Review: Silver is a story that is riveting and at times disturbing, yet utterly fascinating.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 8, 2012
Silver is a story that is riveting and at times disturbing, yet utterly fascinating. It melds gender and erotica together in one sensual story. Ms. Abriel has created a world in which gender is fluid and in which freedom can be taken away as easily as it was given.Silver starts as a female and yet she ends up being modified. It is this very modification that melds the erotica with gender and makes this such an interesting and powerful story of how mankind treats humans and how freedom is something that is to be prized and fought for.Silver made one mistake and paid the ultimate price. She wanted to gain entrance to an exclusive science academy and could only do so as a male. On discovery, she is punished and the man who she was so attracted to while at the academy managed to become her guardian and had her converted to a humanotic - part robot and part human, and now she is fifty one percent humanotic and also equal parts male and female.  She is the property of Lel Kesselbaum and his appetites are strange to say the least and yet they are also how Silver becomes who or what she is.There is a fight going on out in the wider world that Silver is now no longer really a part of and Entreus -a humanotic and  leader of the  Metallitionist resistance fighters will become enmeshed in her world and with her master. Whether they will all survive is unclear. There are many secrets and hidden desires as well as danger to them all.To say I was riveted by this story is an understatement. I marveled at the world that Ms. Abriel has created. I was shocked by what Silver endured and how she was changed by Lel Kesselbaum. I was utterly appalled at the society in Silver and disturbed by so many parallels to the real world. It is so easy to see the things that have happened in Silver happening to us in the near future- if we let them. In Silver humans are still free, but for how much longer? Females have few rights - obviously or Silver would not have ended up as a trinex and as a possession.Silver is a difficult character to work out and understand. Entreus and Micah, his lieutenant, are easier to read - you understand their goals, their reasons for doing what they do and you even support them and want them to succeed. Silver on the other hand is changed - she is important as an asset because of what she represents to the Ministry on behalf of her owner. There is however an unknown quality to her, and I wasn't able to read her well at all.I expected someone who had gone through what she has to have huge emotional issues - resentment, hatred, fear, revenge all spring to mind, and yet Silver was removed from these emotions. It seems that once she had decided to become humanotic rather than be used as some experiment there was a degree of acceptance of her situation. Add to that the attraction she has to her master and owner, and the condition of the world outside her own gilded cage and it is no wonder that she doesn't run or try to escape - after all, where would she even go?  There are occasions when you see the Silver of the past - in her thoughts, not really in her actions and this is also interesting. She tries to keep a part of herself, but will she succeed? He master calls to her.The sexual relationship that Silver and Lel have is extremely erotic and sensual - one of master and slave, but there are times when the lines blur and you wonder who is the master and who is the slave. Lel is another unknown. He has many secrets - his reasons for creating Silver, his ultimate goals in this strange, dangerous but yet intriguing society. Adding Entreus to the mix adds danger and more sexuality and desire.It is hard to adequately find the words to describe the world and the characters that inhabit the world of Silver, and equally difficult to explain the characters and story line without revealing too much that needs to be read and digested and mulled over by the reader themselves. This is a great start to a new series and Darcy Abriel is definitely an up and coming author to take note of!