Customer Reviews

shadowland

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Readers will be pleasantly surprised by this unusual love story by Radclyffe. With shadowland she uses dominance and submission, the appeal of it as well as the abuse of it, to tell an erotic romance- one that is exceptional, powerful, and hopeful.

Kyle Kirk is restless and bored with her life so one night while driving her motorcycle, she decides to visit the bar "Leathers". While she had read about the world of s/m she had never experienced it first hand. There she meets the mysterious Dane. After a night together of passion and pleasure, Kyle is intrigued. She wants more, but Dane is only interested in one night stands with no emotional attachments. So as Kyle delves deeper into the world of dominance and submission, unsure as to where this might take her, she learns about a kind of power she never knew existed.

Radclyffe uses power, pain, and passion magnificently in shadowland. She illustrates to the reader through "scenes" how the exchange of power with trust can empower us and therefore give us pleasure, and how the anticipation of "pain", however we as individuals define that, can be erotic. shadowland also reveals the dark side of power where domination without consent and physical pain used as punishment can work to destroy us.

shadowland, through strong character development, throws away our preconceived notions about the world of dominance and submission. Radclyffe demonstrates through the individuality of each character and how they respond physically as well as emotionally to each other, that there is not a singular definition.

Radclyffe, the author of best-selling traditional lesbian romances and fast-paced mysteries, took a risk with shadowland. With intelligence and respect for the reader, Radclyffe and shadowland do not offer a simple formula for a love story, but through the depths of despair and powerlessness, shadowland shows that love and mutual trust can redeem us. Radclyffe had the courage to go outside the box and create a love story that exposes the dark side of human beings, and through this shadow emerges the promise of hope. Maybe the power of love can heal us after all.

What does romance mean? Love, pain, desire, trust, power, sex, lust, want, healing, need, angst, control, agony, loss, passion, joy....no definition, no list of factors, could ever contain all that the word represents.

And here's another question that has no easy answer: is physical dominance the same as power?

Over the past few years, the name Radclyffe has become synonymous with the best of contemporary lesbian romance fiction. And each of her books-from her first published novel, "Safe Harbor," through her recent forays into police procedural and intrigue/adventure in the "Justice" and "Honor" series-explores the many facets of romance, the many factors that contribute to relationships. Each of Radclyffe's stories is a love story, but each is the story of a unique relationship: in fiction as in real life, each relationship is built on different combinations of elements, and so each love story plays out in a different way.

In shadowland, Radclyffe has gifted us with yet another love story. It is the story of two women, Kyle and Dane, who must overcome past injuries and lingering pain and insecurity before each is able to allow the other to love her-to allow herself to love and be loved, to heal and be healed. But it is a love story with a difference. Whereas most romance novels are woven through the fabric of our days- where we work, how we live-shadowland is set against the nighttime world of the leather scene, where women explore sex and power and play in all their many guises. It is a world in which everything familiar is questioned and where pleasure-physical and emotional-is sought through every means possible; it is a world in which all emotion-anguish, joy, love, fear-is given physical manifestation. Kyle and Dane and the other women who populate this story explore the edges of the physical so as to learn the depths of their emotional stores. And when they love, they love fully, body and soul.

Each of Radclyffe's novels has redefined the lesbian romance genre through the excellence of her storytelling and the synapse-frying eroticism of her sex scenes. So on a very basic level, shadowland is of a piece with the rest of Radclyffe's stories. But not only is this story set in the world of S/M, but power-how it is used, how it is given, how it is imposed-is the theme that is explored in myriad ways through the various relationships in the story. Many, indeed all, of the lovers in Radclyffe's stories negotiate power in their relationships. But in shadowland, this negotiation becomes explicit. Every relationship in this story, whether between friends or longtime lovers or one-time sex partners or a Rottweiler and his trainer or a dominatrix and her slave, is framed so as to emphasize the gap between how power seems to be distributed and how things really are.

If the nexus of power and sexuality holds no allure, shadowland is probably not the story for you; choose another one of Radclyffe's stories to read or reread. But if you are in the mood for a romantic, erotic love story that explores and celebrates women in all of our weak, strong, sensual physicality, discover this very special Radclyffe novel. Come take a ride on the edge. Come to shadowland.

What does romance mean? Love, pain, desire, trust, power, sex, lust, want, healing, need, angst, control, agony, loss, passion, joy...no definition, no list of factors, could ever contain all that the word represents.

