Title: To See the Sky
Series: N/A
Author: L.M. Brown
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic
Length: Novella
Publisher: Total E-Bound (May 24th, 2013)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥2.5 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: Can a lab rat whore find love with the servant of his master, or will their different backgrounds and prejudices keep them apart?
In the distant future, where the devastation caused by war has driven the human race below the surface of the Earth, society is split in half. The rich scientists live in towers where they can monitor the surface and determine when the poisonous gasses have cleared and the world is safe for humans once more. Meanwhile the majority of the human race lives in crowded labyrinthine caves, where life is harsh and short. Uneducated and with no real prospects for the future, a ‘lab rat’ is lucky to live to see thirty years of age. Employment options are minimal and few can escape the fate of choking to death on the dust of the caves.
When AJ, one of the poorest members of society, needs credits for medicine for his sister he is in a desperate situation. With no other options available he risks alienation from his family by selling himself to the highest bidder. Love is the last thing on his mind, but while Blake, his new owner, might not be Mr. Right, Ryder, his servant, just might be. Unfortunately, their different backgrounds, prejudices, and AJ’s brutal owner seem destined to keep them apart, but true love can be theirs for the taking, if they can only find a way.
Product Link: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=2112
Review: I have mixed feelings about this book. Some parts I liked and some I didn’t.
The world this story lives in is Earth somewhere in the future and after one very destructive war people are forced to live underground in tunnels due to the poisonous air above ground. Supposedly there are many such compounds around the world, but there is no communication whatsoever between them. In the compound we are reading of, there are many levels of rich and status. AJ is one step from the lowest and his life along with that of his sister and brother are hardly managed. Now his sister has less than a week to live due to the dust levels underground and the choices are quickly dwindling. As a last resort AJ decides to sell himself and a very peculiar contract has him as a personal slave for Blake for one week.
Now here is where I start resenting some things. A whore in this world is so much frowned upon, that taking that route can cause alienation from even the lowest parts of society and the ruining of your entire family. That for me makes no sense, since through the centuries people’s desperation has driven them to do whatever it takes to survive. The survival instinct is simply too strong to ignore. So when AJ’s family, and especially his sister, that a few moments earlier was dying, turn him away in disgust, it was more than surreal to me.
Moving on, the way the servants in the house AJ was to live for a week treated him was again a bit odd. Firstly AJ’s Master didn’t even care to provide for him or give the orders for him to be taken care of; a room and clothes. It’s incomprehensible how he bought a virgin only to treat him like a seasoned whore. The same with the servant, Ryder, who while later (and way too fast to be credible) falls in love with AJ, treated him like common dirt at the beginning, justifying it as reaction of jealousy.
The plot itself was a bit underdeveloped too, with things not being properly introduced and decisions hastily made. The only part that made me cringe was the sexual treatment AJ received from his “Master”, while the entire angst life in that future was supposed to provide was totally lost. The blackmailing that followed was unthought-of and while the “evil” character had every opportunity to even kill them, he simply let them go. Albeit in an insecure future or rather past.
I don’t know. I still don’t know what to make of this book. The pair came together in a haze and I didn’t really get how or when they developed such strong feelings for each other. In the end, I was left with some kind of wistfulness that this read was a bit more, because I did like the idea behind the story a lot.