I was so goddamn intrigued by the first season, so I kept reading, excited to see how it’d progress. Yet, a pit in my stomach formed, and it only grew heavier and more disgusting as I went on. MC just… loses all of his character. He’s supposed to be in this powerless situation, I understand, but he lacks the resilience, cunning, or calculating that he had before. He has become a passive part of his life, and just gets pushed around. I couldn’t find myself even sparing a glance at the smut chapters, which I typically enjoy—I scrolled past quickly with a bitter taste in my mouth. I can understand power dynamics with complicated instances of consent, like in Payback, because the MC is doing it for a goal and has agency in his choice. But the MC in this, in spite of re-iterating that he only sees ML as ‘money’, keeps acting all concerned and involved with the ML, which totally goes against what I thought his character was.
And then the overtly rape chapter. Drugs? Are you kidding me? And 2 whole chapters so people can get their rocks off to rape. 1000% unnecessary, with zero tact. I am not fully against rape in stories, as they are unfortunate and frightening common things that can totally alter how people live from then on out. It is a character thing, like abuse and addiction can be. but there is never a need to show it graphically, and even less of a need to include it in a character’s backstory if it does not serve a purpose and isn’t treated with the seriousness and delicacy it needs. Rape is not a character quirk, it is not a passing event in people’s lives—it is ruinous. Those chapters? That was just rape porn.
I give up this story, and cannot recommend it. If it gets better, it is not worth forgiving rape played off as sex.
I was so goddamn intrigued by the first season, so I kept reading, excited to see how it’d progress. Yet, a pit in my stomach formed, and it only grew heavier and more disgusting as I went on. MC just… loses all of his character. He’s supposed to be in this powerless situation, I understand, but he lacks the resilience, cunning, or calculating that he had before. He has become a passive part of his life, and just gets pushed around. I couldn’t find myself even sparing a glance at the smut chapters, which I typically enjoy—I scrolled past quickly with a bitter taste in my mouth. I can understand power dynamics with complicated instances of consent, like in Payback, because the MC is doing it for a goal and has agency in his choice. But the MC in this, in spite of re-iterating that he only sees ML as ‘money’, keeps acting all concerned and involved with the ML, which totally goes against what I thought his character was.
And then the overtly rape chapter. Drugs? Are you kidding me? And 2 whole chapters so people can get their rocks off to rape. 1000% unnecessary, with zero tact. I am not fully against rape in stories, as they are unfortunate and frightening common things that can totally alter how people live from then on out. It is a character thing, like abuse and addiction can be. but there is never a need to show it graphically, and even less of a need to include it in a character’s backstory if it does not serve a purpose and isn’t treated with the seriousness and delicacy it needs. Rape is not a character quirk, it is not a passing event in people’s lives—it is ruinous. Those chapters? That was just rape porn.
I give up this story, and cannot recommend it. If it gets better, it is not worth forgiving rape played off as sex.