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The Pact
Betrayal tore Liatrix from her life as a succubus, leaving her scarred and trapped in a realm where discovery of what she is means death. Until a chance encounter with an elf named Alvar offers her an opportunity to gain an ally and take revenge.
After forcing him to choose between a life of service to her in exchange for the life of his sister he forms a pact that will alter both their lives forever.
Her obsession for revenge sets them on a path filled with danger and bloodshed. Leading each to question the decisions that brought them here and the feelings they have begun to develop for one another.
Along the way Liatrix discovers the change she wanted from her life in the Lower Realm she may have already received and her obsession with revenge may be slowly turning her into one of the things she hated most.
After forcing him to choose between a life of service to her in exchange for the life of his sister he forms a pact that will alter both their lives forever.
Her obsession for revenge sets them on a path filled with danger and bloodshed. Leading each to question the decisions that brought them here and the feelings they have begun to develop for one another.
Along the way Liatrix discovers the change she wanted from her life in the Lower Realm she may have already received and her obsession with revenge may be slowly turning her into one of the things she hated most.
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First published April 27, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 15, 2019
Yet another SPFBO book!
Firstly, I really, really liked the unassuming book cover. I simply had no idea what to expect from this novel.
Free of bias, I delved into this somewhat odd story with an open mind. The story begins in the Lower Realm where we meet a succubus named Liatrix. Unlike most members of her race, she has a pretty face, but a flat chest and athletic build, which ultimately grants her the mockery of her far better endowed half-sisters, including the vicious but very beautiful Carling. Unlike her peers, Liatrix has never felt compelled to lure men and slowly kill them by stealing their life energy in exchange for sex. She is capable of producing her own magic, but most of it is always stolen by Succubus Queen Elinore during each tithing, which always leaves her exhausted.
For reasons that the novel never developed (which I find to be a shame), Carling decides out of the blue that she wants a second alternative method of stealing magic. She loves sleeping with guys, but she wants more magic I guess? She visits the human realm and locates an unscrupulous wizard named Hurley. He offers to make a magic stealing whip from the skin of a succubus in exchange for a portal into the lower realm to do some research or tourism? It doesn't take Carling long to figure it would be real fun to kidnap Liatrix and have the wizard mutilate her body which ultimately happens.
Liatrix is easily kidnapped after the tithing (she never realizes who did it and why), and begs Hurley for mercy while he uses crude plyers to yank her tail off. He then places a rune on her tailbone that prevents her from returning home and dumps her in a bedroom. Liatrix manages to escape and ends up huddling in a barn in a neighboring village.
Little does she know, she crashed into an inn run by a friendly elf family. Elvar is the oldest son and he instantly feels attracted to the succubus who used what little magic she had left to hide her horns and make him think she was an elf with odd colored lilac hair and rosy skin. She constantly insults him for his friendly flirting, but when Carling sends a dangerous beast to kill Liatrix, it poisons Elvar's younger sister Ellette and Liatrix gives him a difficult choice: agree to perform a magical pact with her and become her servant in exchange for his sister's life. Without understanding the implications (much less the little fact the venom would have left his sister's body within a few hours anyways), he foolishly agrees to the condition and his hand becomes emblazoned with a demonic sigil without any other visible changes to his body or personality.
Liatrix manages to kill the beast and cure his sister, but a local elf wizard uses sorcery to remove the disguise and Elvar's family discovers she is a demon. When they also discover Elvar's hand has a visible demon mark that only Liatrix is capable of concealing, they are left with no other choice but to evict Elvar from his home alongside his new companion in order to avoid being killed by angry demon hating mobs.
Elvar is just a really, really sweet guy. He is the architype naïve all-around good guy and while I can understand he felt a strong physical attraction to Liatrix, I do sincerely believe she didn't deserve someone who always treated her so nicely. Liatrix on the other hand, is bitter because of how poorly she was treated at home, with an unrelenting desire to revenge Hurley's evil deed and only treats Elvar somewhat nicely in order to get something out of his gullible nature or to stop him from flirting with other women. I liked the tsundere bad girl behavior at first, but there came a time within the story where she was just treating him in a really nasty way when he was always insanely nice to her. I think I would have enjoyed the book a whole lot more if she had started to treat him better sooner in the story and felt genuine regret for deceiving him.
I found Hurley to be a really fun character, but Carling and the other secondary villains of the story still felt very flat. I would have wanted much more character development from them, and a deeper sisterly rivalry. I would have wanted Carling to choose to mess with Liatrix because of her self-righteousness. BTW, I loved the concept of demonic world red steel weapons. Coolio! Descriptions of the strange Lower Realm were sorely missed. Is the sky black? purple? The land volcanic? The book offers us no information.
Furthermore, if there is one thing that was a real chore with this book, it is the writing. Spelling bloopers are so many that the book doesn't need a proofreader, it needs an exorcism! The book meanders stating Liatrix's hair color over and over again, and text is riddled with filler that a waitress works for Elinore and they are in the human realm. The book also abuses the phrase "He thought." That phrase is stated at least twice in every page, which comes completely unnecessary most of the time.
