Product Description

Haven is a Master of the Order of the Light--a revered sect of mediators and healers that roam the galaxy righting wrongs. Ten years ago he bought a ragged slave boy from Rigel Six and brought him to live at the Temple of Light on Radiant. As Wren's master and mentor, Haven knows the young man is off limits, so he keeps his forbidden feelings for his novice under wraps, vowing never to act on them.

Wren has been in love with his master from the moment he laid eyes on him. Haven rescued him from a life of sexual slavery and his gratitude is exceeded only by his desire for the tall, broad shouldered man he calls Master.

When the pair are sent to mediate a conflict aboard the huge Tiberion war ship, Haven discovers that he must have a pleasure slave to fulfill the local customs. Wren offers to play the part but will his role as Haven's slave boy bring back too much of his painful past? And how can Haven keep his vows of chastity when he is forced to use Wren in the most forbidden way? In a matter of life or death, both men must act on their hidden desires and hope not to lose each other forever.

Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, branding, dubious consent, exhibitionism, male/male sexual practices, strong violence, voyeurism.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59325 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 260 pages

Customer Reviews

SLAVE FOR LIFE
Master D'Lon Haven is the most respected mediator in The Order of the Light, a revered sect of mediators and healers that roam the galaxy righting wrongs. Ten years ago he found a ragged slave boy on Rigel Six and brought him to live at the Temple of Light on Radiant. He and Wren have been together since then and Wren's gratitude is exceeded only by his desire for his Master. He has been in love with Haven from the moment he laid eyes on him when Haven rescued him from a life of sexual slavery but he is off limits because a sexual relationship between Master and Novice is forbidden, so they keep their feelings a secret from each other.

Haven and Wren have been sent to mediate an interplanetary dispute between two races, the Tiberions and the Gowans. The Tiberions are very powerful and are threatening to wipe the peace-loving people of Gow gi Nef off the face of the planet. From the beginning things start to go wrong. Due to protocol Wren has to pretend to be Haven's slave which brings back bad memories of his previous life. The worse part of his new role is he must be naked at all times during their stay on the planet much to Haven's dismay because he's finding it very hard to resist Wren. To complicate matters even more the Tiberion Minister of War, H'rak is very suspicious of the relationship between the two men and has his eye on Wren whom he wants for his very own slave boy.

I found both the story of Slave Boy and its execution to be exceptionally well done. The plot was complex and I thought that the characterizations worked very well within the context of the genre. Wren was particularly well drawn - his vulnerability and love for Haven were off the chart and Haven was totally believable in his role as the protective older teacher who was very much in love with his student but had to be responsible and adhere to the rules of the Order. Evangeline Anderson writes extraordinarily hot sex scenes between her protagonists and sometimes the reader feels like a voyeur which was the case in this book as the sex between Haven and Wren was passionate, intense and very sensual.

This is a fantasy therefore the reader's imagination and the author's world building play a huge part in the credibility and believability of the main characters as well as the story. In my opinion this was accomplished in Slave Boy and, in addition, the large supporting cast including the villains seemed to be quite realistic for the genre. I really enjoyed this book; it was exceptionally well written and I would recommend it to both fans of this author and new readers as a great addition to their bookshelf.

Not terrible, but disappointing
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 5/10

PROS:
- Strong emotional connection between two leads who are selfless when considering the other's needs and desires.
- Interesting, well-drawn fantasy world.
- Convincing and heartbreaking longing on the part of each man for the other. I didn't have any trouble at all believing in their total love for and devotion to each other.

CONS:
- Tiresome resistance on the part of one of the characters. I understood his reluctance to engage in sex at the beginning of the story because of various external circumstances, but he is SO in love with the other guy that once he got his first taste, I became frustrated with his noble "we can't do this because it's not right" stance.
- Some descriptions of sex in which the consent of both partners was doubtful.
- The progression of sex scenes--from milder to more extreme, (seemingly) impersonal to emotional--is good for the most part. However, I read this only about 3 weeks after having read Anderson's The Assignment, and the progression in the two books is very similar...enough so that I found the sex in this book a bit formulaic.
- Contrived voyeuristic situations that I didn't much enjoy. Although I bought into (for the most part) the explanations of why the characters had to perform at times for an audience, I felt a bit cheated by those scenes. The characters are in anguish over their inability to be together, and when they finally get to express their love physically, I was almost sick at the idea that they couldn't do so in private.
- I was very disappointed by the book's conclusion...not how things turn out, but how it's written. The final love scene, although sweet, is anti-climactic after the one that comes before it, and we never get to see the characters make love in an entirely uninhibited situation, when the two characters aren't in danger, no lecherous aliens are watching, and the knowledge that they can never be together isn't hovering over their heads.

Overall comments: Good idea but not executed satisfactorily for me. I didn't hate it by any means; I've just read other m/m romances that I enjoyed much more because they came closer to providing the total package than this book does.

Enjoyable male to male sexual romance
Ms Anderson is a good fantasy writer who knows how to craft an enjoyable homoerotic love story spiced with lots gay male sex. The SM part is pretty tame actually. The novel, though thin on plot and character development, is fun to read and highly recommended if you are looking for an offbeat M2M sexual love story.