Reviewed by Roberta
TITLE: The Copper Horse: Fear
SERIES: The Copper Horse #1
AUTHOR: K. A. Merikan
PUBLISHER: Storm Moon Press
LENGTH: 213 pages
RATING: 
BLURB:
| Discontented with his state of existence and with his own secret and self-destructive attraction to men, Reuben, the son of a baker, is convinced to engage in an act of rebellion against his father. But when his compatriot betrays him, Reuben awakens to shackles, a filthy dungeon, and the knowledge that he is going to be forced to battle captive zombies for the entertainment of the Bylondon underworld.When he’s claimed, instead, by a powerful and stunning member of Bylondon’s ruling family, Reuben is willing to serve in whatever way ensures that he’ll see another day, even if that means training to become the perfect human horse. Erik is a kind master, and one that Reuben thinks he could grow to love… but the power of his shame and his self-hate rise up inside him, threatening to tear him away from the love—and the lifestyle—that he could never have brought himself to openly desire. |
REVIEW: This book was so different from what I’ve read in the past. I’ve not had the chance to read about pet play/pony play before and this truly opened my eyes to something new.
Reuben is this character that at times you wanted to hold on tightly and let him know that it’s all going to be ok and at others, you wanted to smack some sense into him. He’s this young guy who loves to submit, being forced makes him feel good about the fact that he’s not supposed to be that way. Yet, when he gets his hearts wish, it’s not the way in which he wants. Having his freedom taken from him and being forced to be slavery to someone, not just the play submitting that he’d been doing is hard for him to grasp. He’s finding his way and even as the time goes by, he still falls back on the thoughts that it’s wrong to want to have sex with men and even the submission to another man, makes is so very much worse to Reuben.
Erik is the other MC in this book. Erik is quite open about who he is and what he likes. He’s into Pet/Pony Play. Erik is the kind of character that I really like. He’s into some shady business but regardless of that, he’s actually a pretty good guy. He’s fair and he just wants what he wants. He goes about it in a way that some might not like or agree with, taking someone into slavery, however, the choice would be to fight and die in the arena. Erik treats his “stallion” actually pretty well. He just wants to have someone who will fulfill his need.
I like how there are characters that are there in order to help guide Reuben along in his journey. Jack was so sweet in my opinion. Jack is young man who is trying his hardest to help Reuben become Copper. Who doesn’t want any harm to come to him, yet he also wants so much for himself. You can see that even though he’s got this great job taking care of Reuben/Copper, he is alone. The house staff, not all whom are nice to Reuben/Copper, but they added something special. That the staff were in a way a family and that most treated Reuben/Copper nicely. The fact they didn’t make a big deal about who Reuben/Copper was, went a long way into helping him feel more at ease with his new life.
I will say that I heard that this is the beginning of a series. I look forward to seeing how the story progresses from here. I really hope that in the second part, we get to know more of who Erik is. I’d really like to get to hear his voice. This is a great story and a wonderful beginning to a new series.
BUY LINKS: Storm Moon press Amazon Are