To secure his legacy, Commander Dak, a ruling Alpha of planet Parseon, purchases Omra, a breeder slave. He intends to impregnate her, produce a son, and hand her off to his anointed beta partner. As Dak and Omra discover a sexual bliss banned by his world's law, he begins to question the traditions and ways of his people, causing him to jeopardize his command and endanger the life of the woman he has come to love.This certainly was not your typical spanking story. I'll admit I am not a fan of sci-fi so I would never have even considered reading this if it weren't written by Cara Bristol. When she started teasing this book on her blog I basically thought "Well, I'll be a good egg and read Cara's sci-fi book but I bet I won't like it."
Then I read more of the Sat Spanks and other excerpts and I actually found myself checking the calendar to see if it was October 15 yet. I scooped up a copy the first day and started reading.
I'm not even sure where to begin but I do have a couple questions to get things started.
- If you're not a sci-fi fan, did this book still appeal to you? And vice versa?
- There have been a couple of folks on Amazon (a very small number) who were bothered by the m/m sex in the book. What about you? Did it bother you? Did you like it? Did it add to the story?
- I liked the fact that the women on Parseon did not have periods and did not have body hair (other than on their heads). If you were creating a world, what changes would you make?
- What were your reactions to the gender roles on Parseon? Did it make you wonder what lead to the Protocol which decreed that women were incapable of learning or feeling sexual pleasure and were really only kept around because men hadn't figured out how to reproduce without them?
I know that lots of people have thoughts on this book so I won't start with too many questions, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Hey Celeste and Cara. I saw this on Triberr so remembered to come over. I loved Breeder. I don't normally read sci-fi (even though I've written one, I don't normally read it for some reason). Actually - I think the reason is it's a sort of masculine area or something - at least in my mind. Anyhow back on topic. Hold please, let me re-read the questions.
ReplyDeleteI was not bothered by the M/M sex - felt a little badly for Omra that first time but I understood it was done as 'the way things were done' there. I was glad Dak's beta was not in love with him, I must admit. It's easier to dislike the 'bad guy'.
I too liked no periods and no body hair. Not sure what I'd change, too much to consider at the moment and this takes consideration.
As far as gender roles, I was surprised at how Omra accepted her role as Breeder - but understood it in a way and not only did I not fault her but I thought she knows how to work within the boundaries she is allowed. I felt as though the planet had not evolved yet to where we are in modern society here, that is all.
Thanks.
Thanks for dropping by, Natasha, you're the first! The Parseons accepted the dictates and beliefs their culture without ever considering if it was true. The fact is we all believe what we are taught as children. My hope is that Breeder will make people think about "our" own culture and things we believe that may not be true.
DeleteHi Natasha! Thanks for breaking the ice. Good point about Omra working within the boundaries she was allowed. I also enjoyed watching her sort of push the boundaries as she grew more comfortable with Dak and as their relation grew closer and more equal.
DeleteYou "bet you won't like it?"You wound me, Celeste. Wound. me. LOL. I appreciate that you gave it a try. I knew that sci-fi would be a hard sell. It's a genre that people either like or they don't and I had no following for this genre. I know what I dislike about sci-fi and I tried to avoid those things in Breeder. One thing I learned is that "Science fiction romance" is its own specific subgenre like DD/spanking romance is a subgenre of erotic romance/erotica.
ReplyDeleteBreeder was a huge departure for me. Literally, everything about the book (from writing to the promotion) was different than anything else I've written. One thing that is different is that even though Breeder contains DD/spanking, I don't consider it to be a spanking romance or domestic discipline novel. Unlike my Rod and Cane series, the domestic discipline relationship is not the focus of the story. Take away the spanking from a DD book and you have little story left. But with Breeder, I could easily have removed the spanking scenes and still had a very strong story. Although, I don't feel the spanking was gratuitous. I felt like it flowed very organically from the plot.
Question for readers: how you feel about the way spanking was handled in the story?
Sorry Cara! And I only felt that way at the very beginning but the snippets you shared really got me hooked.
DeleteI think the spankings were handled well. It certainly wasn't funishment and I don't think I'd call it DD since it was not an agreement between the two, but given the harsh and violet nature of life on Pareson, I thought it made sense.
