Review: King of Dublin by Lisa Henry and Heidi Belleau

Reviewed by Whuppsy
King of Dublin by Lisa Henry and Heidi Belleau
Riptide Publishing
Novel: 375pgs
5 Pants Off

Blurb:
Twenty years after a deadly pandemic ravaged the world, Darragh Fergus Anluan and the people of his village have carved out a hard but simple life in the Irish countryside. But with winter comes sickness, and Darragh must travel to Dublin in search of medicine. What he finds there is a ruined city ruled by a madman, where scavenging is punishable by death . . . or conscription.

Ciaran Daly came to Ireland with aid and optimism, but instead was enslaved by the so-called King of Dublin. After months of abuse from the king and his men, he has no reason to believe this newcomer will be any different. Except Ciaran finds himself increasingly drawn to Darragh, whose brutish looks mask how sweet and gentle he really is.

The tenderness Darragh feels for the king’s treasured pet is treason, but it’s hardly the only betrayal brewing in this rotten kingdom. Rebellions and rival gangs threaten the king’s power, but not nearly as much as Darragh and Ciaran—whose only hope for freedom is the fall of the king.

* This title contains the following sensitive themes: dubious consent, explicit violence and non-consent

Review
Let me begin with saying that this book contains some very harsh things. Rape, non-consent, dubious consent, lots of violence and mental and physical torture. If you are sensitive to any of these things, this probably won’t be the book for you. That being said, this book was pretty damn good. It was such a good book of survival, hope and love. There was so much going on in this book that it hooked you from the very first page. I was!!

So you meet Darragh from the very first page. He’s this kind, sweet, naïve young man. He left his village in order to find medicine for his people. He comes to Dublin in to find some and gets caught by the King of Dublin’s men. He’s taken to the see the king and is told that in order to get the medicine that he needs, he has to serve the king. He agrees to this, anything to save his people. Then he sees Ciaran for the first time.

Darragh is the kind of guy that most people would hope to find in their lives, sweet, kind and so very innocent. Honest to a fault. He’s not had the experience of dealing with the lies and duplicity that he’s now involved in. He’s just trying to make it through to get the meds that his village so badly needs. He’s now caught up in this madman’s game. He’s now doing things that he never thought he’d do. Then to add more on his plate, he finds that he’s attracted to the king’s “Boy”. Darragh knew that he liked other guys, but being where he’s from he’s never had an opportunity to try anything. Now, he does and it’s more than he thought it’d be.

Ciaran is a young man whose life didn’t turn out the way the thought it would. He’s come from a very privileged background. Ciaran has such high ideals that he can help those that are suffering. He wanted to help his people and instead he got raped and has become the pet of the king. He has had to hide who he really is inside in order to survive. To lie and let himself be taken by people not of his choosing. To be tortured both emotionally and physically. He starts to believe of himself that he’s unclean. That he’s nothing more than a whore. That he’ll never really be free. He sees Darragh and his path is changed yet again.

This story drew me in from the very beginning. To see how these two young men are thrown into this harsh and ugly and very violent place and what they both do in order to find some bit of comfort and yes, hope as well. The fact that they find someone who asks for nothing more from the other to be themselves is amazing. They have their own issues that need to be dealt with, and yet they still find that strength to hold on and hope for something better.

The secondary characters were just what you’d expect them to be. They are hard and angry people. They have had to survive in a world gone mad. That they now have this batshit crazy man claiming to be their king, they do bad things horrible things in order to live another day. To survive this madman’s whim. Some that are there are just as evil as the king and others are just doing what they must to survive. Even doing things that they would likely not do before hand, just to survive and keep the people with them alive and together. The character that I enjoyed the most was Rabbit. He’s this sweet, kind young man who just wants to be loved and belong. Even during this harsh, horrible new world, he’s this kind young man who helps Darragh and Ciaran.

There were times in this story that I wanted to smack Ciaran. I get where he was coming from, but it was that rashness of youth and the belief that he knows best that keeps getting him in trouble. I will say that it was so nice to see someone as wonderful as Darragh take the time and has the patience to keep chipping away at Ciaran’s shell. He needed to see that there wasn’t all bad left in the world. That there were people out there who still were kind and giving that could love and be there for others. Nothing sinister in their words, actions or deeds. Darragh just wants to love him. He makes some mistakes, but the true intention behind everything he does, is for the love of Ciaran.

This book has lots of sexual content. Most of it was truly not good. It was so awful reading about what Ciaran had to do to survive. The humiliation and degradation that he felt was heart breaking. That he was forced to do this to allow these things to happen and to not be able to defend yourself against it. So very sad. It hurt to read and to feel Ciaran’s emotions, was just so damn hard.

