No thanks ( )

i read this because i loved the author's dark rise/dark heir series and i wanted more written by them whilst waiting for the third book. this series is... very different lol.

first off, as other reviewers have said, there is graphic sexual slavery. also this is not a romance, i'm sure they'll get together eventually but in this book the two main characters hate each other, and the one who is enslaved gets tortured by the other.

but... it's well written and i like the characters and i want to find out what happens with all the political machinations and i'm kind of hoping maybe being enslaved helps the main character realize that oh hey slavery is wrong? i'm not holding my breath but i'm probably going to read the next one anyway.

and also really hope the author writes more ya because for real dark rise and dark heir are so good. ( )

Hey, if M/M romance isn't your thing, and if you struggle (understandably!) to separate the fantasy of a sexual slavery narrative from the all too real and horrific reality of the slave trade - both historical and current - then this series is not for you. I struggled with the slavery aspects myself, and I'm still not sure that this was my thing. However, the story between the two main characters is compelling and just beautifully written. Generally I deeply detest it when a novel ends in such a way that leaves a reader with no choice but to read a second and third book in order to get a complete story, but this time I'm not even mad. ( )

A. This isn't a romance. Gay or otherwise. Not in this book.
B. This is sexual slavery. Yes, sex slaves. That does not equivalate to love.
C. Pedophilia, rape, slavery.

Now with that out of the way.

The ongoing conclusion seems to be that book one is the weekest one of the series. It apparently gets really good into book two, and weaker and book three. So my conclusion is to keep reading but to think that both the beginning and end are bad. This is what I've heard, I don't know if this is what I will feel but with the beginning already feeling bad for me like they said, I guess I can trust in other people and believe that book two will be the highlight of this series. If so, we need more than the middle to be good.

A good middle out of three books is nothing. If you tell me one third of your series is garbage then you don't need it.

1/3rd being good is an awful look.

One thing that stands out is that apparently sex slaves is a resource? And it's one of the only resources in this world that we are informed about, and educated on. So does that mean sex slavery built the economics of this world? Um. Ew.

We have gay LGBT rulers but sex slaves are a currency and economic...

I feel like selling Damon, a captured prince into all of these bad situations is foolish. Like when he know vastly different things like how to fight and kill? War tactics? Enemy information? Wouldn't he know all these different things he was raised on and have this forbidden knowledge or even be known as a pastoral? Like yeah they **know** he's a past royal, but I feel like being a past royal would have more impact. Plus it would effect how in demand he is and how much he costs. Also, how does it not reflect upon the kingdom that a once royal is slumming it and now a sex slave? This would do so much reputation damage if and when it spread across the lands. And it would spread because so many people are with him. And they would all be able to say they slept with a royal. Before or after they exposure it would be known. This is a big massive plot point that kept coming to my mind. He's basically one of the people who was running their thing and now they're just sleeping with him and not bragging and if they are bragging it's reflecting upon the kingdom. And nobody's going to do it about that? About this big giant red blemish on the kingdom?

Like is none of this going to matter? Even if Damon is no longer royalty, which he is royalty still, this would still reflect on his entire Royal line, his relatives. He would be reflected upon and seen in low light. This would reflect upon the kingdom. I cannot emphasize this enough.

This is a big issue with the series.

Stockholm romance between a slave owner and a slave keeper who whips him. Nope.

No exploration. No romance. No discussion.

Just garbage.

1 star. ( )

This wasn’t for me.
I heard wildly polarising things about this book. It was either a masterpiece or romanticised abuse, and I feel like my opinion falls somewhere in the middle.

First off I don’t feel like the book was romanticizing anything? Everything that happens is clearly terrible, it was just very graphic. Too graphic for me.
A big reason why it wasn’t romanticised was the fact that nobody is truly sympathetic. The main character is from a kingdom where slavery is seen as fine as long as you treat the slaves well and the place he’s imprisoned has hired escorts (child or adult) doing things in public as entertainment. That’s also a reason why I didn’t enjoy reading it. Who am I supposed to like? Am I supposed to root for the main character who wants to go home to his princely life sleeping around with his slaves? Eh.
I did like that everything was queer. It actually sounds plausible that a culture that despises children out of wedlock only allows people to be heterosexual when married. Queerness is not only accepted, it’s the default.

Overall I didn’t enjoy it because of the graphic mature content. We been knew. I read the warnings and expected this.
I still plan to read book 2 because I’ve been told it’s way less explicit and more about the characters and intrigue, I just gotta sit down and wait for the mental images to fade ( )