Pets Book 1: Sparking

Title: Pets Book 1: Sparking
Author: Mike Shade
Publisher: Torquere Books
Genre: M/M sci-fi fantasy romance
Length: 138 Pages
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

A guest review by Jenre

THE BLURB

Tynde is the second son of the King of Alaquis. Sweet, quiet, and with the ability to sense the emotions of others, he’s destined to join the seers at the Priory and be cloistered. At least he is until his brother, the Crown Prince Towan, disappears. Desperate to recover his heir, the King sends Tynde to the planet of Kion to chase a rumor that Towan has been kidnapped and taken there.

Kion is everything that Alaquis isn’t: crowded, urban, with denizens far more ruthless than anything Tynde has experienced before. Lucky for him, he’s taken under the wing of Koss, an important businessman who is drawn to Tynde from the moment he meets the young man. Koss believes he’s found a real treasure in sensitive Tynde, but will his needs and desires ruin everything that Tynde is?

THE REVIEW

I fully admit that it was the cover that caught my eye with this book.  After I read the blurb I decided that it sounded like an interesting fantasy story and I would give it a go, despite not having read anything by this author before.  In the end, I enjoyed the book.  It had some interesting ideas, with a touch of sci-fi to the fantasy, and an engaging pair of heroes.  Unfortunately it never really fulfilled its potential when after a promising start it relied too much on the sex between the heroes rather than any attempt to develop the plot.

The story begins with young Tynde, a shy young man with the gift of being able to read the emotions of others, who has been cloistered away from the world in preparation for joining the seers.  In order to join their ranks he has to keep himself pure, so his clothing is made of many layers and his privates are encased in a type of chastity device.  Tynde’s eldest brother has been abducted, and Tynde’s father asks him to travel from the peaceful and green planet where he has lived in tranquility all his life to Kion, a planet made of steel buildings.  Taking his trusty ‘protector’ and spiritual guardian, Wiam, and a guard with him, Tynde arrives on the planet where he is brought to the home of Koss.  Koss knows the ways of his people and when he sees Tynde he realises that if he doesn’t make him his own then another will claim him.  Koss then sets about seducing Tynde as the only way he can protect him on the planet.

This story began really well.  I liked the timid Tynde and his wish to do his father’s bidding, despite the inconvenience and his nervousness at leaving his beloved planet.  I also liked the contrast between the quasi-medieval world of Tynde’s planet compared with the modern city-scape of Kion.  Tynde’s reactions to Kion, the way he feels thrown off balance, was portrayed realistically so that when he agrees to Koss’ protection it seemed in keeping with his character.  Koss helps him adjust to the difference in setting and gives him a firm anchor in which to orientate himself, so it was entirely believable that Tynde’s initial disorientation  should lead to him agreeing to become Koss’ Kundi which is a highly favoured sexual companion, especially as he didn’t really understand at first what he was getting himself into.

I have to admit I have a bit of a soft spot for the theme of the virginal hero who is seduced by the more experienced man.  In the case of this book I felt that the seduction scenes were gentle and very erotic in content as Koss patiently explains what is going to happen to Tynde whilst over-riding any nervousness or embarrassment from Tynde.  As Tynde has been set apart from life in preparation for the Priory, he sees his nakedness as shameful – and in fact the name for his cock is his “shame”, a nice touch to the world building and characterisation, I felt.

Another part that worked well was in Tynde’s special gift of being able to read emotions.  The way that he feels overwhelmed and battered by being around many people or too much negative emotion provided moments of high emotion for Tynde.  It also added to the depth of feeling in the sex scenes as Tynde can feel Koss’ pleasure when he touches him.

Once the initial seduction scenes had taken place, I expected the story to begin to focus on the mystery of what happened to Tynde’s brother and how they were going to find him.  Whilst that is given the occasional mention, it’s nearly all but forgotten as the story moves instead into an outlandish plot involving Wiam, Tynde’s fatherly protector.  I don’t want to say too much about that because it’s a spoiler, but the whole thing seemed over the top and out of place in what had been quite a gentle, emotional story.  The story is also set aside in favour of a number of, what I considered, unnecessary sex scenes which did nothing to further the story or Tynde and Koss’ relationship and character.   After such a promisingly good start to the book I was sad to see all that great world building and characterisation waylaid as the focus moved into page after page of sex.  Disappointing and also a waste of what could have been an opportunity to develop Koss, who is the weaker in terms of characterisation in the pair heroes.

There are a number of loose ends at the conclusion of the book.  As this is obviously part of a series, I am assuming that some of those threads will be picked up in the next book.  Despite my disappointment with the way that the story unfolded, I would still want to read that next book as I’m interested to see where the author will take the story.

Overall, I would recommend this book to those looking for an m/m fantasy/sci-fi book.  The writing is good, there are a lot of great ideas in the story and a unique character in Tynde.  However, be prepared for the sex scenes to take over the story by the end.