Scan barcode
A review by __kai__
The Slave by Kate Aaron
Did not finish book. Stopped at 36%.
DNF at 36%
I was expecting this book to go into a completely different direction. When I read the synopsis about one slave sent out to buy another one, I thought it would be more about the new slave helping him understand that the live he lives is in fact not "good" and them planning to escape together. But I was wrong.
I hate all 3 characters and how they are portrayed. Tam is understandably brainwashed, but even then him constantly telling Kai that he shouldn't be upset about becoming a slave was driving me crazy. He was also always saying how "kind" the Master is, even though every scene he was in, it was proven completely false.
The Master is also constantly giving speeches of how good he is, and that he would not force someone, and how Kai should be grateful, etc. Then proceeds to humiliate Kai and force him to have sex with Tam by threatening to continue hurting Tam. And the worst part is that Kai starts agreeing after like day 3? One day he's crying about how it's no way to live and now they have to future, and the next day he's telling Tam that it's actually not so bad, and even better than outside live. He should be angry and resentful based on his earlier characterization, but for some reason he's quick to switch for literally no reason. It's not even that the Master was in fact kind to him. He made him sleep on the floor in cold room (justifying it as his own fault for "not valuing things he's given"), humiliated him by making him call him Master (justifying it as "respect"), and forcing him to have sex with Tam (justifying it as him actually wanting it himself). He's not really different from other people he threatens Kai with, I'm not sure if we're supposed to like him at this point, but doesn't look like he changes later on based on other comments.
I keep questioning why doesn't Kai ever actually get mad. He occasionally snaps at Tam or Master, and they say something to convince him that he's actually in good position, and he's like "yeah, you're right"???
I was hoping for revenge plot where Tam and Kai put the Master in his place, but looks like that's not where this is going so I'll stop reading for my sanity
I was expecting this book to go into a completely different direction. When I read the synopsis about one slave sent out to buy another one, I thought it would be more about the new slave helping him understand that the live he lives is in fact not "good" and them planning to escape together. But I was wrong.
I hate all 3 characters and how they are portrayed. Tam is understandably brainwashed, but even then him constantly telling Kai that he shouldn't be upset about becoming a slave was driving me crazy. He was also always saying how "kind" the Master is, even though every scene he was in, it was proven completely false.
The Master is also constantly giving speeches of how good he is, and that he would not force someone, and how Kai should be grateful, etc. Then proceeds to humiliate Kai and force him to have sex with Tam by threatening to continue hurting Tam. And the worst part is that Kai starts agreeing after like day 3? One day he's crying about how it's no way to live and now they have to future, and the next day he's telling Tam that it's actually not so bad, and even better than outside live. He should be angry and resentful based on his earlier characterization, but for some reason he's quick to switch for literally no reason. It's not even that the Master was in fact kind to him. He made him sleep on the floor in cold room (justifying it as his own fault for "not valuing things he's given"), humiliated him by making him call him Master (justifying it as "respect"), and forcing him to have sex with Tam (justifying it as him actually wanting it himself). He's not really different from other people he threatens Kai with, I'm not sure if we're supposed to like him at this point, but doesn't look like he changes later on based on other comments.
I keep questioning why doesn't Kai ever actually get mad. He occasionally snaps at Tam or Master, and they say something to convince him that he's actually in good position, and he's like "yeah, you're right"???
I was hoping for revenge plot where Tam and Kai put the Master in his place, but looks like that's not where this is going so I'll stop reading for my sanity