| Title | : | Guttersnipe (Guttersnipe, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781476138787 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 259 |
| Publication | : | First published June 30, 2012 |
For three years Derek has been a sexual outlaw. He has evaded the police, escaped the elite who hunt him for sport, and supported himself with the help of powerful friends. But that was before Marco abducted him off the street and claimed him as his property.
Imprisoned in the man's massive country estate, the world of the elite is far more corrupt and deviant than even Derek could have imagined. His situation is not what it seems. The people who appear to be allies will betray him; the people who appear to be enemies will protect him. He's caught in a cat and mouse game between his new master and the people who might have been setting Derek up all along.
Guttersnipe (Guttersnipe, #1) Reviews
-
personal responsibility.
outrageously entertaining psychological thriller with enough sex, compassion, and common sense to make a boy wanna stand up and shout AMEN.
relentlessly clever, with a finish like a demolition derby in the dark.
outstanding. -
The thinking human's m/m dub-con slave-fic
Guttersnipe is a nice subversion of slave-fics (
Ai no Kusabi particularly) remixed with social commentary on (some facets of) Western culture’s approach to abstinence and
purity.
This seems topical, with the growing US Republican
war on women’s sexuality. Even here in NZ our fundamentalist Christian Family First political party just sponsored
Dr Miriam Grossman to visit and
critique NZ’s sex education programme in an effort to spook parents into supporting heteronormative abstinence-only education (because
that
works
so
well). Isa K has taken this to the logical next step.
The nod to Ai no Kusabi so overt that the MC is carefully described as having hair a “nondescript, bland blond shade. Years ago it had probably been a stunning, almost Nordic gold, but age had added light brown lowlights and smoggy gray highlights. Now it was a tired non-color” (p. 22*). Ai no Kusabi and Guttersnipe both revolve around the ‘thrill’ of a caste-based society where blondies/elites keep lower-caste pets to entertain them by having sex with each other at public parties, but where it is unseemly for an blondie/elite to have sex with a pet in public. (Zach is the asexual ‘furniture’). However, Isa K takes that trope, throws it up in the air, and slices it into wafer-thin slivers with her sharp writey-knives. It is reassembled into the world of Guttersnipe, where the thrill is indeed smoggy and bland: a lowlight rather than the expected blazing glory of submission and domination. How perfectly clever that Isa K names the sex-club Denial.
We readers know how slave fics are supposed to go, so when owner Marco first “unzipped his pants and pulled out his already half-hard cock”, and Derek thinks, “It was not a pretty sight up close: veiny and a shade or two darker than the rest of his body” (p. 60) it’s only the first hint that Derek won’t take sex-slavery lying down (no pun intended).
The sex-club, rather than the stereotypical den of hedonism and depravity, pretty much sums up my (extremely limited) real life experience of the concept:
Two or three hours later Derek had decided that there was nothing so mind-numbingly boring as a sex club . . . After the first twenty minutes it was all just chafing and a lot of acting. (p. 103)A few niggles prevented this being a 5-star for me.
Nup, I was wrong in my original review. The only thing that would have changed this from 4 stars to 5-stars for me is a matter of personal preference: I would have liked the whole booker darker in tone.
As the blurb indicates, there is non-con (sex-slave, duh), but it’s not dark in the least. Derek’s rage against being a slave is against the very premise of slavery, and not because he’s being beaten daily and fucked twice. He himself notes it would be easier if his owner was an abusive bastard. Horrible things happen to people, but off the page, and outside of the timeline of the book. I think this way it will get a much wider readership, which is a good thing, but doesn't showing the inherent injustice and institutional violence of slavery mean including the darker parts? I don't know. The author's probably right here, but anyway, the dark part of me was disappointed.
I would absolutely have made the ending darker,
Original, withdrawn criticism, that only showed I didn't think enough:
Not a nit-pick, but just a wondering: Would someone from a non-sexual culture be a ‘screamer’? Reading Vivienne Westwood’s biography, one of the most interesting parts is where she relates that as a teenager, everyone had sex in silence. It wasn’t until they saw sex in films when they were older that they learned how to perform sex ‘properly’, with moans and sighs (I think it’s in
Fashion and Perversity). This is a very interesting question. I'd like to read a follow-up book set in the same AU, looking at non-elites.
There is great stuff in here. Derek’s relationship with the city in the opening pages is wonderful. Marco's observation that “Monogamy is a form of social control” (p. 182) is great (and accurate, and the subject of great debate in
philosophy and queer theory re: the gay marriage debate).
