What do you think?
Rate this book
Docile
There is no consent under capitalism
Docile is a science fiction parable about love and sex, wealth and debt, abuse and power, a challenging tour de force that at turns seduces and startles.
To be a Docile is to be kept, body and soul, for the uses of the owner of your contract. To be a Docile is to forget, to disappear, to hide inside your body from the horrors of your service. To be a Docile is to sell yourself to pay your parents' debts and buy your children's future.
Elisha Wilder’s family has been ruined by debt, handed down to them from previous generations. His mother never recovered from the Dociline she took during her term as a Docile, so when Elisha decides to try and erase the family’s debt himself, he swears he will never take the drug that took his mother from him. Too bad his contract has been purchased by Alexander Bishop III, whose ultra-rich family is the brains (and money) behind Dociline and the entire Office of Debt Resolution. When Elisha refuses Dociline, Alex refuses to believe that his family’s crowning achievement could have any negative side effects—and is determined to turn Elisha into the perfect Docile without it.
Docile is a science fiction parable about love and sex, wealth and debt, abuse and power, a challenging tour de force that at turns seduces and startles.
To be a Docile is to be kept, body and soul, for the uses of the owner of your contract. To be a Docile is to forget, to disappear, to hide inside your body from the horrors of your service. To be a Docile is to sell yourself to pay your parents' debts and buy your children's future.
Elisha Wilder’s family has been ruined by debt, handed down to them from previous generations. His mother never recovered from the Dociline she took during her term as a Docile, so when Elisha decides to try and erase the family’s debt himself, he swears he will never take the drug that took his mother from him. Too bad his contract has been purchased by Alexander Bishop III, whose ultra-rich family is the brains (and money) behind Dociline and the entire Office of Debt Resolution. When Elisha refuses Dociline, Alex refuses to believe that his family’s crowning achievement could have any negative side effects—and is determined to turn Elisha into the perfect Docile without it.
489 pages, Hardcover
First published March 3, 2020
About the author
K.M. Szpara
18 books463 followersK.M. Szpara is a queer and trans author who lives in Baltimore, MD, with a tiny dog. Kellan's debut alt-/near-future novel, DOCILE (Spring 2020, Tor.com Publishing), explores the snowballing debt crisis, consent, and privilege, and can be described as "really gay". He is the author of "Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time," a Hugo and Nebula nominated novelette about a gay trans man who's bitten by a vampire. More of his fiction can be found in venues such as Uncanny, Lightspeed, and Shimmer. You can find him on the Internet at kmszpara.com or on Twitter at @KMSzpara.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,571 reviews
March 7, 2020
I received an ARC of this book from the publishing company Tor.com in exchange for a fair and honest review. Content warning: rape (also from the POV of the rapist), dubious consent, sexual harassment, attempted suicide.
Docile is set in near-ish-future Maryland, at a time when people who’ve amassed debt can erase it by selling themselves into (usually temporary) slavery. Most slaves take “Dociline”, a type of drug that makes a person highly obedient and keeps them from forming long-term memories. This way, they don’t have to remember what happened to them. For Elisha Wilder, however, Dociline isn’t an option. His mom had taken it while serving her ten-year sentence, and she never fully recovered; he’s terrified of losing himself as she did. Elisha is bought by Alex, whose family invented Dociline. When Elisha refuses to take the drug, the shocked Alex is determined to turn Elisha into the perfect slave without it.
Okay. Right. The tagline for this book is, There is no consent under capitalism. I think that gave me pretty incorrect assumptions about what it would be, and I guess that’s on me. In short, this book is standard slavefic.
For those of you not in the fanfic community, slavefic is… exactly what it says. A story that focuses on how one character is enslaved to another. Such stories generally come in two broad varieties: a (hot) master breaking in a new slave, or a slave recovering from past abuse (usually with the help of a (hot) new master who’s actually against slavery). Because slavefic is a proper subgenre, like e.g. farmboy fantasy, it comes with its own tropes. The master-who’s-never-wanted-a-slave suddenly needs to acquire one for vague “societal pressure” reasons! Crazy rich people parties where the slave is rented out to the master’s friends! (Alternatively, the master may growl they’re mine! and refuse to rent them out.) The master’s jealous ex who hates how obsessed the master is with their new slave! The recovering ex-slave gets to choose their own clothes for the first time and is overwhelmed by the experience! Bucketfuls of angst about whether the master-slave relationship can truly be called love! Buttplugs!
And Docile is, well… a very by-the-numbers slavefic. Because it’s a super niche subgenre, I’m struggling with how to word my critique for a broader audience. If you’ve never encountered slavefic before, then the broad question the book asks is quite compelling: is love possible when there is monetary pressure involved? If you do know the genre, then the book’s blandness makes it hard to take that question seriously. I’m just saying, I think it’s possible to examine the issue of consent without Alex taking Elisha’s virginity a couple hours after they meet and then sticking a buttplug up his butt to hold the semen in him for the night. But you can’t write slavefic without it, jazz hands.
(Side-note: I know you think I’m some world-weary pervert, but Alex “locks” the buttplug with a fingerprint lock and I was so confused by how that mechanism would work that I ended up questioning two friend groups about it. Which led to some fierce buttplug debate. With diagrams.)
Once I readjusted my expectations to slavefic, I also readjusted what I wanted out of the book. The goal of slavefic is, of course, Feels-with-a-capital-F. Unfortunately, I didn’t find any of the characters likable. I did feel bad for Elisha, but he spends most of the book as a severely traumatised slave in love with his abusive master; the feeling was more pity than sympathy. I was sincerely hoping that super-privileged, super-naïve, self-pitying Alex would get murdered in a slave revolt by chapter 7. I actually quite enjoy asshole love interests, like Laurent in Captive Prince or Cardan in Cruel Prince, but I do need them to be entertainingly awful. For me, Alex was not evil enough to like for his evilness, but took way too long to learn the lesson that Poor People Are Human Too to like for any other reason.
The other characters don’t get that much focus. Special shout-out, however, goes to Elisha’s dad, who bullies him for having learned fancy-pants big-city piano playing skills while being a sex slave to save his whole family from debt. Second special shout-out goes to the secret anti-slavery group who continuously ignore and undermine whatever little bit of agency Elisha has left as a slave. I keep stumbling on the trope of the out-of-touch activist who seems to bring as much harm to the people they want to help as their active oppressors. While criticising activists is valid, I guess I wish it was explored with more nuance. It often feels like a simple way to add “moral ambiguity” to a situation that’s pretty fucking black-and-white (i.e. slavery), and I wish the moral ambiguity could be added from an angle that didn’t involve throwing activists under the bus wholesale. (To be clear, ambiguity as in e.g. violent resistance vs peaceful protests, not ambiguity in regard to slavery itself.)
I think Docile would have worked better for me if the world was fleshed out more. People inherit their family’s debt and if they don’t pay up by a certain point they get thrown in “debtor’s prison”. (Not sure which point specifically: Elisha’s family is already three million in debt when he sells himself, but some guy who “only” has 200k college debt is also selling himself.) I think the point of the debtor’s prison is to make it clear that Elisha is becoming a slave “by choice”. But I never quite got what choice B is — what horrible tortures are happening in prison that make sex slavery preferable. Also, in general I struggle to imagine that it makes much economic sense to have a significant portion of the population be brainwashed slaves in a futuristic, post-industrial, presumably mostly-automated society. I suppose that means The Cruelty Is The Point, but that just didn't come across to me while reading.
