Book Review: Gabriel’s Inferno
Here’s my review of Gabriel’s Inferno by Sylvain Reynard. Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’ve read it or plan to read it. Then see today’s writing prompt at the bottom of this post.
Gabriel’s Inferno by Sylvain Reynard is a slow-burn romance that many readers will enjoy, especially those who appreciate more domineering romantic male protagonists. Personally, I enjoyed the first third of the book, where the literary and artistic references were more plentiful, but really started tuning out during the second half of the book.
If you enjoy regency romances, or romances that take place in the far distant past, you will likely appreciate this novel, as it has old-timey dramatic loquacious speeches and a main female character who is a virgin in need of rescuing. I must admit that I would have found the entire novel woefully and infuriatingly misogynistic had it not been for Gabriel’s willingness to be emotionally vulnerable with Julia at certain points in the novel, as well as Julia’s ability to shove off a sexual predator from her past and eventually tell Gabriel what she wanted him to do in a more intimate and sexual setting.
Following the evolution of Gabriel’s and Julia’s relationship in the first half of the novel was entertaining, as it was full of passion and misunderstandings that were clarified over time once the characters learned more about each other and their mysterious, shared past. I did not particularly enjoy reading about Julia and her porcelain doll-like physique and personality, however, as I didn’t find it very believable or interesting. I also found Gabriel’s character to be toxic for most of the novel, which is probably the point yet unappealing to me as a reader all the same. Still, each character evolved for the better over the course of the novel, so I wouldn’t be opposed to reading the second book in this series if Julia’s character isn’t portrayed as unbelievably weak in it and Gabriel’s character becomes more mature and emotionally intelligent.
One thing that certainly irked me over the course of this novel was Gabriel’s infantilization of Julia, and how he consistently treated her like she was a child and called her ‘girl.’ It was more creepy than sexy to me, and made Gabriel seem like a tried-and-true pedophile in a lot of instances. It’s one thing to want to take care of someone, and quite another to treat them like they are a helpless child all the time. His infantilizing treatment of her, mixed with her near invisibility as an individual adult woman who knew her own body and mind, was just plain uncomfortable to read about.
I also wished there had been more references to Dante’s Divine Comedy and the poetry and art inspired by it as well as the work that it inspired throughout the novel, as that would have made the overtly dramatic romantic speeches and platitudes more relevant, appealing, and interesting. There were some references to such works in the beginning of the novel, but they trailed off and became somewhat inconsequential to the last half of the novel.
Overall, I would recommend this book to those readers who tend to enjoy dramatic regency romances written from an aggressive male gaze and perspective.
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