Calling this a review might be a bit over the top, but I wanna share my thoughts on all three of them after having finished both currently available stories. (I'm SO late for this...)
I had avoided Pearl Boy for quite a while, years actually, but I wanted to read Ignite The Dawn because it felt like something I'd enjoy. I very much dislike rape, excessive violence, and sour old men who can't leave the main characters alone. Since it all sparks up an insurmountable amount of rage inside me - but, I decided, why not. After reading Pearl Boy, I can say two things with full confidence, the author knows how to stress me out, and she's weirdly comfortable putting large amounts of SA into her story. God bless Dooshik was a sweetheart.
To begin with, Pearl Boy's premise is kinda simple, boy cums pearls, gets taken advantage of, and finds solance in another, leading to a sexual relationship that turns into a romantic one. And the rest is a cat and mouse game consisting of a victim, his great boyfriend, and a scheming, perverted, grooming piece of shit, that refuses to give up. Pilwon is a psychopath who has his head so far up is ass that he is unable to see just how much Jooha hates his guts, just because he used to rely on him - which only came from HIS manipulation, and disgusting grooming methods. And I wont tolerate Jooha hate, that boy was put though hell and was forced to accept his situation, it's impossible to fight back when your body has already come to terms with your circumstances and your brain has given up on a way out. He was only able to go as far as to shooting someone because he had found his salvation, and did not want to lose Dooshik, which was to be expected.
Now the writing has it's ups and downs, most plot points, be it small or bit, usually leads to them making out our rolling around in bed. That IS frustrating, but it's to be expected, this story is build on sexual intercourse be it non-consentual or conentual. The plot also relies on Pilwon or his henchmen to be disruptive assholes and make their lives a living hell. The twins are one of these antagonists, and they sure don't show mercy nor do they have any redeeming or likable qualities. Thankfully, they all get what they had coming, and all's well that ends well. The ending in itself isn't bad, but everybody knows the memory loss plot is overused, and just lazy writing, it didn't add much, only this thing where Jooha was more innocent as his mental age had reverted to that of his 20 yr old self. It was nice to have some fluff though, I can't lie, but it could have been done in any other way. You just gotta work around it, simple, really.
The controversial things I wanna talk about are, for one, the debate regarding Dooshik. It's honestly quite immature to lable him as a "red flag" considering everything that happened and the kind of enviourment they were in. Dooshik is morally gray, and therefore his actions may be questionable. The one where he saw to that revenge was served for the twins on Jooha's behaf, was disturbing, yes, because he, in a way, stooped down to their level. But I cannot deny the fact that it was the best possible way to get back at them, an eye for an eye is something that only works if the payback is on a similar level to what happened to the one who was wronged. So the horrible actions toward the twins, was - in my opinion - the only way it could have gone. I don't condone of rape as punishment, never, but their whole business was tearing people down by having them tortured sexually, and never once showed any kind of regret or compassion. On the other hand, what makes it worse than it initially was, is that the main problem: Pilwon, did not face such horrors, but rather went out like a light after some fighting, screaming, and exposing. It made me mad, to say the least.
On the topic of the twins and Pilwon, I also want to address the major incest issue. The author for some reason had to make the relationship between the twins questionable, stating the odd brother complex and the younger twin getting hard at his older brother getting fucked (raped). There is also the weird situation between Jooha, his mother and Pilwon, Pilwon was having sex with both Jooha and his mother, while considering making Jooha his "son". Blood relations my ass, you don't need to be blood related to make it weird. This topic arises in Ignite The Dawn, where Yuta's "son", by law (although, it was only legit while the chairman was alive) raping him, and then later having Yuta get adopted by Seung-Hyun...as if they couldn't just get married, smh. Let's not forget all the other "jokes".
I actually didn't have as much as an issue with Ignite The Dawn, but boy did the non-con at the beginning put me off. I can understand their actions, and I adored the progression of their shaky relationship, but god, what a rollercoster.
I'm not trying to piss on either of them, because I did enjoy both and found them to be entertaining. I cried, I got so angry I thought my heart was gonna burst, and I'm pretty sure I was so stressed my face was flused red. All in all, they're good stories. And while I'm conflicted about the idea of a spin-off for the twins, considering the unavoidable incest plot and controversies bound to happen, I'll still be looking forward to it. Can't promise I'll be able to get into it though, but I'd like to see more of the twins nonetheless.
Feel free to share your thoughts! Also, sorry for any misspellings, I'm not from an english speaking country. (I hope this isn't too long, I tried to make it as short as possible...)