Title: Dark Tales of Randamor the Recluse - Book I: The Invisible Chains
Format: Original - Novel
Length: 190 000 (November 14, 2009)
Status: WIP
Rating: M - NC-17
Warnings: Violence, incest, rape, non-con, domination may all occur in varying degrees
Link: Ximerion
Summary: (by the author) A long and brooding chronicle with bitterness, savage tribes, bloody battles and crowns lost and gained. About friendship in arms, love in bonds, devotion against all odds and undeserved tenderness. M/M Slash

Review: The story is set in a kind of Middle Ages. Although very recognizable, there are some differences with our actual Middle Ages. Some regions in this world have more a feel of ancient Greece.

The kingdom of Ximerion is under threat of an attack on both its southern and northern border. The danger coming from the north is far less serious and the high king sends his youngest sons to the Northern Marches, under the guidance of an old and trusted friend, both to handle the situation and to safeguard them from the far more serious situation in the south.

Almost immediately strife breaks out between the half brothers, although they also feel attracted to each other... though this attraction takes some strange forms.

Like the author states in the summary it is a long and brooding tale. It requires some investment of the reader, especially in the beginning. Those who get past the first three or four chapters are well rewarded however.

Out of the Introduction-Warning by the author:

This will be a long and brooding chronicle with bitterness and savage tribes and bloody battles and crowns lost and gained. It will tell about foul betrayal and fighting in desperate situations. About friendship in arms and love in bonds. About devotion against all odds and undeserved tenderness. About reversal of fortunes and growth in adversity.

Be warned: there will be scenes of domination and rape, but never random or unexplained. Of course there will be smut. There will also be incest. The graphic description of armed conflict and the sacking of villages and cities may not be to everybody's taste. Characters you might have grown to love will die and their death will not always be an easy one.

It is doubtful that at the end of the story there will be anybody left who is totally innocent.

Tags: dark tales - introduction