REVIEWED by Jen B.

TITLE: Comply

SERIES: The Shattered

AUTHOR: Lee Menarte

PUBLISHER: Lee Manarte

LENGTH: 201 Pages

RELEASE DATE: November 13, 2018

BLURB: 

“The world is a cruel place…”

No one believes that more than I do. My name is Declan Forester, and I am a Zedian. Part of a different species born with miraculous gifts from the gods, only the humans don’t see it that way. They see us as something to be tamed.
After being captured by the humans and stripped of my abilities, I have little left. With my life in shambles, my thoughts are haunted by my human tormenter. Dr. Adam Davenport. A human male that is everything nightmares are made of.
Now, his unwilling captive in a government-run facility, I am forced to obey his every demand, or be punished. Caught up in a web of lies about gods, the push to help a hot redhead, my high running desires and, oh yeah, the pending apocalypse, I find myself falling apart. And Adam may be the only one to save me…if I comply.

REVIEW:

This wasn’t nearly as dark as I was expecting, even given the content and storyline. It is an interesting world that has been created where there is another species (Zedians – born from the Gods) that have special gifts. The humans are the evil ones here though, as most have fought to contain the Zedians, and, in an effort to maintain control of society and their fear of the Zedians becoming too powerful, have found ways to strip the Zedians of their rights and powers. Unfortunately, these methods are pretty painful and most definitely cruel.

Declan is a Zedian who had his powers suppressed and was then released. Unable to continue as a Zed healer, as was his prior profession and way of earning money, his life has changed pretty drastically. Things get worse for him when he is taken back into custody after his need to offer help backfires on him. It is then that he is reunited with his captor, Adam, the tormentor who initially suppressed his powers and simultaneously ignited something inside him that caused him to yearn for Adam even while he abhorred him.

That is paired with the other aspect of this story which circles back around to the creation of the Zedians in the first place. The story about the Gods and how the Zedians came to be, etc. ties into a struggle for more power. It is basically human greed and wanting to rule all that becomes the focus, and Declan must trust in Adam if there is any hope of survival.

I enjoyed this creative story and am interested in seeing where it goes from here. However, I didn’t love the chemistry between Adam and Declan, which I think was putting me off from my overall enjoyment. I did like Darren and really wanted to see him find some happiness. There are scenes of dub con/rape, etc. and definitely some Stockholm Syndrome going on, but again, it just didn’t have a very dark feel to me. Might be a good story to wet your whistle on a somewhat dark dystopian.

RATING: