C-
Title: Dangerous Science
Author: Sidney Swann
Publication Info: Blushing Books 2014
ISBN: 978-1-62750-3488
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Romance is built on expectations, and my experience with Dangerous Science was based on the expectation that it was about a female steampunk scientist. This turned out to be true. But if I had read all of the advertising, I would have clearly seen that it’s also erotica about spanking. So…I just do not know what to make of this, but I’m going to review it if nothing else because I’m interested in the comments.
Dr. Gladys DeWalt is a scientist who conducted an expedition into the ocean in a submersible. She was looking for treasure, but due to an error in her maps, she got too close to the Ragmar Trenches and her submersible was destroyed by a kraken.
If you’re wondering why I read a book about spanking – dude, I had no idea about the spanking. As soon as I saw the word “kraken” I dove in like a Labrador after a tennis ball. As a matter of fact, the brief scenes set in the submersibles (the story features two) are very well written. There’s a sense of menace from the creaking of the metal, and the kraken is suitably majestic and horrifying. This is some of the strongest writing in the book.
Anyway, lots of people died due to the fact that submarines are kraken kibble, and so Gladys faces censure by the Council of Scholars. There’s some political intrigue (which is not as well-written – it’s a bit obvious and heavy-handed) and Gladys is demoted essentially to the status of minion. She has to live with, serve, and obey her old professor, Dr. Sebastian Cromwell. Sebastian always pushed Gladys in the classroom and completely intimidated her so she is not pleased about being, for all intents and purposes, his prisoner.
After Sebastian experienced an accident, parts of him were replaced with clockwork parts. For some reason this made his penis bigger (but it’s not clockwork – just bigger, which…OK. I’m gonna pretend I didn’t have to type that). Also, it removed his already miniscule sense of empathy, because…I don’t know why. What we have here is, depending on your point of view as a reader, either a mechanical jerk with a big penis or a sex god with emotional issues who needs to be healed by the love of a good woman.
And I must say, that the writer actually did a fairly good job of selling the latter interpretation. The thing is, when he tries to demonstrate social skills, he just sucks at it. And he’s cruel but in a “for your own good” way, not a “because I get off on cruelty way” — although he does, which we’ll talk about later. He’s honest with Gladys about his inability to form social bonds. He’s a jerk, but not an irredeemable jerk. Readers who like damaged Alpha heroes will appreciate him better than I.
So, let’s just pause and take a look at the world building and scene-adventure, which is, after all, what I showed up for. This is a novella – I read it in a couple of hours. But it does establish some nice infrastructure to the world, which has a rivalry between mainstream academics (think of them as people with tenure) and freelancers, a population of people living in The Underground, subterranean wonders, and fun gadgets. There’s a clockwork kitten so you gotta love that. There’s a scientist who is so mad that he insists on being referred to as “Mad Scientist”. All good.
And the storytelling is paced well. Gladys spends a lot of time looking stuff up but there’s so much going on with emotional drama and intrigue and spankings and the occasional kraken attack that the time just flies by. I was totally baffled by the relationship dynamics of this book but I was swept up by the plot. It’s a simple one (will Gladys clear her name and will she and Sebastian find true love?) but a compelling one.
OK, now I’m going to talk relationship stuff, and I’m going rant. But first, full credit to the author who included this preface:
This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books’ or the author’s advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors
Got that? It’s fantasy.
Unfortunately, the fantasy is completely horrifying to me. Gladys does not want to be subservient and Sebastian considers it his job to break her. And the fact that he trains her to be subservient means they are successful in their relationship. She does not want to be spanked – he, a person who has total power over her which was granted not by her but by an outside agency, pulls her underpants down and hits her while she screams in pain, fear, and humiliation. This turns him on and opens the door to sexual and emotional awakening, while Gladys has an emotional catharsis about her trauma and personal and professional humiliation.
Once this first spanking episode happens, Gladys and Sebastian grow closer together, leading to a lot of consensual sex. They hint about spanking but actually all their repeat sexual encounters are of the non-sadistic variety. However, they continue to play out the dominant/submissive theme. Gladys is supposed to be a smart and competent person, but the whole book is about her being treated like a child – one that is at times abused and at other times coddled. She’s smart, and it’s her knowledge that locates treasure, but it’s Sebastian who takes the lead on everything and Sebastian who figures out why her first expedition fails. But the end of the book, they behave more like equals but with an understanding that he can resume control at any time: “…should he choose to make her yield he could do just that no matter how vociferous her protests”.
