Subjugation

Subjugation Universe #1

by James Galloway

The Faey, an alien telepathic race, has taken control of Earth and are using it as a farming colony for their empire. Jason is a college student learning faey technology, but is upset with the faey and their treatment of Earth.
Jason meets a fiery red head name Jyslin, who takes a fancy to him and will not take no for an answer. There is a problem though: Jyslin is a Faey Imperial Marine. And, marines are not easily deterred...

Never published but can be found online, absolutely for free, on the author's website (http://forums.sennadar.com).
Or download from http://www.weavespinner.net/worlds_of...

Genres: Science Fiction, Military Fiction, Harem, Space, Space Opera

ebook

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

There is an author, who goes by the name of Fel. He releases his stories, chapter by chapter to the internet. They vary in genres, including fantasy and sci-fi. Several of these books are comparable in length to the epic story Les Miserable's, or longer.

All of these stories have been posted for free on the internet. Download from http://www.weavespinner.net/worlds_of... in various formats including epub, or from the original forumpostings http://forums.sennadar.com

Reviews

[K Z · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok. This is a... I dont even know how to address this. The action and the characters etc. were pretty well described and engaged you (the main character is very idealized though, he is seemingly "perfect" in that he seems to be a genius at everything he wants. ex: benchpress 400 pounds without working out much, a genius with tech that manages to create devices with the faey's own technology that they themselves didnt know, master at multiple different martial arts, top grades at an elite school, "holds mastery over his own mind"... the list goes on and is so incredibly over the top and unrealistic for a human), however there is a MAJOR problem with the book in my opinion and without it this book would probably be a 3.5 (so take my review to be 3.5 stars if you have no problem with what im about to bring up). This is a great and funny story at first (and thats a major draw of the story, the over-the-top and comedic nature of it), there are no grammar problems, no run on sentences and/or lazy/shitty writing as is so common with online books. Its an overall ok book. Nothing too amazing but the world-building was ok and the alien races were interesting and described well. However, i feel like the authors fetish(?) got in the way of this book. As the book progresses, we see more and more explicit scenes that more and more on the "weird" or downright "why?" side. to put it bluntly, the character relationships were ruined for me because there is a lot and i mean a lot of sharing romantic partners with other people as well as other equally offputting things

just some stuff downright disturbing things in my honest opinion.
-coming to the conclusion you would suck your friends dick if he asked.
-being ok with having a little girl sitting on your lap as you are both naked.
-references to other faey having sex with 'their own kids watching/ being around'
-that apparently its normal for 8 year old faey to practically/literally masturbate each other as the main character ponders that his child would have sex the first time he would get an erection.

It honestly killed the story for me.


According to others subjugation is pretty shit compared to his other stories.
Apparently people should read the Firestaff/Pyrosian series, they're his best work and not nearly as disturbing.

P.S. Honestly, the worst thing about Subjugation is all the swinging going around. I just can't understand how everyone is just okay with sharing their girlfriends/wives with other people. It's like that's Fel's fetish and he's just showing it off. The whole sexual situation of the entire story is a deal breaker. Romance loses it's purpose in the story.

Though there's something similar in the Firestaff series since the were-cat population is mostly female so they have to share the males.
I haven't gotten that far in the series yet but I think I read somewhere the protagonist gets it on with a few other girls and has children with 3 different woman at the end? Not sure how many he has in his "harem" though.

[David Holmes · Rating 1 out of 5]

The relationship partner sharing killed any interest I had in finishing this book. It started off interesting then got more and more weird as It progressed onward.

[Stalyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome book that deserves to find its place among the legends of sci-fi literature! It does have some fairly erotic parts to it, so readers who prefer to avoid that sort of thing ought to be forewarned. However, it isn't out of context given the larger framework of the story. Given the natures of the characters involved, it actually makes a lot of sense. It is certainly no worse than legendary sci-fi author Robert Heinlein's stuff, and really could be considered tame in comparison to some of Heinlein's ideas about sex. The story isn't a sex romp, it just happens to have some graphic scenes here and there over the course of the larger plot.

This book is probably a 'must read' for Stargate fans out there. It contains many elements that draw Stargate fans in to begin with (ancient legends come to life, and alien tech in today's world), aside from the fact that space based stargates are a standard technology through out the series. James Galloway has a second book already finished at his website, and is currently working on a 3rd (maybe the final) book, releasing it by chapter. I definetly recommend checking this book out..!

