Almost exactly two years ago I started to read the Legacy of Gods series. Back then, there were only four books released, now the entire six book series is out in print. I wonder, did I not continue reading the next few books on purpose because I knew the series wasn’t finished, or was there another reason? To try and figure out what that other reason might have been I did go back and re read God of Malice, the first book in Legacy of Gods. I did enjoy it, although there were several things that frustrated me. I am going to update the post I wrote for that book in my original post, of which I will have a link for you at the end of this post.
God of Pain begins around the end of the events of God of Malice, pre epilogues. Both novels are standalones, but the characters of focus in God of Pain are introduced to us in God of Malice. Creighton, younger brother to Eli and second cousin to Glyndon and her brothers, is the strong and silent type, emphasis on the silent part. He is a says less, means more kind of guy, only speaking when he deems it worthy enough to do so. This is beyond frustrating for Annika, the new roommate to the Royal Elite girls, who is a socialite and a chatterbox. She is drawn to Creighton the first time she meets him, with his beautiful dark blue eyes and powerful presence. She just wants him to open up and show some interest in her, but he is stubbornly resistant to her charms. Just when Annika is ready to give up on Creighton, he breaks into her room one night, the same night that someone sets fire to a building outside of the mansion she lives in with her brother and the other members of his club, the Heathens. The Heathens and the Serpents, rival clubs at the American King’s University, are also in a tandem rivalry war with the Elites, the club belonging to the English Royal Elite University. After the events of God of Malice, the three clubs have been fighting constantly, and anyone associated with the clubs, including friends and relatives of the members, are either in danger or could potentially be so.
Why was Creighton in Annika’s room the night of the fire? Was he the one who started it? What changes after that night, after weeks of nothing, that causes Creighton to finally show interest in Annika? This is just the beginning of a very dangerous, forbidden affair. The story escalated in ways I could have never imagined. I was ready for Annika’s older brother Jeremy, leader of the Heathens, to oppose his sister dating a guy whose brother and cousin are leading members of the Elites. I wasn’t prepared for yet another book in which an inexperienced, cloistered virgin, immediately participates in very aggressive, violent sexual acts with a man she barely knows, a man who has vastly more experience in both the world at large and in the bedroom. It was thrilling to read, but also mildly irritating. I don’t believe that anyone goes from being untouched to immediately ready for BDSM, which is pretty much exactly what occurs between Creigh and Anni. And the overly controlling man trope was tiring as well. Anni gets it from both ends, from her brother forcing her to stay with him at his mansion rather than her dorm with the girls, to Creighton having similar tendencies to Killian. It becomes incredibly unreasonable and irrational, an example being when he won’t let any other man touch her, including men that are gay. Annika has craved freedom her entire life, Creighton doesn’t exactly give her any. Why is she ready to commit to a man that treats her almost exactly the same way her brother and father have treated her for her entire life?
I was hoping that the next book in this series would be better, but I’ve already read the first few chapters and I think I’m going to be mentally grumbling again. It looks as though this will be yet another story that follows a similar vein, and even more frustratingly so that this will be the third book in a row in this series that focuses on my least favorite trope, the female virgin who gets swallowed up by a much more experienced man. I predict that our female main character will get sucked into a situation that is more than she bargained for, but she somehow ends up either liking it or just going along with it, and she doesn’t think she has any means of bargaining with the man or ending the relationship, and so she throws her morals out the window. Come back next week if you want to hear me both complain about that while simultaneously gloat about how spot on I was with my predictions.
Nonfiction and Nonsense 