I had other questions too. What does the rest of the world think about the US (or, well, specifically Maryland) bringing back slavery, this time with brainwashing drugs? What’re the wider ramifications within the US, seeing as how it’s a country that historically had institutionalised race-based slavery? (As I'm a white Ukrainian, I don’t think I’m the right person to pick this topic apart. But please check out this review that does discuss the book in regard to race, as well as this piece that discusses how reactions to Docile mostly avoid grappling with it in relation to the history of race and slavery in the US.) In a society that seems really great in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, I didn’t quite get why there’s societal pressure for Alex to be partnered with either a boyfriend or slave; what about, like, asexual people? Finally, the 200k college debt guy went to uni for philosophy — how has academia not collapsed yet?! (I realise Americans nowadays also go into severe debt for uni, but at the moment the answer to, “What’s the worst that can happen if I follow my dreams instead of studying something ‘practical’?” isn’t “Spend 10-odd years as a drugged-to-the-gills sex slave”.)
One last note I want to emphasise again is that there is a lot of explicit non-consensual and “dubiously consensual” sex in this book. A fair amount is kink-based (some of the kink-based play is consensual, with safewords). If you’re not comfortable with that for whatever reason, definitely stay away. This is pretty typical for slavefic, but one aspect in particular really bothered me. Spoilers:
Anyway, in short. If you thought the book was gonna be some in-depth critique of capitalism where commies pop out from behind the bushes and yell, “Ahaaa, but isn’t all work slavery because of the implicit threat of starvation otherwise, vive la Universal Basic Income!”, Docile is not for you. If you’ve read more than, say, three slavefics before and get the basic idea, Docile might or might not be for you. But if you’re curious about slavefic and aren’t sure how to navigate AO3, maybe pick up Docile? I guess?
Docile is set in near-ish-future Maryland, at a time when people who’ve amassed debt can erase it by selling themselves into (usually temporary) slavery. Most slaves take “Dociline”, a type of drug that makes a person highly obedient and keeps them from forming long-term memories. This way, they don’t have to remember what happened to them. For Elisha Wilder, however, Dociline isn’t an option. His mom had taken it while serving her ten-year sentence, and she never fully recovered; he’s terrified of losing himself as she did. Elisha is bought by Alex, whose family invented Dociline. When Elisha refuses to take the drug, the shocked Alex is determined to turn Elisha into the perfect slave without it.
Okay. Right. The tagline for this book is, There is no consent under capitalism. I think that gave me pretty incorrect assumptions about what it would be, and I guess that’s on me. In short, this book is standard slavefic.
For those of you not in the fanfic community, slavefic is… exactly what it says. A story that focuses on how one character is enslaved to another. Such stories generally come in two broad varieties: a (hot) master breaking in a new slave, or a slave recovering from past abuse (usually with the help of a (hot) new master who’s actually against slavery). Because slavefic is a proper subgenre, like e.g. farmboy fantasy, it comes with its own tropes. The master-who’s-never-wanted-a-slave suddenly needs to acquire one for vague “societal pressure” reasons! Crazy rich people parties where the slave is rented out to the master’s friends! (Alternatively, the master may growl they’re mine! and refuse to rent them out.) The master’s jealous ex who hates how obsessed the master is with their new slave! The recovering ex-slave gets to choose their own clothes for the first time and is overwhelmed by the experience! Bucketfuls of angst about whether the master-slave relationship can truly be called love! Buttplugs!
And Docile is, well… a very by-the-numbers slavefic. Because it’s a super niche subgenre, I’m struggling with how to word my critique for a broader audience. If you’ve never encountered slavefic before, then the broad question the book asks is quite compelling: is love possible when there is monetary pressure involved? If you do know the genre, then the book’s blandness makes it hard to take that question seriously. I’m just saying, I think it’s possible to examine the issue of consent without Alex taking Elisha’s virginity a couple hours after they meet and then sticking a buttplug up his butt to hold the semen in him for the night. But you can’t write slavefic without it, jazz hands.
(Side-note: I know you think I’m some world-weary pervert, but Alex “locks” the buttplug with a fingerprint lock and I was so confused by how that mechanism would work that I ended up questioning two friend groups about it. Which led to some fierce buttplug debate. With diagrams.)
Once I readjusted my expectations to slavefic, I also readjusted what I wanted out of the book. The goal of slavefic is, of course, Feels-with-a-capital-F. Unfortunately, I didn’t find any of the characters likable. I did feel bad for Elisha, but he spends most of the book as a severely traumatised slave in love with his abusive master; the feeling was more pity than sympathy. I was sincerely hoping that super-privileged, super-naïve, self-pitying Alex would get murdered in a slave revolt by chapter 7. I actually quite enjoy asshole love interests, like Laurent in Captive Prince or Cardan in Cruel Prince, but I do need them to be entertainingly awful. For me, Alex was not evil enough to like for his evilness, but took way too long to learn the lesson that Poor People Are Human Too to like for any other reason.
The other characters don’t get that much focus. Special shout-out, however, goes to Elisha’s dad, who bullies him for having learned fancy-pants big-city piano playing skills while being a sex slave to save his whole family from debt. Second special shout-out goes to the secret anti-slavery group who continuously ignore and undermine whatever little bit of agency Elisha has left as a slave. I keep stumbling on the trope of the out-of-touch activist who seems to bring as much harm to the people they want to help as their active oppressors. While criticising activists is valid, I guess I wish it was explored with more nuance. It often feels like a simple way to add “moral ambiguity” to a situation that’s pretty fucking black-and-white (i.e. slavery), and I wish the moral ambiguity could be added from an angle that didn’t involve throwing activists under the bus wholesale. (To be clear, ambiguity as in e.g. violent resistance vs peaceful protests, not ambiguity in regard to slavery itself.)
I think Docile would have worked better for me if the world was fleshed out more. People inherit their family’s debt and if they don’t pay up by a certain point they get thrown in “debtor’s prison”. (Not sure which point specifically: Elisha’s family is already three million in debt when he sells himself, but some guy who “only” has 200k college debt is also selling himself.) I think the point of the debtor’s prison is to make it clear that Elisha is becoming a slave “by choice”. But I never quite got what choice B is — what horrible tortures are happening in prison that make sex slavery preferable. Also, in general I struggle to imagine that it makes much economic sense to have a significant portion of the population be brainwashed slaves in a futuristic, post-industrial, presumably mostly-automated society. I suppose that means The Cruelty Is The Point, but that just didn't come across to me while reading.
I had other questions too. What does the rest of the world think about the US (or, well, specifically Maryland) bringing back slavery, this time with brainwashing drugs? What’re the wider ramifications within the US, seeing as how it’s a country that historically had institutionalised race-based slavery? (As I'm a white Ukrainian, I don’t think I’m the right person to pick this topic apart. But please check out this review that does discuss the book in regard to race, as well as this piece that discusses how reactions to Docile mostly avoid grappling with it in relation to the history of race and slavery in the US.) In a society that seems really great in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, I didn’t quite get why there’s societal pressure for Alex to be partnered with either a boyfriend or slave; what about, like, asexual people? Finally, the 200k college debt guy went to uni for philosophy — how has academia not collapsed yet?! (I realise Americans nowadays also go into severe debt for uni, but at the moment the answer to, “What’s the worst that can happen if I follow my dreams instead of studying something ‘practical’?” isn’t “Spend 10-odd years as a drugged-to-the-gills sex slave”.)
