Slave
Holy. Fucking. SHIT.There are so many issues that I should have with this story, so many, but I cannot think of one thing I want to complain about right now because this short kept me GLUED to my Kindle. I did not even take a break to do one status update. That's how into this I was.
Jesse is a sub whose master, Matt, has cheated and left him. To say Jesse is lost would be an understatement. Emotionally, Jesse is a hot mess and things only go downhill when he takes up with Noah who is the WORST masochist in the club. I'm not sure how to explain how twisted Noah is but here's the thing...Kol Anderson did something in this book that really fucked with what I wanted to think of Noah. I won't give details but at one point Noah makes a mini-speech to Jesse that made me see Noah as much more than just an abusive asshole who was beyond help. Was he an abusive asshole? Yes, but that little speech made me want a story where Noah learns to be someone better because I saw something sad and broken in him.
Now, as for Jesse, he takes a very interesting journey in this little story. He's so messed up that he's allowing himself to go beyond what is healthy within the BDSM world. He's letting someone legitimately abuse him. The reason I was glued to my Kindle was that I wanted to know if Jesse was going to make it through or if he was going to end up dead because shit was seriously spiraling. Out. Of. Control. There was a large part of this story where I was not sure how things were going to turn out.
And then there was Matt who Jesse was pining for and who kept popping up, making it impossible for Jesse to completely forget him. Matt was a mystery until he wasn't. I'm actually not going to talk too much about Matt because I think it would ruin an aspect of the story I really appreciated.
In Slave Kol Anderson gave me three characters who were very far from perfect. The dynamics of the relationships were in many way screwed up, in some ways unhealthy, but in some ways understandable. They were also utterly complicated and so very messy, but that's most of life isn't it? It was refreshing to see that in a story that didn't flinch away from all of that while not, at least to me, feeling forced.
Was the writing here perfect? No. No, it wasn't but the story grabbed me so hard and I wanted to know where it was going so badly that I just didn't care.
I know I probably won't get it but I hope this gets turned into a series and Noah's story gets told. I feel like through all of the insane, screwed up shit in that character's head there is some way for him to redeemed. That would be a compelling story to read.
This book is not for everyone but I'm damn glad I read it.