I do think the story has a lot of good points. I really liked the concept of a mismatched Elf/Succubus couple that is only guided by the buddling spark of romance they are starting to feel. The book ends sufficiently complete to be a standalone, but there is still some loose ends that could benefit from a sequel.
I sincerely doubt the book will reach the next round in the SPFBO contest, but I enjoyed it enough to give it 3 stars.
Firstly, I really, really liked the unassuming book cover. I simply had no idea what to expect from this novel.
Free of bias, I delved into this somewhat odd story with an open mind. The story begins in the Lower Realm where we meet a succubus named Liatrix. Unlike most members of her race, she has a pretty face, but a flat chest and athletic build, which ultimately grants her the mockery of her far better endowed half-sisters, including the vicious but very beautiful Carling. Unlike her peers, Liatrix has never felt compelled to lure men and slowly kill them by stealing their life energy in exchange for sex. She is capable of producing her own magic, but most of it is always stolen by Succubus Queen Elinore during each tithing, which always leaves her exhausted.
For reasons that the novel never developed (which I find to be a shame), Carling decides out of the blue that she wants a second alternative method of stealing magic. She loves sleeping with guys, but she wants more magic I guess? She visits the human realm and locates an unscrupulous wizard named Hurley. He offers to make a magic stealing whip from the skin of a succubus in exchange for a portal into the lower realm to do some research or tourism? It doesn't take Carling long to figure it would be real fun to kidnap Liatrix and have the wizard mutilate her body which ultimately happens.
Liatrix is easily kidnapped after the tithing (she never realizes who did it and why), and begs Hurley for mercy while he uses crude plyers to yank her tail off. He then places a rune on her tailbone that prevents her from returning home and dumps her in a bedroom. Liatrix manages to escape and ends up huddling in a barn in a neighboring village.
Little does she know, she crashed into an inn run by a friendly elf family. Elvar is the oldest son and he instantly feels attracted to the succubus who used what little magic she had left to hide her horns and make him think she was an elf with odd colored lilac hair and rosy skin. She constantly insults him for his friendly flirting, but when Carling sends a dangerous beast to kill Liatrix, it poisons Elvar's younger sister Ellette and Liatrix gives him a difficult choice: agree to perform a magical pact with her and become her servant in exchange for his sister's life. Without understanding the implications (much less the little fact the venom would have left his sister's body within a few hours anyways), he foolishly agrees to the condition and his hand becomes emblazoned with a demonic sigil without any other visible changes to his body or personality.
Liatrix manages to kill the beast and cure his sister, but a local elf wizard uses sorcery to remove the disguise and Elvar's family discovers she is a demon. When they also discover Elvar's hand has a visible demon mark that only Liatrix is capable of concealing, they are left with no other choice but to evict Elvar from his home alongside his new companion in order to avoid being killed by angry demon hating mobs.
Elvar is just a really, really sweet guy. He is the architype naïve all-around good guy and while I can understand he felt a strong physical attraction to Liatrix, I do sincerely believe she didn't deserve someone who always treated her so nicely. Liatrix on the other hand, is bitter because of how poorly she was treated at home, with an unrelenting desire to revenge Hurley's evil deed and only treats Elvar somewhat nicely in order to get something out of his gullible nature or to stop him from flirting with other women. I liked the tsundere bad girl behavior at first, but there came a time within the story where she was just treating him in a really nasty way when he was always insanely nice to her. I think I would have enjoyed the book a whole lot more if she had started to treat him better sooner in the story and felt genuine regret for deceiving him.
I found Hurley to be a really fun character, but Carling and the other secondary villains of the story still felt very flat. I would have wanted much more character development from them, and a deeper sisterly rivalry. I would have wanted Carling to choose to mess with Liatrix because of her self-righteousness. BTW, I loved the concept of demonic world red steel weapons. Coolio! Descriptions of the strange Lower Realm were sorely missed. Is the sky black? purple? The land volcanic? The book offers us no information.
Furthermore, if there is one thing that was a real chore with this book, it is the writing. Spelling bloopers are so many that the book doesn't need a proofreader, it needs an exorcism! The book meanders stating Liatrix's hair color over and over again, and text is riddled with filler that a waitress works for Elinore and they are in the human realm. The book also abuses the phrase "He thought." That phrase is stated at least twice in every page, which comes completely unnecessary most of the time.
I do think the story has a lot of good points. I really liked the concept of a mismatched Elf/Succubus couple that is only guided by the buddling spark of romance they are starting to feel. The book ends sufficiently complete to be a standalone, but there is still some loose ends that could benefit from a sequel.
I sincerely doubt the book will reach the next round in the SPFBO contest, but I enjoyed it enough to give it 3 stars.
September 24, 2018
Well I might be biased, but I think it's a very good book. Full disclosure I'm married to the author, and was the first to get to read it. I went into reading this expecting it not to be my cuppa. The story is interesting and well written. It is a fresh take on the fantasy genera in my opinion. Just an enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews