Causality Code

Causality Code #1

by Laaerie

This book contains material intended for a mature audience and contains homosexual m/m material. A YAOI styled novel.
Causality Code Book 1
In Oefir's world humans are ruled by the Lassands - a unique race with the appearance of humans, except they hold all the power and their laws are to be followed no matter what.
One day, this teenager takes a wrong step and ends up immersed in trouble that only grows, as he and the Lassands around him begin to gain real understanding of what their world is like.

Genres: Fantasy, M M Romance

1045 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2011

About the author

Born in Mexico, to an Italian-Lebanese family.
Since early childhood I was very interested in story making and other art related matters. Had an avid imagination early on, and where others saw common things I saw opportunity for a marvelously intricate story that most likely I would be the only reader of.
Wrote my first formal (and kiddie illustrated) story at age seven, and from then on accumulated about 20 notebooks full of unread stories; until computer era hit and then accumulated even more than that in a file that is named 'unpublished' in my external hard drive.
At age 16 I finally wrote a 10 page story for a contest (with a typewriter, those old mechanical things that killed your fingers) and for the first time someone other than myself read my writing.
Started writing in English when studying my second bachelor's degree, and now I cannot even remember how to write novels in Spanish!
Despite being an Industrial Designer and a Kinesiologist, I am an ESL English teacher battling with learning one of the most difficult languages in Asia (hint).
Apart from my individual stories, I work with two co-writers:
Teeta - With whom I write the 10 volume series 'Mating Markers' as well as many other unpublished (so far) series.
NamidaYuuki - With whom I have yet to publish an e-book with, but have many stories written with already.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, putting down a review since there are no others at the moment.

First off, if you pick up Book 1 in the series you will more than likely also be picking up Book 2. Book 1 doesn't end in terrible cliffhanger or anything, its just that you want to see the resolution of everything that's going on and the storyline as a whole.

Since I find the description summary of the book a little lacking, let me try and fill more in: The world is split between Lassands and Commoners, two separate races that each have their own districts/social circles/schools etc. The Lassands have strict Codes which they live by and which can supersede the laws of Commoners. They also have Micros genetically passed down which make them stronger and more agile than Commoners. There is very little mixing between the races and they each have their own cultural norms. Lassands also have a very heavily based social ranking system, with very little upward mobility (if you are one of the have-nots). Now toss in Oefir, a 15 yr old Commoner kid who makes a stupid mistake and ends up hopelessly caught up in the the prison of Lassand society.

What I hated:
Alright, this a SELF published book. Let me repeat for emphasis... DEFINITELY a self published book! Its a bit rough and could use a heavy and thorough polish from an editor. Its not terrible, but it was a bit excessive, I would probably have rated the books at 4 stars each if not for it. There are the random misspelled/misplaced words, randomly substituted/wrong words (i.e. Outmost instead of Utmost), and just funky usage of grammar sometimes. Its throughout the entire book, so if you can tolerate the sample, I think its pretty much like that all the way through. To not get too in depth, I felt Book 1 was a little rougher than Book 2. But essentially to get the full story, you are paying $14 (from Amazon) in total for the two Books so if you can't stand bad editing steer clear. :)

What I liked:
These books are HEFTY. Book 1 (~1100 pages) is about double the size of Book 2 (~550 pages). I devoured them! Despite its length it moves through the story fairly well. The story doesn't focus on just the three main characters but it expands out to cover around 4 different relationships at any given time. It covers both interpersonal relationships as well as navigating through the minefield that is Lassand society. I think the book REALLY shines with the character development and the relationships between them all. Its not all flowers and sunshine, the characters display a full range of emotions and there is angst up the wazoo :). However the characters all pretty much have good distinct personalities, behave pretty consistently, and GROW as individuals. They are all endearing in their own way. The author isn't afraid of abusing her characters or having them act irrationally or like jerks, I found myself cursing and rooting for them all at points. Yes there are some slow parts and some characters can't be THAT unlucky, but all in all it works. You get all the fun cultural differences that you get to explore with Oefir as well as see the utterly dysfunctional world they are living in. Books 1 and 2 span about a 5 yr time span, and while there are some time skips in odd places, the author keeps things moving well.


As warnings, since I know it doesn't come across the descriptions - you have kidnapping, rape and/or prostitution of teenagers/young adults who range from 15-21 years of age at several points through the book. A large portion is done off camera, but some are explicit. Basically in Lassand society you are either an elite, a servant, a companion (bedwarmer to an elite), or a rental (prostitute). Several of the main characters are rentals/companions... soooo you get the drift. The main characters go through torture and beatings, and have big emotional, mental, and physical scars they try to recover from, leading to some pretty dark depressed states. Its gritty in some parts, Book 1 especially.


