I don't know how many people remember Maria Muldaur and her song, "Midnight at the Oasis" but I was certainly hearing that in my head as I read Deirdre O'Dare's The Taming of Jaelle'n. Of course, O'Dare's oasis is some place other than earth, a place with comalos instead of camels, a surviving long-lived gray woman of the "elder" races, and a gold skinned hero with powers of psychic magic that does everything from crawling up and down someone's back to heating bathwater.

Jaelle'n, the red haired Princess of Cynryddi, is betrayed, chained, force marched, and sold at auction. She has a very bad week. In this magic-enhanced other world, the heroine is among two dozen women sold from a common coffle into the household of a trainer of pleasure slaves. The buyer and Jaelle'n's personal trainer is Aguilar, grandson to the gray woman of the elder races. Aguilar's proclamation that the whole lot of new purchases will be fully trained pleasure slaves within a moon cycle is an arrogant offense that does not sit too well with our royal heroine.

This is a fantasy for someone who wants to dream of being slave to a sheikh, without the baggage that would come with that fantasy nowadays. The characters aren't explored any more than is minimally necessary and what happens is pretty much what you'd expect to happen, but Aguilar has some torrid moments with Jaelle'n. There aren't any big surprises here, no huge twists--just a small semi-expected half twist at the end. In spite of (or maybe because of) a predictable plot, I'm sure that The Taming of Jaelle'n will be appreciated by lovers of chains, sands, and tents.

Maîtresse
Copyright June 2006