Lila Dubois ~ Savage (Zinahs 2)
From: Liquid Silver Books

I have to admit to buying this book in part because of Forbidden’s spectacular cover art created by April Martinez and not just the number of favorable reviews I have read of this series.

This Travelogue Fantasy Romance (Brought to you by the Land of Den Travel and Tourism Commission) found in the first 75 pages is straight out of any classic Andre Norton such as Year of The Unicorn from her Witch World series.

A mighty warrior Anleeh and temple priestess Siara are on their way as treaty envoys to the land of Den, home of Anleeh. The he-man Anleeh starts “training” Siara to submit to him in the ways of his people adding a whole BDSM dynamic into the budding relationship without the typical leather and chains. After the couple’s arrival in Den the story changed, though, and started to remind me somewhat of John Norman’s Gor series with the whole male dominated warrior culture, worshiping the primitive beast nature of man, and the manly man subjugation of woman.

From Page 26 Savage
They chased the sun into the horizon. As pink and orange light bled through the cold air, the small caravan reached the first night’s destination. Weary but warm inside her fur garments, Siara was able to dismount without assistance.
After pacing back and forth to regain control of her numbed legs, Siara helped Anleeh unload the horses, setting their bags before the door of the small cabin. There was a large covered stable to one side. Siara poured piles of oats for each horse as Anleeh lowered hide panels on three sides of the structure. The hides served as a windbreak for the horses, and the horses would serve as warning for them. If anything came near, animal or human, the horses would let them know.
After the last bridle had been removed, replaced by a simple leather harness that freed the horses to eat, they left the animals, grabbed their packs and made their way inside. The door of the cabin had a large musky smelling hide stretched over it. Siara wrinkled her nose as Anleeh lifted it from its hooks and the smell increased.
“What is that?”
“Bear urine.”
“Ugh.”
“It keeps all the other animals away.” He rolled the skin and placed it beside the door, which was unexpectedly beautiful, the work of a master carpenter set in a roughhewn cabin.
“The door is wondrous.”
“Aye. One of my people’s—Den’s—greatest secrets is woodworking skill.”
“Such work would fetch a very fine price in the Great City.”
“It would, but there is a reason Den likes to keep secrets.” Anleeh peered at the door for a moment, and then carefully touched a series of symbols. First a swooping set of lines that looked like a bird’s wing, then a threatening bear claw, and finally the outline of a rising sun.
As he tapped his finger on the rising sun each of the symbols he’d touched filled with pale light. The light, cold white-gold like the winter sun, bled into each line of the carvings, highlighting the exquisite detail. The pattern of feathers on the wing became
visible, as did the impression of fur on the claw and the rays of the rising sun.
“A bird’s wing, a bear claw, and the rising sun.” Siara murmured.
“How do you know the sun is rising?”
Siara cocked her head and considered the question, puzzled by her own certainty. “I don’t know. It would make more sense if it were setting, as this is Den, the land where the sun sets.”
“It might, but you are correct; it is the rising sun.”
“Is the combination, the pass code, the same on every door?” The light faded from the carvings and the door of the cabin opened with a faint ‘pop.’ Anleeh ushered her in.
“No. The symbols relate to the one who begs entrance, not to the door.”
Siara looked at him, surprised. “You mean to say that each person must touch a different set?”
“Yes, and they are not always the same. What you touch must reflect what is in your heart. I have traveled far and wide, as a bird does. The second thing is emblematic of yourself; the bear was my first kill and is always a part of me. Finally, thoughts of the future: the rising sun because my life, and our world, is at the dawn of a new time.”
“Had that not reflected what was in your heart…”
“The door would not have opened.”
“This is incredible! I have never read of anything like this. We must document it; it will be the first part of the book I will write.” Anleeh turned his head away, busying himself by hanging the bags from hooks on the walls. Siara paused, the next question
poised on the tip of her tongue, but left unuttered. Her companion’s pregnant silence could not be ignored. “You are uncomfortable with this.”
“The magic of Den is secret.”
“Our mission is to document these people.”
“No, that is your mission. Mine is to broker a treaty.”
“Better understanding will improve relations. Better relations will strengthen the treaty.”
“Enough. You are correct.” Anleeh hung the last pack and leaned one shoulder against the wall, head bowed. “My reluctance to relate Den’s secrets is not something I expected.”
“I did not mean to ask for more than you are willing to give.”
“I must be willing to give all if we are to succeed.”
“Your reluctance it understandable, this is your home, these are your people.”
“No. Den was my home. I no longer claim its ways. That makes my reluctance all the more troublesome.”

