#Land of the Beautiful Dead by R. Lee Smith

[crimsoncold]

If I had a nickel for everytime I shipped a spunky and unexpectedly decent and selfless young woman who is trying to survive in a lawless post-apocalyptic world with the dangerous and freaky living dead/pseudo immortal skull faced man she hangs out with who had lost all semblance of his humanity long before they'd ever met I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice...like really really weird.

[starlit-pathways]

The wheel kept turning, no beginning and no end. There were no villains or they all were, and in either case, nobody got what they deserved.

—Land Of The Beautiful Dead, by R. Lee Smith

[bn-brightflower]

Land of the Beautiful Dead

By: R. Lee Smith

My Rating: 5/5

Spiciness: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Kindle: Yes

Kindle Unlimited: Yes

Paperback: Yes

Amazon Link

Trigger Warnings: Gore, Torture (of adults and children), Vomit, Sexual Coercion, Intimate/Domestic Violence, Suicide/Attempted Suicide, Self-Mutilation, Other Woman, Cannibalism (of the zombie variety)

Who I'd Recommend it For: Fans of dark romance - it is dark, very, very dark, just sitting on the edge of pitch black. Fans of a true anti-hero and morally grey characters, where everyone both is and is not the villain. If you need a soft romance and characters that lean toward comforting one another, this is NOT the book for you. Neither of the lead characters are stunningly attractive; the male lead is grotesque, actually, with exposed bone and tendon, and the female lead is never described as anything more than plain. The book has spice - not a ton of it - but the spice is, at times, very uncomfortable. If you want sexy sexy smut, this is definitely NOT the book for you. Fans of a HEA that is hard to earn but well worth it.

Summary: In a Post-Apocalyptic world, Lan has come to the land of the beautiful dead for one reason and one reason alone; to ask Lord Azrael, God of Death, to end the eaters, the horrific things that rise up and attack the living when people die. She expects to have a martyrs death, but Azrael offers her a deal; he will not end the eaters, but he will allow her to continue to ask in exchange for warming his bed.

That's it, and I genuinely didn't expect it to be the best book I've read in several years, but it absolutely was.

-- SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT --

I genuinely cannot stop thinking about this book, and it's given me the book hangover from Hell because I know I will never find something quite like it again.

Azrael is a stunningly compelling character, an immortal being that's been chased, attacked and betrayed by humans since the beginning of time. He doesn't seem to know what exactly he is (my best guess would be he's Azrael, I know I'm a genius), but he knows that he's not human and he doesn't fit in among them no matter how hard he tries to co-exist peacefully. He was born into violence and the violence follows him. He is hard and even downright cruel, but he's also incredibly lonely and has been chasing a way to ease that loneliness for eons. While everything and everyone around him will die and leave him, he raises the dead to be his companions. The problem is that the dead he's raised have been with purpose; he is Lord over them and they are all, to some extent, an extension of himself.

Azrael is aware that he's fearsome, and also grotesque, and so he makes deals with those few living people that do come to him to beg for relief from the eaters he's risen as protection for himself and from a world ravaged by the atomic bomb that humans dropped on him; converse with him, tolerate his bed, and he will provide them with everything they could possibly want or need.

All of this goes about as well as it could be expected to, until Lan comes along. Lan, who already believed she was on a suicide mission and is undetered by threats of death. Lan who is unafraid to treat him like any other man. Lan, who slaps him, and also kisses him of her own volition.

Lan is a compelling character in her own right. She isn't there to do harm, she's only there to beg him not to do harm to the living. Even through his cruelty, she finds compassion for him.

Azrael and Lan are not particularly nice to each other all the time and I see a lot of complaints about that, but the truth is it just works for them and anything else would have almost been insulting. Lan berates and insults, Azrael threatens with no follow through. If they were perfect for each other in the way typical romance novels work, they simply wouldn't be perfect for each other. Azrael is desperate for someone that doesn't worship him but comes to love him despite who and what he is. He finds that in Lan.

The entire book is written through Lan's perspective. Beyond the "romance" of it, there are many thoughtful things to think about through it. Questions like what makes a villain, or what makes something alive. Is it a heartbeat, will, thoughts, a soul? Are the dead any less than the living just because their heart isn't beating anymore? Is it villainous to protect oneself through violent means when the alternative is accepting violent treatment instead?