This is a SM fantasy, not a how-to manual, but I can’t stand the fantasy. I suspect that this might be a very good book for people who do have that fantasy, but it’s hard for me to tell. My personal hang-up is not with any of the individual acts of BDSM; it’s with the idea that one person has to be submissive to the other ALL THE DAMN TIME. I don’t know how common this dynamic is in BDSM but it forms the primary theme of this book. I purposely avoid reviewing books about BDSM, even really good ones, because it’s hard for me to relate to the relationship dynamic. I accept that that’s a big trigger for me, and I also absolutely advocate for the rights of consenting adults to do whatever the hell they want. But I can’t review a book in which a person is infantilized, humiliated, and beaten non-consensually without running screaming from the room. I really do get that this is fantasy, just like romances in which women fall in love with clean, handsome, secretly aristocratic pirates who have fantastic teeth are also fantasy. But this fantasy upsets me.
I considered not writing a review because I don’t feel qualified to address the submissive theme, but I decided to review it partly because I’m interested in how other readers perceive the book. If spanking is a person’s fantasy, or if submission is a person’s fantasy, than this book might be pure catnip. For a novella, it’s quite solid, if not spectacular, in world building and plot. The sex is pretty hot, and the story is pretty solid. So this might be an A+ book for some people. I’m giving it a C- because I found the continuing submissiveness of Gladys to be nauseating instead of liberating but I accept that mileage will vary.
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Thank you I am just the same when it comes to BDSM books
I also find it difficult to relate to this kind of relationship dynamic
Glad to hear I am not alone
I don’t know how common it is, either (although I suspect not as common as you might think – in real life, that is, I think the fantasy is pretty widespread), but as a mild-to-moderate kinkster the idea of total, unilateral power exchange squicks me out as well, and I avoid it in my literature. The dynamic you’ve described here wouldn’t work for me at all. In fairness, though, I have seen this kind of fantasy played out in non-BDSM romance/erotica – in a kind of more Alpha Male/His Woman way, usually – and it turns me off every time. Especially because the submissive partner is usually female. But that’s a whole other rant.
Weird, I got an email today offering to make my penis bigger. Maybe it was for clockwork parts?
I want to know how she escaped the Kraken ravaged sub.
I share your distaste for the D/s relationship dynamic, so I won’t be reading this book, even though the world-building and plot sound kind of interesting. I have to ask—is the “Mad Scientist” character really a mad scientist, or is he more of a mad engineer?
Thanks for sharing your opinion about the BDSM genre. I find them very uncomfortable to read most of the time. In fact I really dislike the idea of a woman submitting all the time. I did find one set of stories that I really enjoy, that has that theme (also menage-if that turns you on). Its the “Neighborly Affection” series by MQ Barber. The dominance is about care and sexual pleasure, not cruelty. And, there is strong reinforcement of the consensual nature of the relationship- and almost no punishment. (there is one scene in which the heroine is punished physically- but it is complicated and I do not want to spoil the story.) I am not MQ, by the way- just a fan.
@Orlando – That’s an excellent point about the Alpha thing. I generally dislike Alpha heroes but when I have liked them it’s in stories where the plot invokes them learning to release control and equally respect their partner, while in this one the respect grows but the control does too.
This probably should have been marketed to a more specific audience, but someone might have seen the opportunity to make some money before word got around that this was a kink specific story and decided to just make the dough before word of mouth narrowed the customer base. That’s one thing I like about fanfic that could stand to be incorporated in ebook erotica: the warnings in the summary that let you know whether you have found your catnip or your squick.
I don’t share that particular kink either, though more power to anyone who does. I once dated a guy who I knew had been into that scene before and he was extremely talented in the bedroom. But then one day he matter-of-factly informed me that he wanted to shop for whips and expected me to show up for the shopping expedition with my ladyparts shaved, and that was the end of that. No sex is good enough to make that appealing if it’s not your thing.
This review was helpful for me as it captured why I was left feeling kind of meh about The History of Attraction by Delphine Dryden. I picked it up after a review here since I hadn’t read a lot of BDSM or contemporary and was curious. It was well written but the focus on submission outside of the bedroom play left me not emotionally connecting with the characters. It was helpful though as now I know that’s not a type of relationship I like reading about.
This kink/preference can be somewhat common, in both real life (there are plenty of fetishists who need their one thing to achieve climax) and in fiction (as one critic observed, THE STORY OF O doesn’t have any dominant women or submissive men). I personally tend to be more of a switch (taking turns as a dom or sub), and I’ve seen several romance/erotica books where the couple moves from the woman as a submissive to swapping who’s in charge (WHITE ROSE ENSNARED, TEMPTED AT NIGHT); but if a person likes being a sub all the time, and they get genuine pleasure from it, more power to ‘em.