The writing is absolutely lovely. Funny, good rhythm, great word use, good pace. The narrative is carefully crafted, but still flows naturally.
An intelligent, interesting, thought-provoking book. I see room for book two: .
*all page numbers are for the pdf version. -
The future is a mess and this version twists sex and power even more than the present one. Derek is the kind of horror that power hierarchies like to point to in order to justify themselves.
Rebels were worshipped before they were put down like dogs. It provided a rare opportunity for such outstanding members of society to savor the illicit vicariously while at the same time patting themselves on the back for their stunning righteousness.
The plot is itself wasn't surprising. I loved the beginning, entertained in the second quarter, started to flounder in the third and was pleased with the ending. Overall, I enjoyed this and if it wasn't for Marco's playmanship I would have not rated this as highly as I did. Part of it felt vaguely unsatisfying and I'm at a loss to point to exactly why except that being told from solely Derek's point of view left a lot in the dark. Fun things that might have been enjoyed with some omniscience.
Favorite quote:"Cut myself shaving."
Evelyn snorted at the suggestion. "What the fuck were you shaving with? A machete?"
-
CAUTION: Long Review
Guttersnipe is a speculative master-slave M/M fiction about a rebel turned sex slave named Derek who learns that he has been a pawn between feuding masters.To make matters worse, he learns that the feud has risen to a conspiracy which threatens the foundation of a society where sex is heavily regulated. With twists and turns and mind games, I expected the book to be full of excitement.
That expectation was not met.
The Characters
+++ Derek
He was the protagonist. Barring 1 or 2 instances, the story was told from his side in 1st PoV.
I didn't like Derek from the start. His cockiness annoyed me, and his sexcapades disturbed me. Only after Derek got captured and raped that he then endeared himself to me.
Unwilling to accept his enslavement, Derek remained calm, kept his wits, and — this is the most important part — attempted escapes. Not one escape, but multiple escapes. Derek was defiant, confident, and resilient. His perseverance impressed me.
Unfortunately, Derek was the about the only character I liked.
+++ Marco
He was the guy who captured and raped Derek and became Derek's master. I didn't care much for him. I found his backstory contemptible and the reason for his fear of love absurd. I had a hard time believing he was a great schemer because he acted so glum and seemed like he moped all day long.
+++ Zach
Marco's servant was annoying. His cliché sob story of a past as an abused ex-sex slave got eyerolls from me. When Derek tricked and punched Zach to escape from Marco again, I had a hard time feeling pity for Zach.
+++ Evelyn
Marco's evil rival was exasperating. His characterization as this maniacal sexual sadist was shallow and devoid of imagination.
+++ Nick
I found Evelyn's sex slave almost as exasperating as Evelyn. I really wished Nick remained a forgettable side character instead of having an important role as Derek's love interest.
+++ Helios
He was the Derek's shadow sponsor, the master/society-elite who wanted to throw the city into turmoil. He had great potential to be an awesome villain but the plot botched it. The revelation of Helios's identity was anticlimactic, disappointing, and too predictable to be believed.
The Plot
+++ the plot forgot
The confrontation at the sex club between Marco and Evelyn baffled me. I didn't understand why Derek was forced into non-con sex with Nick. I thought trip to the sex club was to discover the identity of Helios, not to get sidetracked with Evelyn.
The couple chapters spanning that clumsy confrontation scene were dreadful. The plot forgot about Helios, a character who played such a huge role in the story that it was just mind-boggling how he could be forgotten. The plot also forgot that Derek was supposed to continue planning his escape, which put a dent in Derek's characterization.
+++ twists and turns
The story didn't consistently deliver twists and turns. Most of them were crammed near the end, and they were hardly good. The worst twist was the quasi-
Romeo and Juliet one; I felt the urge to gag.
+++ the mind games
There were very few of them. The mind games between Derek and Marco were amusing, but sputtered after the middle of the story.
The mind games against Helios never happened, but instead was a simple contention. The story drove the expectation of
cloak and dagger off the cliff. Worse, the core conflict (the Helios issue) wasn't steadily maintained but was pushed in uneven bursts. It made me questioned whether some scenes were necessary to the story.
The Romance
Derek fell in love with Nick after meeting him two times, qualifying the romance as insta-love. The romance with Nick was utterly passionless and senseless, most noticeable in their sex scenes. Marco raping Derek was somehow more love-filled than Derek making love to Nick.
I get that Derek was developing into the sex slave with a heart of gold but the story pushed that act too far. Honestly, every time Derek had a scene with Nick I skimmed.
In Conclusion
The world building was believable. The writing was good. The non-con sex scenes between Derek and Marco were hot. But these few good things about the story were barely half way enough to save the story from mediocrity.
I rate the book 1 star for I didn't like it. The half-hearted happy ending ultimately kicked the preliminary rating of 1.5 star down to a 1-star level. There were still a few issues left unresolved. The story tried to be something different but failed on many levels, at least for me.
I do not recommend this book for readers looking for a master-slave romance because Derek does not end up with Marco, for readers looking for erotica because the story does not have many sex scenes and some are dreadful, or for readers looking for a dystopian fiction because the story does not deeply dissect the social issues and the society does not change.
I probably recommend this book for readers who are tired of the same old BDSM story and want something new and challenging, even if it is simply to get out the rut. -
Not your garden variety slavefic I had some issues, but was really blown away by the imaginative world created here. The plot and characters had many twists, it kind of reminded me of GOT where you never really know who's good and who's bad. I am going to say something that I know I will regret... the book was almost too plotty for the terrific world built around it. Ok, I regret saying that. The plot was pretty awesome, even if I had to work hard keeping track of it all.
-
We’re all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. At least part of Oscar Wilde’s famous quote is true for our guttersnipe Derek. The MC struck us as a pretty simple fella, a pawn in the games of the elite in an almost sexless dystopian society. And yet, gutter rat Derek stars on ‘Most Wanted’ posters like no other. The reason? Derek is a serial virgin stealer dubbed a rebel/criminal by the elite, but scaling walls and climbing through the windows of the unknowing and (oddly) willing he is seen as a Don Juan superhero to the masses.
You will definitely need to suspend your disbelief over this world’s ideologies on population control, lord knows we had to. You’d think that tying tubes, compulsory vasectomies or simply putting something in the water would’ve yielded much better results than strictly controlled abstinence…
Throughout Guttersnipe, Isa K. is at the mercy of your ability to speculate and fill in the missing details yourself in a plausible manner. She doesn’t purposely and cleverly let you make up your own mind here. She simply forgets to buckle you up firmly for the ride, so that with every plot hole you encounter you’ll get catapulted from your seat, only to climb back into it after you’ve managed to talk yourself into some semi-plausible solution.
But, this is nonetheless a great ride, despite pole vaulting the canyons sized plot holes. K’s characters are framed with just enough raw bone for lots of lovely psychological speculation and reader interpretation. There’s very little stereotypical pin boarding here and that makes it an intriguing and compelling character study. The plot focus is not always where you think it should be either. So did K. lose focus and go off on incidentals? What about the game that’s supposed to be at play? What’s the role of so and so and what the hell is this insta-love/lust thing that’s dominating our dub-con? And then .. it’s KABOOM ..the plotting finally kicked into gear at the final 50 (?) or so pages and it was awesome! It was OMG grin-inducingly awesome!
Treat Guttersnipe as light-hearted Yaoi in book form, a pulpy fun read in which the dub con and non con elements never truly harm anyone or affect them psychologically. In this regard, Isa K. winks at Ai No Kusabi (or Taming Riki if you like). Though we have to say that the accompanying art is sorely missed here!
All in all, Kat thought that the characters could’ve been more intense, the plot tighter and darker, thus providing readers with a real sense of urgency; but she’s definitely intrigued enough to want to try The Condor.
Shelley thought it odd that, in the end, Isa K actually cemented herself as one of her favorite authors. How can something so structurally flawed, based on such an illogical concept makes her admire this writer so much? … “I honestly believe that she will only get better and better at this, now I apologize if that sounds patronizing but she is one to watch. K breaks the rules and writes whatever the fuck she wants, her way. If she was a painter her art would look a bit like Salvador Dali’s: questionable, unbalanced, exciting, debatable, never conventional and a bit screwy. I can only applaud that.”
Buddy read and review with Shelley. -
That was f-ing awesome.
A more formal review is coming I just have to figure out how to review it without using an abundance of spoiler tags. There are some great mind game/s going on here. It is like watching a chess match - the kings (or queens ;)), bishops and pawns are easily identifiable, but you are trying to figure out the kings strategy, if the Bishops can be trusted and the loyalty of the pawns. For those who liked the mind game of Gamble Everything, but didn't care for the kink, this might be preferable. There is a fair amount of sex, but not to the level of kink in GE. It has a good pace, not action packed per se, but plotting and revelations move along.
