Wrecked by Loki Renard

3 Stars

The writing and editing of this novel was super clean, with not typos that I caught in the ARC version of the manuscript. The world building was competent. The characterization was okay, if a little flat. I did not enjoy this novel nearly as much as I usually enjoy novels by this author. A big part of that was probably the inclusion of real slavery and systemic abuse and exploitation perpetrated by the hero's race and culture. I have a hard time with slave owning heroes, to be honest. The slavery depicted here was non-consensual and abusive. The development of the romantic relationship was where it failed for me, I think. I did not believe these two characters would be able to be happy together, at the end of the novel. The heroine said she would be happy with the hero, but I as the reader did not buy into their relationship. That is very rare for me with a Loki Renard novel. The kink scenes were competent, but did not really do much for me, I think because I had not bought into their relationship. The plot and pacing was a little strange, with a bit of a choppy plot structure. There was medium angst in this novel and it did not feel like there were particularly high stakes to me, though objectively I think there were. This novel used the Barbarian Hero trope. The plot, pacing and world building were three stars. The characterization and development of the romantic relationship was also three stars. The combined score of this novel was therefore three stars. The ending was supposed to be a Happy Ever After ending, I think, though I personally did not think it ended happily. I recommend this story to fans of the author who are not triggered by slave owning heroes. I do not plan to buy myself a keeper copy of this novel. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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