One last note I want to emphasise again is that there is a lot of explicit non-consensual and “dubiously consensual” sex in this book. A fair amount is kink-based (some of the kink-based play is consensual, with safewords). If you’re not comfortable with that for whatever reason, definitely stay away. This is pretty typical for slavefic, but one aspect in particular really bothered me. Spoilers:
Anyway, in short. If you thought the book was gonna be some in-depth critique of capitalism where commies pop out from behind the bushes and yell, “Ahaaa, but isn’t all work slavery because of the implicit threat of starvation otherwise, vive la Universal Basic Income!”, Docile is not for you. If you’ve read more than, say, three slavefics before and get the basic idea, Docile might or might not be for you. But if you’re curious about slavefic and aren’t sure how to navigate AO3, maybe pick up Docile? I guess?
Shelved as 'zzzzz-coverporn-etc'
October 10, 2018most publishers currently: oh well I guess we can start including lgbtq characters in our books, occasionally, maybe
Tor.com, intellectuals: they’re all gay. they’re all gay and we don’t make the rules
Tor.com, intellectuals: they’re all gay. they’re all gay and we don’t make the rules
March 6, 2020
CONCLUSION; This book and in fact any writing by white LGBTQ+ people that is based off a racist premise from conception should never be praised or heralded. This is not a win for "the community" as much as it is a "win" for the racism already thriving within white LGBTQ+ stances and bodies of work. If you're going to market a book as making a critique of capitalism via "slavery and rape as metaphors" I would really hope there is 1) Actual critique of capitalism (besides platitudes and 101 analysis this isn't really present) and 2) there would be thoughtful consideration and care about the fact that you're using real oppression and trauma that happens to real people as metaphors for criticism when you could just write the criticism outright. The author and editor are both white men, and the fact that K.M. is trans frankly makes this even more disappointing to me as a nonbinary trans person. White trans people need to be dedicated to anti-racism in all that we do. K.M. and his editor have completely failed in this regard, and frankly seem like they just don't care. Anything of merit about DOCILE is completely undone by the very story it tells and where it comes from and the fact that both author and editor refuse to engage or acknowledge the racism inherent in DOCILE's entire premise. If I could rate this less than 1 star I would. I think we (white LGBTQ+ people) have a huge responsibility to make sure we stop perpetuating this kind of racism in our writing, as well as refusing to uplift this as a success, when all it aides is white supremacy.
[The only spoilers contained within are explicit examples of anti-blackness and lack of actual anti-capitalism critique. I think knowing what this book contains is essential for potential readers to get why this book is not okay, which is why they are not collapsed. Note I am a gay trans person myself, as well as a communist, and I am more than within my lane to critique this book. In fact calling out the racism of other white trans people is something I believe I have a responsibility to make sure I do constructively and as often as possible.]
I wish I could start this off by saying that we can all agree that slavefic is an inherently racist genre and trope. Unfortunately, way too many white LGBTQ+ people think it's fine because it's "just roleplay". As someone surrounded by the BDSM community who occasionally practices it, I hate to break it to you, but there are several major things you should always initially be aware of as you get into BDSM. 1) Don't use the term 'slave' because it's racist and there are hundreds of other options for submissive roles. 2) Don't sexualize bigotry. 'Race-play' isn't a kink, it's just being racist and getting off on it. 3) Be safe and responsible at all times and instruct anyone you play with to do the same. 4) If you make NSFW/18+ content featuring intense BDSM scenes you need to make it clear that it is the BDSM practice, and not simply write context-less sexual assault scenes. These are the basic tenants of healthy BDSM, and unfortunately it really seems that this has not been placed within a book that markets itself as doing so.
It wouldn't be as overtly racist (though it still would be racist as the premise itself is unacceptable and a trope that we need to be retired) if the book ever made an effort at all to acknowledge racism and the racist premise behind the concept of slavery. In typical radlib dressing up as "socialist" fashion, the author also doesn't even seem to be aware of that SLAVERY STILL EXISTS IN AMERICA RIGHT NOW TODAY. The people we have imprisoned are overwhelmingly people of color arrested for non-violent crimes. All prisoners are forced to do taxing physical labor that if paid at all, is only paid mere cents an hour. America uses prisoners as slave labor to put out fires, face unsafe and toxic work conditions, and to clean up the messes the government feels only "expendable" lives should be used for. when you factor in the fact that 1) police disproportionately arrest and profile black people and either seek police brutality against them or incarceration for life and 2) that once you've been imprisoned you cannot vote you can clearly see the way America practices keeping black people enslaved; these actions are entirely "legal" for people to do. As a communist and prison abolitionist I am disgusted that there simply was not a trace of awareness about this reality in science fiction depicting slavery.
The way this book treats the very few black characters it has is also ABYSMAL. The first named black character is named "Onyx" which is such a racially charged choice I don't even know how to express how easy it is to not name black characters like this. The first speaking black character shows up in a scene where she tells the WHITE MALE ENSLAVED PROTAG "I'm your ally, I'm here to help." The protag then responds "Why would I need help?". The author's choice to then make the first speaking black character - a black woman - sneer and say "Sorry, I didn't realize you enjoyed being a debt slave." is so irresponsibly racist that alone should eliminate any desire to want to engage this text with good faith. Do I think the author and editor and Tor all sat down rubbing their hands gleefully celebrating how they were so excited to be racist? No, absolutely not. However, this book is filled with an explicit disregard for race except to try and make a reader feel bad for the white male protag, and that is just nowhere near enough for a responsible engagement with racial trauma and how that informs the concept and practice of slavery. There is a reason why SFF mags have bans on submissions where "Imagine if xyz group suddenly experienced xyz bigotry!?!" and I 100% agree with that stance. "Imagine if cis people experienced transphobia" is a tired trope I'm sure every white trans person praising DOCILE has gotten angry with or boycotted before in the past. Yet when a white trans man says "Imagine if a white gay man experienced slavery" those same people are all for it? It's really disappointing all around. Not surprising, but definitely disappointing.
The plot surrounds a white middle class man "selling himself into slavery" because of white middle class debt to the rich. He is bought and used by an also white man who is a trillionaire. What could've been a really interesting story about sexual consent and power imbalances ensues. I do actually think that the book itself makes it clear that what the trillionaire does is unethical and wrong, and covers the protagonists journey of coming to terms with his sexuality as informed by this abuse in a way most people who write rape scenes never do. The later story also depicts him learning how to safely explore sexual relationships with someone who is his equal. It is honestly a shame that something which could've been very meaningful and an important example of recognizing complicated relationships with abuse in a framing that makes it clear rape is bad, is surrounded entirely by white obliviousness to the implications of every dynamic. When you also take a look at the way the book markets itself, it seems to contrast it's own message in how it's been advertised. It's being sold to people either as something that really critiques capitalism (it barely does at all) but it's also using the rape and abuse as a "sexy" aspect of the story in its marketing? That doesn't quite make sense to me. Consensual non consent can be great and all, but if the point of exploring BDSM and rape in this book was to make it clear what was healthy and what was not, why would you advertise the unhealthy aspects of the sexual parts of this story as sexy? It makes what might read as a sincere understanding of consent read as superficial so long as you can turn around to appeal to readers who find rape sexier than healthy BDSM relationships. If you're critiquing capitalism in your work, you could also at least make an effort to show you won't contradict your own morals/ethics simply to get more book sales. Frankly this really is not important to me the way the book's racism is, but it is also an analysis I came away with from reading it, and it's important to recognize that something with a tagline that constitutes an undelivered promise . . . the actions of the entire book's team do not reflect that promise at all.