Also IsaK creates this world where sex is either obstained from (by the poor) or over indulged in perversities (by the elite). The haves verse the have nots. And underneath this game is a subtle commentary on the role of sex in society and whether or not it should be controlled. Is sex solely for procreation? As a manifestation of love? Devoid of intimacy and only for physical pleasure? As a method to shame? Is there a difference between a rapist and a seducer if attraction is instinctual? Is a character who is likable any more forgivable than a character whose personality is unlikable if their methods result in the same outcome?
It is not a love story, but there is love. It is not erotica, but there is sex. A game is being played,but does anyone know how to win? Who is playing by the rules and who just appears to be? Is order any easier to control than chaos?
For those who have read it - was there a part of you that really wanted the book to end with Chapter 22? There is part of me that thought, "End it right here Isa!" But I think it would have been too explosive of an ending, so she carried it for two more chapters (which I did enjoy), but made it so the punch to your face wasn't so brutal. -
Mindfuckery is definitely involved.
I'm an emotional reader. To win me, you have to win my heart. To have me for life, you have to tug on my heart strings, then trample and beat on my heart, before slowly, gently and carefully rebuilding me.
Eve's review is pretty spot on, and I don't have too much to add. I found this piece to be more of a social commentary than she did, as I frequently found myself reflecting on various passages. No doubt about it, this book is
Smart. I enjoyed having to think a bit.
Back to me being a drama queen.
As indicated in the aforementioned reviews, some elements could have been included that weren't, and their inclusion would have made this book darker. True, but more importantly (for my masochistic heart), it would have submerged me in the story. I would have felt more empathy and And compassion. It would have strengthened my bond with the characters.
Don't get me wrong - Isa K. won me over, but not until about 60% of the way in. I liked the book before that, but it hadn't won me over. And, even though the ending was somewhat unrealistic, the book had my heart by then. So, though it took a while to get into, I rather liked this one-especially the mindfuckery. Even my needy heart. 3.5 stars. -
The reason I’ve never been drawn to civil war fiction or to non-fic slave narratives, is that I’m not especially interested in social commentary on slavery. I like a slave fic that looks honestly at the underlying hypocrisy of the system and doesn’t threat slavery solely as a vehicle for romance, but to be honest, I read slave fic to satisfy my kinks, and really not for any other reason.
This book is not quite mm romance (although it is a little), not quite social commentary (although it is a little) and not quite a dystopian story (although it is, and more than a little), and not a traditional slave-fic . In a way that’s good because it defies easy categorization. But it also means that anyone starting this book thinking it’s going to be any of the above is inevitably going to be somewhat disappointed. And it means the author was juggling a lot of balls at the same time. While reading, there were many many points where I stopped to reflect on how good a passage or scene was. And when I finished the book, my general feeling was that it was well-written, entertaining, engrossing, and well worth spending time reading.
But did it satisfy my dark and twisted slave fic kink? No. Make of that what you will. -
Ok, so I'm not sure it's sensible to write a review when you've barely finished processing a book but fuck it, I'm impatient, reactive and I move on. Quickly. (And I'm on a train. Yawn)
This plunged me headfirst into a world where sexual conduct is repressed amongst the lower classes and the elite upper classes serve to mete out relevant punishments to those that have sacrilegiously defiled and deflowered virgins. Naturally the way to reeducate these 'offenders' is to perversely subject them to sexual slavery and sadism - all in the name ofgetting your end awayrestoring order.
I admit first off: I am not great with dub-con or non-con. The discomfort I feel generally supersedes the rest of the story and my rating can't help but reflect this. However, I won't bore you to tears professing judgements or taking a moralistic stance - each to his own and all that.
My lovely GR friend, Jenna, pointed out the parallels to CP and, yeah, I see them but there isn't the complexity or charm of the two main characters that you find in CP, nor do you get the same intricately fantastical world of CP. What you do get, is a 'kind' master with an edge of humanity amongst the depravity of this twisted society, a cocky dickhead and Zach - who is in a league of his own - but no further depth, no real love story and a disappointing HEA that slots in anticlimactically.
