A POUND OF FLESH

Sequel to To Serve and Submit (2006), Wright’s fantasy combining sex, slavery and magic.

In every land stands a “pleasure house” where children are sold into slavery and trained in the most refined sexual arts—and all too often brutalized and damaged by their godlike masters. Former slavemaster Lexander and his freed love slave, narrator Marja, agree that the entire rotten system must be destroyed, but they disagree on tactics. First on their hit list is Vidaris, where once Lexander ruled and Marja served. Leading a band of warrior Thule, Lexander kills his former partner, the cruel Helanas, and burns Vidaris to the ground. This act officially makes Lexander a renegade, to be hunted down and killed by his own people. Next, the pair turn their attentions to Becksbury in Londinium, where to gain entry Lexander poses as a high official, with Marja as his slave. They plan to manipulate the followers of the god Kristna into destroying Becksbury for them. But after seeing the brutal beating Marja suffers at the hands of Becksbury’s master, Lexander focuses solely on obliterating all masters, while Marja takes pity on the slaves who have known no other life and, even when freed, are almost helpless. So sharp does the disagreement between them grow that Lexander and Marja go their own ways, although both know that to stop the trade altogether they must eventually defeat the most powerful house of all, Saaladet in distant Stanbulin, the center of the evil traffic.

A so-so installment; and while fans of the previous volume shouldn’t be disappointed, Wright seems to have little idea where her saga is headed.