Review: Like it
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 17, 2014
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through the M/M Romance group's DBML (Don't buy me love) program.This short story easily could have been expanded into a full-length novel. As a short, it stands well by itself as the story of three men in a complex relationship.Ares was the commander of both men during the war, but after the war, he purchases both Orion and Meme after their indiscretion becomes public.Orion harbors feelings towards Ares, but feels that he and Ares are not compatible as lovers due to both of them being dominant types. So Orion takes a chance with Meme who is a natural submissive.Meme the natural submissive has already tried to talk Orion into letting Meme break a law so he can be sold into slavery. Orion refused him that, but after being caught in their illegal lovemaking, Orion feels a duty to protect Meme as best he can by asking Ares to also buy Meme.As a standalone short, this story is good on its own, but I feel it’s missing some things that a longer story would allow time to explore.a. World building: We don’t see any of the world the men live in except for the prison and Ares’ slave quarters where the other two men are kept.b. Sexual behavior: Same sex relations between free men is illegalwhich is why Meme and Orion are in prison after being caught, but relations between a slave owner and slave are not illegal.c. Characters: As a short, there isn’t much time for each character’s personality to show. We see a little into each character. Meme we see is naturally submissive and actually wants to be someone’s slave. Orion has feelings for Ares that he won’t act on so he transfers his attentions to Meme. Ares has feelings for Orion, but was jealous of Meme for catching Orion’s attention.There is only so much you can write into a shorter story. and I think the author did a good job of showing the complex relationship of the men. Overall, I like the story, but would really have loved a longer version to include some of the world building and back story of each of the characters. I'm giving this a "really liked" rating because for the length of the story it was well detailed.