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A review by steevejr
The Silver Scar by Betsy Dornbusch
2.0
This book has a lot of violent rape in it. That should automatically give it 0/5 stars.
I stopped reading at 56% even though I was really intent to finish, but the violence is absolutely revolting. Don't read this book.
That disclaimer aside, this book is... interesting. The plot is intriguing, and I enjoyed the writing style, for the most part. The characters were compelling and I would've liked to read more about them. It was enough to keep me reading past the first 100 pages and enough to warrant 2/5 stars instead of 1/5.
The weirdest part is the setting. For some inexplicable reason the story is set in Colorado, but that has no bearing on the plot at the slightest; it's a little jarring to be involved in a action-packed fantasy world only to read Colorado out of the blue with zero explanation. This is set in a post apocalyptic America but... why? Just so they can have guns? It makes no sense and there's no world building to back up why it's important for this story to take place in Colorado. If anything, it's distracting and strange.
The plot is interesting, but rushed. The characters seem to do things just to do things, and events seem to just sort of 'happen.' One character rushes into a dangerous place, knowing he will get caught and just... does it anyway, even though plot-wise there is absolutely no reason he had to be the one to do it. The characters seem to be pushed around by the plot rather than letting their own self preservation and motivations move the story forward; they don't question anything and just go along with what's happening. The 'twists' are obvious and predictable, to the point that I'm left wondering why the characters themselves didn't see that coming. The dialogue is stilted and random accents are forced on some of the characters with little rhyme or reason. Also the random, heavy-handedly implied sex scenes are bad.
Now let me talk about the violence, because that's what really ruined the story for me. The action scenes were written really well; I quite liked the fast-paced writing style paired with action-packed fight scenes. They were believable and fun to read, and I wish I could keep reading. But there are far too many torture scenes that have little bearing on the plot--they border on erotic and fetishizing, especially when paired with the fact that the character involved is coded as gay. It's gross. It's unnecessary. It's fetishized violence. The author gets zero pats on the back for lgbt rep when the gay characters are graphically beaten, assaulted, and violated for basically no plot-related reason.
Don't read this book. There are plenty of much better books out there that don't fetishize torture and that don't involve rape. The story and characters have so much potential and I wish I got to read what this story may have been in two or three more revisions.
I stopped reading at 56% even though I was really intent to finish, but the violence is absolutely revolting. Don't read this book.
That disclaimer aside, this book is... interesting. The plot is intriguing, and I enjoyed the writing style, for the most part. The characters were compelling and I would've liked to read more about them. It was enough to keep me reading past the first 100 pages and enough to warrant 2/5 stars instead of 1/5.
The weirdest part is the setting. For some inexplicable reason the story is set in Colorado, but that has no bearing on the plot at the slightest; it's a little jarring to be involved in a action-packed fantasy world only to read Colorado out of the blue with zero explanation. This is set in a post apocalyptic America but... why? Just so they can have guns? It makes no sense and there's no world building to back up why it's important for this story to take place in Colorado. If anything, it's distracting and strange.
The plot is interesting, but rushed. The characters seem to do things just to do things, and events seem to just sort of 'happen.' One character rushes into a dangerous place, knowing he will get caught and just... does it anyway, even though plot-wise there is absolutely no reason he had to be the one to do it. The characters seem to be pushed around by the plot rather than letting their own self preservation and motivations move the story forward; they don't question anything and just go along with what's happening. The 'twists' are obvious and predictable, to the point that I'm left wondering why the characters themselves didn't see that coming. The dialogue is stilted and random accents are forced on some of the characters with little rhyme or reason. Also the random, heavy-handedly implied sex scenes are bad.
Now let me talk about the violence, because that's what really ruined the story for me. The action scenes were written really well; I quite liked the fast-paced writing style paired with action-packed fight scenes. They were believable and fun to read, and I wish I could keep reading. But there are far too many torture scenes that have little bearing on the plot--they border on erotic and fetishizing, especially when paired with the fact that the character involved is coded as gay. It's gross. It's unnecessary. It's fetishized violence. The author gets zero pats on the back for lgbt rep when the gay characters are graphically beaten, assaulted, and violated for basically no plot-related reason.
Don't read this book. There are plenty of much better books out there that don't fetishize torture and that don't involve rape. The story and characters have so much potential and I wish I got to read what this story may have been in two or three more revisions.