Review: if you suspend disbelief...
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 05 29, 2011
Set in a bizarre fantasy world, apparently a sort of Near East (Turkey or Caucasus more than Arabia) in the Middle Ages but with some surprisingly modern technology (guns, especially) this novel makes scant use of the possibilities of such a setting circumscribing them to a vague background to the characters' love story. For this reason I should be rather esitant to call this a "fantasy" novel.If you manage to suspend disbelief (and keep it that way) you shall probably enjoy a fair amount of emotional tension conveyed by proficient writing and you will be treated to a satisfying happy ending. I did not dislike this side of the story and was duly happy with its happily ever after.If you do not, or at least, if you sometimes do not, you shall probably notice how short this novel is, and for the price, moreover.You will also realise how non existent the plot is: the setting is there just to make the two main characters suffer a lot before meeting and then meet under unfavourable circumstances so as to have them begin their relationship in sort of a master/slave cliché.This mentioned, characterization is also lacking. The story is told in third person but the point of view is only that of the slave. All the other characters are dim as if they did not catch their author's interest. The other main character, the Emperor, is over the top, all the way. Everything about him is huge: body, physical endowments (that endowment too), sufferings, rage...Sex scenes are many, graphic and not bad (but the slave felt to me like a woman, sometimes) but neither are they memorable.In my opinion this is a good harlequin-like romance for a couple of hours of very undemanding fun.