Publishers Weekly
06/29/2015
In this mediocre erotic romance that lacks both passion and intimacy, the events of Fifty Shades of Grey are retold from Christian Grey's perspective, allowing readers to see inside the mind of the enigmatic, domineering businessman as he seduces and falls for college student Anastasia Steele. It's a perfect portrayal of an unhealthy relationship, as Grey, here shown to be an immature, self-loathing sadist with mother issues, attempts to lure a sexually inexperienced young woman into an ill-considered, unconvincing BDSM arrangement for which she's not suited. Furthermore, in switching vantage points, James sadly demonstrates a glaring inability to depict a convincing male perspective. Grey's inner voice shows him to be obsessive, possessive, insecure, and needy, with a tendency to treat and view Ana like a child rather than an adult potential lover. This version mirrors the source material so well that it adds very little to the story, merely filtering the events through a less sympathetic lens. "Yeah, yeah, baby, it's just a face and it's only skin deep. I need to dispel that admiring look from those eyes, but let's have some fun in the process!" thinks Grey upon first meeting Ana, and it's all downhill from there. Agent: Valerie Hoskins, Valerie Hoskins Associates. (June)
Library Journal - Audio
10/01/2015
By now, it's a well-known story: Dominant rich boy meets innocent girl and tries to make her his submissive. Girl resists but falls in love. Boy is perplexed, then falls in love. Drama ensues. Those wondering about Christian Grey's version of the events depicted in Fifty Shades of Grey can now satisfy their curiosity in exhaustive detail. James spends the majority of this work retreading the first novel in her best-selling trilogy while offering only a few tidbits of Christian's dark past. Christian is revealed as a sensitive man who is overwhelmed and confused by his passion for Anastasia Steele, a naïf unlike the submissives he's accustomed to dominating. Narrator Zachary Webber does an excellent job demonstrating the nuances of Christian's character, infusing emotion and occasional humor into sometimes dark subject matter. VERDICT This is nonessential listening, but it does eventually offer a look into Christian Grey's brutal past from his perspective. ["Though some readers of the 'Fifty Shades' series might be disappointed that the character they imagined is not the Christian Grey author James writes about here, others will be pleasantly surprised": LJ 7/1/15 online review of the Vintage hc; ow.ly/RHFLc.]—Anna Mickelsen, Springfield City Lib., MA
SEPTEMBER 2015 - AudioFile
James’s blockbuster earlier novel featured the explicit sexual awakening of Anastasia Steele, under the tutelage of the wealthy, compelling Christian Grey. This sequel tells the story from Christian’s point of view. Narrator Zachary Webber has just the right voice to deliver scene after scene of hot sex. As the arrogant, self-assured captain of industry, Webber is perfect. His timing and pacing are spot-on, and his portrayal of Christian as an abused kid is heartrending. The ironic tone he gives the adult Christian works well as a counterpoint to his breathlessly innocent portrayal of Anna. While the email banter in both books borders on the pedantic, Webber manages to make it complement the narrative. Lovers of “50” won’t be disappointed. M.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2015-06-22
Fifty Shades of Grey, from Christian's perspective. Anastasia "Ana" Steele stumbles into billionaire Christian Grey's office and clambers her way into his heart despite his need for domination and her need for self-preservation. As James promised her readers, this book tells the now well-known story from Christian's point of view, which means that large swathes of the original novel featuring contact between Ana and Christian—conversations, emails, and the infamous "binding contract between the Dominant and the Submissive"—are essentially copied and pasted into this one, with Ana's first-person narration taken out and replaced by Christian's. What's surprising is how distant and hazy Ana feels, considering how Christian jumped off the pages of the original and how James made us feel connected to his struggles as seen from Ana's perspective. Christian is tortured and enigmatic, which was one of the strengths of Fifty Shades, but his narration lacks subtlety and insight. He continually simplifies his attraction to Ana, referring to her as hot or sexy and saying he wants to dominate her, without any indication that he appreciates the way she's resisting his domineering instincts—or maybe he does appreciate it but still wants to dominate her, which would make it feel even more like a bad high school relationship in which the senior tells the freshman "I really like you, but you're not what I'm looking for, so please change." Christian comes across less as damaged hero than self-centered juvenile bordering on icky creep, which definitely erodes his sexy mystique. James' storytelling here is tedious, repetitive, and sometimes even cringe-worthy. This new take on a familiar story would have been more powerful if Christian had shown the self-awareness and ability to change we saw through Ana's eyes in the original. Die-hard fans might argue this gives us something new, but it doesn't—and it's boring.
