True. Good to know people care about it
Hope it's okay to ramble a bit more, Daphne, both on the issue, and BtB in general. For any concerns expressed, I hope that the feedback hasn't resulted in BtB2 showing up less often in future.
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I've been thinking a bit on this one, and why I might like it less, since I do actually quite like Craig and Francesca. Francesca's still one of Sturkwurk's cutest character designs in my opinion, and they have a good dynamic.
H from the first book getting somewhat whammied isn't too different from what he and the girls did to Monty initially. I think it mainly feels a bit different, because we spent book 1 following the previous harem's formation, so now we feel invested as they're plucked away...but I think as I re-read it, for me it might have been when Charlotte was recruited by Francesca.
Later in Book 1, Charlotte was kind of the driving/managing force behind H's harem, which is similar to the role Francesca has given herself. There's a reason lifmc lists her as 'best girlfriend ever' in the character guide.
So having Charlotte turned back in issue #8, and then also offended at how she'd become a hypnotic sex slave...even when she still very much is and thinks she's freeing women when she's just adjusting loyalties...I think that's where I might have felt turned off, as opposed to other scenarios. I liked her previous dynamic with H a lot.
But...if some of this is also supposed to be punishing H for hubris...over-reaching with the previous harem created Francesca in the first place...it kind of feels like she's rushing into the same thing. We've seen with Monty, Charlotte and H's other girls, and now H himself that knowing the Book's hypnosis techniques provides no defense to them at all, so it's likely to circle back. Craig might be the least greedy of the controllers.
I'm kind of hoping by story end, that there's some kind of harem-equilibrium reached.
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I also find myself hoping a bit that the cast isn't going to expand to much further. Reading back through both books, I find myself more interested in check-ins with the previous girls who've been altered, rather than constant roster increases.
I
really enjoyed seeing Jane and Thena here, but I kind of wish they were further along their bimboficaiton alterations, possiblyy along Kora from book 1. I really enjoyed how all three were changed not to just enjoy being mindless, big-boobed bimbos, but to have a desire to take it further.
Similarly back in Book 1, I liked not only how Katie's relationships were instant-changed several times, but that her mistress/slave relationship with her mother got flipped. Checking in with Zoe and Renee after their initial drastic changes to their worldview was great. We've checked in with a lot of these folks, but other than having their loyalties flipped to Francesca, it doesn't feel like there's any advancement, if that makes sense.
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Like I said before, still happy to be along for the ride with whatever Daphne writes, and Sturkwurk's gorgeously rendered ladies are always good to see.