Lila Dubois’ writing is top notch and I was quickly drawn into the story and its characters much like I was originally drawn in to the worlds of Andre Norton who initially got me into reading Romance in the first place by mixing it into her stories. All those early women Sci-fi/Fantasy writers tossing Romance elements in liberally with their sword battles and strange new worlds provided that bridge towards appreciating the interplay between two people falling in love. So this was a very fun read for me.

Lila got me involved not so much with the complexity of the Romance part though, since Siara readily admits right from the start to having already fallen for the big hunk-a-burning-love that is Anleeh and Anleeh eventually admits to himself on the journey to being ever so much more so attracted to Siara. The Romance, let’s face it, is a given the minute the sex starts happening so the main conflicts arise from their arriving in Den.

So in Den with the men, Anleeh, the great warrior, returns all civilized and sissified to this Gor-lite culture that worships only the manliest beastly man. We discover, when Siara talks with his mommy, that Anleeh really ran off to The Land Between the Sea to get away from his daddy and uncle who were all into him becoming this great warrior beast-like killer who ravages their enemies on the battle field. Sorta like how Anleeh starts sexually ravaging Siara in front of the whole Hall of warriors and family.

But Siara, she likes it!

Siara on the other hand was raised all prim and proper in The Land Between the Sea. So even though Anleeh helps her discover her inner sexy beast she still is not all that keen on the Den idea of justice by female subjugation. Especially when she watches a woman named Allana being beaten with a cat o’ nine tails for having been caught by her husband having an affair. The guy she has the affair with, well he gets nothing, it turns out it is all about the woman’s fault for being sexually impure or something like that. How dare they!

From Page 118 Savage
The warrior reached down and sliced off the top of the bag, stepping away from it once it was opened. Movement behind her had Siara turning. Jahrl moved forward to take his place on the throne.
She turned back in time to see the bag slowly move, undulating.
A head appeared in the opening, followed by shoulders. The figure rose, its feet still in the sack. Wild tangles of hair covered the naked body. It was a woman.
Siara sucked in a hard breath. That warrior had placed this poor woman in a sack and dragged her across the ground, no telling how far. Siara twitched forward and Anleeh placed his arm across her waist, holding her still. He was right, she needed to watch, to learn how justice was delivered in Den.
“Jahrl-Ori,” the warrior barked. “I bring charges of disgrace upon this woman.”
“Do you wish to give reasons?” Jahrl asked.
“I would, that all will know her shame. She touched another man.”
There was a rustling in the Hall and Siara watched as women pressed closer to their men. Most of the women’s faces had gone impassive, though many of the men wore looks of disgust. Those few women who had an expression showed pity and fear.
Siara’s breathing sped up, her belly knotting with anxiety.
“Raise your chin, woman, let us see your disgrace.”
The woman raised her head and Siara jerked in surprise. It was Anga’s older sister, the one newly married.
Her long white blond hair hung in her face, and the warrior moved forward, pulling a knife from his boot.
“Anleeh,” Siara whispered fearfully.
“Quiet,” he breathed.
The warrior gathered his wife’s hair in his fist, rough fingers pulling it away from her face, and then, with little ceremony, sliced it off.
Her hip length locks now shorn to neck, there was no protection for her nakedness.
The warrior threw the hair onto the hearth fire where it crackled as it burned, sending up a rank smell.
“I will have my save-face,” the warrior yelled. Jahrl nodded.
Several warriors rose, pulling a large box from beneath the platform the throne sat on.
The box was opened and several long lengths of rope pulled from it, as well as a heavy leather flogger. The woman whimpered—the first sound she’d made—and tried to run.
She darted for the open doors of the Hall, but was easily caught. Her husband grabbed her, turned her, and then backhanded her to the ground.
Siara could take it no more. She pushed to her feet, prepared to go to the girl’s aid.
Anleeh rose beside her, and Siara expected that he too would assist in putting and end to this abuse.
When Anleeh wrapped an arm around her waist and clamped a hand over her mouth, using the hold to pull her back into the shadows, Siara was so surprised that she didn’t fight him.
The other men moved forward, helping the woman’s husband to corral her, lacing cuffs onto her wrists and ankles. Throwing the ropes attached to the wrist cuffs over a high beam the warriors dragged on it, jerking the woman forward until she was directly below the beam, then stretching her onto her toes.
Other warriors came forward and took the ropes attached to her ankles and jerked them apart, spreading her legs until her big toes barely brushed the ground, forcing her body’s weight onto her arms.
The woman’s head bent forward between her painfully stretched arms; she was whimpering, a soft, continuous cry. Tears prickled in Siara’s own eyes, and as the husband hefted the flogger, Siara struggled in Anleeh’s hold.
Anleeh would not make her stand and watch this. He would stop it. Together, they would stop it.
The husband raised the flogger and brought it forward in a brutal blow against the woman’s back. She screamed.
No. No, this is wrong, this is horrible, this is brutal and I will not watch it happen. I will stop it, I will save her.
Siara began to fight Anleeh’s hold in truth. His arm around her middle, binding her arms against her sides, tightened. Siara dug her heel into his toes, but Anleeh jerked his foot away.
He leaned back against the wall, keeping her body tight to his, and forced her legs between his, holding them immobile within the heavily muscled bracket of his own limbs.
It was then Siara realized that Anleeh would not stop this, that he would force her to watch as this woman was beaten.

