Review: House of Sable Locks

House of Sable Locks by Elizabeth Schechter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I saw this book, I was surprised.  I distinctly remember reading the short story, Succubus, in a Steampunk collection, and I adored it.  To see a full length novel, colour me intrigued.  Whilst I enjoyed this book so much, it is a conundrum to me.  The BDSM in this book is both deliciously deviant and BDSM lifestyle hostile.  Since this is a Steampunk fantasy book, I'm going to exclude the BDSM hostile undertone in my rating.  I will explain it.

First this is a delightful steampunk theme.  I enjoyed all the automations in the book.  Ms. Schechter does a lovely job of creating a Victoria steampunk brothel that has me panting with desire.  The different floors showcase the sex positivity in opposition to the Victorian times.  I loved the role playing and themes.  I especially enjoyed the expansion of the Succubus.  I'm impressed with how this turned out and I loved this part.

Second, the BDSM with in this with William as the submissive put me over the moon.  William's kinky scenes were definitely RACK. As we learn more about his past, we learn many of his teachings became more sinister with non-con.  Here's where I'm waffling.  What William experienced from his first love is less BDSM and more domestic abuse.  This is where the slight ill at ease feeling for me started.  To be clear, being branded is a kink and one I like.  How it was done to William is the point of contention for me.  The story is clear this wasn't consensual.  Hopefully readers understand this distinct point.  

William's experiences at the House of Sable Locks are for the most part right up his alley.  He tries all the different rooms in the various floors and has a blast.  I'm enjoying every bit of this and thinking that this is a great kinky sex positive erotica.  Then, the story showed it is more than erotica.

Third, I did not anticipate any sort of plot.  I figured we were going to have overcharged sexy times.  Boy was I wrong.  Ms. Schechter slips in a horror/thriller plot.  I am caught off guard and didn't pay attention to the warning signs until it smacks me hard in the face.  In my defense, I was in a book reading binge and this was book number 7 in the the past 48 hours.  I was also reading this late into the wee morning because I was so riveted.  My brain probably wasn't functioning on all cylinders.  Unlike the sexy sweet Steampunk Succubus that will now feature in my spank bank.

The dark plot twist threw me for a loop and this is where the BDSM hostile label comes in force.  What happens here from a woman dominating a man is beyond body modification.  It is more than sadistic.  It is pure serial killer psycho.  My issue with this is that the story crosses the genre of Steampunk erotic romance to non-con stereotype of a female dominant.  There are few stories with femdom.  There are even fewer stories with kink positive female dominants.  If this was a non-con slavery story from beginning to end, then it wouldn't be as big of an issue for me.  Still, this is a pet peeve of mine and others may not even think twice or read into it this way.  Basically, a woman cannot be a good dominant.  She is only in it to torture and hurt men.  *eye roll*  yes, yes, one can argue that there were a few good female dominants in this story - specifically Succubus. But she is a machine, is she not?  *wink*

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this story and I look forward to the next book that follows.  I haven't seen when the book will be published.  I hope it will be in the new year, 2024.  This erotic steampunk is recommended to kinky readers who enjoy dark fantasy and horror.

I received a copy from NetGalley