[Darnell]

Couldn't do it. I can roll my eyes at the sexy aliens, and the dynamic of reluctant allies under an empire could be fun, but the narrative spends so much time jerking off the protagonist it should be categorized as bisexual erotica.

Shout-out to the protagonist's father for teaching him Ninjutsu.

[Milen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the only sci-fi deviation of else strictly fantasy writing author James Galloway. I am rating this book entirely for the fun factor - and it would have been a four-star if some chapters of it weren't a bit boring (I guess the author wasn't sure where he wanted to go next with the story).

The book is a mixture of action, high-tech sci-fi, sex and humour and shares the strong and weak sides of Galloway's writing in equally strong dosages. The characters are quite idealized and unrealistical, the plot is far-fetched at places and it clearly needs some editing and polishing. However, it is pure, uncomplicated fun and about 80% of the book is written in Galloway's characteristic fast-paced, dynamic, light and quite addictive style which made The Sennadar Series one of my all-time fantasy favourites. Subjugation does not offer any deep philosophical or prognostic ideas, it is not profoundly psychological and I can make a safe guess that a willing literary critic could gleefully write a review that would tear the book in pieces. And I loved it. It allowed me to spend many hours in blissfull reading of an excellent story.

[Orinks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know James Galloway was on goodreads. This author is simply amazing. And the fact that his books are free makes it an excellent reason to go to Sennadar.com and check them out. Subjugation is amazing, to the races known as Fyran, I believe that's how it's spelled, and the technology that our main character, Jason Fox, develops.

I'm not sure if the other two books are on here as well, but you should check them out, because there's more than this. This is just the beginning.

10/10 for me.

[Iori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been the best story I've read after Marin's Codex this year. The characters are engaging, the unflinching sense of duty and morale of the mc made me love him very much, but... Symone is the best!!!

[John Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basically trash.

In desperate need of an editor. There are a lot of spelling and grammatical errors in this book. The main character is also called Tarrin sometimes even though his name is Jason (how do you get the name of your MC wrong?).

The main reason I dropped the book is the same reason I dropped Surrendering to Scylla. The similarity between the two is that I just can't enjoy reading about someone despicable having a happy ever after. The Faey are disgusting, conquering and enslaving humanity and constantly violating the sanctity of their minds. This is even discussed in the book, Jason constantly gets pissed off at Faey and believes that they are deeply wrong. Somehow though, one Faey's literal constant harassment (and borderline sexual harassment) manages to change Jason's mind. Yay, amazing sexy times make everything better.

What the hell. Firstly, I despise the trope where someone is "just too hot to hate". Jason hates the Faey and the imperium, and is deeply annoyed at her harassment, but somehow Jyslin is just sooo pretty (eyeroll). Then after all his very understandable reservations, all it took was a single kiss for him to give in? Like???? Then she invades his mind while he's distracted by sex but its okay she only did it to make the sex better. Yeah, she constantly harassed him at his home and school, intimidated him with military force, threatened to basically ruin his life if he didn't go out with him (this is coercion guys, which means she basically raped him), but we're just supposed to accept that they're in love now? Also, aside from being harassment, her behaviour is also what's known as STALKING. Is it because he's a man this is supposed to be okay? I just felt so disgusted reading it that I couldn't go any further.

Basically, don't read this if you are at all sensitive about rape, harassment, coercion, stalking, violations of privacy, or any other toxic 'romantic' behaviour. The main character also seems to be hilariously bad at viewing hot girls objectively. No matter what they do to him, as long as they're hot he tries to rationalize their behaviour (or just falls for them anyways).

Sidenote: why was there so little impact to the noble basically trying to turn him into a vegetable with a telepathic attack in public? They literally talked about how humans have rights and Faey can't just do that sort of thing just before it, but then its not really brought up again? Jason normally gets super pissed off at really minor telepathic violations, and yet he sort of doesn't care about someone trying to break him?

Sidenote 2 (electric boogaloo): another thing that had weirdly little impact was the attempted kidnapping and gang rape of the main character. 6 Army soldiers literally corner him in a room with the explicit attempt to strip him naked, put a literal collar on him, and then rape him for a while before dumping him at the marine base. Why is no one (including Jason) really impacted by this? Is it supposed to be okay because Jason managed to turn it around on him? It was literal attempted kidnapping and rape.

