Taboo Thursday? I’ve decided I am going to start doing Taboo Thursdays where I review a taboo book. Some might be slightly taboo, some more taboo, but in some way they shall be. There is no way i’ll have something every week. I’d like to have at least 1 a month, but we shall see. I am starting off with this book
Synopsis:
Kraken: A gothic erotic horror with tentacle non-con.
When boyfriend Parker gives him an ultimatum Will never dreams his heart is about to be ripped out: move to a remote off-shore island with him, or call it quits. But Will picks wrong, and now he’s heading into the unknown to fix his mistake. But why do the locals think they recognise him? And why can’t he seem to leave?
Reader advisory: This work of fiction contains explicit sexual activities between men that may offend some people. It also contains scenes of rape, extreme violence, tentacles, and reference to sexual abuse of children.
63,000 words
Available at Amazon for Kindle, and Smashwords in all formats.
My Review:
At first I didn’t think some things made sense. Since finishing it, it makes more sense, though i’m still not sure everything does. Maybe it could’ve been a little more fleshed out but over-all I liked it and had a fun, and horrifying, time.
I initially found the romance weird but eventually it did make sense. It is abusive and there are major red flags, and actually it’s not romance after all. It’s not called a gothic horror tentacle non-con for nothing! I am trying to not spoil anything though.
The characters were varying degrees of annoying. The main character Will was so frustrating, because he was constantly making stupid decisions, like
Some of which I understood but most of them, no. Parker, is a jerk but after finishing it i’m actually thinking not quite as much as he initially appears. Cyrus, well he’s abusive and a powerful cephalopod shifter. You’re not supposed to like him. Cyrus is very controlling.
This story gets more horrifying as you read. It completely says fuck the limits of the human body. Even though Will was frustrating I felt so bad for him because he didn’t deserve what he went through, and some of the frustration (some of it, not all) makes sense later when you consider what he had gone through.
This definitely hits on some kinks, including uh … mine. I was horrifyed, slightly aroused, and wanting to save poor Will all at the same damn time. It felt weird.
It is a strange read. It took me some time to really warm up to the story but I did. I went from “this is ok” to “omg i’m really enjoying this”.
I will never understand the noodle fetish thing though. Is it like, an ASMR fetish? Do people get turned on by ASMR? Or noodles? You’ll have to read it.
It does have quite a bit of typos. Normally I wouldn’t mention a few but it was more than a few. I still enjoyed the story though and that’s what matters.
I also loved the ending. It was emotional and sweet.
So, in short, I found it enjoyable, horrifying, arousing, strange, and emotional. A solid 4 stars from me.
Literary Stoner 
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