Review: contradictory
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 5, 2013
I am not sure this M/M erotic novella will please many:- the dystopian, fantasy setting that includes a society divided into castes and sexual slavery will probably appeal at first to those who get their thrills from what they call "forced sex" -while I call it rape- but they will be soon put off by the fact that Ms Black has the basic human decency of NOT trying to eroticise abuse.In this tale the sex slave is very willing and the BDSM so very light and respectful that there is no abuse at all;- this tale is desperately romantic but its clothes are coarse and will repeal those who love light-hearted romance. There is even a M/M/M scene which I have found intriguing -though not as much as it could have been with more courage on the author's part- but which is likely tu put off such pure-romance lovers;- there is the necessary HEA but it is an ending which is good only for the two lovers as the horrible setting still looms behind them.Some serious flaws must be pointed out:- setting is not detailed enough.The author clearly is not interested in giving more than is strictly needed for her romance but as she has chosen such an eccentric bakground she should have made sure the reader understood it. In a Victorian romance we only see aristocrats and servants but we still have a general idea of how that society works. Here we do not;- while Demetrie is fully rounded and grows up as a character, the same cannot be said for Seven who is thoroughly loveable but whose submissive streak is never explained and leaves him little room for growth;- the growing sexual intimacy between the leads is sweet but the Ms Black should have either given more details about it or else thrown a little plot into it to stir things a bit.Writing is fluid and to the point.