Review: Redemption by Olivia Duncan Craig
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 6, 2012
A futuristic approach to the old fashioned Cinderfella story, Redemption is the story of Jason, a young man who has an immediate need for money and the fastest way to find it is to sold himself into a bondmate contract for 20 years. Even if the term "bondmate" can suggest something more romantic, the bondmate contract is basically the modern way to be a slave: accepting the contract Jason accepts to become a property of someone else, man or woman is the same, if they have the money to buy his contract.In a way, Jason is lucky since the one to buy the contract is Devin, an handsome man in his thirties who is basically a workaholic without time for a private life. Buying a bondmate is a perfect solution, during the day Jason will be Devin's personal assistant, during the night he will share his bed, if Devin is in the mood, or otherwise he will stay in his room, without risk to hear recrimination. Devin's former wife was a society butterfly and she left when she realized Devin was not her personal escort, but he had actually a job he had to do.I liked the contrast between Jason's expected role and his physical appearance: Jason is strong and young, not at all weak, and if not for the urgent need of money, he had also perspective on the future, he was a post-graduate student with excellent credentials. When Devin takes him home, I had the feeling Jason felt like an elephant in a glass shop, and I think also Devin was questioning if he had done the right choice.Another interesting point is how homosexuality in this futuristic society is no more a taboo, basically everyone is bisexual, and indeed Jason had only one previous homosexual experience, but he has no issue at all at being bought by a man, while instead Devin, from what I understood, had his same share of women and men in the past, and I think he has picked a man now since he is still burned by the bad experience with his ex-wife.