This book makes me understand why so many white trans people were supporting Elizabeth Warren despite the fact that she 1) pretended to be Native American for 20 years and in that time period claimed she was making history for Native women and plagiarized Native people's work. 2) Walked back on her promise to abolish ICE, instead saying she would like to "reform" what are functionally concentration camps. 3) Walked back on her promise of Medicare For All to try and hold onto corporate votes and support. 4) Lastly, promised not to take Super PAC money and literally took that money two weeks later. These same people claim to be anti-capitalism, but don't actually practice what truly believing that requires. Instead, trans-liberalism and identity reductionism have infected the ability of most white trans people to engage with themself and their surroundings at all. Many inexcusable things become excusable for superficial feelings surrounded simply by identity, personality, and pop-astrology mindsets of thinking. That same sort of logic has been applied both in the writing of DOCILE and by a majority of DOCILE's readership. This book is definitely the "more ! women ! prison guards !" mentality of gay science fiction. Anti-capitalism that is not also anti-racism. anti-imperialism, and anti-colonialism 100% through and through ultimately continues to uphold white supremacy. But I guess it's "fine" if you're trans or whatever?
More than anything, the publication and success perfectly exemplifies everything wrong with white engagements with transness and what happens when liberalism continues to inform your understanding of capitalism. DOCILE is the best example for the fact that people just don't f**king care about actually sticking to what they claim to believe in or what they claim to be against if there's some money to be made or something they can get off to. I would really love the author and editor and Tor to acknowledge and engage with these criticisms of racism within this text. They could donate the proceeds of sales to anti-prison groups, promote the abolition of prisons across America, and also provide financial support to Black and Native individuals in need across the country. They should also recognize the harm slavefic does by circulating and remove this book from being for sale, and take it out of print. Do I think this will happen? No. I unfortunately feel that they will probably spend their entire careers pretending no one ever had anything less-than-positive to say about DOCILE, and will continue to ignore what Black readers and writers have been saying about this book far before it came out. I would however really like to see some acknowledgement and actual effort to apologize, learn, grow, and provide reparations by those directly impacted by harmful and racist work like this. My advice to readers is to throw that slavefic concept out the window forever, and my advice to writers is to start taking clear stances against work and people who do and create these sorts of things. If you wanted something that engages racism, slavery, and anti-capitalism while being gay science fiction, you're definitely not going to get it here. 0/10 would not recommend.
- Vin (they/them)
@hologramvin
[The only spoilers contained within are explicit examples of anti-blackness and lack of actual anti-capitalism critique. I think knowing what this book contains is essential for potential readers to get why this book is not okay, which is why they are not collapsed. Note I am a gay trans person myself, as well as a communist, and I am more than within my lane to critique this book. In fact calling out the racism of other white trans people is something I believe I have a responsibility to make sure I do constructively and as often as possible.]
I wish I could start this off by saying that we can all agree that slavefic is an inherently racist genre and trope. Unfortunately, way too many white LGBTQ+ people think it's fine because it's "just roleplay". As someone surrounded by the BDSM community who occasionally practices it, I hate to break it to you, but there are several major things you should always initially be aware of as you get into BDSM. 1) Don't use the term 'slave' because it's racist and there are hundreds of other options for submissive roles. 2) Don't sexualize bigotry. 'Race-play' isn't a kink, it's just being racist and getting off on it. 3) Be safe and responsible at all times and instruct anyone you play with to do the same. 4) If you make NSFW/18+ content featuring intense BDSM scenes you need to make it clear that it is the BDSM practice, and not simply write context-less sexual assault scenes. These are the basic tenants of healthy BDSM, and unfortunately it really seems that this has not been placed within a book that markets itself as doing so.
It wouldn't be as overtly racist (though it still would be racist as the premise itself is unacceptable and a trope that we need to be retired) if the book ever made an effort at all to acknowledge racism and the racist premise behind the concept of slavery. In typical radlib dressing up as "socialist" fashion, the author also doesn't even seem to be aware of that SLAVERY STILL EXISTS IN AMERICA RIGHT NOW TODAY. The people we have imprisoned are overwhelmingly people of color arrested for non-violent crimes. All prisoners are forced to do taxing physical labor that if paid at all, is only paid mere cents an hour. America uses prisoners as slave labor to put out fires, face unsafe and toxic work conditions, and to clean up the messes the government feels only "expendable" lives should be used for. when you factor in the fact that 1) police disproportionately arrest and profile black people and either seek police brutality against them or incarceration for life and 2) that once you've been imprisoned you cannot vote you can clearly see the way America practices keeping black people enslaved; these actions are entirely "legal" for people to do. As a communist and prison abolitionist I am disgusted that there simply was not a trace of awareness about this reality in science fiction depicting slavery.
The way this book treats the very few black characters it has is also ABYSMAL. The first named black character is named "Onyx" which is such a racially charged choice I don't even know how to express how easy it is to not name black characters like this. The first speaking black character shows up in a scene where she tells the WHITE MALE ENSLAVED PROTAG "I'm your ally, I'm here to help." The protag then responds "Why would I need help?". The author's choice to then make the first speaking black character - a black woman - sneer and say "Sorry, I didn't realize you enjoyed being a debt slave." is so irresponsibly racist that alone should eliminate any desire to want to engage this text with good faith. Do I think the author and editor and Tor all sat down rubbing their hands gleefully celebrating how they were so excited to be racist? No, absolutely not. However, this book is filled with an explicit disregard for race except to try and make a reader feel bad for the white male protag, and that is just nowhere near enough for a responsible engagement with racial trauma and how that informs the concept and practice of slavery. There is a reason why SFF mags have bans on submissions where "Imagine if xyz group suddenly experienced xyz bigotry!?!" and I 100% agree with that stance. "Imagine if cis people experienced transphobia" is a tired trope I'm sure every white trans person praising DOCILE has gotten angry with or boycotted before in the past. Yet when a white trans man says "Imagine if a white gay man experienced slavery" those same people are all for it? It's really disappointing all around. Not surprising, but definitely disappointing.
