Vortex: Sacrificed by Curiosity

by Habu

Kevin is a young man who unexpectedly finds himself driven by curiosity in alternative lifestyles, as he becomes entranced by Doug, who has been leading him on, and who he finally begs to go with to discover gay sex.
But too late he finds out that Doug has ulterior motives, which involve a men-only satanic coven ruled by a rich and cruel master.
What happens in the coven does not lessen Kevin’s desire to be with Doug, though. Will both Kevin and Doug be sucked into a hellish vortex as a result of Kevin’s curiosity, and Doug’s coven ties, or will they eventually find a way out of the whirlpool of satanic sex together?
This is a relaunch of the eXcessica book Vortex.


Rainbow Reviews: 5/5 stars

“Vortex is an extremely intoxicating story that is filled with sex that pushes all types of boundaries. Every scene is overpowering and potent, with a high level of eroticism. All the characters immediately draw the reader in, even those that are vile and cruel with their treatment of the young man. Readers who are receptive to stories that involve extremely intense domination sex scenes will definitely not be disappointed.”—Emily, Rainbow Reviews

Genres: BDSM, M M Romance, Abuse

148 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 30, 2008

About the author

habu, a bisexual former supersonic spy jet pilot, intelligence agent, academic, mainstream book editor, and diplomat, is a published mainstream novelist, short story writer, and essayist under other names and in another dimension of his life. He has lived extensively in East and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe as an embassy-based intelligence agent, which influences the settings and plots of many of his stories. He now lives in a picturesque and historical Midatlantic/Upper South state university town, with an accommodating spouse, where he writes, edits, teaches, and indulges himself.

Under the habu name he writes a full spectrum—and heat level—of M/M and bisexual works for the publishing houses of Excessica and BarbarianSpy. He also writes M/M historicals under the pen name Dirk Hessian, and M/M romance with coauthor Sabb under the pen name Shabbu.

For a loosely constructed travel through habu's professional life, read his Flying High

For background information on his works, visit his blog at https://barbarianpromo.wordpress.com/...

Reviews

[Shadow Jubilee · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars

The blurb sounded interesting. I wasn't quite certain what a satanic "rejuvenation" ritual would be like, but it was definitely not what was in the book. I was very confused starting with Chapter 2. What was with the get-up? Horns? What? The so-called ritual and ritualistic words? It seemed so silly to me that I couldn't imagine anyone actually participating in such a thing. This is not a romance. It is more erotic than romantic, something that seemed all the more clear to me with every sex scene and partner (and there were many). I was expecting erotic with a tale. What I got was mostly sex, sex, sex with something that could loosely be considered a plot.

I didn't think that the title related well to the story as I did not quite get the sense of Kevin spiraling down into a vortex to despair. I didn't relate to him at all despite the story being in his first person POV. Perhaps this was due to the style in which the author chose to write this story. It read more like Kevin relating a story rather than actually living it in real-time with the reader. Therefore, there was minimal dialogue; the story was largely narrative. There were occasional scenes where this switched to a more active focus with actual dialogue, but they were few and the dialogue itself was a bit silly.

I didn't feel anything for any of the secondary characters. While I kind of rooted for Doug in the beginning, he turned out to be a disappointment. He lacked personality, which got worse after his trauma and his character virtually became a prop. Except for the amazing sex, I couldn't get what attached Kevin to Doug - and vice versa. This especially didn't make sense after Doug becomes useless after his trauma. I suppose at least Kevin was loyal.

There seemed a great many gay/bisexual men in Kevin's world, and just one woman. Remarkably enough, they all seemed to find Kevin exceedingly attractive - even the heterosexual men. How Kevin knew that these heterosexual men were mentally undressing him and contemplating gay sex just because of him, I don't know but I think that this was not the only instance of the omniscient third person POV. It was also pretty amazing to see that nearly all the men were well-endowed, except for one unfortunate soul who turned out to be an unanswered question - was he a plant or a turncoat? I winced a bit at what seemed to be stereotyping of black men, and was pleasantly surprised to see a not very stereotypical big Asian man. It was also very convenient for the story that things seem to fall into place for Kevin whether it be looking for information or using people to obtain his goals.

I think what I found most interesting was Kevin himself. He was unlike many of the main characters I've read. Most of them tended to stay on the side of good. Even those who were reputedly bad were good inside. Kevin, however, was a gray. He was not quite bad - at least not as bad as Donatien - but he did do things that were unethical and illegal such as drugging his potential sex partners for a better sexual experience.

Regarding the sexual content of this story, the sex was plentiful. It was in abundance with satyr costumes, chains, multiple penetrations by multiple people multiple times, etc. There was a particularly painful scene with rhinestone-encrusted double penetration, but Kevin was not the recipient. If in-scene rape or violence are triggers, I would recommend not reading this book. If "cheating" is also something one dislikes, this book is not for you.

This story was not what I was expecting, and I guess I was a bit disappointed about that. I found the premise interesting, but the execution failed with me. I didn't feel engaged with the characters. I wasn't enamored of the writing style. It definitely felt more like the target of the audience were other gay men who liked these types of stories. The writing was sparser and cruder, and the sex gratuitous with multiple random hook-ups even while Kevin and Doug were "together". The style of writing did not invite "softer feelings". I'm just glad that I did not spend too much for this.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. All I have to say is (O_o) and
"rhinestone-encrusted double fuck" pg 81 and poor Doug :'(

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ouch...