If You Devour Poison Chapter v1 extra Discussion

Not rating, and probably not reading on after this either, since the extra is an epilogue and I already know how everything's going to end, the mystique and excitement kind of dies down after a while, and I'm not going to force myself to read this any further.

I was strung in by the summary so well, and the only tag I paid any mind to was the Apathetic Protagonist tag, of which I only had a glance at, before I decided to read this through the night. I guess that's my fault, then. But I'm still going to condemn this novel for its heavy use of r*pe and s*xual assault as a theme and motivating factor that incites plot development. In some (or most) cases the use of this trope (?) was unnecessary, and somehow feels like a cop-out punishment, especially in this place set in the medieval times. It feels wrong to say they could have been more original with the punishment of the female lead and her family, but that's exactly what I'm going to say.

Spoiler

She does not even achieve her political comeuppance until after her violation, and despite her attitude, it was implied that while the Crown Prince was all but embarrased by her, he still loved her deeply - and so, I guess it was assumed that she would never get her retribution until she was r*ped by a magical beast and produced a baby that wasn't his own (To which the act was called, 'A sin of the parents', despite the fact that it was r*pe, and they are all well awarethe nature of the magical beast... How is that a sin? I digress) . Anderheim even expresses his surprise and subsequent joy at this. It was not something he had planned at all, and yet it was still used to quick-start her downfall, regardless of the fact that her position as fiancee of the Crown Prince was flimsy at best and it would have happened anyway. It even felt like the author did not know how to truly 'get rid' of her - reusing the punishment of Melia to end her story arc. And speaking of Melia, did we all forget that she is still the Dragon Priestess? The whole point of her acceptance of the role was because of the power it held, and while she did recieve Donna's Punishment, how could they complete the festival without her? Donna's Punishment was only intended to keep her actions confined, right? But she was no longer mentioned after she invited Nasha into the magical beasts den to get r*ped. In their words, the Dragon Priestess, " administers the festival, manages the ritual and listens to the peoples’ worries." I think, maybe, the author forgot about the description they gave to this role because the festival was completed without any hitch. I checked, the dragon priestess was not mentioned whatsoever in chapter 59 when the festival was held. But, perhaps I misread the past few chapters where they apparently explained how her presence wasn't needed. It happens. But even then, how was it possible that she was sold to the Dog Show? I really don't understand. Again, Donna's Punishment does not revoke her of her status, it just keeps her confined. So how was Anderheim able to get her caught up in that show, even with Malacia's help? I read this book over the course of the night and finished at approximately 3 AM, so there is a chance I missed something, but I'm still very confused on how Melia getting r*ped held any significant weight in the plot whatsoever. Her arc should have ended when she recieved Donna's Punishment. She would be put on the back burner until the festival, and Nasha did not even seem to mourn her that much after a few months. Her r*pe and forced imp**gnation was simply used for shock value, and I find that despicable.

[collapse]

The author seems to like surprising their audience with things we do not expect, but they hold no significance in the overall story. Truthfully, I do not mind the implementation of r*pe in novels, as weird as that sounds. But that is only specifically when it is used for psychosocial analysis of the world or the character. This is all just revenge p*rn.

Spoiler

I guess they attempted to use their brain when discussing Malacia's relationship with predatory men, and how that affected his s*xual drive and physiological response to their pleasure, but it was heavily implied that he ended up liking it when Lutora had s*x with him, and though he had a fever and evaluated his thoughts on their relationship, that was the end of any attempt at using r*pe as a plot device rather than a catalyst for plot development.

[collapse]

The only reason these arcs were even implemented were to show how despicable and evil Anderheim truly was, but they ended up being a little wishy-washy on that notion several times throughout the plot, anyways.

Spoiler

Ignoring his acting, he really does love his daughter, he blessed the beastman infant of Nasha, he's helping the Crown Prince from behind the scenes and never once punishes him (You could say marrying Nasha was the punishment he got, but considering the fact that Anderheim didn't let Melia go, even when she wasn't really a main character and held no particular weight to the original story beyond what Anderheim manipulated her to be, its safe to say that he did nothing in particular in response to the Crown Prince who basically sent his daughter off to die), and despite how uncouth their relationship is, he truly loves Jolga as well - seeing him as something more than someone to be manipulated as the volume came to a close.

[collapse]

With all that's said and done, they're are only two women who truly get a happy ending by the epilgoue

Spoiler

Vanellope and Juileta. There were five women with notable roles in this novel in total, which means over half of the female cast got nuked, hmmm.

I understand this is a Boys Love novel, but the readiness to torture, purge, and violate former female love interests is a little strange, don't you think? And, again, their punishments could have been a lot more unique, if we are going to go down the morally deplorable route. Making Melia a drug addict put under (legal) comatose was already interesting, and they could have continued with the process of Nasha slowly losing everyone's favor leading up to the festival where she runs off with the Dragon Pearl - there are many ways to conclude that retribution you know? For instance, She ends up still being eaten in Juileta's place by angering the Dragon in her typical oblivious female lead way, or something. Sending her off to a villa in the middle of nowhere after she believed she had a miscarriage? I don't know, that seems more pitiful than a form of justice. Even in the epilogue they kind of glaze past her ending, offhandedly remarking that the Crown Prince replaced her with Vanellope (His cousin, might I add. The author seems to be very fond of pseudo-in*est and extramarital affairs.)

[collapse]

Despite all of this, it's hard to truly say this novel was bad, or the worst of the worst. The beginning truly did hook me - I was excited to see Anderheim's relationship with his daughter, Juilleta and how he would scheme and manipulate the masses. But after a while it was very disappointing. From the way they introduced the love interests to the lack of punishment for the capture targets - truly, this novel was just a bullyfest directed at Nasha! That is why I chose not to rate. It felt like there was no numerical value that could truly put into words my feelings on this novel.

Maybe they expand on their idea in the next volume, but I'm not that interested in the story anymore.