24690 by
A.A. Dark
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
More reviews at
Li'l Kit's Reviews.
Writing: ★★★★★
Story: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★★★★
Overall rating: 5.0
*****5 "Gory & Sadistic" Stars*****
"Everyone here was either slave, master, medical, or guard. Even the Attendants were slaves."
"Slave twenty-four-six-ninety was going to be mine. I had made sure of it."
I happened onto this book quite by accident and I'm so glad I did. This book puts me in the mind of Pepper Winters' Indebted series with the no holds barred darkness. This author holds nothing back in how black she paints the picture around these characters. The twists and turns just in the first half of the book kept my mind reeling. Just when I thought I knew something, I was wrong, every single time. That is probably the thing I loved most about this book, all the mind-fuckery.
Alaska Angelini writing under the pen name of A.A. Dark, is currently right up there with my favorite "Queens of Dark and Taboo". If you like true darkness, then this book is totally for you.
"I wasn't Everleigh anymore. I was no one but a dead slave, alive."
The main male characters, Bram and West, are the stuff nightmares are made of! Bram is the "Main Master" of Whitlock, a dark and sinister place where the rich and famous come to play. Anything goes between the Master's and the slaves. From purchasing one at an auction until they die either naturally or at the hand of their owner, the slaves can be subjected to all manner of deviant behavior from a simple slap to rape to flaying. There are no consequences, the slaves are nothing but toys to be played with, then discarded by death once they are broken.
Slave 24690 has been at Whitlock since she was kidnapped at 10 years old. When she came "of age" she was auctioned off and purchased by her first master. Outside of beatings, she was treated very well... until her master is murdered and she is blamed.
Bram took care of slave 24690 from the time she was 10 until she went to auction. He didn't touch her. He kept her safe, and in the dark recesses of his mind, he knew he held affection for her. But it was something Bram would never act on. Bram had sworn to never take a slave.
When Bram's father died Bram became the new Main Master of Whitlock. It was his, and everyone there worked for him. Period.
West was Bram's best friend from childhood. Where Bram was raised with a silver spoon lodged firmly in his mouth, West was not. Bram's father, seeing how close the boys were as children, as close as brothers, paid for West's education, and he became, pretty much, Bram's right hand man once Bram took over Whitlock.
West harbored a jealousy, however. No matter how good he was, Bram was always one step better. He kept the jealousy hidden, Bram was his
brother, and the
Main Master. Bram deserved West's respect.
As the story moves on, the darkness becomes a black hole that just sucked me in. Chapter by chapter. Page by page. At times the next frightening twist was almost too much, and I had to put my Kindle down, wrap it in a blanket, and put it under the bed or couch... afraid that what I was reading could jump off the screen and play itself out in front of me. That's how well A.A. Dark/Alaska Angelini writes. It's more than a movie playing in my head, it feels as if I'm right *there*>
From the blurb:
"***WARNING***
This book contains EXTREMELY disturbing situations, explicit sexual content, and very graphic language. This book EXCEEDS the dark genre and has been classified as PITCH BLACK. May contain triggers for some. Read at your own risk!!"
Consider yourself warned. But even *that* warning isn't enough to express how
"Pitch Black" this book is.
There were times, towards the end that my mind drifted a bit.. there were a couple of parts that were unbelievable for me, and a bit redundant. But, they didn't last long and I was back in the house of horrors again. There were many editing and grammar mistakes in this book, but not enough to detract to much from the experience.
I was going to deduct one star from this 5 star read, but I couldn't do it! The book is too good! My gripe:
The author makes no mention about this being the first in a series, not even a hint at that fact. So the major cliffhanger ending did not amuse me in the least. But I got over it! There is hope on the horizon with book 2, "White Out" being written. Keep up with the
Author's Facebook page (and look for the YouTube trailer on her closed group page for White Out. It's amazing!).
Stay busy writing Alaska! You don't have any time for breaks, I need White Out! (oh and a blurb here on Goodreads would be nice so we can mark it as "To Read" and keep up with a release date!)
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