5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Freedom to the Pleasure Slaves!, June 13, 2008
I was really looking forward to the sequel of To Serve and Submit. The whole idea of Pleasure Houses, aliens, special powers and of course the little creatures Marja can see made the book a different feel from other erotic fantasy novels.
Having said that A Pound of Flesh wasn't as good as the original and left me feeling as if the author was merely writing a sort of transition or bridge book for the next one. There were aspects of the book, which were poorly explained, and parts that seemed to take forever to be explained.
Lexander is not a `loving dominant' and sometimes I feel as if Marja should find someone who will respect her more, but as Jacqueline Carey says in her books "love as thou wilt."
In this book we come to discover a deeper aspect to Marja's character and I'm delighted to say she's not one of the weak twittering submissive characters that can be found in most of the erotic fantasies.
Still I look forward to the next installment and hope that the third book is more tied together and solid.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The further adventures of a pleasure slave, May 30, 2008
This review is from: A Pound of Flesh (Paperback)
I enjoyed the previous installment in this series, _To Serve and Submit_, and couldn't wait to see what Marja did next. Sadly, I didn't like this second book nearly as much.
Basically, the plot is that Lexander, Marja's master, sets out on a mission to destroy the corrupt pleasure house system. Against his orders, Marja tags along. After they topple the first of the houses on their list, they have a falling-out: Marja is deeply concerned about finding better lives for the freed slaves, while Lexander doesn't really care what happens to the slaves as long as the masters and mistresses are deposed. Marja then makes her way across the continent without Lexander, using her wits and her wiles to undermine the world of the pleasure houses at every turn.
I liked that not all the houses were created equal; some were hells of cruelty run by tyrannical masters, while others were much less oppressive and led to mixed feelings in Marja.
Also enjoyed the scenes in Stanbulin, the heart of the pleasure "empire" if you will; the castle was appropriately creepy and lived up to the horrific hints dropped earlier in the books.
The whole book, however, seemed weirdly paced. I felt that there were long stretches of pages in which little happened other than repetitive traveling, while major plot points moved too quickly.
I'm also beginning to realize that I don't much like Lexander. The cold, remote Dominant is fun in the context of erotica, but in a novel with a plot, especially a novel in which Lexander's love for Marja is constantly extolled, I would have liked to see a little more of that love. He never seems to value her as much as she values him.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A pound of flesh, July 7, 2007
This review is from: A Pound of Flesh (Paperback)
Not quite up to standing with the first, but still superb. I would only say that they sacrifice the concept of a pleasure house in favor of moral standing to some degree. I would have thought that the story could have gone a little differently but overall the tale was still excellent. Perhaps in the next the story will show how the pleasure houses are replaced with ones that better exemplify the idea of shared passion.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
