Extreme characterization is cartoon. Especially when word counts are crucial, I think many times it is much easier to stick in a cardboard villain rather than to spend the words it takes to build a character. But when you do that, the whole novel suffers. The hero is going to be as noteworthy as his opposition--as my sf reading son once told me when he badgered me into rewriting a fight scene. When you defeat the bad guy-one two three and you're done--it's not exactly conducive to great story.

Of course, a romance is not about the antagonist and the protagonist. A romance is about the relationship between the hero and the heroine. If it isn't the next great futuristic novel, at least Elizabeth Batten-Carew's Slaves of Love is a romance--even if it begins with the hero, Keern, spying on the heroine, Shena, while she's doing a bit of skinny dipping. (Wait...didn't I start a book like that too? Never mind ...) The spying part is more graphic than romantic, until the hero happens to hop out of nowhere and make an effort to save the heroine from a wagon load of approaching soldiers. Now, I can't help but wonder how bright the heroine is if she's going around skinny dipping where her father's uncontrolled soldiers are wandering about, and I wonder even more how bright she is when she runs from the hero right into the bunch of soldiers who immediately threaten rape.

Anyway, thanks to the hero's quick thinking, Shena gets off the hook. But she jumps right from the frying pan into the fire with a Monica Lewinsky. Then she and Keern go their separate ways. Of course, she has dues to pay when her cartoon-evil father comes and bullies the truth out of her. Then he's got to go after Keern; but instead, Keern kills her father, believing that Shena betrayed him.

As for Shena, she is:
Kidnapped by a servant whom she convinces not to rape her. Taken to a rather rude high-tech examination which qualifies her as a level 2 b virgin. Passed her off as full-fledged virgin. Sold as a slave. Ported off to another planet.

In the meantime, Keern goes from adoration to hatred. He decides he's going to get revenge on Shena for her betrayal. He has to track her down and woe to her when he catches up to her.

I had some issues with this story. If Shena is so traumatized by her father's lessons (wait until you read how he reins her in), what is she doing swimming naked? She's a complete innocent one second, and the next, she's an oral expert. And Keern seems to be capable only of extremes, just as her father is.

There are moments, however, when Shena's characterization is much deeper. She has an emotional resonance at certain points during her captivity when she steps out of the cartoon and I, as a reader, actually cared about her feelings. Slaves of Love has its highly graphic moments. So if you want to read graphic sex, (including an imaginative girl on girl demo for our level 2 b virgin's benefit), take this book for a spin.

Maîtresse
Copyright 2006