So, I also read this book and I think the problem in here isn’t that it’s BDSM, but poorly written BDSM. The fact that when he spanks her and it’s nonconsensual and depicted as something she “needed” because of some idea that she needed to be “taken in hand” is horribly regressive and generally this would be considered abuse because, again, it was nonconsensual. So I wouldn’t take it as representative of BDSM in general (or even really consider it to be BDSM).
I read this book because I saw the scientist heroine! stern professor! bit and thought it would be catnip but during the ending where she chooses to remain basically his minion because she needs a strong hand or something like that left me seething. The relationship could have played out well in so many different ways with spanking/BDSM elements but instead the author went the “uppity woman needs to be put in her place with a fist” route. :/
Really well written review though, you touched upon a lot of the book’s positives and negatives in an evenhanded way.
Oh and I just read Purely Professional by Elia Winters which features an independent heroine (she’s a magazine writer) and a professor hero, so maybe try that out and see if it’s just the BDSM that’s upsetting you or just the fucked up relationship dynamics.
Thank you for this review. I read a lot of fantasy/paranormal/steampunk/romance mashup, that seems to be increasingly available. One of the other commenters was right on the money when they noted that fanfiction has warnings (sometimes an amusing number of warnings) for content and triggers. If I had purchased this novel, and on the surface it looks like something I’d go for, I would have been sooooo mad. BDSM leaves me either cold, or angry. While it may be PC to say: if that’s your kink, enjoy . . . I have to say I find the concepts of domination and submission to be rage inducing rather than titillating. If there are elements of dom and sub in a story, but overall characters meet and love with equality, I don’t begin to steam at the ears. But honestly I’ve never read a story that focused on BDSM where equality was desired or achieved. It is so very true that “your mileage may vary” when shopping for literary transportation to fantasyland.
Thank goodness for the warning. I’m just not into BDSM. It’s been creeping into historicals without any warnings, and quite frankly it “creeps” me out. I am totally sick of the hero wanting to tie up the heroine until she begs for satisfaction. I’ll sometimes accept it when the hero and heroine agree on the reverse, and it becomes a plot point that an alpha is willing to change, but even then it doesn’t really do much for me. Still I get the idea that people are tired of the usual sex scene and want some variation. But BDSM doesn’t satisfy that for me; I get that for others it is great fun and wonderful escapism.
I just wish warnings were more common.
I’m not a fan of male D/ female s in my fiction, I think because it’s usually something that affects the whole relationship, at least in the stories I’ve seen. I think I would be ok with it if it was just in the bedroom for the couple’s pleasure, but I really dislike seeing it seep into the non-sexual parts of their relationship. It just feels incredibly sexist (to me), and I can’t enjoy it even in an escapist way.
But I’ve seen it SO OFTEN, and I’ve hardly ever seen the other way around, which to me is much more interesting. Maybe just because it’s rare? And when there is a woman being more dominant in the bedroom (I’ve never read really hard BDSM), it almost never carries over outside of that – is there ever a scene where a heroine, newly flush with power from being on top or tying a guy up (or something, my brain is failing), successfully orders around a hero in public, or even while they’re just around the house or something? I think I’d love to see that just for variety, but I still wouldn’t want a lot of it, unless the whole story was some kind of role reversal thing.
It’s so tricky so get kinky stuff right for people, I think Ova’s idea of the fanfic-style warnings/tags would be really useful. There are some things that I never want to read, and others I’d really like to, but it’s difficult to tell which books have which.
Delphine Dryden’s series might be a good one for you. I bought the first one because it was reviewed here (I think), and the way the BDSM is handled is fantastic. Everything is consensual and no one is seriously harmed because the D is paying attention to the s. BUT! the major pull of these books is the characters. They’re fantastically written, and believable.
My point was the third book, The Principles of Desire, features a woman who was a sub in a really bad relationship who has decided she wants to play sometimes at being dominant. Her old boyfriend comes back and doesn’t understand her new relationship as he feels she should always be his sub (even though they broke up when he left the country months ago). It’s a really good read.
I am usually not into BDSM elements in novels, but I recently read Persuasion Skills by Laurel Cremant. Male dom, female sub, but they founded a company together and she is a very take-charge, dominant person outside the bedroom. They spent a lot of time talking about how he doesn’t want to extend the D/s part of the relationship outside of the bedroom, which was rather refreshing to see addressed in a book.