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Touched By Venom: Part One
WARNING: This book is extremely NSFW. You have been warned.

“Compelling and harrowing.” ~Jacqueline Carey
"Fucking insane and horrible" ~Most of the Internet
"Please just shoot me now"~The_Epistler
We at AS have of course spent plenty of time bitching about the Inheritance Cycle and the way a supposedly dragon-centric story horribly mistreats its dragon characters. We’ve also thoroughly exposed the ludicrous amounts of wish-fulfillment and plot armour. All the important “good” characters in Inheritance are carefully protected by a thick titanium shield of Author Love, and all their problems are instantly solved for them before they are forced to undergo the terrible, horrible ordeal known as “character development”. And we’ve frequently complained about how undeveloped and unrealistic the setting is.
Touched By Venom is… kinda the opposite of all that. Today we make a switch from Fantasy Fluff and plunge into the depths of Grimdark. Sick of coddled, babied characters who never have to work for anything? Well now it’s time for characters who are horribly mistreated every five seconds and pretty much never get anywhere no matter how hard they try because their author keeps deliberately ruining everything. Did you find Inheritance irritatingly sexless and immature? Fear not! It’s time for lots of really graphic sexual content, and also nudity! Tired of Inheritance’s way too clean and comfortable setting, where even the supposed poor people eat chicken for breakfast and have fully-furnished private bedrooms with all the mod cons? Not to worry – Touched by Venom supplies dirt, starvation, disease and general squalor by the truckload! Bored of Euro-centric fantasy settings? Not this time around! Now we’re in the Exotic East… or something vaguely resembling it, anyway.
And yes, there is dragon sex in this book. Lots and lots of dragon sex. Even more mind-bogglingly, this is actually central to the plot. No I’m not kidding. Dragon-on-human bestiality is an actual plot point in this story, and supplies more or less the only form of magic which appears in the entire trilogy. And I should know; I’m the only person in the known universe actually to have actually read all three books. What can I say? I was curious and I don’t value either my sanity or my liver all that highly.
Now, I’m all for realistic fantasy stories. I’ve been known to enjoy fluff, but I also like my stories to have at least some grounding in reality. And I’m quite the fan of dark, violent stories. I love the works of Clive Barker, and was a huge Robin Jarvis fan as a child (Jarvis’ novels, despite being for kids, are incredibly fucked-up and all of them feature a significant body count). I’ve also enjoyed some of the works of Stephen King and China Mieville.
And I will admit that this trilogy does several things right. The setting is believable, original, well-developed and fairly interesting. The dragons are well-designed – they don’t breathe fire, don’t talk, and aren’t (particularly) magical. The female protagonist (despite what the cover would have you believe) isn’t a great beauty, or possessed of any special Sue talents – she’s not a great warrior in this incredibly patriarchal setting, or a perfect singer, or anything of the sort. She’s basically just an average Jane, albeit an extremely fucked-up one thanks to what the author puts her through on every other page. Even the inevitable conlang isn’t too painful.
But these good parts are ultimately not enough to save the trilogy, as anything potentially entertaining in this story is ultimately buried under the absurd – repeat absurd – levels of “gritty” and “shocking” themes, scenes and plot points. This is one of those stories where the author is so determined to make it grimly realistic that it eventually becomes farcical and ultimately impossible to either believe or take all that seriously. There is not one genuinely nice person in this trilogy; everyone is a selfish jerk at best, a child-raping sociopath at worst. Nothing remotely pleasant ever happens. If something can go horribly wrong, it will go horribly wrong every single time without fail, to the point that it becomes tediously predictable.