But it does gets you thinking, it challenges traditional concepts of sexuality and societal norms - from the repression of the masses through to the more sadistic upper classes: a product of the role that society has created for them; that they have created for themselves. And which has, unsurprisingly, led to corruption in their ranks.
Despite being a non-con slave fic, this isn't as dark as you'd expect - Derek practically shrugs off the abuse that he undergoes, and his relationship with Marco is multi faceted; both saviour and abuser, Marco is frustratingly secretive and unpredictable.
Et finalement, the writing felt inconsistent; from descriptive paragraphs to colloquial verbiage. It felt clunky, but that's an aside mostly as it's still rather well written.
Yeah. Ho hum. 3 stars? 3.5 stars? Perhaps I should have waited a little longer before reviewing :S -
A very puzzling book and I guess I'd call it "ok".
It is well-written. I like the author's prose and up to a point it was a fast read. However, in the end I simply lost interest and got bored so much that I didn't even feel like finishing the (ample) sample.
I don't think it would matter having the whole book either, because my problems start very early with the very worldbuilding. Maybe I lack specific knowledge to be able to field allusions which to me don't exist. Emma Sea's review referring to certain manga cause that thought. But then, shouldn't a fictional book also work completely without such additional info?
Reasons:
In many western/first world countries the problem isn't overpopulation, it is the reverse, a lack of progeny. Overpopulation of course exists, but the masses which contribute most to it are second and third world populations. Insofar I had right at the beginning problems with believing in this dystopia. Yes, I could e.g. see the first world countries barricading against the invasion of the hungry masses. But I do not see that problem for the USA or Europe from within themselves.
Next comes that anywhere where governments have rigorously manipulated or dominated population growth, they have of course done this in a completely different manner and that for a reason. It makes so much more sense to vasectomise people or tie their tubes, if need be enforce contraception through doctored food or water, or heavy penalties for having children in the first place, or simply have them all in for contraceptive shots every few months. That leaves the sexlife alone, and people complacent. There's no need for enforcing artificial celibacy on a whole class, because it's been proven time and again that this simply doesn't work. Sex is fun, and most people will want it.
So, this makes really not that much sense, and to me the lack of logic is like a cavity in one of my teeth. My mind keeps nagging at it like my tongue hunts for that tiny imperfection.
There was more which failed to stand up to logic, for instance the fact that Derek was infected with an STD. How would STDs be so rampant among people who practically all are virgins? The vector has been eliminated so to speak, they should not exist. There were a couple of jumps in continuity for no reason, like Derek seeming to know certain enslaving procedures even though he never was a slave before. And after he tried the second time to escape in vain I would have assumed that anyone halfway endowed with some intelligence ought to have worked out that they need more information before trying to flee. There Derek was presented as so badass and rebellious and capable of running rings around police, and now he was unable to do some scheming? Or why gay men? Why not lesbians? Or heteros?
I felt yanked into too many different directions, asked to suspend too much disbelief, wasn't given enough logical worldbuilding to be satisfied, so I became disenchanted. In the end I didn't buy the dystopia, and that meant I didn't buy either what was taking place between those men.
I think the story has solid potential, but with a bit more care regarding the worldbuilding. I will certainly read more by this author!
ETA after sleeping on it:
One reason I couldn't connect to Derek is something that keeps surfacing in the writing of many m/m authors, excellent ones, and still it gets written--Derek's failure to apply reason to his actions. Not even as much as being street smart. He ultimately is a twin brother of Lisa Henry's Rho.
Not being into manga, yaoi etc. I maybe fail to realise what these authors try to counteract with writing their characters this way, IDK. Possibly MCs who fall over swooning and in bliss at being raped and sexually accosted by a seme? So the counteraction seems to be writing MCs who will fight against their confinement and use?
Unfortunately what arrives my side isn't a stronger character, it's a much weaker one, and a less respectable one in a way. Like Rho, Derek comes over as unintelligent, too intent on his masculine values to engage actual brain power. He's the dumb beast as far as I read him, not an intelligent schemer or even just smart enough to know to save his devices for when he has a realistic chance at turning tables.
It's a bit like I want McGuyver or Holmes, and all I get is Rocky Balboa ;) That may be an improvement over swooning "male maidens", but from my vantage point it doesn't endear me to these characters. Smart people bide their time, they don't keep hurling themselves at unmovable objects and harm themselves that way. That said, maybe Derek improved over time, but he had already lost my interest before that, because he came over as a bit too unreasonable. -
At some point, I lost my ability to suspend my disbelief and I kept looking askance at things.
