Lady Mariel Champlain is an innocent living in the house of her father who had become a drunkard after losing his fortune. She is completely taken by surprise when a Trull, a demon soldier of the dark Lord Valdamer, the warlock who ruled Daeksould, comes through the door, tosses her father a bag of gold, and takes her away on his firehorse.

The impoverished Lord Champlain had sold his own daughter to Lord Valdamer as an offering. The demon soldier Behsart is to fetch her to be sacrificed when they reach faraway Valdamer Castle. On the way, the Trull tells her they are on a pilgrimage to the Temples of the Seven Demons who rule Daeksould.

The first temple is the Demon Temple, where Mariel is publicly proclaimed to be the bride of the Demon Sheenigan, the demon of many mouths, and is paraded naked on the steps of the temple before the eyes of the public. Inside the temple she is bathed, dried, chained naked to a stone altar and erotically tortured by the female priestesses and the Trull. Afterwards, moving on from temple to temple, Behsart says that if she pleases the demons, they might let her keep her body instead of sacrificing her.

Mariel admires the body of Cavan, Lord of Reugal, the man whose body Behsart explains he has taken. He claims to have sent the man's soul away. But since demons lie, and Mariel sees flashes of humanity in Behsart, she believes that the soul of Cavan is not banished. Mariel is determined to survive any way she can. Can she reach free the man, and find a way to save her life?

This is a sexual fantasy with no holds barred where each demon temple is named appropriately to the torments to be endured therein. The publisher rates BELLY OF THE BEAST as no-holds-barred, explicit BDSM erotica, with sexual mastery as well as a subplot of romance and reader, let me assure you, the publisher is not kidding. That's an accurate description. Each encounter revisits the fantasy temple of impossible excess. If you are easily offended, this is not the book for you. If you're looking for an intense read with no carnal limits including pain, you'll love it.

Reviewed By: Maîtresse
© July 2004