA (or HFN, or a subjective HEA) in the first place, let alone when the end is already written for you.
The kinks - they were a little matter of fact almost. It seemed to be more of a focus on humiliation than eroticism, which was fine, just not what I expected when I started this book.
Aidan - poor baby never had a chance. He was hard to connect to with how blasé he was about everything, but then he had some sad moments where it was clear he was pretty beaten down by his mother and kind of everyone. He just wanted to be a goose herder with his goose friends but he’s trapped into the permanent king’s consort role regardless of what he wants, since he was designed for the king. Pulls that darkness in at the end.
I did like that Aidan learned some compassion (sort of, barely) for others, and he bonded with the animals and Falada well. Which also made it a bit more tragic since it didn’t even matter in the end.
It read kind of distant, both for how disconnected Aidan was from everything that happened to him, but also storywise. In some ways that vibes with the fairytale retelling, since I’ve always found those distant in their telling.
Overall, it was an interesting read, and a bit sad for Aidan overall. At least he still has Falada.
This is definitely one of the best stories in this multiauthor series I've read yet.
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