The protagonist herself is so constantly reduced to a human punching (or raping) bag that it’s almost impossible to really get a handle on her character. And she, like everyone else, isn’t particularly well-developed to begin with. It should be relatively easy to sympathise with a character as horribly abused as she is, but in the end the 24-7 ordeal which passes as her life simply becomes exhausting to read about and you stop giving a fig. And quite frankly given all she goes through she should be reduced to a PTSD-stricken wreck incapable of doing anything protagonist-y. But of course this doesn’t happen, because the author’s dedication to “realism” is nothing of the sort – the focus is all on making it as dark and quite frankly depressing as humanly possible, which is as unrealistic as any two fluffy wish fulfillment stories you’d care to name. This series contains just about every unpleasant thing you could possibly think of: Poverty, rape, violence, female genital mutilation (described in graphic detail of course), gore, child abuse, rape, drug addiction, bestiality (also described in graphic detail, repeatedly), murder, incest, rape, the oppression of women, rape, the oppression of the poor, and did I mention rape? Yes, I’m afraid it’s another case of an author thinking gritty realism = rape on every other page. Quite honestly if you have a rape fetish you should probably just own up to it rather than pretend you’re being “realistic”.
The of course there is the constant focus on sex. Sex in this series is never portrayed as something romantic, emotionally fulfilling or even enjoyable. Oh, no. That would imply something nice happening, and the author can’t abide that. All the sex in this trilogy is bad, or at least drab and depressing to read about. And I’m not even kidding when I tell you that 99.9% of the sex in this series that isn’t bestiality is inflicted (“had” really isn’t the right word here) upon either rape victims or sex slaves (is there any difference?). Rape happens so frequently that when the protagonist is gang-raped in one of the books I actually completely missed it the first time around. It was handled about as casually as a trip to the shops.
Oh yeah – there is also homosexual sex in the trilogy, but that’s handled just as insensitively as the rest of it. And yes, there is both man-on-man and woman-on-woman – I can see you up the back there. If this trilogy wasn’t so thoroughly unpleasant to read, it could very easily be re-classified as porn. As it is, sex has never been less appealing.
Ladies and Gentlemen… let the trainwreck begin.
Part One: Zarq’s Miserable Depressing Childhood
We open with the inevitable prologue, and to begin with I’ll give you a quick taste of the prose style:
They came into the yard on a cloud of red dust, four young aristocrats burning with indignation and wine, and they went into the potters’ work shed and hauled the woman out by her hair. They dragged her along the floor, through shards of of shattered statues, out into the yard, where the smoke from the kilns was only just beginning to turn the air chalky. One man broke her jaw beneath his boot heel, then…
That should give you the general idea. The author clearly isn’t pulling any punches; we open with brutal violence right off the bat. Also this is a flash-forward to something that happens later in the book, obviously put here because the actual opening chapter is nowhere near as… uh… is interesting the right word?
Anyway, so the pissed off nobles beat the shit out of the woman, then tie her husband up and have him ripped to pieces by the tame dragon they’ve brought with them. The gore is of course described in graphic detail. We then learn that the leader of the aristocrats is a charming fellow by the name of Kratt. Kratt is – nominally – the villain of the book, and has zero redeeming features. We are also informed – twice – that he’s a blond and blue-eyed white guy, the implication being that the serfs aren’t Caucasian themselves. Yep, it’s the Curse of the Evil White Guy again. As it turns out, all the top nobility are white, and all of them are rich, spoiled and arrogant.
And you know what? For more or less the first time in my life as a white person I’m actually feeling rather insulted on a racial level. I mean really – these guys couldn’t possibly be any more of an Imperialist stereotype. I’d be more okay with it if I didn’t already know that not one of them has any actual human qualities whatsoever – they’re caricatures more or less to a (wo)man. Yes, I know us white people have done a lot of conquering and oppressing over the centuries, but depicting us as clichéd rich swaggering villains probably isn’t helping anything.
Moving on, you’ll never guess who the dead guy and the woman with the broken jaw are. My goodness, they’re the child protagonist’s parents? Who would have thought it. And now she wants revenge for her father’s murder? Wow, the Plot-o-Matic™ is already chugging away. Can we please have a fantasy novel in which Dead Parents aren’t the protagonist’s main motivation?