Imo, there are truly no villains in this story. Everyone is a bit villain, everyone is a bit victim, and that's the beauty of humanity.

There is a happy ending, but it's a very nontraditional happy ending. Which I think fits it perfectly. I could talk about this book literally all day, so I'm going to stop but I'll leave it with a quote.

[sajirah]

Azrael and Lan

From the phenomenal Land of the Beautiful Dead by R. Lee Smith, featuring the scene that broke me.

You ever read a book that challenged and upended everything you thought made for a good love story? What about an ending that leaves you sobbing on the bathroom floor at 2 am? Well boy have I got a book for you!

[thefangirlibrarian]

i just want to be in a book club where we read r. lee smith books over and over again.

or even just the once. i need someone to talk to about this! book!

[mxnsterbabe]

Comprehensive list of all of the exo/monster fucker books I've read :)

Don't know if this technically counts, but Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion is one of my favourites ever 5/5

Cottonwood by R. Lee Smith. Kind of a weird one, but I did enjoy that the aliens were a little less humanoid and actually monstery!

Land of the Beautiful Dead by R. Lee Smith. It's a long boy, but it's so good!

A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne. I loved the first two but there's at least 5 in the series now, and they started to get a bit repetetive.

Our Sacred Bonds by Kennedy Cannon. It was okay, nothing special but well written for what it was.

The Dame and the Devil by Dalia Davies wasn't for me at all, sorry :(

Stealing the Trolls Heart by Lyonne Riley was one of my fave reads this year! I kind of lost steam towards the end of the series though, because characters started to feel repetetive.

Prince of Beasts by Lyonne Riley. I pretty much love anything from her!

Audited by the Anubis by Wendi Gogh didn't do it for me sadly :((

My Throat an Open Grave by Tori Bovalino is more YA, but it scratched that itch for a good romance with plot.

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace is another fantastic mix of plot and romance <3

[talesfromthecrypts]

CATCH UP ｡*･♡;

tagged by @thelvadams (hi chris <3)

LAST SONG: I just looked and yeah it was Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood and the Destroyers

CURRENTLY WATCHING: I just finished the Exorcist season 1 and now my gf is begging me to watch Six Feet Under so that soon. Oh and Shogun

THREE SHIPS: Loustat season once again, Jackie/Lou (Love Lies Bleeding hours), Percy/Vex (when will I see them again)

FAVORITE COLOR: Purple

CURRENTLY READING: my gf has a new favorite author which means I have books to read: Land of the Beautiful Dead by R. Lee Smith

CURRENTLY CONSUMING: Water

FIRST SHIP: Probably Spuffy

PLACE OF BIRTH: Colorado

CURRENT LOCATION: wouldn't you like to know weatherboy

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: basically married to @spookylestat

LAST MOVIE: The Discovery of Heaven (2001)

CURRENTLY WORKING ON: in between projects at the current time unless half assedly thinking about a cosplay I need to have ready in July counts as "working on" something

tagging: @meduseld, @emilyjunk, @bilestat, @ladyfenring, @feodor-dostoevsky

[abigail-nicole]

"Could have and would have, weighed together, measure precisely nothing. What did you do yesterday?"

"Huh?"

"Yesterday," he said, patiently. "What did you do?"

"I don't know. I ate. I slept." She looked at Deimos, who was no help at all, and did her best to ignore her confusion with a shrug. “I did a lot of looking out the window. There's not a hell of a lot to do in that tower."

Master Wickham acknowledged that with a polite nod and said, "Was it worth it?"

"Was what worth it?" she asked stubbornly, knowing she was about to get a lecture on the pointlessness of spite.

But he didn't. He said instead, speaking pleasantly and enunciating so she couldn't miss a word, "You traded a day of your life for a little food, a few hours' sleep, and the view from that window. You will never have that day back. You have no guarantee you will ever have another. You would have returned to him if he'd sent for you, but he didn't, so you did nothing and now that day is over. That day is gone. So. Was it worth it?"

She didn't have an answer. He didn't seem to be expecting one.

"You have to want the time you have, Lan," he said, not unkindly. "More than anything. More than everything. Because that is the cost at which you are selling it. Do you understand?"

Still she could only stand there, silent, while the wind whipped at her eyes.