The plot surrounds a white middle class man "selling himself into slavery" because of white middle class debt to the rich. He is bought and used by an also white man who is a trillionaire. What could've been a really interesting story about sexual consent and power imbalances ensues. I do actually think that the book itself makes it clear that what the trillionaire does is unethical and wrong, and covers the protagonists journey of coming to terms with his sexuality as informed by this abuse in a way most people who write rape scenes never do. The later story also depicts him learning how to safely explore sexual relationships with someone who is his equal. It is honestly a shame that something which could've been very meaningful and an important example of recognizing complicated relationships with abuse in a framing that makes it clear rape is bad, is surrounded entirely by white obliviousness to the implications of every dynamic. When you also take a look at the way the book markets itself, it seems to contrast it's own message in how it's been advertised. It's being sold to people either as something that really critiques capitalism (it barely does at all) but it's also using the rape and abuse as a "sexy" aspect of the story in its marketing? That doesn't quite make sense to me. Consensual non consent can be great and all, but if the point of exploring BDSM and rape in this book was to make it clear what was healthy and what was not, why would you advertise the unhealthy aspects of the sexual parts of this story as sexy? It makes what might read as a sincere understanding of consent read as superficial so long as you can turn around to appeal to readers who find rape sexier than healthy BDSM relationships. If you're critiquing capitalism in your work, you could also at least make an effort to show you won't contradict your own morals/ethics simply to get more book sales. Frankly this really is not important to me the way the book's racism is, but it is also an analysis I came away with from reading it, and it's important to recognize that something with a tagline that constitutes an undelivered promise . . . the actions of the entire book's team do not reflect that promise at all.
This book makes me understand why so many white trans people were supporting Elizabeth Warren despite the fact that she 1) pretended to be Native American for 20 years and in that time period claimed she was making history for Native women and plagiarized Native people's work. 2) Walked back on her promise to abolish ICE, instead saying she would like to "reform" what are functionally concentration camps. 3) Walked back on her promise of Medicare For All to try and hold onto corporate votes and support. 4) Lastly, promised not to take Super PAC money and literally took that money two weeks later. These same people claim to be anti-capitalism, but don't actually practice what truly believing that requires. Instead, trans-liberalism and identity reductionism have infected the ability of most white trans people to engage with themself and their surroundings at all. Many inexcusable things become excusable for superficial feelings surrounded simply by identity, personality, and pop-astrology mindsets of thinking. That same sort of logic has been applied both in the writing of DOCILE and by a majority of DOCILE's readership. This book is definitely the "more ! women ! prison guards !" mentality of gay science fiction. Anti-capitalism that is not also anti-racism. anti-imperialism, and anti-colonialism 100% through and through ultimately continues to uphold white supremacy. But I guess it's "fine" if you're trans or whatever?
More than anything, the publication and success perfectly exemplifies everything wrong with white engagements with transness and what happens when liberalism continues to inform your understanding of capitalism. DOCILE is the best example for the fact that people just don't f**king care about actually sticking to what they claim to believe in or what they claim to be against if there's some money to be made or something they can get off to. I would really love the author and editor and Tor to acknowledge and engage with these criticisms of racism within this text. They could donate the proceeds of sales to anti-prison groups, promote the abolition of prisons across America, and also provide financial support to Black and Native individuals in need across the country. They should also recognize the harm slavefic does by circulating and remove this book from being for sale, and take it out of print. Do I think this will happen? No. I unfortunately feel that they will probably spend their entire careers pretending no one ever had anything less-than-positive to say about DOCILE, and will continue to ignore what Black readers and writers have been saying about this book far before it came out. I would however really like to see some acknowledgement and actual effort to apologize, learn, grow, and provide reparations by those directly impacted by harmful and racist work like this. My advice to readers is to throw that slavefic concept out the window forever, and my advice to writers is to start taking clear stances against work and people who do and create these sorts of things. If you wanted something that engages racism, slavery, and anti-capitalism while being gay science fiction, you're definitely not going to get it here. 0/10 would not recommend.
- Vin (they/them)
@hologramvin
October 21, 2019
My general opinion of Docile by K.M. Szpara is that it was fine.
The writing was beyond excellent, lots of delicious word pictures. The indulgent decadence of the upper-class, the fine layers of dust over everything else, the quiet horror of a terrible system, the lush descriptions of this Maryland society. Love that for this book!
Docile wants me to take it seriously, so let me a downer for a few paragraphs.
Perhaps the real lesson of Docile is of tempering expectations. The hype around it, that gorgeous tagline, I was expecting something very different from what I got. I waited for this book to pop the fuck off, to shred itself to pieces, to point a finger at me before punching me in the gut. Instead, it existed in a very specific set of tropes, of narrative beats, and rarely veered off-course. If you’ve ever read more than one slavefic, you know the drill. Obviously, I knew to expect the tropes this book included, but I wish it leaned more into its other concepts. It has a lot going on in regards to ethics of labor, consent (obviously), capitalism, all that good shit. Unfortunately, it doesn’t dig exceptionally deep and rarely frames itself on a larger scale.
The world-building leaves a lot out, which creates a necessity to suspend your belief on…many, many things. For example: Furthermore, the reinstatement of slavery is contained to Maryland, and I’m wondering how the rest of the country and the world responded. If there was a response at all. There’s a substantial amount of logistical hand-waving, which is totally fine, but not what I was expecting from such an involved idea. A pretty big part of the plot is Elisha’s mother’s experience with Dociline, and, again, it’s difficult to believe that no one else tried to report or punish those responsible.
Also, I totally get that Docile is a sci-fi parable, but I couldn’t help consider current conversations on sex work and consent and drug use/addiction and money and SLAVERY. Do the Black people in this universe have no feelings about this at all? There are zero mentions of any form of sex work in this world, which…does it exist?
I JUST HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS, K.M. SZPARA.
Elisha and Alex aren’t the most compelling of narrators. I obviously sympathized with Elisha and rooted for him, but there was never a spark I connected to with either of them. Their development is also fairly predictable. There are several side characters who add different perspectives to the story and, frankly, I enjoyed the women so much more than the men. I was incredibly turned off by one side character, though.
I wanted Docile to go deeper. It landed on as horny on main with a vague conscience. There aren't really any consequences for wrongdoings.
Ultimately, I was of two minds. It was enjoyable for me! It was fine! If you like slavefic and the tropes it contains (rape, dubious consent, Feelings, Angst, picking out clothes, etc.) then you might like Docile. If you’ve never encountered these tropes, because they’re EXTREMELY THERE, or you’re expecting the narrative to do some serious dismantling, you might go elsewhere. Docile is for readers with very specific tastes.
Edit (10/20/19):
This little prickly thought has really been on my mind since I wrote this review, and I just have to talk it out.
If a white author uses slavery as a focal point of their book's plot, a plot that revolves around dismantling capitalism and consent in AMERICA, there needs to be a serious interrogation of like...context, history, trauma on the bodies of BIPOC. It was like slavery and racism never existed in Docile and that continues to bother me! It's bothersome to have two white narrators as the lenses through which we see the horrors of slavery, because UH...all of these things happened to BIPOC!
I get the heady, sexy, sharp appeal of Docile, I do, that's why I requested an ARC in the first place and I'm not trying to take the moral high ground on slavefic because that's a whole thing. But y'all...this book did not push hard enough into what it wants to be for me to push aside what it's left out.
The writing was beyond excellent, lots of delicious word pictures. The indulgent decadence of the upper-class, the fine layers of dust over everything else, the quiet horror of a terrible system, the lush descriptions of this Maryland society. Love that for this book!
Docile wants me to take it seriously, so let me a downer for a few paragraphs.