I am almost finished with Breeder. My kindle says I am 72% through!
ReplyDeleteI am the same, I don't like sci fi, it completely turns me off and my eyes glaze over and I have trouble paying attention. But then Cara was sharing all these little snippets and I was intrigued!
The m/m sex didn't bother me. It didn't turn me on like m/f sex scenes do, but it didn't bother me because I thought it set the stage for the type of environment that Parseon was. And same as Natasha I felt bad for Omra when she was watching Dak and Corren.
When I read the part about them not having body hair my first thought was "How'd that happen?" my second thought was "That's amazing!!!" I think I would want to live there... oh except for the whole women being treated as possessions thing- that is kind of a draw back. But no body hair, or periods, life would be good, think of all the time/money I could save not being bothered with those two annoyances! I don't know what I would create for my own world, it's something to think about.
The gender roles on Parseon did make me wonder what happened to lead to Protocol. But it also was sort of scary because I felt like it's something that could happen. The fact that I was reading it and my brain was like, oh yeah, I could see how that happened- just shows you how well Cara created this whole other world. I ended up theorizing in my head about how it was a gradual change and there were probably some wars between Terra and Parseon and then they both just decided to each their own and coexist. Then I would be like this isn't real, why am I thinking this?
I am going to go finish this book and if I have any other ground breaking thoughts I will let you know!
Parseon is a brutal, harsh place and no one gets off easy, not even the men, but it is harshest on women. I eliminated periods because I thought I had to give the women something that made their lives easier. BTW, menstruation factors into the plot of Breeder 2.
DeleteI'm a huge sci fi fan, so I was looking forward to the release of Breeder and snatched it up on release day. Even without the spankings/dd in Breeder, I would have still loved it, but the spankings of course were like icing on the cake for me.
ReplyDeleteThe m/m scene in the book didn't bother me. The only way it would've bothered me is if Dak and his beta were deeply in love, because then I would have probably disliked Dak a little bit for "cheating" by falling for Omra. But I think reviewers complaining about it is a little ridiculous since the scene was brief and in my opinion worked as part of the world-building.
I was envious of the Parseon females' lack of body hair and no periods. That would be wonderful! Calorie-free chocolate would be wonderful too. Someone needs to invent that. :)
Dak and Corren's relationship was tricky to write. I needed to show that the culture was, yet I knew I needed to avoid the infidelity issue. I tried to do that in two ways, first, by making the relationship not what either of them wanted, and second by changing the rules. On Parseon, it is not considered cheating for a male to take a female. It's "slumming," but not cheating.
DeleteInteresting. The relationship between Dak and Corren seemed more like a business deal or arranged marriage, especially since they had each been tested to determine if they were Alpha or Beta. I thought it was interesting that Corren only missed being an Alpha by a point or two (I don't remember exactly but I know it was close). That explained a bit of his bitterness.
DeleteI'm trying to stop lurking since LOL was this week so I'll post my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI'm not usually a huge sci-fi fan. Before discovering this genre and community 3/4 years ago (yes, I've been lurking that long) I used to read a lot of historical romance. I always associate sci-fi with men (my husband and 12 year old son read science fiction and watch all those movies). I've never hated it, just kind of though, eh? whatever. But I've read and loved every one of Cara's books. I had read all the posts up to the release of Breeder and thought it might appeal to me. I was right. I read it in one sitting (stayed up quite late to finish it) and loved it!
I've read just about every relationship variation out there so the m/m definitely didn't bother me. It was kind of hot.
I liked the no hair and no periods too. I'd love to not have to shave or wax constantly and no periods would be wonderful. I can't really think of other changes I'd make - no aging maybe (or no weight gain - would that be possible?)
The gender roles were disturbing to me. I don't consider myself a feminist (I'm not anti-feminist- I just tend to be more submissive), but I also feel very strongly that women should not be oppressed. One of my 14 year old daughter's best friends comes from a conservative Muslim family. She is not allowed to do anything outside of school. She's expected home every afternoon to help take care of her younger brother and help with the cooking and cleaning, but her brothers are allowed to do whatever they want. It drives my daughter and I crazy. Protocol seemed like like taking these things further. In some middle eastern countries women have no rights and aren't educated. It's scary to imagine living somewhere like that. But you can see where it comes from. Hopefully the Terran influences make things change for the better for women.
