Beguilement
Lois Bujold
1/5
Big no from me, this entire book felt like a huge warning sign. I don't know why I even finished it, mostly I think because the biggest reveal on age didn't come till 80 percent into the book. That was done totally deliberately too because that age difference is too far to be quirky, it's just alarming.
I was already skeptical at the beginning when Fawn was in such a vulnerable position. Alone, hurt, and had been recently betrayed by someone who she thought she could trust. Dag is older, I originally assumed like ten or fifteen years which isn't ok but also could be justifiable in the context of different species that she was setting up. But the gap kept stretching and the differences between their two groups kept getting smaller. I'm not even sure what makes them so different, other than the ability to use groundsense which Fawn's aunt could also kind of use? It doesn't seem as though the differences were enough to rationalize that kind of difference.
<spoiler> Lots of fantasy books have sketchy age differences because of the differences in lifetimes. At least those have a romance that transcends the differences. Fawn and Dag had such a sketchy vibe to them, and it felt like their marriage was only motivated by Dag wanting to own Fawn/give Fawn power among her family. Fawn's entire complex with her family didn't really feel justified either, they seemed to care about her well-enough. They were a little rude but she is also eighteen, not really old enough to be as wise as she and Dag thought she was. Also, HE'S 55 AND OLDER THAN HER FATHER. </spoiler>
But yeah, I don't know why I finished it but I wouldn't really recommend it for anyone. They never even resolved the central conflict in anyway, just deferred it in favor of the creepy romance. Disappointed in the author and in myself for wasting my time.
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