Perhaps the real lesson of Docile is of tempering expectations. The hype around it, that gorgeous tagline, I was expecting something very different from what I got. I waited for this book to pop the fuck off, to shred itself to pieces, to point a finger at me before punching me in the gut. Instead, it existed in a very specific set of tropes, of narrative beats, and rarely veered off-course. If you’ve ever read more than one slavefic, you know the drill. Obviously, I knew to expect the tropes this book included, but I wish it leaned more into its other concepts. It has a lot going on in regards to ethics of labor, consent (obviously), capitalism, all that good shit. Unfortunately, it doesn’t dig exceptionally deep and rarely frames itself on a larger scale.
The world-building leaves a lot out, which creates a necessity to suspend your belief on…many, many things. For example: Furthermore, the reinstatement of slavery is contained to Maryland, and I’m wondering how the rest of the country and the world responded. If there was a response at all. There’s a substantial amount of logistical hand-waving, which is totally fine, but not what I was expecting from such an involved idea. A pretty big part of the plot is Elisha’s mother’s experience with Dociline, and, again, it’s difficult to believe that no one else tried to report or punish those responsible.
Also, I totally get that Docile is a sci-fi parable, but I couldn’t help consider current conversations on sex work and consent and drug use/addiction and money and SLAVERY. Do the Black people in this universe have no feelings about this at all? There are zero mentions of any form of sex work in this world, which…does it exist?
I JUST HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS, K.M. SZPARA.
Elisha and Alex aren’t the most compelling of narrators. I obviously sympathized with Elisha and rooted for him, but there was never a spark I connected to with either of them. Their development is also fairly predictable. There are several side characters who add different perspectives to the story and, frankly, I enjoyed the women so much more than the men. I was incredibly turned off by one side character, though.
I wanted Docile to go deeper. It landed on as horny on main with a vague conscience. There aren't really any consequences for wrongdoings.
Ultimately, I was of two minds. It was enjoyable for me! It was fine! If you like slavefic and the tropes it contains (rape, dubious consent, Feelings, Angst, picking out clothes, etc.) then you might like Docile. If you’ve never encountered these tropes, because they’re EXTREMELY THERE, or you’re expecting the narrative to do some serious dismantling, you might go elsewhere. Docile is for readers with very specific tastes.
Edit (10/20/19):
This little prickly thought has really been on my mind since I wrote this review, and I just have to talk it out.
If a white author uses slavery as a focal point of their book's plot, a plot that revolves around dismantling capitalism and consent in AMERICA, there needs to be a serious interrogation of like...context, history, trauma on the bodies of BIPOC. It was like slavery and racism never existed in Docile and that continues to bother me! It's bothersome to have two white narrators as the lenses through which we see the horrors of slavery, because UH...all of these things happened to BIPOC!
I get the heady, sexy, sharp appeal of Docile, I do, that's why I requested an ARC in the first place and I'm not trying to take the moral high ground on slavefic because that's a whole thing. But y'all...this book did not push hard enough into what it wants to be for me to push aside what it's left out.
March 11, 2020
I... truly do not know how I feel about this book. It was well written and compulsively readable and I can see what it was trying to do, but it definitely felt like it went on a little too long and lost a lot of the power behind it's punch. I also think marketing this book as a "sexy BDSM dystopia" was a... weird move? The book does have a few sexually explicit scenes, but they are definitely not the larger focus of the story and I almost feel like drawing so much attention to them will lead people to think that this is going to be a different type of book than it actually ended up being.
October 16, 2022
I’ve seen this book compared to SFF version of Fifty Shades of Grey (blergh) as well as scathing critique of capitalist transactions, and so my curiosity was peaked. And overall it ended up quite different than I expected, although not that complete trope reversal and deconstruction I was hoping for.
You all probably are familiar with that frustrating trope of attraction seen in the huge power differential that features a sexy gagillionnaire engage in extreme control dominant/submissive master/slave erotic relationship with a younger poorer naive hottie, the controlling relationship presented almost as a quirk of deep love, and the inevitable softening of the stern rich dude under the irresistible stubborn spark of adoring submissive. There’s a happily ever after — because that stern hot controlling rich dude is obviously a great catch. Marriage and 2.4 children ensue, and all the toxicity magically dissipates because love changes all.
Szpara’s Docile initially seems to be headed exactly this way, but soon decides to take a different fork in the road. It decides to focus instead on the extreme toxicity and danger of a transactional relationship based on extreme power differential and lack of consent (because it’s not consent if you have no other option but to say “yes”). It shows the trauma of mental manipulation and brainwashing, the extreme Stockholm syndrome resulting from such conditioning as unhealthy foundation for a relationship.
What I like is that it’s actually NOT erotic fiction despite a few almost fanfic-like detailed anatomical sex descriptions — and I’m relieved because nothing about the interactions between Alex and Elisha is ever consensual, and it’s not glossed over. It does not flinch in recognizing these as not “steamy” romance but rape. Because some things should NOT be sexy, so don’t pick this book up if you’re looking for titillation or romance.
It’s an exploration of extreme toxicity of such a power/powerless arrangement and a condemnation of it, set in a vaguely futuristic world. And it actually succeeds in showing subtle changes in Elisha even before the full extent of his brainwashing becomes obvious.
The problem is, Szpara then decides to stop halfway. Alex the gagillionnaire, despite being the CEO of a company manufacturing the mind-control drug and the asshole brainwashing Elisha into submission ultimately - of course - sees the errors of his ways through the power of love and seeing a mind-controlled slave as an actual human being for the first time in thirty years. And I cringed at that redemptive arc because it seemed to undermine the horror of the things he did. If Szpara wanted to make a deep impact with his book exploring the lack of consent in extremely unequal and unhealthy arrangements, he needed to be braver in letting go of redemptive arcs and righting the wrongs by the same ones who created the wrongs.
But hey, at least unlike the fad mainstreamed by that godawful Fifty Shades of Grey nonsense it’s clear on the harm and pain caused by such inequality in relationships. It gets that abuse is not love, and that recovery is long and painful — even though it backs of before it can actually take it somewhere good.
But don’t get tricked by it if you’re looking for SFF or romance or capitalism critique. But if you’re looking for a story about deeply troubled, pretty screwed-up relationship that purposefully makes you feel uncomfortable as you read it — well, on that front it delivers.
Rounding up to 3 stars.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
You all probably are familiar with that frustrating trope of attraction seen in the huge power differential that features a sexy gagillionnaire engage in extreme control dominant/submissive master/slave erotic relationship with a younger poorer naive hottie, the controlling relationship presented almost as a quirk of deep love, and the inevitable softening of the stern rich dude under the irresistible stubborn spark of adoring submissive. There’s a happily ever after — because that stern hot controlling rich dude is obviously a great catch. Marriage and 2.4 children ensue, and all the toxicity magically dissipates because love changes all.
Szpara’s Docile initially seems to be headed exactly this way, but soon decides to take a different fork in the road. It decides to focus instead on the extreme toxicity and danger of a transactional relationship based on extreme power differential and lack of consent (because it’s not consent if you have no other option but to say “yes”). It shows the trauma of mental manipulation and brainwashing, the extreme Stockholm syndrome resulting from such conditioning as unhealthy foundation for a relationship.
