Lucie V.'s Reviews > Neutral

✅ Smut and sexual tension
✅ 2 POVs
✅ Pace
✅ Renaming Cyrus “The Sacred Asshole”
✅ Accidentally catching Cyrus in the shower
✅🆗 Relationship development
✅🆗 “Bargaining” for sexy time?

** You need to read Strength before reading this novella**

Topia had created me a long time ago—a full-grown being born into white light. Initially, I had been a simple force: a judge, a mouthpiece for what was right and wrong, my only purpose to keep the balance in Topia. Staviti couldn’t have wiped me from creation, though I had a feeling he had wanted to, and had probably even tried. Instead, he had been forced to allow me to exist. So, I existed, and as I did, I grew. I learned. I watched the dwellers and the sols and gained an understanding of their mortal emotions. I judged the gods and became acquainted with the many variants of magic and how the energies of Topia formed into powers. I watched as those powers twisted the personalities of their hosts. Love into obsession, Trickery into deviance, Creation into madness.

This novella is from 2 points of view: Cyrus and Emmy. It starts right after the fight against Staviti at the end of Strength, and ends shortly after the last chapter in which Emmy is reunited with Willa. While I adore Willa, it was refreshing and most calming to spend some time in Emmy’s head with less chaos and rambling crazy monologues. I also adored getting to know Cyrus more, because he’s definitely one of my favorite characters in this series.

My words were cut off by his lips. He had moved so fast that I didn’t even see it coming—or maybe I didn’t want to see it, since I was trying very hard not to look at him closely. All breath whooshed out of me as our bodies crashed together: his so strong and hard, and mine completely disloyal as it moulded against him. On instinct, I went onto my tiptoes, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling myself closer.

Ok.

Cyrus. Is. Hot.

There was obvious sexual tension between Emmy and Cyrus in Strength, and now we finally have some smut between them, and let me just say that while I adore the Abcurses, I wouldn’t mind spending some sexy time with Cyrus AT ALL.

*** The whole “bargaining” part where he told Emmy that he would help her and protect her in exchange for her giving him her everything annoyed me a little at first, because it could be considered as putting pressure on an emotionally distressed person, so consent could become questionable… But considering all we’ve seen of Cyrus so far, I decided that he’s not a bad guy, and would definitely not have forced her into anything that she truly didn’t want. Still, I was a little disappointed in Cyrus for that part, but it did not bother me enough to ruin my appreciation of this novella.

A part of me wants to say that the whole “relationship development” part seemed a little rushed but considering that this is a novella and that it focuses on two secondary characters, overall it was well-paced and developed enough to be interesting and somewhat realistic.

“This is the secret dwelling of the Sacred Neutral.”
“The Sacred Asshole ...” I mused, narrowing my eyes.
“The Sacred Neutral,” Donald corrected me.
“The Sacred Asshole,” I re-corrected her. “You’ve been saying it wrong this whole time.”
She gasped, a small mechanical-sounding noise. “I’m so sorry! I will go and apologise to him immediately!”


“You were assigned to me,” he replied moodily. “On Champions Peak. My dweller. My bug. I don’t like anyone touching my possessions.”
I cleared my throat. “You truly have a way with words, Cyrus. I mean, that was poetic. Truly poetic. You should title it ‘mine mine mine.’”

Emmy holding her own and putting Cyrus back to his place never get old. It reminds me of Trickery, when Willa was not acting like a normal dweller and the Abcurses had no idea how to react to her. Cyrus is so used to being feared and alone, he clearly desperately wants Emmy to stay with him, but at the same time, he seems surprised whenever she doesn’t listen to him or hit him. Emmy’s dry humor is also something that I was not expecting at the beginning of this series, but that I enjoyed very much in Strength and Neutral!

I really hope that we will continue to see Emmy and Cyrus together in Pain.


1. Trickery ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. Persuasion ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Seduction ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. Strength ⭐⭐⭐⭐


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