Not Sure Where To Stand On This

What did you love best about The Golden Dynasty?

The story had its moments, but the amount of (imo) unforgivable acts of violence against women in this book was a little much.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Anti-climatic: as throughout the book, the MC forgave her man for his unforgivable acts with no throwdown or huge show of love. wah wah waaaaaaaaah

What does Tillie Hooper bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator is really good.

Any additional comments?

(Mild Spoilers) I don't know what to think about this book. I did listen to it all in two days, but I'm not sure if it's because I liked it or because of the incredulity of the characters and story line. Speaking of story line, I think Kristen is a Game of Thrones fan. This is almost exactly like Kaleesi's story right down to the traveling horde and the treatment of their women.I really wish the author would pick an age for her main characters. I read "Wildest Dreams" as well and in both books the MC's language usage sounds like a teenager (really cool, eek, dork, etc). In one moment the queen sounds like a sophisticated, well educated, bad ass and in the next moment, she's a sniveling teenager.Also, I would really be interested in what message the author is trying to send to women? "So he raped you repeatedly and forced you to be his wife......it is their way". "He said horrible things to you, locked you in your room, and refused to let you see anyone........you should just forgive him because he felt bad about it after you left him." "You will do everything I tell you to do and you have no say over your body or life." FUCK THAT. I'm sorry but in both of her books the men should grovel, suffer, at the very least, say they were sorry. In this book, he doesn't even really apologize. The ending of this book was really weak and made me hate the main character for her feelings of guilt over not letting him off the hook sooner. I don't think I will be listening to anymore of her books. I can't stand the amount of women hating going on by a woman author.

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56 people found this helpful

Tried to trudge through this

Got through Wildest Dreams because I found it got better the further I read, so I decided to give to this one a shot... Won't be finishing it. After being smacked in the face by her husband and then submitting to being raped by him... Yeah, I'm done.

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27 people found this helpful

LOVED LOVED LOVED IT.. A FANTASTICAL FLAWLESS TALE

When Circe fell asleep she was in Seattle but when she woke up she was dressed strangely, she was in a weird holding area, she was with hostile women... and she had no idea where she was, how she got there or why they were all being leered at by very unusual men. But it wouldn't take her long to find out some of the answers... and experience the shocking and degrading, brutal and barbaric 'wife claiming' ritual that the lust fuelled crazed Warriors of the Horde are treated to once or twice a year. However, it wasn't just a Warrior who claimed Circe... it was the Warrior King Dax Lahn who fought his men - bringing about the start of a prophesied Legend.... The Golden Dynasty.

What a vividly wonderful imagination Kristen Ashley has as she lets loose her creative genius with this because she plummets you, along with Circe, into an alternate Universe... a civilization that's led and protected by imposing deadly Alpha Warriors. And she goes on to describe their strange culture and customs, introduces you to a wide variety of characters, has created a brand new language just for them and dazzles you with colorful vivid descriptions of a respected Leader... and his world of duty, honor, loyalty, respect, rules, bloody tournaments and dangerous enemies. KA weaves all this in and around an emotional roller-coaster romance between a Warrior King and his mystical Golden Queen... and Dax Lahn slowly learns to mellow, Circe settles into her new life, her kindness melts hearts and her feistiness is joyously revered. So, for a while there's peace between husband and wife.... but their cultures and differing opinions continue to clash which causes drama, angst... and eventually heartbreaking consequences. Told from Circe's POV, there's humor, passion, compassion, deep friendships, danger and death, fun times, sex and very tender scenes as Circe and Dax Lahn try to communicate, learn each other's language and customs, form a tight bond... and hopelessly fall in love.

Worth a credit? OH BOY YES... I love Kristen Ashley's contemporary romances and she's knocked it out of the park with this new fantasy genre that she seems to have crossed into... which has taken her to the very top of my list of auto-download Authors. I didn't want to stop this listen - and yet I didn't want to come to the end either because I just wasn't ready to say goodbye to the many loveable characters whose weird and wonderful words, actions, stories and lives have mezmerized me for many fantasy-packed awesome hours. The whole story had the added bonus of being brought to life by a very talented narrator.

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22 people found this helpful

Rape is not sexy.

I really like this author and the first book in the series really flirted with assault which wasn't great but I ignored it. Full disclosure I'm only 2 hours into this book but the protagonist is undisputedly raped multiple times by the main love interest. I can't in good conscience continue to read this book. When we romanticize rape and pretend it's sexy we perpetuate rape culture. Going to return this book and I'm probably done with this author as well. It's a shame.