[Aelvana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Humans had dreamed of alien contact, but nobody expected the Faey to show up one day in a gigantic battleship, demanding Earth surrender or be annihilated. These blue-skinned humanoids then solidified the subjugation by using their telepathy to root out and crush any resistance. But Jason Fox refuses to surrender. His plan to do just well enough in school to avoid forced labor on the farms and then wash out to a quiet career comes to a screeching halt when he captures the interest of one of the Faey Marines stationed in his town. She wants him, and she won't take no for an answer. Soon his little resistance snowballs into a far bigger fight than he ever imagined.

I'm really torn on this book. On the one hand, I love the detailed descriptions of alien tech. The ideas behind it, how it fits together, and how Jason scrapes by with obsolete components built to do something outside the original specs is a lot of fun. The plasma-based technology is interesting, and some of my favorite parts are where the story spends a page or more simply breaking down how the newest gadget works. Add to that the challenge of building a habitable base in an urban wilderness of abandoned towns, or the various prank wars Jason initiates, or the eventual real war that happens despite everything, and there's a lot of fun to be had.

And the twist about human telepaths was really good.

On the other hand, there's just no way I buy the "romantic" relationships. The Faey are a female-dominated society whose women are a teenage boy's wildest dream come true: girls whose thoughts are dominated by sex, all have great bodies, and don't mind sleeping around. All. The. Time. In fact the book gets pretty fervent in its defense of why it's totally okay for Jason to be true loves with one Faey female but bedding anyone else he finds attractive. And his partner equally expects to be able to sleep around herself.

I don't buy the lack of jealousy (he rationalizes the situation over and over to himself, but since when was jealousy rational?), or on the flip side, the way his roaming eye isn't degrading his bond with his true love. I don't see anything deep in his relationship with the woman he gets involved with. It's a relationship that starts with her not honoring his "no," and even though that drives him wild, once he ends up sleeping with her they're golden. I could go on, but it boils down to Sex Makes Everything Better just being something that ought to work out better in theory than in practice.

(For a great counter-example, see Teckla by Steven Brust, where Vlad and his wife love each other but have irreconcilable political differences. And this is not because I think everything ought to end unhappily, but because it highlights the hard truth that holding to convictions can cost you, and which ones you choose to hold on to determine what has to be sacrificed).

Overall, whether or not you like this is going to depend on two things: if you like getting a lot of details about pretty much everything, and if you don't mind or enjoy the way all the sex gets presented. I rate this book Neutral.

See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....

[Fenrif · Rating 4 out of 5]

A grand epic space opera adventure. The characters are great, the technobabble is great, the setting is great. I strongly recommend it. I've read it once before but I was reminded of it recently and so thought i'd give it a re-read. And It sucked me in completely and instantly.

The only issues I would raise is that the book is VERY repetetive sometimes. I think it's due to it being released online chapter-by-chapter. But a lot of the time when a previous plot-point is brought up it's re-explained to the audience again. Some times it's re-explained in narration and then in dialogue to another character. It's not terrible, but it did cause me to skim some paragraphs, or skip them alltogether. Considering it's over 2500+ pages it does grate, especially towards the end.

Secondly, and this is very minor, but again because I think it was written chapter-by-chapter there's a lot of time spent on things that go nowhere. There's a specific scene where the protagonist goes to rent a wherehouse and the author spends multiple pages describing the different choices and rates, introduces new characters for the "renting a warehouse" subplot, and then as soon as it's done it's immediatly written out of the novel.
Other than that though It's absolutely worth reading. Could do with a little editing in some places, which would remove my two gripes above (and would give it the fifth star in my mind), but it doesn't really detract seriously from the narrative. And it's freely available on the authors website, so there's really no reason to not check it out.

There is some sexual stuff, which could put off the prudish, but it's nothing racier than some saucy language. It always tastefully (ish) fades out before the actual action happens. There is a fair amount of discussion around it though. So take that how you will. Didn't bother me at all but I've seen it referenced in a lot of the other reviews on here as a negative so I thought i'd mention it.

[Zed Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book for free from http://weavespinner.net/worlds_of_fel.htm because I wanted to put it on my Kindle. But it was originally published on a forum.