Well, I am being rather generous with the word “motivation” here – the protagonist, introduced here as Zarq Kavarria Darquel, is frustratingly passive for most of the trilogy and tends to forget about the whole “dead daddy” (and later mummy) thing for long stretches.
Moving on to chapter one, we now get a not very interesting description of Zarq’s origins. She comes from a peasant village ruled over by a “dragon estate” known as “Clutch Re”. Clutch Re is named that because they have ownership of a precious male dragon named Re. Male dragons are prized because so far no-one has been able to breed one in captivity – captive eggs always hatch into females and nobody knows why. Peasants in this world are so lowly they’re basically slaves, and Zarq’s mother came from a different Clutch as part of payment for a betting debt. Zarq’s dad, smitten, immediately claimed her as his wi… uh, his “roidan yan”, or “garden of children”.
Yeah, it’s one of those kinds of books.
Women serfs are even lowlier than the men – even when they’re married they’re not allowed to live with their husbands, and sex takes place exclusively in special “mating shacks”. No, really. For some reason I’m reminded of the Joy Division in Nazi concentration camps, where female prisoners were used as sex slaves. And that’s really not a good thing.
Anyhoo, so Zarq’s mother Kavarria is also half Djimbi, the Djimbi being a nomadic hunter gather people who live in the jungle and have green hair and “whorls” on their skins. How exotic! And needless to say anyone with Djimbi blood is racially prejudiced against and blah blah blah I think you can fill in the rest. Meanwhile Zarq and her hot older sister Waivia go to watch a special ceremony where young men chosen to work for the dragon master have to walk down the “lane of pain” (no, really), and then be lashed with whips soaked in hallucinogenic dragon venom. Here we also meet a boy named Dono, who quite frankly comes across as a deranged little freak. Despite being just a kid, he ripped out all his baby teeth so he’d be recognised as a Man, but his adult teeth just rotted so now he’s completely toothless and speaks with a Daffy Duck style lisp.
Unfortunately, Dono will become important later.
Now for the only part of the book most people know anything about: the venom cock! No, really, that’s the actual phrase used in the book. The apprentices heading down the Lane O’ Pain all have huge erections for some weakly explained reason, and we get this priceless bit:
The venom cock, they’re called. I’d heard the words grunted respectfully among pottery clan men. [snip] Understand, women do not revere the venom cock as men do.
Rather unfortunately, this part was included in an extract handed around at a convention for promotional purposes before the book came out, resulting in immediate mockery from the con-goers, some of them authors themselves. The publicist responsible (I think it was the publicist, anyway) responded by throwing a very public hissy-fit. And now you know the only reason why people have heard of this book.
Blah blah blah, descriptions of the dragonmaster’s fancy clothes, and he looks like a drug addict thanks to years of imbibing dragon venom. Some dragons join the procession, and we learn that some female dragons are used as pack animals and have their claws, wings and venom sacks removed at birth. I’m having trouble believing that such a procedure would be remotely survivable in a setting with no anasthetic or antiseptic, or proper surgical tools, and even more so when it’s performed on a newly hatched animal. Try cutting the front legs off a newborn kitten with an unsterilised steak knife and see how that works out for you.
Oh, and the common people in this world worship dragons but are somehow okay with this and eating dragon eggs as one of their staple foods. Seems legit.
We then learn that Zarq’s hot sister Waivia really wants to own one of the whips, and has (ugh) promised sexual favours to Dono (who, might I add, is fucking nine years old) so he’ll win one for her. She also wants to catch the eye of Kratt, who is present, hoping he’ll sweep her off her feet and make her his personal sex slave. No, it really says that. Not “mistress” or “lesser wife”, but some fakey made up word for a sex slave.
I’m having a hard time accepting that this thing was written by a woman right now. Just… ugh.