Please read this book. It shows that no matter what happens in this life, that there are people out there that love and have hope. They have faith that being with the ones who you love and care for, being part of a community matters. It was a hard read. There were things happening in this story that hurt my heart, but I pushed through it. I wanted to see how it would end. I wanted to see how they came together and what they had to go through in order to be together. This story gave so much hope and love that I was still sad to see it end. But I was happy that it have the guys get where they were going and to make it back, not whole…but something else.

5 Pants Off

Review: Strain by Amelia C. Gormley

Reviewed by Whuppsy
Strain by Amelia C. Gormley
Riptide Publishing
Novel: 375pgs
5 Pants Off

Blurb:
Rhys Cooper is a dead man. Cut off from the world since childhood, he’s finally exposed to the lethal virus that wiped out most of the human race. Now his only hope for survival is infection by another strain that might confer immunity. But it’s sexually transmitted, and the degradation he feels at submitting to the entire squad of soldiers that rescued him eclipses any potential for pleasure—except with Darius, the squadron’s respected, capable leader.

Sergeant Darius Murrell has seen too much death and too little humanity. He’s spent a decade putting plague victims out of their misery and escorting survivors to a safe haven he can never enjoy. He’d rather help Rhys live than put him down, so when Rhys can’t reconcile himself to doing what’s necessary to survive, Darius is forced to save Rhys in spite of himself.

But with each passing day, it looks less and less likely that Rhys can be saved. Which means that soon Darius might have to put a bullet in the head of the one person in years who reminds him of what it means to be human.

Review
I will tell you that I read the blurb on the Riptide Website and I requested this book because it sounded so unlike anything that I’d read before. I’ve not read a bunch of Post-Apocalyptic books before and I wanted to stretch my brain a bit and see if I could be carried away. I WAS!!! Barely stopped to sleep, I had to finish this book!!!

This was not an easy story. This was such a harsh world that Rhys and the others lived in. The story wasn’t one of things/the world getting better, however, it was about survival. This is a complex story regarding just what you will do to survive and what you need to survive.

Let’s begin with what happened to the world, hmm? So there was this man-made virus that was to be used in viral warfare, the virus worked-ish. There was the main virus Alpha that was created for the Juggernauts. These were soldiers who were first infected and used as guinea pigs to see how the virus worked. They now protect survivors from the Zombie like creatures called Revs. Revs were people who got a certain mutated strain of the virus and it didn’t kill them, however, what it did was change them until there wasn’t a shred of humanity left. The other mutated strain of the virus become Rot which is just basically saying that you’re going to die. No ands, ifs or buts about it. Nothing can stop it.

Rhys is a 19 year old young man who has lived the past 7 years in hiding from the Revs and Rot. He has been emotionally and physically abused almost from the moment he and his family arrived. He was made to feel that his being gay was against God and the Church. The religious zealot that ran the monastery and his son, were Rhys’ chief tormentors. We don’t get to see it first hand, but due to what Rhys says and his feelings and the memories that we are privy too, you get a clear vision of what his life was like.

Rhys actions throughout most of this book were so very complex and yet so very simple. He was fighting about 7 years worth of abuse in regards to what he wanted and what he craved, both sexually and emotionally. The want/the cravings that Rhys has were so mired in the harsh, religious household from which he’d been living in.

Darius was a different sort of Alpha Man for me I loved that he took on the responsibility to help Rhys out. But I also loved just the way he led his team. The strength of character and strength of mind that he showed throughout the book also drew me to him. I liked that even when he finally really owned up to wanting Rhys and the possessive feelings that he’d been having for awhile, that he still wanted to make sure that make sure that it was something that Rhys wanted. That he didn’t just gloss over them and take what he wanted, just made me fall a bit for him.

Now, I will say that this book was a really dark read. There is lots of sex in here. That must be known from the get go. You also should know that a lot of what happens is dubious consent. Rhys has to have sex with multiple men in the hopes that he will get cured from an infection that he received in the very beginning of the book. If you don’t like sex with multiple partners and what is considered dubious consent, this might not be the book for you.

I liked the secondary characters in this book. Each of them was different in temperament and yet they were all such skilled warriors. Xolani was my FAVORITE Character in this story. She was a wonderfully strong female character. She was tough and decisive. She is a strong second in command for Darius. Where he needs to see not only the obvious, but to see what needs to be done. She is AMAZING!! I love how she says some very insightful things that really makes you pause and think about the meaning of her words. The other guys/gals that make up the Jugs are pretty cool as well. No one that survived has had an easy life and yet, through it all, they retain this wonderful sense of humanity.

Overall, this book was so very well done. The story actually flowed so smoothly that I couldn’t believe that it was over. Amelia had me from the very first page until the very end. I liked that it was more a HFN, we don’t know how it truly ends. Just that this part is over. I liked that both Rhys and Darius had some issues to work on that eventually they had to learn to speak to each other and actually say what they wanted and how they felt. It was such a dark, complex story with wonderful world-building.

You. Will. Not. Be. Disappointed. By. Reading. This. Book.

5 Pants Off