Book Reviews: The Academy & The Reunion

From The Reunion by Laura Antoniou...

Robin said: "But you hurt me a lot and not just in my ass." ...."I can get so angry with you -- and then I can just let it go. I've never been like that with anyone before."

Chris said: "It's an essential part of training to provoke strong emotions. But as you know, one mark of a good slave is the ability to let the anger go and continue working, continue serving, continue offering respect and deference. Now, if the anger and shame and hurt can then change to love or affection or lust -- well, that's our mark as a sadomasochist, isn't it?"

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I read The Academy and The Reunion recently. The Academy I had started many times and never got the chance to finish because well life got in the way. Anyway, I finished The Academy and the Reunion and I was totally captivated as I was with the rest of the series.

The Marketplace series is BDSM fiction by Laura Antoniou. It is about an underground organization that operates around the world in slave training, selling and buying. The books main focus is the training of slaves. And each book offers compelling characters that unfold into an extraordinary story and world.

The Academy

has a second title called Tales of the Marketplace as it is not only a story of trainers gathering from all over the world for a conference but it has stories interwoven into it by guest authors such as Karen Taylor (Laura's wife), david stein, Cecila Tan and a few others that I know I am not remembering at the moment. The overall story/plot to the Academy is fascinating as it offers more of a background to Chris Parker. Chris Parker is a character through out the whole series and he makes me melt when he is in his trainer role as well as his service as a slave.

Things I really enjoyed about The Academy:
~ the background about Chris and then how the book ends with his story I was cheering and crying for him! I was so happy! I get tears in my eyes right now thinking about how he finally got what his heart had always longed for....it just makes me feel so good!

~ the seeing Michael struggle with training under Chris....not really the struggle but his little subtle light bulb moments that he gets it. I liked those moments where he really just was struggling and then everything became clear.

~ the various stories of the marketplace - by the guest authors were just so fun, exciting, and of course made me want to know more about each of the characters outlined in each.

~ as always just reading and seeing how Chris serves amazes me. Such grace.

There are many other wonderful things about the book but those are the main things for me that are woven throughout.

The Reunion

I wrote in another post I am so glad I hadn't read it until now. It really touched home for me some of the things I felt last year when I was going through burn out...the struggles, the doubts of if I could cut it, and so on.

The Reunion is a vacation for slaves. They go on a vacation with other slaves/ex-slaves/retired slaves from the marketplace and are able to relax and enjoy themselves away but with like minded people. This story was set in Ireland in a wonderful old castle that has been turned into a resort. Some of the staff Kaleigh castle are Marketplace staff and trainers/trainees. The book also reunites Chris and Robin from

The Slave

. And I was looking forward to that and enjoyed their plot line in the book. Yummy! As always Chris just makes me melt as he tops Robin but also as a slave.

If you think a vacation full of slaves doesn't contain good SM and smut, you would be wrong. Oh my fanning myself! It did contain some very good SM & smut. And again one of the main reasons I love the Marketplace books is the service. The service is incredible again from Chris to the staff at the castle - incredible. This book also contains a mystery story line woven through and it was compelling to keep reading and wondering who was behind it all.

I really related to each character in different ways. I found myself nodding to things many of the slaves said - no matter if they were retired, new, struggling with where they fit in the marketplace, if they should come back, stay being a slave and so on. Laura captured so many varying degrees of life in slavery and again although a fictional setting she captures real life feelings of slavery extremely accurately. I am sure I will read the Reunion again soon. And again I am so glad I read it at this point in my life as going through last years burn out many struggles and questions the slaves went through/asked were things I related too and I am not sure I would have been so in touch with that if I had read it right after I bought it 3 years ago.

9 / 25 (36.0%)