Probably because it was published for free, I found a lot of typos. There was even a section where a character's name got switched around. I don't know if all these issues got fixed in the forum version. However, I found them to be but mild distractions in the version I downloaded, because this book is FREE and what is here is very good.

It started off very mundane, a college student getting harassed by the new alien conquerors, but it just grew and grew and it became so epic by the end that I found myself awed. There were a number of alien cultures that were explored but I found them to be quite monolithic, where every member of an alien race acted like the stereotypes that they were introduced with. For example, the Faey, which is the main alien race that we read about, only has one culture even though their civilization spans a number of planets and systems. And every member of that race acted according to that one culture.

But what saves this book is the main character. His goals and motivations were crystal clear and I found myself wanting to read about what he was going to do next. He was the reason I managed to finish this humongous book, which must be upwards of 200k+ words. This book could have used some editing, there were some sections that I felt were repeated information that could probably be cut, but despite this, I just wanted to keep on reading.

[Russell S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The love interest in this book, Jyslin, is one of the most loathsome characters I've ever encountered, except for characters who are supposed to be loathsome. The Faey society is described as one of reversed gender roles compared to ours, and when I saw her behavior towards the male lead I thought it was supposed to be a satire of how certain men treat women, exaggerated for effect. But as I went on I realized to my horror that her horrific sexual harassment of the protagonist is actually supposed to be charming. I had to stop reading there because the main thing that was keeping me going was the anticipation of seeing her get her comeuppance, and once I realized that that wasn't going to happen I had no reason to keep reading.

[Herman Dirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 star, why?

It needs an editor that cuts about 10 to 20 % of the book. Then it receives its fourth star.

Feay morals are loose, okay we get that, stop repeating it over and over again. Stop focusing on the carnal relations issues. Same for techno info dumps.

The books makes a change in the middle. I suspect that halfway trough the author got a new idea and had to cement it to the first part.

What remains is a fun book worthy of your time.

[Haywood · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really excited for this, I liked the premise, the world, the story and everything about it, but the swinging killed this story like the dog you'd take out back. Why the author decided to ruin this story with all the partner sharing I don't know but this was a major disappointment. I'm happy I saw the direction it was going in after chapter 4 so the time investment was still reasonable.

[Sean Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a story, this works well. Earth is taken over by a technologically superior extraterrestrial species, with telepathic abilities to prevent any insurrection. Needless to say there's a Human hero fighting the good fight. His efforts at thwarting the Subjugation are the meat of the work, and for the technology enthusiast, the discussion of plasma weaponry, spaceship propulsion and seeing blue-skinned aliens getting their asses kicked is quite fun.

This is, though, a self-published work, and free, to boot. I always hate to criticize works I didn't have to pay for, so for the record, I really did quite enjoy this, and it did keep me to the end.

There are quite a few grammatical issues, though. "Good fuck" appears only three times, but even that taxes ones sensibilities somewhat. "Pussy" appears no less than thirteen times and there are over thirty-five occurrences of "blew out". The chapters are very long, which isn't a problem if the structure of the narrative works with such lengths but that doesn't always happen here, and information is repeated several times over, lengthening the work with no appreciable gain.

Grumbles aside - and let's be honest, I'm nitpicking here - this is a fascinating story and told in an exciting enough way to keep one reading, if you can stomach it. There's a lot of similarity between all the female characters, a lot of repetition, and a strange and pervading fascination with foxes (Vulpes, I mean, not simply the titular character), and flying. This book almost reads like a geeky teenagers daydream - aliens attacking earth, techy issues saving the day etc. It isn't quite that shalow, mind you - but I suppose it's easy to see flaws when a book jars me.

So, it's worth a look at least, if you're remotely interested. I seem to have come over far too negative here, but this is a very personal opinion. I enjoyed the story for what it was, and the characters (or at least those that stood out without borrowing characteristics from every other person portrayed) were well done and fun to read about.

[Valentin Fedotov]

I had to give up before I finished. Very real written, good grammar and interesting story with unique characters that I liked. Except the main character who can't seem to get over his beliefs. The author doesn't really go into what those beliefs are, except freedom is good much later in the book. And that's the entire motivation for the main character. So much american propaganda forced down your throat it hurt. The author built up the fae to be benevolent overlords, who made everything on earth better, except this supposed lack of freedom. He keeps going on about on the great american ideals, and never actually talking about more than the ideals. Honestly could have been such a great read if it wasn't for the propaganda feel.