La Crimson Femme

This dystopian world is not too different than many made for TV movies on the Sci-fi channel. It kind of reminds me of Jericho except with a super volcano instead of bombs. This story was hard to get into and if I didn't have it for a book challenge, I might have given it up as DNF.

The first 2/3 of the book dragged for me. There was too much hidden about Todd's real job. I guessed it from early on, but to wait so bloody long to be validated was frustrating and unneeded. It's one thing to build up story tension. It's another thing to drag it out and creating a too slow pace for the story. From an editing perspective, I think this book could have been cut by at least 1/3. I'm guessing Ms. Noble was trying to build a world for the reader to understand. I think she beat around the bush too much. I didn't gain much out of it.

It could be this book is focused more on character than plot or world building elements. If that is the case, I guess I can see why it was so long. The characters were okay. Todd and Nicky are a cute couple together. In the last 1/4 of the book, it really became good for me and I enjoyed it. I guess what would have made it better for me was not being told anyone could see Todd and Nicky loved each other. And that they didn't know it but everyone else did. Rather than these constant musings, I would have liked to see a few more scenes where Todd and Nicky worked on assignments. Through those assignments, Ms. Noble could have demonstrated Nicky's tentative trust in Todd. At the same time, Todd could have demonstrated his anxiety and nervousness to place Nicky in danger. Show that Todd values Nicky so much he wants to place him in a cocoon. Yes, one could argue Todd did this with his foolhardy cross over the border, but it doesn't really for me. It just demonstrates the macho man mentality of - "Nobody touches my property and if they do, I KILL THEM!". *rolls eyes*

From a world building perspective, it was sketchy at times. I didn't understand how these supernatural beings came to life. Nor did I understand the reasoning behind people who have "other" powers. Why were the neighboring territories w/o any type of diplomatic relations? I found this to be very odd based on how humans work. I also didn't fully understand why women sold their children into slavery. Why weren't they born free? There were so too many questions I just didn't seem to find answers for in the book. This left me dissatisfied for the most part which is why the rating is left at a 2.5 star. (I truncate not round which is why the book is a 2 star.)

Is there really BDSM in this story? I'm not 100% sure I can say. If we go from a D/s perspective, yes. From a BDSM lifestyle, there isn't anything in it I could point to. The sex was rather bland. I confess to reading the first scene and becoming bored so I skimmed all the rest of the sex scenes. I'm sure they were sweet, they just didn't arouse me. This book is probably best for m/m readers who like dystopian speculative fiction.