I have to wrap this up, there are more things, some good some bad about the book. I enjoyed it despite its flaws! At least give it a shot and read the first 10% or so of the book from Amazon. The book is so long its like getting a short novella for free anyway and you can get a feel for it at least.

Date: 12/20/11 - Kindle edition

[Niumi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going to DNF at 30% for now. Here's why,

I'm 25% done with Causality Code: This book started amazing. The first 10% which is about 150 pages was interesting and compelling. Then Altheith finally claimed Soe and it turned into this weird slice of life where now the MCs are Altheith and Suna. It's not even a love triangle since  Soe is not considered a love interest. There's a few caring (and random) moments with Sor and Adren. So I am confused as to who the main couple are.. which is not good.

So after reading a bit more I decided to jump ahead to the end of book 2 to see who Soe (who had been trown into the background even though he was the main character at the beginning of the book and is around who the book was focusing on before slowing shifting to Suna and Adreith) was going to end up with so I could grownd myself a little in this pool of revolving characters.

So Soe does not end up with Altheith (they actually even break the Casualty code) nor does he end up with Suna (our other MC) but he ends up with Suna'S brother Seihna (who at 30% in book 1 (roughly 300-400 pages) has only been mentioned as Suna's cruel brother who used to push Suna and some servants down the stairs repeatedly to see if they would scream as they fell.... like ok....Great choice I guess?)

Now, I'm not saying the book is bad for delaying the introduction of the Soe's love interest, but the confusing way the author is going about it makes me not really care about Soe since he's just there and his whining was cute when I though Altheith was going to end up with him, but now that I know they're not going to end up together at all why are we spending over 300 pages with just the two of them snuggling to a wanna be relationship when Altheith repeatedly states he loves Suna (and stays with Suna) why not just make Suna the main character? I even liked Suna more than Soe and would have been on board with Suna's jealousy if I had known their previous history which is never alluded to when Suna is first introduced (since Altheith uses him blatantly for sex in Soe's place and beats him constantly. But that was in the first 10% of the book (which is a book on its own because its 150 long) when the book had a darker and more interesting tone.

Another thing of Soe being the MC, after the first 10% nothing really happens with him (since the story shifts to Altheith solving work stuff and getting it on with Suna) so Soe is just there in the background as we now and then switch POVs long enough to get mild smex scenes between Altheith and Suna... for some reason....

I don't know why but when the secondary MC has multiple partners in a book it becomes really boring(unless it's written good and with a point as to why) to me since I quickly attach myself to the MC and root for them.

Heck, if Soe would have ended with Adren it would have been ok since they have weird random scenes of affection that just pop up from nowhere. But no, we spend 20% (and possibly more since its not healed yet when I stoped reading) focusing on Soe's broken arm to give him something to do as he fades into the background and give Suna and Altheith some onpage smex. Which is another thing that irks me. PoV jumping that's not the MC'S and do nothing for the story. Which started happening a LOT after that first 10% of awesomeness.

No, seriously. It was as if the first 10% of the book was written by someone else since its so good and the story captures you. Then it just dies and a gazillion characters come in and out of the story but make no impact even though they're written as if they would matter, then 50 pages later you realize they don't. So why focus on them so much and make them important? To fill up page time? This book is over 1000 pages! Filler is not needed!

Ah... I'm ranting now, but I just wanted to like this book so much. I was so into it but then it got boring and I had to skip to the end of book 2 to see if I should hang on. I would have if while I was skimming book 2 I hadn't noticed other couples (who have not been introduced yet) get chapters and chapters without Soe's appearance popping up. Which I would have battled through if Soe ended with Altheith or Suna (or the last page hadn't made it seem like Soe and Seihna's relationship was just getting off the ground since they kiss for the first time about 20 pages before the end of book 2... why would I want to read this if the MC gets together with his guy at the end of the story, like whatttttt? So im to read over 1600 of slowburn for a kiss at the end while 4 other couples (I gathered from what I skimmed) get together happily? Again, why is this the MC? Make Suna the MC it would have been even better since we could have seen every part of the society and the extent of their cruelty. Which was only suggested lightly to. It was like the author wanted but didn't dare make the book dark and quit after 10% and made the characters all light and with bouts of ridiculous behavior that had been punished harshly on the first 10%.