And here's another question that has no easy answer: is physical dominance the same as power?

Over the past few years, the name Radclyffe has become synonymous with the best of contemporary lesbian romance fiction. And each of her books - from her first published novel, "Safe Harbor," through her recent forays into police procedural and intrigue/adventure in the "Justice" and "Honor" series - explores the many facets of romance, the many factors that contribute to relationships. Each of Radclyffe's stories is a love story, but each is the story of a unique relationship: in fiction as in real life, each relationship is built on different combinations of elements, and so each love story plays out in a different way.

In shadowland, Radclyffe has gifted us with yet another love story. It is the story of two women, Kyle and Dane, who must overcome past injuries and lingering pain and insecurity before each is able to allow the other to love her - to allow herself to love and be loved, to heal and be healed. But it is a love story with a difference. Whereas most romance novels are woven through the fabric of our days - where we work, how we live - shadowland is set against the nighttime world of the leather scene, where women explore sex and power and play in all their many guises. It is a world in which everything familiar is questioned and where pleasure - physical and emotional - is sought through every means possible; it is a world in which all emotion - anguish, joy, love, fear - is given physical manifestation. Kyle and Dane and the other women who populate this story explore the edges of the physical so as to learn the depths of their emotional stores. And when they love, they love fully, body and soul.

Each of Radclyffe's novels has redefined the lesbian romance genre through the excellence of her storytelling and the synapse-frying eroticism of her sex scenes. So on a very basic level, shadowland is of a piece with the rest of Radclyffe's stories. But not only is this story set in the world of S/M, but power - how it is used, how it is given, how it is imposed - is the theme that is explored in myriad ways through the various relationships in the story. Many, indeed all, of the lovers in Radclyffe's stories negotiate power in their relationships. But in shadowland, this negotiation becomes explicit. Every relationship in this story, whether between friends or longtime lovers or one-time sex partners or a Rottweiler and his trainer or a dominatrix and her slave, is framed so as to emphasize the gap between how power seems to be distributed and how things really are.

If the nexus of power and sexuality holds no allure, shadowland is probably not the story for you; choose another one of Radclyffe's stories to read or reread. But if you are in the mood for a romantic, erotic love story that explores and celebrates women in all of our weak, strong, sensual physicality, discover this very special Radclyffe novel. Come take a ride on the edge. Come to shadowland.

I really liked Shadowlands a lot, even though a couple of scenes were not at all to my sexual tastes. What Radclyffe does so successfully, however, is show how much emotional connection heightens sexual tension. So much erotica out there is filled with people searching for their limits and they rarely seem to realize that risking it all emotionally, not sexually, is a powerful thing.

When you do both, as Kyle and Dane do, it can be the most erotic power exchange of all. I have liked all of Radclyffe's books but I was still surprised by the skillful way she conveyed this message of sex and love, power and healing. Very few of our authors write at this complex level.

Some readers might find some of the scenes hard going, but the overall journey, for me, was well worth it. Also, it's very refreshing that this book is about women who love women. Genderbending, to my great relief, was not a significant theme. I'm lesbian, I like erotica about lesbians and this book was right on the mark for me.

Let's just say this book disturbed me just a bit. I'm not into S & M, but that doesn't mean it is wrong. I finished the book and it had a good ending. How it got there was rough?

Yes, this did portray everything about lesbians that the straight world believes it our usual lifestyle. It's not true for the majority of us. But is it untrue?

I cringed and felt the pain, suffering and sorrow.

This is an educational read and only Kate Allen has ventured this far.

This is an amazing story of human frailness and strength, how addicted we can be and seduced beyond the line of reality. The search for that which completes us that, under the right circumstances, either destroys us or brings us into who we really are. It is of power, and where our power truly lies. It speaks to the times in our lives when we surrender only to learn that in that act we have claimed our power, and when the line is crossed and pain inflicted, whether it be physical or mental. What is the difference when we look at the scars that remain and the power that lies within our very beings? As my partner and I looked at this deeply within ourselves the common thread was trust, and without real trust in ones' self, there is no trust of anyone or anything. And then there is love and it's many varied expressions.
This shadowland is a powerful message of the lines between power, control, surrender, trust and how all these fit into what is experienced as love, how this looks manifest and what we do to attain peace within.
KL