This wasn’t exactly the story I was expecting, so my reaction and review of it may be colored by that. The mention of slavery in the description, as well as the BDSM genre classifications, had me expecting a m/s story, and this is NOT that. In fact, I would argue that there’s not a shred of ‘real’ BDSM action in this book. There’s some forced sex, and a fair amount of bondage and discipline that has nothing to do with sex.
This is basically a work of speculative fiction, with a little (very little) romance and sex. The big speculation that plays the key role here is that legal slavery has been bought back, and is used as a tool to control criminals as well as prop up a weak economy. If you can accept that implausibility, and the many other fantastic situations that derive from it, then this can be an interesting read.
This is a story of mystery and intrigue, and not a bad one at that. There are some tender romantic moments as well as a fair amount of teen angst. There isn’t a lot of hot sex, so if you’re looking for erotica (or BDSM) I’d give this book a pass.