I can't wait for Breeder 2!
Thank you, Kelsey. The way middle eastern women are treated was one of the "inspirations" for Breeder. I kind of had that at the back of my mind as I wrote it.
DeleteThanks for de-lurking yourself Kelsey! We're friendly here, so I hope you'll come back and comment often.
DeleteIt's interesting that we like to think that we are so modern but in our own neighborhoods, things might not necessarily be much better for women than they are on Parseon. That must be an interesting challenge for you and your daughter, Kelsey.
This does sound like a good read. On my TBR list:)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary.
DeleteI love sci-fi, and I love Cara's style, so buying this book on its release day was a no-brainer for me. I don't regret it.
ReplyDeleteThe m/m stuff surprised me. I generally don't read m/m fiction because it doesn't appeal. Cara's treatment of it was well done, though I think it might have been tailored to meet the needs of readers who enjoy that stuff, rather than the general spanking romance reader. I would have liked a little warning, I guess, but that's just me. Certainly, I would never give it a bad review because of my personal tastes.
As for learning about Protocol, yes, that was a fascinating aspect of the universe Cara built. I'm hoping to get more of that in the next Parseon book.
Overall, the book was very, very well written. I enjoyed it and would definitely give it 5 stars, and not just because Cara is a colleague.
You must have bought the book on Amazon! I know Loose Id has an M/M disclaimer on its site and it's generally in my blurb.But it's not on Amazon. I could have gone different ways with the M/M. I could even have made it a menage story, either M/F/M or M/M/F, but I wanted it to be an M/F love story while still making a statement about gender and sexual equality. There were so many factors that could have turned off readers: the sci-fi part, the spanking, the violence, the brief M/M part, the explicit sex. But in the end, I decided to write the story as I wanted to tell it.
DeleteExcellent point, Cara. Sometimes I find myself thinking "will readers like it better if I do this or that?" and it seems that whenever I try to write w/that in mind, it seems forced and those parts don't work so well. Your instincts were excellent w/this book because it all worked so well.
DeleteSo, I'm a huge sci-fi fan but that also makes me more critical of sci-fi. Many sci-fi erotica writers create a new world only to then make characters with too many inconsistencies in behavior to their world. They make them too modern Earth. I'm not going to lie. I was 110% ready to be let down. I, of course, was not let down. I was blown out of the water. There are so many places in the story that Omra could have acted in a way that would have been out of character for a female that grew up the way she did. The same for Dak. Keeping them in character had to be hard. I feel the same about the spankings. Had Cara gone too far into DD or away from it wouldn't have felt organic.
ReplyDeleteI loved the m/m. In general I enjoy m/m erotica and porn, and have for a long time. The only thing I like better than m/m is a m/m/f triad. It's a growing trend. Most m/m erotica readers are women, and 80% m/m erotic romance writers are women. Sometimes it's nice to just read about two sexy men going at it. I really loved that Omra got some titillating voyeur action. For me that scene was super hot.
I also loved the no periods and no body hair thing. Along with that I think I would place a clit just inside the vagina or have it as a ring in the opening of the vagina.
I couldn't help but wonder what lead to the extreme role change on Parseon. I read the book when it first came out and now I'm trying to remember how long they have had protocol. It made me wonder if they had an evil female ruler somewhere in the line that turned men against women, or if some evil group of gay powerful men got together and contemplated a world without women. Then said, “Hey, we could pull that off. Let's make it happen!”
It's like the opposite of the Amazonian women, and if you are a DC fan, planet Mascara. (that's where Wonder Woman is from)
On a different note, I liked how she blended primitive living with highly intelligent culture and advanced technology.
Thank you, Aubrey. It never occurred to me to change female anatomy in Breeder.Hm....
DeleteBreeder will be a trilogy. I'm almost halfway done with Breeder 2: Terran, and I am considering writing a prequel as well. I should make a note to address the genesis of Protocol.
You're on fire, Cara! It's so exciting to see your enthusiasm for these books too.
Delete