What I like is that it’s actually NOT erotic fiction despite a few almost fanfic-like detailed anatomical sex descriptions — and I’m relieved because nothing about the interactions between Alex and Elisha is ever consensual, and it’s not glossed over. It does not flinch in recognizing these as not “steamy” romance but rape. Because some things should NOT be sexy, so don’t pick this book up if you’re looking for titillation or romance.
(And it’s also SO NOT science fiction, despite Tor publishing it. Forget Dociline - the mind-control drug used to “benevolently” create willing slaves in this debt-heavy near-future society, as aside from that McGuffin science-fictional elements are nonexistent. As is worldbuilding and such, but that’s not the point of this book.)
It’s an exploration of extreme toxicity of such a power/powerless arrangement and a condemnation of it, set in a vaguely futuristic world. And it actually succeeds in showing subtle changes in Elisha even before the full extent of his brainwashing becomes obvious.
“You see, Alex had no fucking clue what to do with a real human being. Someone with feelings and instincts and a family. Someone with agency. He only knew he had to gain control, to protect himself and to please his family and the Board. That’s what Dociline’s all about—that’s what the ODR is about.”
————
“The Docile system exists to give the wealthy control over debtors. To satisfy that need for control, Alex forced Elisha into submission by threatening to stop the stipend, stipulated in their contract, to his family. He used that leverage in a calculated fashion to establish rules and enforce corporal and emotional punishments. He called it training, but Alex brainwashed Elisha, slowly, over a period of six months.
You asked me if Alex changed; they both did. Alex changed because he began to view Elisha as a person he cared about while those around him viewed him as a cocksucking robot. Elisha changed because his behavior was forcibly modified.”
The problem is, Szpara then decides to stop halfway. Alex the gagillionnaire, despite being the CEO of a company manufacturing the mind-control drug and the asshole brainwashing Elisha into submission ultimately - of course - sees the errors of his ways through the power of love and seeing a mind-controlled slave as an actual human being for the first time in thirty years. And I cringed at that redemptive arc because it seemed to undermine the horror of the things he did. If Szpara wanted to make a deep impact with his book exploring the lack of consent in extremely unequal and unhealthy arrangements, he needed to be braver in letting go of redemptive arcs and righting the wrongs by the same ones who created the wrongs.
But hey, at least unlike the fad mainstreamed by that godawful Fifty Shades of Grey nonsense it’s clear on the harm and pain caused by such inequality in relationships. It gets that abuse is not love, and that recovery is long and painful — even though it backs of before it can actually take it somewhere good.
But don’t get tricked by it if you’re looking for SFF or romance or capitalism critique. But if you’re looking for a story about deeply troubled, pretty screwed-up relationship that purposefully makes you feel uncomfortable as you read it — well, on that front it delivers.
Rounding up to 3 stars.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
June 11, 2020
... despite excellent pacing and a gripping narrative, Szpara fails to address the history of slavery in America—a history that is race-based and continues to shape the nation. This is a story with fully realized queer characters that is unafraid to ask complicated questions; as a parable, it functions well. But without addressing this important aspect of the nation and economic structures within which it takes place, it cannot succeed in its takedown of oppressive systems.
-KIRKUS
this is the second attempt at this review, and it’s also being started before i’ve finished the book. full disclosure there. while we’re disclaiming things, i did read the arc version of this, so it’s entirely possible that the finished copy might have fixed some of the issues. the arc was from my good friend melanie, but as usual that hasn’t impacted my review of the work.
my main issue here, could be one of semantics. docile is blurbed as near future dystopian wherein people sell their debt and become slaves to the ultra wealthy. the novel does give some roman example of this practice [ i want to say it was called nexum, which ngl just made me think of the sex cult that was in the news about a year ago, but i digress ]. as a black person i can recognize that slavery has been practiced in various forms for various reasons all across the world., however, as the book is set in the united states, and maryland at that, i think the fact that reviewers are so quick to link what happens here to slavery is a little bothersome. especially when i can’t really think of a time where being enslaved was a choice? sure, you could argue that elisha wasn’t really presented with much of one, but he was. i haven’t done extensive research into what ye olde debtors prison was like, but seeing as elisha has grown up hearing stories about how dociles are sexually assaulted and generally abused and still thought that was the better option than being in prison was really hard to sympathize with. for me the concept of becoming a docile is really more akin to the way that indentured servitude was practiced in the early american colonies. even with indentured servants there were still rebellions that you could pull on to parallel the empower maryland movement, bacon’s rebellion in the Virginia colony could easily be pointed to as one. Just an idea.
semantics aside, i just never quite found a way for the logic of the world to quite make sense to me. it could be because i’m privileged enough to not currently have debt and it’s not a thing i’ve ever had to deal with. i understood the basic premise of the next of kin laws making debt intergenerational and something you inherit , but moving from that to a worldwide government sanctioned situation wherein the ultra wealthy would be allowed to pay off the debt in exchange for the wholesale indentured servitude of the poor is wild to me. it’s also odd to specifically enshrine in the law that the fifth right is to personal safety and then go on to spend the first hundred and fifty pages of the book describing multiple instances of sexual assault and torture. i’d also say that the drug docilline, regardless of how different characters view the side effects, undermines just about every right a docile might have and while i think it’s believable that a massive pharmaceutical company would be able to use their money to carve out an exception in the law, i think the fact that it exists at all is world breaking. but that seems to just be a me problem.
again, those are things that are clearly done to illustrate a parallel to slavery in america, and i find it incredibly inappropriate when the dociles are not property in the same way that slaves were. slaves were property. slaves did not have the seven rights that dociles have and so do try and do both i feel is misguided and offers a poor understanding of the places that your seem to be drawing from
[ though even if i could understand the world, the way the book seemingly sidesteps how even in this world people of color and black people in particular once again given the setting would be disproportionately affected by these laws is wild to me? we’re given no reason to believe that the hundreds of years of slavery or jim crow or red lining or the already prevalent wealth gap that exists in our current reality doesn’t exist in the world of docile. only then to follow a bunch of white people that is unclear how they amassed so much debt? ]
i failed to find any kind of commentary in the novel. i think that i went into it expecting the commentary to be the plot. a plot does sort of materialize toward the end of the second act and it’s loosely tied to some bread crumbs left at the beginning of the book, but when the book pivots to that it feels out of place if you ask me. i get that the drug and the near future with enhanced technology were the core of what made this a scifi novel, but it never really fell that scifi to me, it really read more like a contemporary literary fiction novel. the plot that i thought that fizzled at the end could have been better served i think by not attempting to play into a pretty standard scifi trope and continuing the character exploration the first half sets up. the first bit of the book i think is a really interesting place, but the second half just kinds of skips through time and put characters in a logical place for them to be given the storytype, but it doesn’t quite ring true for the characters that szpara crafted, even if they fit into an expected outcome given the circumstances. something about it didn’t quite click for me.
as for the final act of the book, i thought it was a complete trainwreck. i didn’t like the lawsuit, nothing about it felt like it fit. i know that all of the pieces were put into place and it wasn’t completely out of left field but it still didn’t quite gel for me. i think that a lot of the characters motivations, at least those involved with empower maryland, felt too stock scifi for the more character driven novel i wish this book might have been. there at least i think that the themes of taking down oppressive systems might have actually come to fruition. here it just seemed like a fun idea that not much was really done with. nothing about the story felt the need to have any of the scifi elements, and as i’ve already stated i felt that the drug really hurt the story more than it helped. at the end of the day the idea of the ultra wealthy not really suffering any consequences of their actions isn’t something the scifi setting really facilitated and that meaning is really only there if you reach for it. the final few pages of the book were really where the train left the rails for me. of all the ways this book could have ended that was perhaps the one that i was praying wouldn’t be it. most of all i had to read about these characters not really growing for so long only for them to wind up in the same sort of space they really could have occupied a hundred pages previously.