And if Altheith had no 'intention' of touching Soe (which he says after the book turns light) then why did he force kissing him and constantly molested him and obliged him to sit on his lap while he fondled him? (Since he also did this when no one was around other than the servants the theory that he did it as a cover falls flat. Also, they stop doing it after the first 10% of the book and their audience had not changed) Also, Why was he going to force smex with Soe at the hotel because someone had (forcefully) kissed Soe and he noticed, but then took pity on Soe (because Soe cryed and begged) and decided to call Suna to abuse him and hit him before having smex which afterwards Suna tells Soe that if he keeps making Altheith mad Altheith might kill him and states it wasnt an uncommon ocurrance for sexslaves? (Noted that after the book turned light it is stated its illegal to kill the sexslaves and Altheith never hits Suna again no matter what Soe does) so it makes no sense why the story shifted direction so harshly. It was good, dark, gritty and intriguing. Then from one chapter to the next its filled with whining, cuddles and tolerance that was not previously displayed over the same matters. Oh and after that 10% Altheith and Soe never kiss again (at least not again as I reached 30% after that I don't know, but I doubt it with how light the book was turning)

It saddens me since I would have liked to keep reading but since I know I'm not going to get the storyline promised in the first 10% and the story has changed so much I'd rather invest time in finding another book to read. Kudos to whoever wrote that first 10% or if it indeed was the same author shame that their muse changed.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I just finished both of these books. Honestly I came away a little disappointed. The idea was original and I was really looking forward to where it was going, but the second book kind of lost me. The books had common problems so I'm only going to write one review and post it with the first book.
I think the main problem for me that makes these books go from 4 star to 3 star right away is the fact that they were written in present tense. Present tense is fine if the author knows what they're doing. I felt it wasn't executed well in this series.
Another problem for me was that the author often resorted to passive voice to end dialogue which was extremely annoying and somewhat confusing. Instead of using 'Character says' or something equivalent in present tense the author used 'Character is told' almost every time. It was irritating because you can't tell right away who is speaking when it is written that way. I felt like I was taking a test that tries to measure how well you pay attention every time a character spoke.
One other thing that bothered me was the lack of description of characters. I know more about the cities they visited than what they actually look like.
Last thing: I felt like the second book shifted the focus off of the main characters of the first book; I would have liked the have heard a little more from them. Suna and Soelan were friends by the end of the first book, but they didn't really interact at all in the second.
The books were okay. They only have a few problems, but in my opinion, they are BIG problems. Problems that would require the entire books to be rewritten just to get rid of the present tense and passive voice. Grammatical problems don't bother me very much, but when the fluidity is affected by it I start to get a little tired of it. The only thing that kept me reading was the desire to know how the characters would end up.

[Roxana Rangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a very well developed story, amazing characters. I am little disappointed because, it was not the story I was looking for. The main characters to me, Aldethir and Soelan, were the ones that should be put together. I still dont understand, how things went from amazing to boring. However, it is the author choice.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly weird, fantastical, and sometimes dark world. The characters however elicit a range of emotions from being likeable to hatred and back again. The evil that men do. Thankfully there are moments of happiness and lightness. Plenty of disturbing events occur with rape, questionable consent, sexual slavery and a father attempting to physically and mentally destroy his son. Why am I really liking this book? Not sure, except I wanted to protect the main characters. And at times I couldn't stop reading because my mind wouldn't stop thinking of how to help the players progress through their ordeals.

[Donene Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a thought provoking series. Causality Code starts the series off strongly - great supporting characters, incredible world building of an almost dystopian setting. Humans may be free in most respects, but the "superior" race is a closely regimented caste system. When a human is forcibly joined to this caste system, he learns just how the other side lives and the rose tinted glasses come off.

Couldn't put it down.

[Anastasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It felt like fanfiction and was no better edited.

[Theresa]

Published fan fic.

[Violet]

I'm at 40% when I decided that this is just not worth my time anymore. The story lacks world building when you introduce a new specie in a new world, it's better you clarify how they are different from humans,aside from the physical - they heal fast. I'm now at my kindle's 40% and so far I have no idea how different they are and why they are the "superior" /" ruling " of the human society. A little history in which how this society came to be would be nice. The characters itself is not that lovable. The main character is childish but what is weird is that he often faints and gets sick . Then there is an equivalent of prostitute - "the rentals" in the first few half he appears to act like one then suddenly it becomes a love triangle and relationship becomes complicated . To sum it all, there was no character that sticks out to me and is likable. Then the story telling is confusing half of the time.