There were also some missing punctuation marks here and there that kind of bothered me.
And while I'm at it, people "peek" over the arms of couches. "Peaking" over them would be rather odd, though potentially entertaining to witness.
It's interesting because the Marco thing is what yaoi tries and ultimately fails at - the sliding scale of Jerkass-ness. (hooray for tropes~!)
Yaoi attempts the rape-love fantasy by introducing an even more "evil" character that ultimately causes the uke to 'realize' "Gasp! My seme doesn't treat me as crappily as this other person, who is clearly the Big Bad, does. Therefore, he treats me well and demonstrates how much he loves me in a highly healthy fashion."
This one succeeds at that. You almost can't hate Marco (I totally typed "Marcus" just now) at some points and wonder "why the hell is Derek so fervently insistantly in hate? He must be in denial."
Marco is...hard to pin down. He treats them just decently enough that you can conceivably justify away all the other shit that happens. But, of course, part of that is the whole abuse mentality thing. "Well, he only hits me sometimes...but then he apologizes and pampers me and swears he'll never do it again" and I should probably be fair and say he/she.
Okay, once all the plotting and planning and weird murky middle-ground passed and the action started, I got back in.
I like the ending. I was tempted to call bullshit because it seemed a bit too easy, but that's because it succeeded. And I agree.
I think Marco does, in his weird way, care-ish.
I kinda want to know what happens with him, though, after the climax and resolution...
I also agree with Emma about wanting an overall darker tone.
Meh. Overall it's pretty good and I did rather like it. *shrug
ETA:
It's funny how my reviews tend to be rather noncommittal or whatever...
And then someone makes a comment.
And I invariably end up explaining myself further. Sometimes, my comments are a lot better than my review proper.
As such, refer to
this comment for more information on my thoughts and speculations on this book. -
This is a hard book to review. There were parts of it I enjoyed a great deal and parts of it that just left me feeling confused. Derek was not a hero in the traditional sense. He had a lack of empathy with other people, his behaviour (particularly at the start of the book) was selfish and cruel and bordering on sociopathic. During the course of the book, I couldn't feel him make any kind of emotional contact with anyone . I wish we could have found out slightly more about Marco and his thoughts and behaviours. I found Marco to be much more interesting than Derek and despite the fact that he was the "owner", I felt more sympathy for him as a character. It was almost like he had an important story to tell but he didn't get the chance to. It took me a little while to settle into this world and I spent a great deal of the book waiting for something truly, gut-wrenchingly horrific to happen. What left me confused, though, was the passage of time. I could gather no clue as to whether the timespan of the book covered weeks, months or years. It is harder to judge behaviours without even a rough time frame.
-
Books are like people, and this one is smart, sexy, funny, dark, and a little bit mysterious. It will make you think - about the world Isa K has created, about your own values, about the motives of each character, and about what might be going on behind the scenes that Derek is unaware of. In that way, it reminds me of
Captive Prince.
I had trouble putting this one down. The worldbuilding was impressive, the characters were realistically complicated and flawed, and the plot kept me guessing for most of the book.
One of the things I most enjoyed was the verbal sparring between Marco and Derek. I loved watching them try to outwit one another. I also appreciated that .
I rated it 4 stars for a couple of reasons. The main reason was that part of the ending was both predictable and difficult to believe (). The smaller reason was the presence of a few distracting editing errors. It's still a really wonderful book that I'm so glad I read!
I definitely recommend reading
Lords of the Gutter after this one for some much needed alternate perspectives and backstory that will change a few of your perceptions about this book. -
I don't have a shelf for this...
The blurb is very accurate, no need to give away anymore of the story. Just that it's brilliant, and outside the box. Now excuse me while I go read
Lords of the Gutter because I NEED MORE! LoL!
**************************************
What happens when a society takes a wrong turn, even if possibly for good reasons? Of course the upper echelon become corrupt, and horrific abuses happen, but how would one even begin to grasp the enormity of reigning it in?
There's not one single character in this who portrays what we would accept as decent human values. For a reason. Not one of these characters has ever been exposed to a society like ours. (even flawed as it is) So I applaud the author for not attributing a mindset to any one of them that would be unrealistic. When well done, these are the stories that scare the crap out of me. -
A joint review with Loco.
