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Before the Succubus (eBook)
| Before the Succubus | |
|---|---|
 Before the Succubus eBook Cover, written by Emma Jaye | |
| Author(s) | Emma Jaye |
| Series | Succubus Trilogy |
| Publisher | Purindoors Publications |
| Publication date | October 7, 2013 |
| Media type | eBook |
| Length | 134 Pages |
| ASIN | B00FP4QVRW |
| Preceded by | Winning the Succubus |
| Followed by | The Succubus Trilogy |
For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).
For other uses of the word Incubus, see Incubus (disambiguation).
Before the Succubus is an eBook written by Emma Jaye. It is the third work in the Succubus Trilogy series by this author. In this work the character Josie Dubois is a Succubus and the character Lucas Mitchell is an Incubus.
Overview
- Title: Before the Succubus
- Author: Emma Jaye
- Published By: Purindoors Publications
- Length: 134 Pages
- Format: eBook
- ASIN: B00FP4QVRW
- Publishing Date: October 7, 2013
Other Works in this Series on SuccuWiki
Plot Summary
This is the story of incubus Lucas Mitchell before he met Josie Dubois in ‘Seeking the Succubus.’ It contains rough BDSM adult scenes, including M/M and it is not necessary reading to appreciate the conclusion of the story in Winning the Succubus.
Grades are all that seem to be important to Lucas’ parents, that and securing their own future through his hoped for, lucrative career. The double standards of the older generation, especially their ‘do what we say, not what we do’ philosophy, makes life difficult for the most sought after virgin in school, especially as his parents indulge themselves as often as possible.
Sneaking out to go to a party proves just how unimportant grades are, and how little his parents told him about the supernatural world. It seems like sex demons like himself are in high demand by vampire clans. But if the blood suckers expected him to roll over and play the submissive, they had another thing coming. As anyone who knows him would say, he's a stubborn git. But it seems, as if that may be just what they want.
Book Review
The following review was originally published by Tera on her Blog, A Succubi's Tale on September 16, 2016
Gwendolyn believes in certain things. She is not quite human and not quite a vampire either. She knows her purpose is to serve at the pleasure of her clan and tend to their sexual needs. Her beliefs are shattered when she encounters Lucas and the truth is revealed. Her name isn’t her own, the past she was told isn’t real. When the truth comes, her world changes and choices are made. The question then becomes who is Gwendolyn anymore?
The singular thing about this work that I couldn’t quite accept was how in almost every chapter, every moment, Gwendolyn was being harmed in some way, shape or form. Whether physically by a vampire, mentally through the seeming lack of communication with her family when they appear, or emotionally when Lucas, the main incubus of the story, cannot manage to fine a means to actually talk to her. It makes for a tragic reading overall and what’s more bothersome is the final work of the series when Gwendolyn fades away and we are left with Josie, the daughter her family knows her to be.
It’s hard to accept that she loses all she was, her thoughts, her personality, her drive, her existence, so quickly and, sadly, at times in such an emotional void. Gwendolyn, at least when she was with the vampires, had at least two people that openly cared about her. With her family of “sex demons” as they call themselves, there’s just no connection with any of them for the longest time. It makes for so many moments when Gwendolyn beats herself up, loses hope, and comes to see only bad things about herself.
There is an overarching plot which holds the series together, but that falls so often into one character or another needing revenge for one reason or another. There’s no real point to much of the moments of terror that Gwendolyn goes through overall because many of the events happen as a result of others making what seem to be obviously bad choices. Characters lash out at the drop of a hat when she is with vampires and when she is with her family, she’s simply lost.
As for the work with Lucas at the core, there comes some understanding of what he went through, those that care about him and the demons he faces within himself. But like with the first work in the series, there’s so much suffering and pain that it’s hard to get to the actual story. There come a point when the suffering seems to be happening for no reason at all, character drives and personality notwithstanding.
There are quite a few moments of erotica in this work, some of them being not that hot, others, when Gwendolyn is herself, is forceful in what she wants, that are delicious, but they are few and far between. The problem comes back to the darkness of the work which the erotica, no matter how hot at times, just cannot get fully away from.
Again, while I understand that this series is “dark” and meant to be so, the pain invoked, over and over again, just gets to the point of being simply there in the story and even when things turn better, Gwendolyn just can’t escape the darkness that comes after her and Lucas.
The writing is very good, the characters, at least Gwendolyn and Lucas, are well defined. Many other characters are not, as a whole, and their drive, their reasons for what they do aren’t delved into very deeply. There are many moments when some characters make a choice and there’s really no good reason for them doing so. Explaining why would have helped a lot I think.
If there wasn’t so much suffering, I would have enjoyed this series much more than I did. It’s just impossible to forget the pain Gwendolyn, Lucas and others go through. That is, of course, part and parcel of their characters, but at some point there needs to be a release from that pain.
The work ends, thankfully, on a positive note with some promise. I wish the story had continued a little further, telling of what comes next. I would have liked more time spent with Gwendolyn, nee Josie, coming to terms with having a family. I wish there would have been less pain for the sake of pain itself.
Two and a half out of five pitchforks.
Too dark, too much pain, too much suffering for my taste. While I understand that comes with the characters, their universe, and what happens, there are too many points where the violence seemed to be there for the sake of it. Characters that act without explanation, characters that don’t listen to others, and a seeming lack of communication overall make for a story that drives events towards seemingly only dark purposes and even with an ending that gave much needed light to the series it couldn’t overcome how difficult a read this was for me.