Boy is this ever going to be a tough one to explain for people with no frame of reference. Have you ever watched anime, or the live action stuff like Power Rangers? If so, have you ever noticed that some of the ladies in some of those shows were basically a dominatrix but somehow still on a kid’s show? Rebecca refers to this genre as “pervy anime,” and I can’t think of a better way to describe it. If you’re completely lost right now, this isn’t going to be one of those cases where I say that you’ll probably enjoy it anyway. Rebecca has done other books, maybe try one of those, but you’ll be completely lost here. For the creeps and/or just the people familiar with the creep aesthetic in anime, read on! This one starts off after the villains have won, and the General depicted on the cover and her pet/husband/toy are heading out on their honeymoon. They run across a human who’s escaped, but he’s wracked with guilt because he’s convinced a friend to infiltrate the bad guys, and now he needs help rescuing her. Those two have no interest in helping, but they do bring him back to the rest of the captured humans, where a different bad guy has been hoarding crystals and is now stronger than the General. He takes the pet/husband for himself, since that guy seemingly just wants to be abused, and locks up the General. From there I’d get into spoilers in a hurry, but we see the different factions in this prison camp, learn if the pet/toy actually believes in anything but pain, and watch the General learn what it’s like to be briefly helpless. It’s clearly a love letter to the anime of Rebecca’s childhood (that’s not me guessing, she spells it out in an afterward), and in this context it’s a fun and, yes, pervy story. And let’s be honest, that title is magnificent. If you can get into the spirit of it this one is a lot of fun, so give it a shot if you can instantly recognize some of these tropes from your childhood. $16
Posted by Kevin