The Land Of The Beautiful Dead, R. Lee Smith

[icedmetaltea]

Book suggestions for you!

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer

(one of my all time favorites, if you like dark humor and a main character dragged kicking and screaming into caring about other people(at least a little bit) you'll love it too!)

The Murderbot Series

(the first book is All Systems Red. Personally my favorite book so far is Artificial Condition (book 2) but seriously they're all bangers. Somewhat short too, if you need something to ease you back into reading full length books)

Tales from the Gas Station

(just read them. Seriously you will not regret it. Jack Townsend is a freaking gift for writing that series and I will scream about that series till the sun goes down)

For stuff that's got some spice😉

Anything by Kathryn Anne Kingsley. My personal favorite of hers is the Julian Strande story, but they're all super good.

Anything by R. Lee Smith. The Last Hour of Gann and Land of the Beautiful Dead, as well as Cottonwood are superb. Just a warning though, these stories are massive- I'm talking 500+ pages. Not that they ever feel like it- these suckers really pull you in.

Anyways! Those are some recs from off the top of my head! If you need more I got plenty, just ask. Also I'd like to say that your writing also makes my list of favorites:) Thanks for sharing your writing with us.

Thank u so much for all the recs!!

[therosepurplewitch]

You were all my best days… and most of my worst ones, too, but that’s all right. The worst ones weren’t any worse than they might have been with anyone else, but the best ones were so much better. I love you.

- Land of the Beautiful Dead, R. Lee Smith

[lanakatbooks]

King of the dead.

My kindle library is overflowing with books. I like to read a lot of fantasy, and a lot of dark fantasy. I recently read the book Land of the Beautiful Dead by R. Lee Smith and absolutely adored it. This story takes place in a post apocalyptic society, where the world has been taken over by this God like entity who has the power to raise the dead. The main character, Lan, sneaks her way in to the city of the dead, to speak with their ruler. She ends up striking a bargain with him, and begins a journey of growth and new life. Every character in this book has such depth, and such heartache. I feel like the character development from each character alone is a reason to read this book, and the world they live in is just so real I feel as though I am living there right beside Lan. I highly recommend this book. It is a bit on the longer side, at around 700 pages, but I don't think I've ever finished a book so quickly I was so eager to know what happened next.

[starlit-pathways]

Hell is repetition. Love is hell.

—Land Of The Beautiful Dead, by R. Lee Smith

[bn-brightflower]

- Land of the Beautiful Dead by R. Lee Smith

[tetrakys]

Man, I LOVE those anons u get with erotic book recommendations. As a monster fucker myself, this new author that was mentioned is 🔥🔥🔥 I guess I'll just download everything I can? -u da best anon

Eheh R. Lee Smith is good, her books are complex it’s not just smut. The one I read Land of Beautiful Dead, is a post-apocalyptic book where the LI is a sort of angel of death but of the mythological monstrous type, no rosy cheeks and candid wings here. Also, he creates zombies. The book gets pretty intense about trauma and the meaning of life.

That other book we were talking about, The Last Hour of Gann, is more sci-fi and the LI is a humanoid lizard, I only read an excerpt a while ago but I have a vague memory that there was some knotting involved 👀 also abuse and non-con. It’s definitely not a book for everyone.

[lesyablackbird]

"Land of the Beautiful Dead" by R. Lee Smith. It's done! So pleased I'm able to finish something for myself, other then work stuff. It's been a rather rough month. Anyway, this book was a very big surprise to me. I kept muttering what am I reading through most of it! It's a fantasy book, heavy on the romance but with a twist 😈💀🖤

[mxnsterbabe]

Please recommend some good monster romance books🥲 I’m craving it can be a novel, manga, short story… it doesn’t matter

I haven't read too many honestly, but here are some good ones I discovered last year!

Land of the Beautiful Dead by R Lee Smith. This one's LONG but worth it I promise!! It's the perfect mix between plot and smut.

Cottonwood also by R Lee Smith.

The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow. More YA and the alien looks human, but its a fun read!

A Soul to Keep (and sequel!) by Opal Rayne. Again more plotty than most erotica, which I like!! Writing style and grammar can be a it funny sometimes but that might be personal preference.

Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier. Not exo, but definitely romance and holds a special place in my heart. One of tbe few romances with a disabled male lead!!

If I think of more, I'll be sure to add them 💜❤️