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A review by 1siobhan
A Face Without a Heart by Rick R. Reed
2.0
*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*
This is a modern day retelling of Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" with Liam as an artist taking pictures of his muse and modelling them into holograms. The hologram of Gary Adrion (see the pun?) is his masterpiece and he falls in love with the ethereal beauty of young Gary. But Gary soon makes wrong decisions and as his actions become more cruel, violent, and terrible, he remains young and beautiful.
As retellings go, this was super predictable, but this one didn't take me in, emotionally. I thought many things were quite ridiculous (SUCH A LONG PENIS!), especially that graphic sex scenes are supposedly super shocking and how the wickedness of Gary, but it felt more like a caricature. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see what the modern setting would do to the story: surprisingly, not a lot. The alcohol, the drugs, the sex and the artist's helpless infatuation are the same. Yes, it was dirtier and more graphic, but it didn't make it much more shocking. Also trigger warnings galore: violence, abuse, rape, sexual assault,...
2,5-3 Stars
This is a modern day retelling of Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" with Liam as an artist taking pictures of his muse and modelling them into holograms. The hologram of Gary Adrion (see the pun?) is his masterpiece and he falls in love with the ethereal beauty of young Gary. But Gary soon makes wrong decisions and as his actions become more cruel, violent, and terrible, he remains young and beautiful.
As retellings go, this was super predictable, but this one didn't take me in, emotionally. I thought many things were quite ridiculous (SUCH A LONG PENIS!), especially that graphic sex scenes are supposedly super shocking and how the wickedness of Gary, but it felt more like a caricature. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see what the modern setting would do to the story: surprisingly, not a lot. The alcohol, the drugs, the sex and the artist's helpless infatuation are the same. Yes, it was dirtier and more graphic, but it didn't make it much more shocking. Also trigger warnings galore: violence, abuse, rape, sexual assault,...
2,5-3 Stars