I don't know what people like about this book. To me it was like watching an accident: you want to turn away but you can't. Generally I am not against BDSM or slave-romance but this one turns out to be ridiculous. Although the first book is morally totally off, the second book wins the medal. "I love him - so I am gonna starve him a few days and whip him. Just for asking a few questions." .... makes sense! Basically, in the world of Amaranth, there is no possibility of kindness, devotion or equality between the main characters - which does not satisfy me. And I get the point that slaves are threatened poorly but not being able to converse.. I guess this is just too much unnecessary violence for me. I can't wrap my head around starving someone you apparently have feelings for. The sex was not good either, quite boring actually. Everything is kind of shallow. The writing is not that bad but than it is not good enough to be beautiful, poetic or deep. Often certain words/descriptions repeat themselves. Nut maybe it's just the story. Really plain. And I had the feeling that the author tried to make it sexual-sexy by building sexual scenes or naked slaves into the plot but it wasn't. There is too much exploitation which is a big turn off... And I would like to say that this story has a happy ending, but does it really? This was interesting and for some reason I found it intriguing enough to make me read something about magic, something I usually avoid with a passion. Okay, it should be 4 stars but I really hate magic. (Blame it on The Fever series by Karen Marie Moning) The MC's relationship was not traditional to say the least but because of Thom Lane's commitment to the concept it worked for me and I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.
