Review: Flawed but haunting
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 4, 2014
First of all I don't care about the whole author gender thing  because I feel it has nothing to do with how good or bad the writing is and whether the book itself is worth reading.  I bought this book a week or two ago and since then have read it cover to cover three times and re-read my favorite bits three or four more times.  Its definitely distrubing and gets in your head.  Lady Dunn is a classic abusive domme.  She says she values Melissa's joy of life and creativity and then proceeds to grind those very characteristics out of her.  She has no apparent concern for her safety, putting her in mortal danger just for vampire prestige several times.  She never really displays any affection, never tells Melissa she's proud of her, and is so emotionally closed off and lacking in empathy that I really really hated her.  She almost killed Melissa several times and never showed any remourse.  Melissa descent into a kind of dull robot like submissiveness and the damage to her mind and spirit are what make the book compelling.  Things I didn't like:  as a bdsm fetish or erotic novel it doesn't work because the lack of actual sex.  There are fetish situations but they never feel sexy.  As a horror novel it doesn't work well because there is only one really scary bit.  The book suffers from some bad spelling and grammer but only in a few places.  The ending is also very weak with a muddled muddy feel to it.  Things I liked:  I actually cried over Melissa a few times.  I am not a cryer.  I felt disturbed by some of the situations and angry at Lady Dunn.  I also felt the characters were realistic.  While I don't like her there certainly are dommes like Lady Dunn who lack empathy, show no appreciation fo their subs and are simply out to crush the spirit of their victims.  Madame Cathalina is also interesting.  She is sophisticated and more human but spends a lot of time justifying the vampire system and Lady Dunn and I felt wasn't really on Melissa's side, rather trying to make her accept her situation.  She was also perfectly happy to have someone die just to provide entertainment at a party.  So dispite its flaws I think this is well worth reading.