Welcome to THE MONSTER BOTHERER!

We are thrilled to welcome back Emma Penman, who exclusively reviews monster romance, and has returned for another week of Monster Bothering. We decided that as all her reviews have a specific aim, we’ll house them all in one handy feature-cage!

Whilst not necessarily bothering many monsters herself, Emma will be letting us know which monster romance books are worth bothering with…

Content warning: These books are usually explicit unless stated otherwise

Romantasy is absolutely a gateway drug to monster romance. We want our love interests a little beastlier, a little rougher than the perfect humanish offerings most romances give us. Dark romantasy pushes that even further, playing with the term monster out to its full potential. In Feathers so Vicious we are confronted by the physical kind and the emotional kind, and as the author so aptly states “What this book doesn’t contain is a hero, because villains do it so much better” and she’s quite right. There is a sense of absolute helplessness here, there is no one to really save the day. Only make it a little better.

Galantia is your typical sheltered noblewoman, promised in marriage to the prince and on her way to meet him when she is kidnapped by the raven shifters she has been taught to fear since she was a baby. Due to her family name, she is a valuable hostage, but a trigger to the “Lord of Shadows” who had been captured by Galantia’s father as a child. He seeks revenge, and who better to inflict that on than his enemy’s precious daughter?

While a fairly generic medieval style fantasy plot happens in the background, the focus is really on the twists and turns in the relationship between Galantia, Malyr (the Lord of Shadows) and Sebian (Malyr’s best friend). There is so much emotional whiplash I’m surprised Galantia manages to function, never mind navigate the new court and face truths that may have been better hidden. All our main characters here are broken. All have suffered loss, abuse and pain from different places, but ultimately it’s the trauma that bonds them. Each has something to gain too. Galantia needs to be loved, Sebian needs to protect and Malyr needs to be absolved, though it’s all too easy to sink back into what they thought of themselves before, unlovable, cowardly and cursed.

The spice is incredibly high. Carolina reaper high, you know, lots of heat but lots of pain and can be fairly uncomfortable, has the potential to hurt your tummy. It’s not an easy fun read but it’s kind of hard to tear your eyes away from the pages when things get interesting. While Malyr likes his partners to hurt, to bleed and to scream, Sebian is dominant but gentle, earning this years coveted “Aftercare King” award. Galantia accepts both of them, embracing a kind of strangled throuple who bounce trauma around like it’s nothing. It’s amazing what a good lay can achieve.

It’s almost necessary to not allow yourself any introspection when reading a dark romance/romantasy. Yes the characters are doing some awful things but you don’t mind because they’re hot, tragic and good in bed. The ugly human prince is hated and you hope for his death, yet his crimes are about on par with the raven prince’s. Yeah, don’t think about that too deeply, this is where the escapism comes in. While we can romanticise these villains, forgive their crimes and perhaps even join them in committing them through the magical power of reading, it’s less likely we would be so willing if it was real. It’s pure fantasy, I’d love to see a dragon but actually no I wouldn’t because I’d probably pee a little in terror. I’d love to get naughty with a messed up raven prince who wants to shatter me but would I? Probably not. Even if my body could cope with what Galentia goes through, I don’t think my heart could. Dark Romantasy is a safe place to explore and enjoy things we would normally fear and that’s healthy. Experiencing, through the story, what others would deem distasteful or depraved and enjoying it too. It’s empowering but most of all, it’s fun.

I would bother with Feathers so Vicious and its sequel Shadows so Cruel. Even if you’re not enthralled it’s one of these stories that you need to know how it ends. As soon as I finished book one, I opened book two. The cliff-hanger was too much for me, even at 4am. Yeah, I didn’t sleep much that night. I don’t have any complaints, I really enjoyed every moment I spent in this world but I will say, at the end of it all, I don’t think I’ll ever forgive the author.