3.5 Stars.
We’re all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. At least part of Oscar Wilde’s famous quote is true for our guttersnipe Derek. The MC struck us as a pretty simple fella, a pawn in the games of the elite in an almost sexless dystopian society. And yet, gutter rat Derek stars on ‘Most Wanted’ posters like no other. The reason? Derek is a serial virgin stealer dubbed a rebel/criminal by the elite, but scaling walls and climbing through the windows of the unknowing and (oddly) willing he is seen as a Don Juan superhero to the masses.
You will definitely need to suspend your disbelief over this world’s ideologies on population control, lord knows we had to. You’d think that tying tubes, compulsory vasectomies or simply putting something in the water would’ve yielded much better results than strictly controlled abstinence…
Throughout Guttersnipe, Isa K. is at the mercy of your ability to speculate and fill in the missing details yourself in a plausible manner. She doesn’t purposely and cleverly let you make up your own mind here. She simply forgets to buckle you up firmly for the ride, so that with every plot hole you encounter you’ll get catapulted from your seat, only to climb back into it after you’ve managed to talk yourself into some semi-plausible solution.
But, this is nonetheless a great ride, despite pole vaulting the canyons sized plot holes. K’s characters are framed with just enough raw bone for lots of lovely psychological speculation and reader interpretation. There’s very little stereotypical pin boarding here and that makes it an intriguing and compelling character study. The plot focus is not always where you think it should be either. So did K. lose focus and go off on incidentals? What about the game that’s supposed to be at play? What’s the role of so and so and what the hell is this insta-love/lust thing that’s dominating our dub-con? And then … it’s KABOOM …the plotting finally kicked into gear at the final 50 (?) or so pages and it was awesome! It was OMG grin-inducingly awesome!
Treat Guttersnipe as light-hearted Yaoi in book form, a pulpy fun read in which the dub con and non con elements never truly harm anyone or affect them psychologically. In this regard, Isa K. winks at Ai No Kusabi (or Taming Riki if you like). Though we have to say that the accompanying art is sorely missed here!
All in all, Kat thought that the characters could’ve been more intense, the plot tighter and darker, thus providing readers with a real sense of urgency; but she’s definitely intrigued enough to want to try The Condor.
Shelley thought it odd that, in the end, Isa K actually cemented herself as one of her favourite authors. How can something so structurally flawed, based on such an illogical concept makes her admire this writer so much? … “I honestly believe that she will only get better and better at this, now I apologise if that sounds patronising but she is one to watch. K breaks the rules and writes whatever the fuck she wants, her way. If she was a painter her art would look a bit like Salvador Dali’s: questionable, unbalanced, exciting, debatable, never conventional and a bit screwy. I can only applaud that.”
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Definitely a unique take on the M/m dystopian slave-fic genre. Really enjoyed this world where sex and sexuality are outlawed for all but the elite who are allowed to own sex slaves. This story does need quite a bit of editing and the end was a tad melodramatic for my taste, but overall a very interesting read.
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3.5
I didn't find Derek particularly lovable but he's a pawn in more powerful men's cat and mouse games and I definitely found the story interesting and enjoyable.
As I read the book, I was reminded of the quote: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”
― Lord Acton
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/40058...
Some editing quibbles. If you read this and enjoy, I highly recommend also reading
because you get a deeper understanding of Zack and Marco, Nick and Evelyn's and lastly Derek and Nick's relationship. I think it helped me round out my opinion of Guttersnipe. -
The only thing that keeps going thru my head is fucking amazing book! I love when that happens.
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2.5 stars
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I've downloaded a 20% sample from Smashwords, but haven't even finished the 20%. The non-con scenes didn't arise any strong emotion in me, because I couldn't connect with either character. The descriptions concentrated on what they felt physically, but not much about their psyche. Derek as an 'defiant slave' was also disappointment. After three years of a life as one of the most wanted criminal I expected him to be smarter. To learn the world he was thrown in, to research his resource, to keep clear head. Not to rush blindly into confrontation every chance he got.
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Through no fault of the author, there are certain themes that just don't work for me. If I had realized this was slave fic, I wouldn't have even started it.
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Why am I always finding books I know I read but I didn't mark as read? I read this thing! Note that it may be missing some tags because I read it a long time ago. It's also pretty creepy from what I remember, although I'm not rating it because it was so long ago that I remember. A lot of what goes on it it as non-consensual. The ending isn't necessarily predictable.
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Real good read. Sex & power and many head-games. Ending, totally not what I expected.
