Category Archives: books/book review

Book Review of Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom, by Brian Olsen

Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of DoomI snagged a copy of Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom, by Brian Olsen, from Amazon. At the time of posting is was free.

Description from Goodreads:
Alan Lennox has been assigned yet another soul-crushing temp job, keeping him from his first loves – drinking, playing video games, and looking for a boyfriend. But Alan’s new job proves to be anything but boring when his co-workers start turning up dead. The mysterious megacorporation Amalgamated Synergy has taken a deadly interest in Alan and his three roommates, and the hapless quartet are woefully unequipped to deal with the psychotic secretaries, murderous middle managers, and villainous vice-presidents hunting them down. 

Their investigation leads them deep into Amalgamated Synergy’s headquarters, but can Alan and his friends stay alive long enough to discover who – or what – waits for them on the top floor?

Review:
This is one of those books that is frustrating because it’s almost something special (and probably is for some people, just not for me). I liked the characters, though they were a little stereotypical. I liked the plot, even though it was on the slow side. It was funny, written well enough and possibly an allegory, but none of that really makes up for the fact that I never could buy the ending. The how of what happens is conveniently skipped over and it all felt rather anticlimactic.

Review of Pain Slut (The Subs Club #2), by J.A. Rock

Pain slutI received a copy of Pain Slut, by J. A. Rock, from Netgalley. I reviewed book one of the series, Subs Club, late last year.

Description from Goodreads: Honestly, I’m ready to take a step back from the Subs Club. Making the kink world a safer place for subs is the sort of bandwagon I’d have boarded as an idealist in my early twenties, but now I’m a pragmatist in my late twenties. I prefer to focus on adopting and raising a child.

But unexpected factors inevitably derail my plans. Like Drix Seger—attractive and the first genuine sadist I’ve encountered. If I were not in the process of renouncing my masochistic ways and becoming the normal, responsible potential father the adoption agency wants to see, Drix and I might do well together.

But he has a foolish name and belongs to a cult of vampyres, and I am quitting kink. So why does Drix’s infatuation with blood and biting make me so hot I can’t think straight? And why, when he looks at me, does he seem to see something beyond a basket case with a stick up my ass?

Can I start a new phase in my life without leaving part of myself behind? Please send help.

—Miles

Review:
The writing is this book was as good as any I’ve read from Rock. It was well paced and had interesting characters and themes, but it was way past my comfort level. In fact, I’d say it probably hit my hard limit.

I just could not get down with slapping people in the face and punching them in the stomach during sex. I had way less problem with the knife play than that. (And that’s likely just me.) Then, during that last, climactic ménage scene I kept thinking, “Miles should probably just be dead by this point.” I really felt like Rock just threw everything they could think of into it and it eventually started to seem like a grocery list of tortures. (I thought most of the Scenes felt a little like this.)

I appreciated what Rock had to say on safety in BDSM communities, the interaction of different kinky sub-cultures, being more than your kink, and negotiating vanilla society and authority as a kinky person, but this was not a book I was ever comfortable reading. But for those who are more tolerant of extremes in their erotica this will probably be a real winner.

Book Review of Kings Rising (Captive Prince #3), by C.S. Pacat

King's RisingI borrowed Kings Rising (C.S. Pacat) from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
His identity now revealed, Damen must face his master Prince Laurent as Damianos of Akielos, the man Laurent has sworn to kill.

On the brink of a momentous battle, the future of both their countries hangs in the balance. In the south, Kastor’s forces are massing. In the north, the Regent’s armies are mobilising for war. Damen’s only hope of reclaiming his throne is to fight together with Laurent against their usurpers.

Forced into an uneasy alliance the two princes journey deep into Akielos, where they face their most dangerous opposition yet. But even if the fragile trust they have built survives the revelation of Damen’s identity – can it stand against the Regent’s final, deadly play for the throne?

Review:
This was good and if I wasn’t comparing it to the first two I might have ended it happier than I did. I did not feel it was as tightly plotted as the previous ones, especially the second, and I felt…I felt what I think is the hand of the big, traditional publishing house in it. For example, one of the things Pacat was criticized for in the first novels was not critically engaging with the subject of slavery and in this one she went to great and I thought artificial lengths to say slavery is bad. Of course it is, but the world as developed and the story as progressing did not often lend itself to changes of opinion on the matter. It felt like a concession to make the world more palatable to a wider. And to a large degree I felt this in the whole tone of the novel, like someone had polished the edges off, where it had been those contours I most appreciated in the previous books.

There were also just too many convenient occurrences that saved lives and last minute remembrances or mysteries figured out, such that matters basically resolved themselves. So, I end this novel torn between still enjoying it (I still love the characters and there is some genuine humor in it) and being a bit disappointed that it didn’t stand up to expectations.

Reviews of Captive Prince & Prince’s Gambits