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20 people found this helpful

Just Wrong

I couldn’t get through this book because the protagonist states that she was raped 7 times by her husband- Minutes later she is enjoying sex with him and having orgasms. I was shocked because rape is not a subject to be taken lightly. It is a brutal and violent invasion that leaves behind emotional and physical scars that I don’t think the author is aware of. It was difficult for me to comprehend why she would put this in her book and treat it like it’s just a minor snag. I can’t imagine someone who was victimized in such a way reading the heroine’s reaction to being raped, It is insensitivity nearly to the point of cruelty. This book is not my idea of romance and the impropriety was staggering... I won’t be reading anything else by this author.

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19 people found this helpful

I'm giving it one star because...

It's a rare author that can start a book with the violent, repetitive rape of a woman, then make the audience completely forget about it by the end. SERIOUSLY people? Circe was raped...not once, not twice, but SEVEN times by this vile man who thought that it was his right to "hunt" for his wife like an animal. Never mind that he showered her with gold and jewels and amazing outfits and servants aplenty. As a woman, I find it ridiculously insulting that this heroine falls in love with her rapist just because he suddenly becomes tender in bed. REALLY???

Kristen Ashley must be either someone who gets off on being abused or is naively unaware of how her books come across. If you are a strong woman who takes crap from NO man, run the other way...this book will make you want to vomit, then throw it across the room.

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17 people found this helpful

Rape as a form of entertainment for men is sick

It's one thing to write a rape scene as a means to explain why characters have issue. It quite another to write in a rape scene and chalk it up as cultural norm.... then have a women fall in love with the rapid is sick

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17 people found this helpful

5 Golden Dynasty Stars

This book is unlike anything I have ever read before; I am in complete awe of Kristen Ashley to make me a fantasy fan.

Circe wakes up in a whole other world something totally unlike her own and boy does she own it! I couldn't if I was her. To say the very least she is on brave women.

Dax is King in this world it’s primitive and so, so very different from where Circe hales from, Dax doesn't make it easy to like him or for anyone to even love him. But I think he always kind of knew Circe was like anyone else.

I do have to admit it was reading the book with my eye’s instead of listening to the audio the different language probably would have tripped me up. But Tillie Hooper the narrator does a freaking fantastic job making this not only an easy audio to listen to but one you want/need to finish.

Another fantastic book you won’t want to miss out on.

*You don't have to like my review but its 100% my opinion, and I am allowed to have it.*

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17 people found this helpful

There should have been a warning!!!

What disappointed you about The Golden Dynasty?

There should have been more of a warning about the content of this book. This is a time swap(?) book. The supposed heroine goes to bed in one place and wakes up in a place where she doesn't know the language or customs, she is being paraded before a hoard of barbarians and then set lose to be wife hunted. When caught she is sexually assaulted right there in the dirt, but at least her rapist married her....oh and thank heavens turns out she was lucky enough to land the barbarian king. She is sexually assaulted 7 more times and then for absolutely no good reason it starts feeling good.... So praise be many orgasims follow. I forced myself to continue listening to this story till its end, it was excruciating! I enjoyed the first in this series, but this was terrible! Not only because of the dark subject matter. The heroine came off like a total idiot...um, well...uh...oh my God (at least 250 times).

Would you ever listen to anything by Kristen Ashley again?

I currently have 14 of Ms Ashley's audio books in my personal audio library, I have many more than that on my kindle. I knew when I bought this one that it was written a few years ago, this gives me hope because I know she has done much better. If there is anything I would hope Ms. Ashley would do if she ever attempts to write about sexual assault again it would be that she actually speak to sexual assault survivors (woman or man) and give herself some perspective to the reality of what the aftermath really is, because what she has written here is a direct slap to the face to anyone who has been there. The excuse that our heroine found herself in a new and different barbarian society makes no difference whatsoever, a rape is a rape is a rape.... Even in poorly written fiction.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Tillie Hooper?

Ms. Hooper's performance is the only positive of this whole book.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Golden Dynasty?

See above. Although there are no end to the badness.

Any additional comments?

I wish I had been warned.

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17 people found this helpful

Rape is not ok

I loved The first book of the series, which was my first book back Kristen Ashley. I made myself finish this. I kept hoping that it would get better, but it didn't. I understand that she's writing about a make-believe culture. However in this culture men hunt and then rape their wives to claim them. After their claimed they continue to rape them. This book portrays the women falling in love with their rapists. This book normalizes everything that we should teach our daughters is not OK. Even after being physically struck by their husbands, these women just suck it up and enjoy sex with them. This absolutely turned my stomach.

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14 people found this helpful