Reviewed by: Taylor

Title: Strain

Author: Amelia C. Gormley

Publisher: Riptide

Pages: 375

Blurb:

Rhys Cooper is a dead man. Cut off from the world since childhood, he’s finally exposed to the lethal virus that wiped out most of the human race. Now his only hope for survival is infection by another strain that might confer immunity. But it’s sexually transmitted, and the degradation he feels at submitting to the entire squad of soldiers that rescued him eclipses any potential for pleasure—except with Darius, the squadron’s respected, capable leader.

Sergeant Darius Murrell has seen too much death and too little humanity. He’s spent a decade putting plague victims out of their misery and escorting survivors to a safe haven he can never enjoy. He’d rather help Rhys live than put him down, so when Rhys can’t reconcile himself to doing what’s necessary to survive, Darius is forced to save Rhys in spite of himself.

But with each passing day, it looks less and less likely that Rhys can be saved. Which means that soon Darius might have to put a bullet in the head of the one person in years who reminds him of what it means to be human.

Review:

Overall, I’ll say I enjoyed this, with a few notes about what didn’t work for me in a bit.  The world is a tumultuous place in this novel, with a man-made Alpha virus making superhumans and the mutations from Alpha, called Beta and Gamma, causing either Rot (death) or changing humans to Revs (similar to zombies but not actually dead).  The superhumans have to find any survivors and quarantine them but each side lives a very lonely, desolate life.

This is how Rhys Cooper and former Army Sergeant Darius Murrell meet, but they veer from the predicted path for themselves.  Rhys is a young survivor, just nineteen, and he’s been trying to stay away from all viruses and survive since he was just a young boy.  No family, no friends, abused, underweight, virginal.  But there are morals, and guilt and a strong-willed determination within him.  Darius is one of the leaders to Delta Company and while he should have made a decision about Rhys – kill him before he spreads a virus to others – his teammates and a surprising tug toward the young man convince him to make the attempt to turn Rhys in to a superhuman like the rest of the team.  In order to make the change, the virus strain must be transmitted sexually.  And men are better at transmitting the virus than women.  The goal is to have as many men as possible have sex with Rhys over several weeks and see if change works.

OK, I thought this plot idea was awesome and interesting and I couldn’t WAIT to see where the author took this.  This next part is important for my review because I want to make it clear that these are MY issues and I don’t expect others to be bothered by these things.  This is leading to the kinks within this book.  You have to be OK with cum play, knife play, blood play, humiliation, voyeurism, anonymous sex with multiple partners, dub-con, non-con, etc.  I am. You have to really, really like the word/term of endearment ‘boy’.  Newsflash:  I don’t.  At all.  But the characters should have come together in interesting dynamics with these kinks, but it came across as repetitive in many cases.  The parts where Rhys needed it to be dirty and violent but for him not to feel dirty read wonderfully.  I loved all the different ways Darius attempted to work through what Rhys needed emotionally and physically.  Like I said, though, it got a bit repetitive.  I’m never a fan of 43 yr old men sleeping with 19 yr olds and calling them ‘boy’ ALL.THE.TIME.  It’s just my thang – or rather it isn’t.  If that doesn’t bother you, or if you actually love those dynamics, I think you’ll be wiggling in glee.

I had some problems with the characterizations, especially the lack of background/a feel for Darius.  This very much felt like Rhys’ story and not the story of this pack of people trying to survive.  I had problems buying Darius and Rhys together outside of the bedroom because Darius felt very one-dimensional.  However, I found Rhys so, so annoying at times because he’s been given this very special and unique opportunity and he continuously mopes and whines about the lack of meaning, of the men only doing him because it was an obligation (which wasn’t even true), and his constant back and forth with what he liked.  I’ll give him some leeway considering he was sheltered and abused (emotionally and physically) for the majority of his life, but it still started to grate after hundreds of pages.

However, I really liked the side characters, especially the head female and Titus.  I would have loved to know more about Caleb and Jacob, and I’d be curious about what happens to the world, survivors, etc. after the end of this novel.  Again, I did enjoy this, but it ended up being not quite what I was expecting or needing, and I’d have liked a more balanced relationship and insight and less sex.

Rating:

Buy Link: Riptide