9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love in a Time of Pain, October 24, 2009
This review is from: Remastering Jerna (Paperback)
Remastering Jerna
Remastering Jerna is a work of speculative fiction. Kinky and polyamorous people need folktales just like other social groups. It's much more fun for all those involved if we just agree on that point.
I've had years of practice falling for imaginary people.
But then, that's the whole charm of reading fiction isn't it? To me a successful piece of fiction introduces me to a character I'd like to meet. Even rarer is to find a character I'd like to add to my boudoir. What I appreciate most about Jerna Setiq is the dignity he brings to being a male submissive. In a testosterone-driven society, as particularly evidenced in my native States, being a vulnerable man more often earns one unkind names and sneers than being elevated to a literary culturehero.
Shall we say Remastering Jerna reads like Beauty and the Beast meets When Someone You Love is Kinky? Doesn't make the picture clear enough for you? We shall try again. Within the first seventeen pages, Jerna's life as a happily married teacher is wrenched asunder by a sexually precocious student. Dramatic irony lies in the fact Jerna had actually tried to protect the boy from an abusive situation before the tables were turned upon him. Jerna prefers to sacrifice his own good name to safeguard a former lover involved with the student. His own society brands Jerna a pedophile which he is not. He must divorce his beloved wife lest she lose her children.
The prison scenes had their intended chilling effect with Jerna's matter-of-fact exploitation. They prepare the reader subtly for the difference between willing submission founded upon trust that later occurs in the story. Jerna trades his nightmarish prison-detail for whoredom. Imagine the choice between starvation, gang-rape, and being used as disposable labor and white slavery. Throughout his ordeal, Jerna never loses his penchant for kindness towards others. It earns him the affection and respect of fellow sex workers, a doctor, an older client, and a male Dom who requires training himself.
Some might feel the conciliatory ending where Jerna is eventually reunited with wife and children and yet maintains the homosexual relationship he formed with a male Dom incredible. But isn't that the really juicy thing about folktales--when they end with love involved for all?
Note: This copy of Remastering Jerna was acquired in an author-run contest. The reviewer is quite ecstatic that she won it.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, with character development and deep meaning, January 18, 2010
This review is from: Remastering Jerna (Paperback)
This book is first and foremost about love and finding one's true self, in my opinion. Very different from many m/m books, and avoids most of their cliches. It centers on character development yet its plot moves very smoothly, action-packed, and it was very hard for me to put it down once I started reading it.
Positives:
1) Just read all other 7 reviews on the book :) Six of them are 5-star.
2) This is first and foremost a story of a man who managed to remain human/humane despite suffering in prison / brothel instituted by a cruel and soulless futuristic society (whether it reminds ours or not, and by how much - the author leaves it for every reader to decide for themselves...). This is presented brilliantly in this book, and the author doesn't distract us with any unrelated content or too many graphic scenes or too much brutality. The development of a human soul and human relationships are in the center of the book.
3) Characters are very well-developed, even side ones, everyone is multi-dimensional and most are fairly realistic. The main character, Jerna, is kind and gentle, and thus he might sound as unrealistic to some readers. I personally do not like over-sweet fragile characters. Yet, Jerna is also very strong, wise and resilient, and thus I found him very likable.
4) The book is often described as BDSM, but it's certainly NOT the focus of the book, and it's very different from most of other BDSM-themed erotica/literature out there. All the scenes that the author chose to describe are softcore, and the focus is actually not on BDSM but on other aspects of human relationships and, of course, love (i.e., non-physical, non-BDSM aspects of it). Some of the situations Jerna finds himself are really bleak, but nothing is truly hardcore or gore-ish is explicitly described. Besides, Jerna is a truly positive character, and keeps his faith. The overall impression the book left on me was fairly uplifting and certainly not depressive. And yes, the concluding chapter of the book is a bit of a fairy tale and very sweet.
Negatives (in my opinion):
1) Some of female characters are a bit unrealistic (way too kind or over-emotional/ a bit illogical) and overall a bit less developed as compared to male characters. Well, it's still a m/m book, and in most of those we do not get any female characters at all (or very weakly-developed). This is not the case here, and thus, this book does avoid this particular cliche of many m/m novels ("no women in a m/m book") pretty well.
2) Jerna gets through some really nasty stuff, but it's obvious the author self-censored most cruel scenes and hardcore BDSM and so on, to spare her non-BDSM or just squeamish readers. (Such scenes are mentioned, but not described, while the author typically chooses to give us overall a fairly continuous narrative in most other parts of the novel. Some of more softcore, "tolerable" (to most readers) scenes are described in detail.) In my opinion, the story is meant to be realistic and show building of the character, so I was surprised at the omission of the parts where our main character would grow and exhibit his strength most. Just my opinion of course, and highly subjective, as I usually enjoy reading BDSM-heavy books a lot. Thus, I think most of the other readers actually applaud the author's choice on this, especially those who do not like BDSM or those who avoid books with non-con.
Overall, recommended to all open-minded readers, those who like BDSM-themed books (with a warning that erotic BDSM aspect of the book is underdeveloped, imo) and especially those who do not. Even if m/m novels is not what you typically read, consider giving this one a try.
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