Read while working with some students in an English class (they’re writing stories on being human), that feeling of incredible harm to oneself barely below the placid surface feels profoundly familiar as someone with autism. The futility of prevention, the constant monitoring of symptoms (actively and passively), the need to group oneself with others of the same kind; it really shook me to my core, this did. I felt seen, but not often in the most pleasant ways. Violence is palpable not by its presence in the action (although there are some incredibly graphic descriptions) but by its potential to break out, and I do know so well that experience of being on a knife edge. Very compassionate, mind. Butler is exceptional at talking about how profound hinderance can produce great strides as a species. But enough to bring me to tears.

Truly meant as a commitment to the bit; morbid curiosity got the better of me as someone who's never read monster romance but knows a lot of people who like it. What interested me most while reading it, though, was analysing the ways that it catered to its audience (which is really not me) and how it altered between creating verisimilitude and fulfilling fantasy. Nascosta juggles these well, in no small part because her writing style is simple and clear, focused on advancing plot above anything else (and yes that includes the smut) which should be the basic aim of any page-turner. I'm not looking for Transit of Venus's complex shuttling between timeframes here, just what it's like to manually masturbate animals for money.

In presenting the foreignness of the world in completely natural prose (this is a world where magical creatures exist in cities somewhat separate to the human population, yet also have things such as gyms, 401ks and bougie coffee shops), the implausibility is nicely smoothed over. Does it work for the critiques of capitalism and gender roles Nascosta embeds in this story of a woman finding love through milking? Yes and no; as one of the top reviews on here rightly notes, there are some real inconsistencies in its social constructions and how they affect the lead's choice of career (out of necessity, mind you). I'd argue that they're entirely accurate, especially Alanna's interesting analysis of the sex work angle here. I add also that the book's central fantasy is not about monsters but about something closer to complete emancipation, wherein economic freedom is achieved through hard work and customer satisfaction, where the dream is not a better society but a better quality of orange juice.

It is one of the easiest fantasies to sell, for it taps into something we've been conditioned into believing to be true- that we are totally individual actors, the centre of our own universe that only occasionally crashes into the universe of another person. Nascosta's prose works equally well here in hollowing out any sense of individual identity that a reader might have to negotiate around Notice how Violet has no defining characteristics, visually. She is simply a woman (presumably white) that is an easy vessel for the demands and desires of the (presumably) female readership. Rourke is an easy MMC, one who embodies a certain sort of fantasy; unchanging, strong, considerate, dominant, wealthy, emotionally regulated. A real prince in minotaur's clothing, a piece of perfection that would be exhausting to live with (who wants to live with perfection?) that nevertheless is an essential part of the fantasy.

If you want to read a criticism of the entire genre based on these elements I've outlined, feel free. It's not meant as such, only a statement of formal analysis. What I would criticise, however, is the plotting, which gets increasingly impossible as it goes along in its deliberate refusal to include tension or threat. True, it is fantasy, but there's only so much bliss I can take before my disbelief cannot be suspended any longer. I get that it's the start of a series, but I do wonder.

At the end of the day, this was meant as an attempt to understand some of the appeal of the sub-genre and what makes this considered one of the best. Fantasy is something interior, for all the ways it has external manifestations, and as such it requires a certain amount of effort to reach into the mind of the Other and understand them. But it's effort I like to put in.