Docile by K.M. Sparza

 

DNF @ 14%

To be clear, unlike some of the people who didn't like this book, I'm not giving this a one-star rating because of the premise (although I do think it's totally fair for people to have that kind of visceral response to something that is basically slavefic, since slavery was and continues to be a very real and inhumanly cruel issue that impacts many people on a global scale). I personally don't have a problem reading that trope if it's handled well... but here... I'm not so sure it was handled well. Eek.

I used to refer to this book as "The Book That Never Goes on Sale" because I swear, it was always $10+ in the Kindle store for years after its publication. I respect the hustle, but I also respect my wallet, you know? And it's nice when books eventually go on sale so those of us who balk at expensive book purchases can still support the author in a small way without also breaking the bank. When it finally went on sale, I may have screamed. I wanted this book SO badly, and didn't get an ARC, so finally, finally, THE PRECIOUS WAS MINE. I was literally so excited, I one-clicked it without reading the sample first, which might have been a mistake.

But I really didn't like this book. For multiple reasons. First, Elisha lives in a world where people can sell themselves into slavery to pay off their debt... which sounds like something that Elon Musk might semi-ironically propose, tbh, just to fuck with people on Twitter. How did this happen? What drove humanity to this vastly questionable decision? Surely, not everyone who is forced to do this ends up as a glorified human sex doll, and, as other reviewers have pointed out, this doesn't even really scrape at the surface of the uncomfortable fact that poverty is rife with infrastructural racism, so this "sell yourself into slavery" scheme would disproportionately impact people of color.

I get that this is a fantasy... and I think C.S. Pacat made it work with CAPTIVE PRINCE. But that was set in a fantasy land whereas this is set in our present day, and the inclusion of mind rape drags and Alex's wholesale buying in to the system (the way he eagerly anticipates turning Elisha into a sex robot with the mind rape drugs is fifty shades of gross). I really wanted to enjoy this book but I ended up just feeling bored and squeamish by turns. Nothing about this book was sexy to me, and if there was supposed to be social commentary about Big Capitalism, I think the book missed the mark. I should have listened to my friends' reviews... a lot of people whose opinions I trust didn't like this book. But hey, maybe you will love it. That would be awesome too. Maybe just read the sample first.

1 out of 5 stars