Title: Dark Covenant
Author: Gryvon
Genre: Fantasy Erotica / Tentacles
ISBN: 9781627570428
Length: Short Story (49 pages)
Publisher: Storm Moon Press (August 30th, 2013)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3~3.5 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: When Eli signs up for the Academy, he believes he is exchanging his life of poverty for one of learning and luxury. All too soon, he learns that he has been tricked, and his contract amounts to giving himself to the masters of the Academy. His body, his movement, his life are all theirs to do with as they wish, no matter how depraved and sinister. At his darkest, Eli is approached by the enigmatic Eramus, an unseen creature who offers Eli the power to strike back against his victimizers—if only Eli will join with him and grants him entrance into this world. Eli must choose between enduring a life of torment or trusting the word of a being who almost certainly has his own dark agenda.
Keywords: M/M, fantasy, rape, tentacles
Product Link: http://www.stormmoonpress.com/books/Dark-Covenant.aspx
Review: Okay! I have developed a passion for tentacles, there’s no other explanation for it.
This story is a mix between erotic, fantasy, horror, and damn tentacles. Nope, I don’t put them in the same shelf as horror; they have earned a shelf of their own.
This world has the classic Upper Town-Lower Town theme, Aurelia as the case might be. The Upper Aurelians are the elite and the Lower Aurelians the sewer rats, the slum, the working force, forced to degradation and death from things easily amenable if only you had the money for.
And in one such predicament, we find Eli, who has been working the mines, double shift since he was thirteen years old, trying to keep his six siblings barely alive, and his mother on the threshold between life and death. When an earthquake hit at the time, he was deep under earth Eli realizes that he’ll either die or he’ll call upon a dark creature, Eramus, to help him. And help him he does. Eramus awakens Eli’s inner magic and help him use it, controlling the earthquake and eventually subduing it. Consequently grating Eli his life, that of the other miners and a visit from the Academy of Magic’s professor with a scholarship for Eli and a new take on life.
But you know what they say; everything comes with a price…
This story was a beautiful mix of fantasy and darkness. There are many non-con scenes here and we see Eli suffer before he succumbs entirely to darkness. I loved Eramus. This creature had me inhaling the words from the text with a strange ferocity. I wish there was more on Eramus, hell I want a whole series with Eramus throughout the centuries; I’m an Eramus’ fan!
And after stating that I’ll have to go over my slight disappointment over the ending. I seem to encounter that frequently lately. For some reason, while the entire read had me on my toes and I was fairly submerged into the story, the end itself felt unsatisfying. You see the amount of blood, hell there was no blood there at all if you really think about it, didn’t went hand in hand with the things done to Eli and/or Eramus’ nature. I expected and bit more violence after all that our character suffered; it just didn’t feel as revenge was properly taken.
Overall, though, a great story strongly recommended to fans of tentacles. J