4.5 Corin has been abused physically, mentally and sexually for most of his life. The scenes at the beginning of the book, where he's gang raped, are pretty explicit and the post apocalyptic world the author shapes is suitably dark and hopeless. However, that dark, gritty feel does lighten a bit after he is sold to Marcus and moves to his master's luxurious compound. On the surface Marcus appears cold and ruthless and the 'retraining' of his slave is where the fun really starts. In fact, I wish this part had been a tad longer. I loved the slow build of sexual tension between the two MC's and the gradual reveal of Marcus'character- what lies beneath the cold facade and why he's so driven.
I would have liked for the story to have been a bit longer and felt the ending was a bit rushed but then maybe I've been spoiled by some rather epic slavefics like Bran's Story,from The Slave Breaker series and Forgotten.
An intense, sexy read with a scattering of some rather sweet bits thrown into the mix. It's probably not dark enough for some but it's well worth a read.