Since this was such a highly anticipated release we have TWO reviews for you, and in keeping with Grey being told in a male POV, one our reviews is also from our resident male reviewer!
See the world of Fifty Shades of Grey anew through the eyes of Christian Grey.
In Christian's own words, and through his thoughts, reflections, and dreams, E L James offers a fresh perspective on the love story that has enthralled millions of readers around the world.
Christian Grey exercises control in all things; his world is neat, disciplined, and utterly empty—until the day that Anastasia Steele falls into his office, in a tangle of shapely limbs and tumbling brown hair. He tries to forget her, but instead is swept up in a storm of emotion he cannot comprehend and cannot resist. Unlike any woman he has known before, shy, unworldly Ana seems to see right through him—past the business prodigy and the penthouse lifestyle to Christian’s cold, wounded heart.
Will being with Ana dispel the horrors of his childhood that haunt Christian every night? Or will his dark sexual desires, his compulsion to control, and the self-loathing that fills his soul drive this girl away and destroy the fragile hope she offers him?
Reviewed by Louise Dale:
*****5 Stars*****
Right I'm not even lying when I say this. I NEED ANOTHER BOOK IN CHRISTIANS POINT OF VIEW AND I NEED IT NOW!!!
Luckily when I read the previous three books, they had all been published, so I was able to dive straight into the next and have the story continue. This time round, it is absolute torture. I feel like a submissive being denied an orgasm in The Red Room Of Pain. OK maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but you get the picture.
I'm not going to go into too much about the plot, because let's face it, if you haven't read books 1, 2 & 3, where have you been? What I will say is, I'm not usually a fan of books rewritten and told in another persons point of view. I often find that they are just rehashing the same story and learn nothing new from it. In the case of Grey, I was not only extremely excited, because this series is simply and more than likely will always be one of my favourites, but I was also apprehensive. I was worried I wouldn't enjoy it as much as the others, because if there is one story I know inside out and have reread many times, it's this one.
The first thing I noticed in this book was, Christian is extremely funny. Now whilst I'm happy to say there is no Inner God/Goddess in sight, we are given an insight into his thoughts about certain characters and let's just say he is most definitely not the relatively calm and calculated man I assumed he was, albeit an extremely hot one. I use these terms loosely, because obviously Christian has a past that makes him the way he is, but it is interesting that I felt the man from Fifty Shades of Grey differs, in many ways, to the man in this book. I also found that I actually didn't like him at times and this was quite worrying to begin with, but just like the first book, he well and truly won me over by the end and I'm probably more in love with him now than I was before.
I did find myself comparing this book to the movie at various points and unlike the other books, which I read with a completely fresh perspective, with this one I found myself thinking 'That was in the movie, 'they said that in the movie' and I also found that my imagination changed slightly from the first books. Christian and Ana's apartments I now imagine more like the ones in the film. I certainly didn't feel these distractions mattered in the grand scheme of things.
I felt so many emotions by the end of this book and quite honestly I have so many thoughts about it that I can't share, because even though pretty much everyone reading this book will have read book 1, 2 and 3, there is so much more to be learned from Christians perspective.
So just to recap my main point, I NEED, YES NEED, CHRISTIANS SIDE OF FIFTY SHADES DARKER!!
Reviewed by Mike Smith (for the male perspective!)
*****5 Stars*****
Finally! Erika has given into her fans and provided them with what they've been clamoring for ever since the original Fifty Shades trilogy became a publishing sensation. She let us into the mind of Christian Grey, and what a dark place it is, especially at the beginning.
Grey tells the story of Fifty Shades of Grey from Christian's point of view. If you've read Fifty Shades of Grey, and who hasn't, then you already know the story. I'm not going to go into it here. But as we all know, every relationship has two sides. We've already gotten Anastasia's side, now we get Christian's side of things.
A few things stood out for me. His sense of humor. His self-deprecation. His general unawareness, or at least lack of caring of how others saw him, especially other women. His complete naivete when it came to a "vanilla" relationship. Ana may have been a physical virgin, but Christian was an emotional virgin. He really didn't have a clue about how he was affecting Ana.
In this book we get more flashbacks to his childhood, both with his "crack whore" mother, as well as with the Grey's. I flinched every time his mother called him "maggot". His early relationship with Elliot was enlightening. Elliot was actually afraid of him when they were kids. Christian had a volatile temper, and sometimes directed it to Elliot. But it was Mia that really awakened him. It was Mia that brought him out of his self-imposed shell.
Part of me wished she had delved more into the relationship of Christian and Elena, but another part is glad she didn't. That was a very unhealthy relationship, which is obvious to us, but not at all obvious to Christian. He really views her as his savior, someone who helped him overcome his demons. But at the same time, even he can tell deep down inside that something wasn't right about what she did to him.
Over the course of this novel, we see Christian grow. He starts off as a narcissistic and crude man, but Ana begins to awaken within him a side he'd never faced before. He begins to feel things with her that he does not understand. Things he had never had to face before. And he is unprepared to deal with them.
I have read fanfiction that attempted to tell Christian's point of view, the best of them is probably Meet Fifty Shades by Gillian Griffin. If you have not yet checked it out, I would encourage you to look it up.
But to finally get Christian's perspective directly from the queen herself is a godsend to Fifty Shades fans everywhere. My only question is how long before she gives us his perspective of Fifty Shades Darker? I would love to read his point of view of the whole Leila incident, the lemon martini incident, the Charlie Tango incident, the Jack Hyde incident, etc. There is just so much to know!
But for now we have to content ourselves with this first book. I'm sure it will have us talking for a long time. I, for one, will never look at peeled ginger root the same way again.
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