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Succubus4Hire (eBook)
| Succubus4Hire | |
|---|---|
 Succubus4Hire eBook Cover, written by Thea Blakesley | |
| Author(s) | Thea Blakesley |
| Publisher |
Amazon Digital Services Smashwords |
| Publication date | March 27, 2017 |
| Media type | eBook |
| Length | 22 Pages |
| ISBN | 9781370245192 |
| ASIN | B06XWWX2YZ |
For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).
Succubus4Hire is an eBook written by Thea Blakesley. In this work the character Mel is a Succubus.
Overview
- Title: Succubus4Hire
- Author: Thea Blakesley
- Published By: Amazon Digital Services & Smashwords
- Length: 22 Pages
- Format: eBook
- ASIN: B06XWWX2YZ
- IBSN: 9781370245192
- Publishing Date: March 27, 2017
Plot Summary
Succubus4Hire.Com; it’s a black and grey monochrome webpage, nondescript by anyone’s measure. The only words on the page are “Has someone hurt your heart? Tell me their sins and I will exact revenge on your behalf. The only price will be the traitor’s soul.” OK, so maybe it’s a bit dramatic but this is the internet after all.
Meet Melantha "Mel" Acheron, a succubus who chooses her victims the same way any self-respecting modern woman does- through the internet. But rather than a dating site she runs her own anonymous submission website. Her moral compass exists in the form of embittered broken hearts who guide her to exact revenge on cheaters, liars, and manipulators. Players beware. Her victims lose their sexual desires at best and their lives at worst.
Follow Mel to a raunchy assignation with an unapologetic cheater, learn the basest of her powers and get a glimpse inside her mind.
Book Review
The following review was originally published by Tera on her Blog, A Succubi's Tale on April 2, 2017
There are those that seeks revenge. A means to harm the ones that have done wrong, caused pain, brought about the shattering of a soul. For a succubus in need of prey, Mel finds delight in seeking out those darker souls and taking a measure of justice from them. But does the means justify the ends or is that immaterial when a succubus needs to feed?
The work is an interesting hot flash which is told from Mel, the main character’s, perspective. It’s very emotionless at times, there are points at which Mel borders upon tipping over into being a stereotypically evil succubus, but manages to just avoid being so. That comes from her internal monologue that much of the time is in sharp contrast to what is happening around her.
There are some lovely moments of her being a succubus, the descriptions of her powers, of how she controls the situation are well done and I enjoyed them quite a lot. It’s not often that there are descriptions of cause and effect being told in as much detail as they are here. With these moments however, also comes many points of plots being dangled, other events referenced and not much told of. Similarly, Mel herself, for the most part is a shadow, indistinct and without form.
Being that Mel’s real form isn’t revealed very much, it’s all very smoke and mirrors in that telling. Clearly she’s using her powers to entrap her prey, control them and by doing so, feeling her ache within. How she does so is one of the more unique ideas I’ve read, but at the same time it also boxes Mel into a tight corner as a character.
There’s a sense of Mel becoming darker over time through her choices and where they have led her. A palatable danger exists, is mentioned fleetingly, but isn’t played off as well as I would have liked. It is a opening to something more, but the hints are a little too vague and so fast they have little beating on the main story.
The work mainly tells of one single prey being consumed from the moment Mel is told about them through the encounter, the sex and the control before she takes what she needs. The heat of the encounter is really well done, the twists and turns towards domination are nicely written and worked well in consideration of Mel’s character. But there’s something missing. Too many times there’s a lack of emotion within Mel. She becomes clinical in her thoughts, many of her actions and it takes the hunger within to pull her back into the heat of the moment.
The climax of the work, in many ways, is both hot and so dearly lacking in impact. It’s very much like a switch is flipped between the erotic and a seemingly confused disentanglement between the prey and Mel. It didn’t quite work for me and while I understood Mel’s thoughts and why she felt the way she did, it didn’t right true with her actions before, her character most of all. Tossing aside her prey is one thing, but how that comes about just seemed too robotic and lacking in any sort of emotion be that gloating, joy, hate or even pity.
Mel is a character that interests me, there’s a lot that can be done with her and I hope that happens. This work is a reasonably good opening towards a series in many ways, but at the same time there’s just something odd about the story in Mel’s thoughts and personality that needs to be fleshed out more. I think much of that comes from a melancholy within her that doesn’t get explored and it needs to be.
Three and a half out of five pitchforks.
There is, by far, more focus on the sex than there is on Mel and that I think hurt the story overall. The emotional disconnect in the ending lost me and I wish that it didn’t. I wasn’t expecting a happy ending, and really there couldn’t be flowers and light here at all. But offering so many little hints about Mel in passing, what she fears and otherwise, is what held me in the story. The heat at times was a delight. Mel being a succubus, reveling in her powers was telling. There’s just something missing emotionally that lost me along the way.
The author notes there may be a series appearing from this work at some point in time and I hope that happens because there’s a lot of story within Mel and it does need to come out to be told. It’s also interesting to note that the website of the book does exist, it’s exactly as described in the story and that was a neat little touch by the author. It does make me wonder if some of the tales told through that page might be the basis of future things to be seen. I’m unsure about that, in what might come of it, but there is always a little truth in every story told.
It should be interesting, should more of Mel’s story appear.