What I love of Dusk Peterson’s stories is that they are all fantasy (and though with the “freedom” given to fantasy tale) with deep roots in real history. While reading one of his books, whatever the historical period he picked and reinvented, you have the feeling to be plunged in a true historical novel, sometime even more an historical essay than a romance, but in the end, Dusk Peterson manages also to give you the romance, and odd as it sounds, most of the time his romances are among the most romantic I have ever read. Why odd? Since I think I have never heard Dusk Peterson associated with the romance world; so here is my suggestion to all the romance readers: go and pick one of Dusk Peterson’s omnibus, this one in particular is a good pick, and give him a try, I’m sure you will not be disappointed.

This is a collection of Dusk Peterson’s stories in the Master and Servant’s universe; the first book in the series, The Abolitionist, is still on going, and so there is only an excerpt, and excerpt that is very promising.

My favourite (until I will have not the change to read The Abolitionist) is The True Master, the story about Master Celadon and his slave Brun, a Master/slave relationship that will test the common customs, a tricky balance on birth role and inclination; Celadon is born a Master, but his birth right doesn’t match his true desires. And as in a perfect opposite piece, he meets his match in Brun, a slave that has no inclination in serving, but more in dominating. Truth be told, I was fearing their love story had no chance at all, but here intervenes that “unexpected” romance.

As The Abolitionist was set in a fantasy 1962 and then The True Master jump back in 1317, the third one, Unmarked, goes back to 1962 with the same character, Carruthers, and the Master/slave Meredith (Meredith is a man, even if the name is one of those names you can find for both men and women in the past, and now more for women). This story is maybe a little less romantic than the previous one, but it then takes a nice parallelism with The True Master, so that in the end, I enjoyed more the second part. It’s also way longer that The True Master, so that there is more space for evolution and deepness of characterization, so much that I had the feeling The True Master was a preamble for the real story, Unmarked.

On a closing note, the Historical Note and Acknowledgments are so interesting that they are almost a story on their own, I strongly suggest you to read through them, also to appreciated the work of research the author did, a job that is clear in the would building of the stories.

For Dusk Peterson's e-books, online fiction and nonfiction, series resources, and
contact information, please visit: duskpeterson.com

http://duskpeterson.com/#watermanomnibus

Amazon Kindle: Waterman Omnibus 2010
Publisher: Love in Dark Settings Press (September 8, 2010)

Reading List:



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