Review: O/s

O/s by Jane Davitt
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars



Poignant, heartbreaking and intense, this tale takes a reader into the speculative fiction of a future society. In this future, there are registered slaves who can be measured for their ability to handle pain and enjoy submission. Their collars are a monitoring system which can make no mistakes. Slaves are always assess accurately and matched up to Masters who appreciate them.

As soon as I read this premise, my gut clenched because I knew that this could be abused. There are no foolproof systems. There is no way to 100% guarantee a system isn't tricked, hacked or rigged. As expected, this story leads us down a horrifying abuse of consent and cruel manipulations which result in several deaths. Is this story BDSM hostile? Not exactly. Because Jax is a surrogate owner who is ethical and does his best to help owners and slaves. Jax is the embodiment of what a good owner can be like and how to build trust through clear communication. His style is starkly contrasted against Brysen's owner. Layne. An owner who should be "above" reproach because he is a doctor. A doctor is a trusted position and for this to be violated, can cause some serious repercussions.

I thought this would be a lengthy book regarding sexual violations and how to fight Layne or take him down. Then perhaps a bit of helping Brysen recover. To my surprise, all of this happens in the first half of the book. The second half of the book is the aftermath. What happens to Jax and Brysen once Layne is no longer in the picture. I'm amazed at the authors extending the story to after Happily Ever afters. Because what we see is more realistic and gives more depth.

The characters are complex in this story because there are layers built upon layers. With history together, past experiences and current horrors mixing in, both Jax and Brysen feel more real. The situations they encounter are complicated and it adds another level of sensory detail for readers. The sensations they feel and see are so well described, it is as if the reader is there, experiencing it with them.

I loved this lengthy story even if it took me a while to read. I could only read it in sections with breaks because my heart hurt for the characters and my sense of dread overcame me. Authors Jane Davitt and Alexa Snow create another erotic masterpiece. This m/m erotica is recommended to readers who enjoy BDSM elements.