Here folks you have for exhibit A what is in essence my problem between the whole Conan The Barbarian or Gor versus Witch World or Darkover. Gor or Conan stories tend to explore finding empowerment while following the rules and accepting the roles or limitations and punishments society has handed you. While Witch World and Darkover are about finding self empowerment through intelligence and breaking the rules and eventually finding your own place in society.

So where does the pig stand on this matter? As Annie Lennox sings…
Power to the meek
Power to speak
I got the power
Within me Yeah

There I was, reading a dark dark fantasy with all these angst ridden conflicts which were pretty dang cool seeing as how the hero and heroine’s internal struggles with this society matched up with the whole diplomatic mission they were on. Anleeh seeking to come to terms with his inner psychotic beast of war and Siara coming to terms with some really fucked up male chauvinist pigs in fur pants. Then I started looking at how many pages we had left after the whole travelogue and damn, not many, so I was wondering to myself how Lila was going to resolve all these issues she kept bringing up. They were some pretty nasty issues mind you.

One day after the treaty gets signed just as our now sex crazed couple is getting ready to pack up and head back to The Land Between the Sea there is a call to arms and Anleeh rushes off to fight the bad guys for dear old dad and uncle. Hey! I thought Anleeh’s mother said he did not like being this Weapon of Mass Destruction so why is he running off to do just that? He returns a fully raging psychotic beast of war that he feared he would become, from what mommy said at least.

But Anleeh, he likes it!

Siara then uses THE POWER OF LURVE to show him what exactly he had been missing about himself all these years. That’s right all his problems were magically resolved when he changes into a real beast, so she touches him and viola! he’s a panther…. Hold on! Um, what does this fix if he was upset over being a human Weapon of Mass Destruction just “acting” like a psycho killer beast? So what the hell difference does it make if he can actually turn into a wolf or a panther or a dragon or what the fuck ever? That just means he has real claws.

I don’t get this ending! Let me repeat, how does simply turning into an actual beast resolve his internal conflicts with acting like a beast in battle with daddy and uncle cheering him on? Am I being dense here? Is it just me?

Oh, and THE POWER OF LURVE also seems to magically resolve Siara’s conflict as well, so beating a poor woman for adultery is fine because she LURVES Anleeh and she would never ever ever do anything like that. So it does not really matter. *heh* Instead of telling brute boy, of the tribe of Wife Beater, he needs to grow a pair or no way is he ever getting any evers like. So they, I guess, fly away. BUT… Were they not heading out anyway? What does flying away do differently than riding the hell out of Gor land?

I liked this story and all that but it really started to bother me like some sort of immature male sexual fantasy right out of the Gor Coloring Book for Preteen Boys. I still cannot figure out how turning into a were-dragon and flying off into the sunset fixes all the hero or heroines damn conflicts. So despite the excellent beginning and the fascinating middle of the story I have to go with a Grade C for the lack of follow through or really clear explanation at the end there.

This review was originally written for The Good, The Bad, The Unread.