I don't make a point of this here at Novelspot, but I am, among other things, an editor. Editing is a funny thing. It teaches you a lot about a writer's makeup. How a writer reacts to correction reveals real insight to her character. Some writers balk, some — including myself — argue till they're blue in the face even while they make the correction. A bona fide writer looks at what was a mistake, digests it, and then spontaneously assembles the lot into something unique. When I edited a short story of Terri's a year ago, what impressed me was how quickly she transforms obstacle into writing opportunity. She's the kind of writer who will fly wherever the words take her.

When you read Terri Pray's bio tucked in the edge of her website, it is quite innocuous. "A stay at home wife and mother, from England, now in Minnesota." Her photo shows a face that is almost naturally familiar, a well-scrubbed honestness, just the merest quirked edge of a smile, a teasingly familiar face that hovers on the edge of your memory like words you can't quite recall, that "Do I know you from somewhere" question in your brain. It's easy to look at her and wonder where all this darkness comes from. It couldn't be behind that wholesome face. She brings to mind the question of The Shadow,"Who knows what evil lurks within the hearts of men?"

Because Eternal Slave is an evil story. Evil wins. Eternal Slave is a walk in the shoes of a normal girl who resents, even rebels against an archaic ritual honoring non-existent gods. It is in fact a walk from one end of the spectrum to the other side. In natural progression, we see the changes that are wrought in Alayna by forces beyond her control. This is a sexy, dark little tale; pure impure erotica since the p.o.v. character goes from purity to impurity. Here you find light turning to darkness, compassion to remorselessness, sex, and training in bondage and sadomasochism.

If there is a drawback to be found here, it is the sense of inevitability. There are really no choices for Alayna. The path she walks is carved in stone. If she makes choices at all, they are non-choices. And while there is a certain dark allure in helplessly watching an innocent's inevitable fall from grace, as the art of story goes, Eternal Slave lacks a certain dynamic unpredictability of plot. Though Lord Traven says to Alayna that he finds "… the unwilling to be far more satisfying…" she does little to exercise unwillingness beyond thinking unwilling thoughts. That said, it is nevertheless a well-written piece of dark erotica, a scene, if you will, that will fascinate members of the BDSM community, especially those who are into role-play. A very sexual BDSM read, with a vampire lagniappe.

Reviewer Maîtresse
© November 2005