The Eidolon’s Conquest

Title: The Eidolon’s Conquest
Author: Yamila Abraham
Publisher: Yaoi Press
Release Date: January 13, 2016
Genre(s): Science Fiction, BDSM
Page Count: 120
Reviewed by: Kristin
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Blurb:

The elite Eidolons were genetically engineered to have a lust for conquest, but after decades of war, peaceful trade with their enemy is now required for their survival. Since they have the upper hand, the Eidolons demand the custodianship of particular enemy soldiers to ensure the terms of their truce will not be violated.

High Lord Deandred now possesses Rand, a cocky stealth fighter who caused him no end of trouble during the war. Deandred needs to satisfy his potent lust for conquest during the truce. Conquering Rand will be just the diversion he needs.

Surrendering to become a prisoner was never in Rand’s service contract—especially not when he’s being handed over to the super-human deviant who’s been trying to catch him for years. Now he’s just supposed to turn himself over? The Eidolons are known for doing things to prisoners that Rand would rather not experience.

I have mixed feelings about this selection.

On one hand, the backdrop has interest and merit: two conflicting societies. One human, and the Eidolon’s who are genetically modified and ruled by a computer overlord. The Eidolon’s have destroyed their side of the planet and are in desperate need of resources. The humans are barely holding their own against the warrior Eidolon’s, and strike a bargain: prisoners for trade. They accept.

Enter Stealth Fighter Rand. He is the humans only hope. The Eidolon High Lord wants him for his personal sex slave along with nearly 5000 prisoners to be housed by the Eidolon’s but provisioned by the humans. The human government agrees and happily hands over Rand. The Eidolon’s it seems, are genetically wired for conquest, and the humans have figured out that if they provide concubines/sex slaves (all male), then the Eidolon’s desire for conquest are satisfied and they willing to discuss terms of trade and peace. Well. If only it were that simple.

And…this is where it got weird and had me scratching my head. Rand has been fighting the Eidolon’s on missions since he was 15. Now, at the request of his government, he’s supposed to “take it like a man” and accept his fate as a concubine. No rebelling against the Eidolon’s. No lashing out. Don’t screw up the peace, Rand. Once the exchange takes place, in less than a day, he’s totally accepting of his place and role in Eidolon society and as the High Lord’s sex slave. What happened to our feisty, stealthy, resistance fighter?

What we find out is Rand likes his nipples tweaked. Way too much repetition on thrusting those nipples forward for some tweak induced dopamine shots for positive reinforcement. Seriously? Nipple tweaking? I spent a goodly portion of the book trying to figure out the mechanics and anatomy of how you would go about tweaking someones nipples as much as the High Lord Deandred did. I couldn’t make it work. Bam! I’m mentally tossed out of the book. Not a good thing.

Now let’s discuss the creepy robot overlord – Gizmodion. Hal from 2001 has nothing on Gizmodion. Gizmodion hates the puny and weak humans with a single minded, often jealous, passion to destroy them all. But, yet…the Eidolon’s are basically genetically modified humans, so I would have liked to have had more background as to why a computer AI would want to wipe every human off the face of the earth.

Ultimately, I thought the world building was decent and it could have used a bit more background structure. It was an interesting conflict between two disparate societies, but I think the plot could have benefited from seeing more of the Eidolon society, especially some interaction between the High Lord and Gizmodion. And far less nipple tweaking at odd moments between Deandred and Rand. That was just weird.

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