Rating:  Summary: Not quite my view of BDSM Review: This is the story of four slaves - Brian, Claudia, Sharon and Robert - who all have an inherent need to be "owned" in the fullest sense of the word. We follow their journey as they are trained in a crash course by Alex, Grendel and Chris.Basically, The Marketplace is a secret society catering to those who wish to own well-trained slaves and those who wish to be sold as slaves. When we're talking about a slave in this context, we're talking about one with no limits. I'm ambivalent about this book for a number of reasons. Firstly, if this was reality, the training provided in this book would be utilised by owners who can't be bothered training their own slaves and who want to buy one off the shelf. To me, that takes the dominant's authority away from them - isn't half the pleasure of owning a slave knowing that you've trained them yourself? Secondly, there is a huge amount of sex in this book. I'm no prude and I don't have a problem with sex, but BDSM is not all about sex. If you want a lot of sex scenes mixed in with punishment, then you'll love this. But to me, it misrepresents what real-life BDSM is about and enforces the "kinky sex" stereotype that a lot of people seem to have about BDSM. Thirdly, the grammatical and typographical errors throughout are horrendous. I don't know what device was used to type The Marketplace, but repeatedly mis-spelling "circumstance" as "circomestance" could easily have been corrected in most modern word processors. There are other oft-repeated and very annoying grammatical errors, which drove me to distraction. I admit that I'm fairly picky about things like this and I can live with a few errors, but this book is riddled with them. However, I found this an interesting read overall. It is more than just a bunch of sex and BDSM scenes and it has a storyline.
Rating:  Summary: Extreme, but pretty hot fantasy Review: This was an interesting read for me, as I have been finding S&M fantasies fascinating lately. It is not your average porn, nor is it really erotica. Instead it is the story of 4 people who submit to becoming complete slaves, even encompassing allowed sexual brutality and enslavement. The sex scenes are fantastic and the pyschological elements are good as well. Not perfect, but definitely an enjoyable and hot book for those interested in th topics.
Rating:  Summary: Marketplace review Review: This was the worst in the books from this author. If you like descriptive scenes, this is not for you. Pretty well written but the story has no interest and there does not seem to be any point in it. Skip this one.
Rating:  Summary: Amazing insight into a well-developed world Review: This well-written, well-developed, and lengthy novel delvesdeep into the motivations, emotional conflicts, and obsessions of thebdsm world of slave and master relationships. There are few works offiction dealing with this subject that do so in a way that deliversboth literary excellence and erotic stimulation, but The Marketplacemanages to do just that. The Marketplace introduces us to awell-constructed, complex world of sexual slavery and mastery. We areintroduced to the the trainers, some students, the rules and thrillsof being a sexual slave, and the purchase process in a way that holdsyour attention, interest, and arousal at a nice, steady levelthroughout the book--which is a very impressive feat for such a longbook! I will admit that I've read works of erotica that were muchmore stimulating, but I've read few that were able to make sense,deliver interesting and complex characters, and keep my attention forso long as this one did. And the best part is that it's the first ina line of such great works.
|