The Awakening: Book One of the Chronicles of the Nubian Underworld - Shakir Rashaan

*Book source ~ A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

 

Set in the Atlanta area this BDSM story is about Ramesses (AKA Kane) and his wife Neferterri (AKA Mercedes) and their life as a Dom and Domme with their 3 submissives.

 

I had to DNF this story at 40% because there really wasn’t anything going on except lots of sex with various people. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I was expecting more of a story from the blurb. The characters have zero depth and yet their emotions seemed totally out of whack most of the time, going from calm to batshit crazy in .30 seconds and back again. The dialogue is stilted, the timeline is wonky, and there are no transitions between chapters. I couldn’t get any kind of grasp on when this story was taking place. In addition, the author broke the fourth wall and then went back to the story as if nothing happened. Was this supposed to be a memoir? Or is it a fictional story? I have no clue. Also, Ramesses comes across as an arrogant asshole, talking down as if the reader is a drooling moron who knows nothing about the BDSM community and he’s oh so superior because he’s a Dom. I have no idea if that’s what the author intended, but that’s the vibe I got, so I ended up really disliking Ramesses. At 40%, after a dumb scene outside a club, I had to toss in the white towel in exasperation and call it quits.