"a story teeming with violent pleasures"
Lucien is a vampire prince who rules over his Dominion at
the murder of his father and grandsire. He is mainly
interested in his magical studies and his lovers, but of
these, the most that he desires and loves is Kinji, his
second-in-command who is half-vampire and half-demon, and
who is bonded to him in an unbreakable bond. Kinji doesn't care about the others that Lucien takes to
bed, because he knows that Lucien loves only him. The
perfect submissive to Lucien's dominant, Kinji even helps
train Lucien's other lovers into the kind of submissive
that would please his Prince and Master. When malevolent
forces rise once again to harm Lucien this time, Kinji uses
everyone and everything in him to protect the Master that
he loves. This story is a fascinating mix of suspense and mystery,
magic and sex, vampires and humans and shifters, but the
main story revolves around Lucien and Kinji. From the
start, their love for each other is already established,
and it is interesting to see how far Kinji would go to
protect the vampire prince that he loves. Especially when
someone seeks to kill Lucien through magical and physical
means. Though Kinji is Lucien's second-in-command and
submissive, we see the men's mutual respect for each other,
and on other aspects, we see the men meeting as equals,
with Lucien asking for and taking heed of Kinji's opinion
in the events that occurred in the book. I feel that the worldbuilding is sufficient to provide a
believable background, and enough information and
descriptions are dropped to lend support to the story
without overwhelming the reader with unnecessary details.
The combination of magic and technology--magetechs and the
lab--is a blast to read, especially when so often in books,
the presence of one would usually preclude the other. I
feel that the characters' approach to Lucien's dominance,
especially that of Fleur's and Sahak's, were also
excellently portrayed and differentiated, as they come from
different backgrounds. That said, I was disappointed that there's not much romance
between Lucien and Sahak or Magnolia or Fleur, whom Lucien
also professed to love toward the end for very different
reasons. Well, maybe not Sahak. There was no build up of
events that would result in Lucien realizing he also loved
them. To document Lucien's romance with the three
aforementioned characters may result in a book far longer
than its current length, and maybe, the reason was as
stated above, that this is mainly a love story between
Lucien and Kinji, as they go through problems and
situations like any other couple, and the others are mainly
the supporting cast. Sahak's story was also not developed much, considering the
reasons by which he came to be under Lucien's Dominion, but
perhaps it will be addressed in another story. Also, I find
the way he changed his mind regarding his enemy a little
bit unbelievable. A person who sought revenge wouldn't be
so easily swayed by sex or believed the enemy's word so
readily without verifying the truth. As stated in the publisher's note, this book is not for
everyone. But if you enjoy lots of violence in your
pleasures and bloodplay and Dom/sub games, then you might
like to pick up this book.
Reviewed by Silver Winters
Posted July 25, 2009
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Vampire Prince Lucien rules over his Dominion. He can have anything his heart desires. What he desires most is Kinji, his vampire lover and bodyguard, and Kinji desires none but his Master. But they have an agreement. Lucien can have everything he desires. His bloodharem, who want nothing more than to please him. Nina, its newest member. Even the lion shifter, Sahak, who wants him dead. But where you have vampires and shifters you have tension, plots, and murder. Lucien’s father and grandsire were slain and the identity of the killer, or killers, is unknown. As the threat against Lucien grows, Kinji, the staff of the Prince’s Dominion, and even the bloodharem must do what they can to protect their Prince and his Dominion. Genre: BDSM LGBT Futuristic Science Fiction Vampire/Shape-shifter Paranormal
Length: Novel Plus Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, BDSM theme and content (including/not limited to bondage, Domination/submission, spanking, whipping), blood play/bloodletting, exhibitionism, dubious consent, male/male sexual practices, ménage/moresome with same-sex interaction (m/m/m, m/m/f, f/f/m, m/m/m/f/f), voyeurism.
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