Review:
Since the day her family members were slaughtered by demons when she was a child, Reia has been viewed as unlucky and shunned by others in her village. Years later, Reia reluctantly allows herself to be prepared as an offering to the Duskwalker that will be arriving soon. Duskwalkers have the power to cast a spell that can protect a village for a whole ten years. This particular Duskwalker always asks for a pure and willing human companion in exchange for the spell. No one knows what happens to all its previous companions, but it probably isn't anything good. Duskwalkers may not be demons, but they aren't human either.
Reia is initially more angry than afraid, feeling like she has no choice but to act as one of her village's offerings. She hopes for an opportunity to escape and live her own life somewhere else, but as the Duskwalker, whose name turns out to be Orpheus, takes her to his home, it becomes clear that escaping will be difficult. Orpheus doesn't want to kill Reia - didn't want to kill any of his prior companions - but he can't stop the instinctual bloodlust that overwhelms him if his companions run from him or fear him like prey.
Thankfully, Reia continues to be less fearful than most. As the two of them come up with a daily routine and get to know each other, they both struggle with their emotions - Orpheus, with his hope that he might finally have found a truly willing companion, if not the bride he has always wanted, and Reia, with her warring desires to either run away or stay with this surprisingly caring and lonely being.
I would be willing to bet that Orpheus in particular and the Duskwalkers in general were heavily inspired by Eilias Ainsworth from The Ancient Magus' Bride. That said, while I don't know enough about Elias' origins to be sure, this didn't feel like fanfic with the serial numbers filed off. Orpheus and the world he lived in were its own thing, and I found those details, as they were revealed, to be fascinating. Orpheus isn't the only Duskwalker with an on-page appearance in this book, although the one other Duskwalker is still nameless by the end.
As intrigued as I was by the world and general setup, the writing really could have used some tightening and cleaning up. I've seen some reviews mention AI, but I don't think the issues here are the product of AI (and, man, I hate that I even have to wonder whether something is partly or entirely AI-generated anymore). Everything was too internally coherent. Just...not very well written. I especially hated all the "bowed eyes" (referring to people looking sad or worried), and the word choices seemed to get even worse in the final couple chapters, or maybe I was just noticing it more.
The sex scenes were extremely explicit. I, like Reia, was morbidly curious about some of the details (ahem), but after a certain point I would have preferred more sweet moments and less sex. That last sex scene, in particular, struck me as being more unfun than sexy, although I suppose it was meant to show the extent to which they could both finally relax around each other.
There were some references to a past woman that Orpheus had been extremely attached to, possibly the first human companion he'd ever had. I wasn't actually surprised at how things turned out with her, but I wish the author had been able to resist the temptation to make her 100% awful, rather than just a terrified human trying to navigate a dangerous situation after witnessing her whole family get eaten.
Despite my issues with the writing, I'll probably read more of this series. Although maybe not Jabez's book, because ick...although it looks like that may be the one book with a female Duskwalker, so I still can't help but be intrigued, despite the fact that Jabez has so far done nothing to make him appeal to me. Mystery female Duskwalker, I already can't help but think you could do better.
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