Review: Tales of the Djinn: The Double

Tales of the Djinn: The Double by Emma Holly

My rating: 3 of 5 stars




What could be better than one sexy man? How about two of the same man?

In THE DOUBLE, the story continues with Cade and Elyse trying to solve the djinn's situation with half of Cade's world still frozen in stone. Cade's original self, Arcadius, is still giving Elyse a hard time. Elyse doesn't meet the requirements for a beautiful and desirable djinn female. Except now Arcadius is experiencing their sexual interludes vicariously, which makes it difficult for him to ignore Elyse.

Ms. Holly writes some of the hottest ménages. When Cade, Elyse and Arcadius finally come together, it is explosive. Ms. Holly must be a voyeur in real life. This is the only explanation in how she writes threesomes with one person directing the other two lovers so well. Elyse and Arcadius sexing it up whilst Cade is giving directions is smoking hawt. When both Cade and Arcadius take Elyse at the same time, it's surprising Elyse doesn't pass out from pleasure.

Ms. Holly cleverly creates two characters who are so similar yet are different. They started as one person, and now as two, they literally can do twice as much. In the story, there are questions of if one is merely a clone of the other, and how does one bring these two back into one whole entity? Does it even need to happen? If Cade and Arcadius were to become one again, will Elyse be left behind, Cade disappearing into Arcadius?

Whilst the tension in the relationship between this triad is going up and down, there is still a city to save. Cade and Arcadius are still considered leaders in the djinn world. Running a city isn't easy, especially as young beautiful djinn seem to be disappearing. With the problems piling up, it brings Cade and Arcadius in alignment. With their agreement about Elyse's usefulness, it helps to ease the strain between the three.

Surprisingly, it's easy to distinguish between Cade and Arcadius. Ms. Holly does a great job of creating her characters. They are individuals in spite of their origins. The switching between djinn and human world works well because it gives the djinn world a more exotic and sensual feeling. The human world, whilst exciting and modern, comes across as more hectic and chaotic. With the descriptions of each place, a reader can easily visualize the opulence in the djinn palace--flushed with golden embellishments and colourful fabrics. Ms. Holly's depiction even includes the olfactory sense, which conjure up frankincense and sandalwood. New York is gray, busy and permeated with the smells of car exhaust and pizza. This dichotomy shows how different the djinn differs from humans.

With such a wide gap, setting up Cade and Elyse to develop into a loving relationship is a nice touch. Throwing in a third makes it even more complicated and it's interesting to see how Ms. Holly resolves this relationship struggle. This erotic romance is recommended for ménage lovers who wish a man could be double the fun.



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