Review - The Eidolon's Conquest by Yamila Abraham

In this vision of a possible not-to-distant future, the Eidolon are a genetically engineered race of super-humans, bred by their super-computer master with a thirst for conquest and domination. The Eidolon and their robot army have been locked in a war with the humans for many years. The war is draining resources on both sides, with the Eidolon running low on raw materials, and the humans losing hundreds of soldiers in every battle.

As part of their terms for accepting a truce, the Eidolon demand human soldiers as hostages, some of whom will become pleasure slaves for the all-male Eidolon. They don’t care who the hostages are, with one exception: they want the stealth fighter Rand to be the Eidolon leader’s personal pleasure slave. Needless to say, Rand isn’t too happy about the deal, to put it mildly, but he isn’t given much choice in the matter.

There’s something about the captured soldier-as-slave theme that some erotica writers seem to find irresistible. Sometimes the results end up being a bit skeevy, putting a reader off the subject for a while, but then, when the author gets the chemistry between the characters, and the plot, just right, it can be a powerful story. “The Eidolon’s Conquest” lies somewhere in the middle. It’s a hot read, but perhaps a little shorter than it needed to be. The key point in almost any captive slave plot is when the slave is broken, or otherwise turns and begins to accept his master. There isn’t really such a point in this book. Rand puts up much less resistance than we’re lead to believe he would from his previous manor. He very quickly accepts his situation and his master, although it must be said that his master, Deandred, goes out of his way to gain the man’s trust.

There is a bit of a twist to the plot, which helps make this story a little more interesting. It seems that Deandred, the master, is also something of a slave himself, to the super-computer that created him. This puts a spin on the relationship that’s a little bit different, which is a good thing when you’re treading a well worn literary path.

While “The Eidolon’s Conquest” has an interesting premise, it feels like it could have benefited from spending more time developing the main characters. We get only the barest details about Rand’s history and what lead him into a life as a guerrilla soldier, and Deandred is almost a complete mystery. Knowing a bit more about the characters would give the story an emotional dimension that seems lacking.

“The Eidolon’s Conquest” is avialble from Amazon