Ratings21
Average rating3.3
Interesting alternate reality where in order to pay off debt, the only option is to sell yourself into indentured servitude which commonly includes sex. Much like our own reality where the rich stay rich and the poor get poorer, almost no one but the elite can afford to pay off their own debt with money so to become a Docile is normalised and expected, so named after the drug that renders the servant “docile” and restricts their brain from forming new memories during their purchased time.
Elisha sells off his family's $3mil in debt for a lifetime of servitude and ends up being purchased by the young gay Alexander Bishop III, the heir to the Docilline (the aforementioned drug) fortune. Alex was forced into it to keep up appearances so decides to make Elisha more of an experiment to pass the time rather than any actual need for a servant. Cue a few uncomfortable sexual situations (non/questionable or dubcon) that eventually leads to a really bizarre case of Stockholm Syndrome, but Alex feels what the reader is and starts to realise what's awful about the entire Docile system, much less the drug that made his name.
The story itself was really interesting and good SciFi plotting, but I had issued with how Elisha is portrayed - he is completely reprogrammed in less than 6 months and it seems just a little too far-fetched. Unless he was on some sort of other drug that altered his susceptibility or he had a really low IQ (which is proved not the case with all the different classes Alex has him take) I can't imagine someone completely losing themselves in that small amount of time. If the book took place over years, it would be more believable.
Some reviewers cried, “Problematic!” but this is a literary fictional reality where these behaviors are normalised so I guess just keep in mind it's not for those sensitive to reading sexual assault situations. I've read and enjoyed much worse in fanfiction and BL manga so this didn't personally seem too shocking or off-putting to me.