In the meantime, among the guys being whipped is a little boy who was apparently just thrown in there as “dragon fodder”, and we get to see the poor little bastard being graphically whipped to shreds while screaming for his mother. There’s no actual reason for this to be here – the kid will never be referenced again – but it’s “gritty”, you see. Zarq competes for the whip, wins, and instantly absorbs the venom through her skin, which causes her to go on a drug trip. Dono is pissed, and racially abuses Zarq’s mother as a Djimbi. She responds by pompously yelling about how the Djimbi are all wise and enlightened and shit, and Zarq thinks of her as “a dragonwhore”.
Wow.
One thing corny fantasy novels like to do is jam the word “dragon” together with another word in order to look suitably Fantastical, frequently in the title. I think by now I’ve seen them all. Dragoncharm, Dragonflight, Dragonheart, Dragonwine, Dragonsong, Dragonsword, Dragonlord, Dragondream, Dragondrums, Dragonspear. And now it would seem the other shoe has finally dropped: let us all praise the lord and add Dragonwhore to the list. Could this be Janine Cross’ real unique contribution to fantasy and everybody missed it?
Either way that’s chapter one over and done with. It’s 16 pages long, and in those 16 pages the author managed to fit in:
-Pedophilia
-Child abuse/murder
-Drug abuse
-Torture
-Drug abuse
-Penises
-Racism
-Sex slaves
-Misogyny
-Graphic violence and gore
And would you believe this is tame compared with what’s just around the corner? We haven’t even gotten to the female circumcision yet, and boy will that be a fun ride. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling thoroughly entertained right now.
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(Anonymous) 2018-09-27 06:00 am (UTC)(link)Fun activity: check out some of the Goodreads reviews.
Good lord, this one keeps you wanting.
She's not wrong.
It's beautifully written, seriously intense, harrowing, with amazing world-building and an admirable, strong heroine.
1. no.
2. no.
3. no.
4. eww no.
5. HAHAHAHA--
6. --HAHAHAHA no.
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Nerissa rated it: 1/5 stars
Recommends it for: the garbage
This has got to be the absolute worst book I have ever had the misfortune to read. It was a journey through pure misery compounded by more misery with a bit of sexual perversion thrown in. I will never waste my time by reading the rest of the series.
Accurate and concise summary.
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Reminds me of a joke I read once: "Are you the garbage? 'cause I wanna take you out, girl."
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every single character had a name that could only have come about as a result of tits on a keyboard.
There seems to be some sort of a plot but I can't work out what it is, suffice to say, the heroine ends up addicted to venom and suchlike, and ends up whoring herself out for it. I don't bloody know.
And of course more inexplicable praise:
I actually changed my rating from three stars to five after reading other people's bad ratings and reviews -- they're really selling short an intense, exquisitely-detailed, and daring book.
THAT'S NOT HOW REVIEWS ARE SUPPOSED TO WORK
A great exciting story that kept me on the edge of my seat.
... are you sure you're reviewing the correct book there? You haven't swapped tabs and accidentally left a review of a much better book?
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LOL! Maybe the author let her cat walk on the keyboard. It's a well-known method.
That's because the first book has no plot. Stuff happens but none of it goes anywhere. And all of it is horrifying.
A great exciting story that kept me on the edge of my seat.
THRILL to all the nothing that happens!!
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Is this self-published ?
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Also, I live in Australia and ROC is an American publisher. D'you know what that means? It means not only was it commercially published, but it was commercially published in multiple countries. (And the imprint page of the next book confirms it).
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Just did a research on my country (Canada), and the dragon temple saga is available on amazon (the canadian website of Amazon, not the .com), but not in bookstores I know of.
So, I'm kinda safe from this series. For now.
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Not as safe as you might think - I'm about 95% sure the author is Canadian...
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(An aside: I wonder if the main reason erotic works have [or had] such a hard time being recognized as "legitimate" is because the ones that keep getting any sort of attention tend to be mediocre at best, or downright awful like this book...)
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And it only gets worse, too. Some books lure you in before they start getting freaky, but not this one.
I wouldn't be surprised - pretty much all the erotica I've seen that got any mainstream attention was horrible *coughFiftyShadescough*
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Feels like it's either 50SoG, Piers Anthony, or this thing. XD;;
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