i do think that szpara managed to craft a book that is addictive. i wanted to keep going, even when i was revolted by the actions of the characters and even after i lost all hope of any nuanced discussion of the central conceit of the novel. i do think that szpara is talented and i would happily read more from them in the future, i simply think that like a lot of authors before them they simply did not have the range to discuss the full breadth of the topic. i don’t think that most readers will have the issues that i had with the novel. however, i do hope that with the book coming out that future readers can spend less time discussing the sex of the book but perhaps some of the other moments. i do think that a lot of the character dynamics and the way szpara wrote the middle of the book [ even if i don’t fully gel on how we got there ], was really well done. a lot of the triggering sexual assault moments do happen in rather quick succession, a lot of the trama suffered by elisha is established early on and in very memorable moments, but i think it’s important as elisha says later in the novel, those moments are not all that he is and this book is more than those moments.
for anyone that is looking to pick this up do know there are graphic depictions of sexual assault, general physical assault, emotional abuse. torture really. very dark.
Shelved as 'dnf'
April 26, 2020DNF at 20%
I think I now have a pretty good idea of what this is, and I am not in a mood for more. A high concept slavefic erotica that belongs on Kindle Unlimited, not to be published and marketed by Tor as some kind of groundbreaking dystopia. Even if this novel delves deeper into the issues of consent later on, the whole tone of it is just off.
Rolling my eyes really hard at people who have found some deep meaning in this book, when it clearly is 450 pages of dubious consent smut. Like The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, which, too, had slightly elevated writing and some big idea behind it, Docile is set to titillate too much to be taken seriously.
I think I now have a pretty good idea of what this is, and I am not in a mood for more. A high concept slavefic erotica that belongs on Kindle Unlimited, not to be published and marketed by Tor as some kind of groundbreaking dystopia. Even if this novel delves deeper into the issues of consent later on, the whole tone of it is just off.
Rolling my eyes really hard at people who have found some deep meaning in this book, when it clearly is 450 pages of dubious consent smut. Like The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, which, too, had slightly elevated writing and some big idea behind it, Docile is set to titillate too much to be taken seriously.
June 23, 2020
Me every time I see Docile on my feed:
So, what's this book about
Docile is told in the near (alternate) future. Debt is at an alltime high when the Next of Kin law. Debt can no longer be erased by death. It is now passed down generation by generation. To deal with this debt, people have the option to become a Docile. To be a Docile is to be kept, body and soul, for the uses of the owner of your contract. To be a Docile is to forget, to disappear, to hide inside your body from the horrors of your service. To be a Docile is to sell yourself to pay your parents' debts and buy your children's future. The rich and privileged can buy Dociles and have them do almost anything they want... it's mostly sex.
Elisha applies to be a Docile but he is different. He refuses Dociline, the drug that causes Dociles to be calm and obedient. Unfortunately, his patron (I'm not sure that's the right term. Whoops) is Alex Bishop III who just happens to part of the family who created Dociline. And he is determined to make Elisha the perfect Docile... without Dociline.
Before I start, I need to warn you all, this book is forking dark. It covers a lot of heavy topics, most of them being rape and consent so if these have the potential to trigger you, please, please don't read this book.
I enjoyed this book for so many reasons. The first one is that it was super emotional. From anger to sadness and fear, this book was an absolute rollercoaster.
I also really enjoyed the science fiction aspect of this and honestly wish it had been explored further. For instance, the drug Dociline. I found it very fascinating and, even though it affected the plot, we didn't really get to see how it worked or any of it's backstory. I'd honestly love a novella/prequel.
Finally, I do want to talk about the darkness in this book. As a reader—nay, as a person who lives daily life—I am not going to try to avoid darkness. It's everywhere. I am fine reading about it. I just would prefer it to be handled or framed in a certain way. Szpara did a good job of framing it in a mostly good way. I won't spoil but the way things ended with an issue of consent, rape, and rapist was not my favorite. I don't think that it was healthy or realistic.
Overall, this book was fascinating, emotional and dark and I truly enjoyed (almost) every second of it!
Bottom Line:
4.5 stars
Age Rating - [ R ]
Content Screening -
Educational Value (0/0)
Positive Value (0/0)
Violence (5/5) - [Rape, physical abuse, confinement, toture, emotional abuse]
Sex (5/5) - [Rape, detailed sex scenes, sexual themes, BDSM]
Language (4/5) - [F**k, D*mn, Sh*t, C*m, Sl*t, D*ck, C*ck]
Drinking/Drugs (5/5) - [Alochol consumption, Rape drugs, Medicinal Drugs]
Trigger and Content Warnings - Rape, PTSD, BDSM, Torture, Physical Abuse, Emotional abuse
Note: This is a highly violent and sexual ADULT novel. It deals with rape and consent and should not be read by young readers or readers who are triggered by rape.
Publication Date: March 3rd, 2020
Publisher: Tor.com (an imprint of Macmillan)
Genre: Erotica/Science Fiction
***********
that was amazing. review to come!
**********
Me: Can I have an ARC?
Publicist #1: No
Me: Okay
Me: *asks another publicist*
***********
It's sci-fi and m/m romance.
MY HEART IS PALPITATING!
| Goodreads | Blog | Pinterest | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram
So, what's this book about
Docile is told in the near (alternate) future. Debt is at an alltime high when the Next of Kin law. Debt can no longer be erased by death. It is now passed down generation by generation. To deal with this debt, people have the option to become a Docile. To be a Docile is to be kept, body and soul, for the uses of the owner of your contract. To be a Docile is to forget, to disappear, to hide inside your body from the horrors of your service. To be a Docile is to sell yourself to pay your parents' debts and buy your children's future. The rich and privileged can buy Dociles and have them do almost anything they want... it's mostly sex.
Elisha applies to be a Docile but he is different. He refuses Dociline, the drug that causes Dociles to be calm and obedient. Unfortunately, his patron (I'm not sure that's the right term. Whoops) is Alex Bishop III who just happens to part of the family who created Dociline. And he is determined to make Elisha the perfect Docile... without Dociline.
Before I start, I need to warn you all, this book is forking dark. It covers a lot of heavy topics, most of them being rape and consent so if these have the potential to trigger you, please, please don't read this book.
I enjoyed this book for so many reasons. The first one is that it was super emotional. From anger to sadness and fear, this book was an absolute rollercoaster.
I also really enjoyed the science fiction aspect of this and honestly wish it had been explored further. For instance, the drug Dociline. I found it very fascinating and, even though it affected the plot, we didn't really get to see how it worked or any of it's backstory. I'd honestly love a novella/prequel.
Finally, I do want to talk about the darkness in this book. As a reader—nay, as a person who lives daily life—I am not going to try to avoid darkness. It's everywhere. I am fine reading about it. I just would prefer it to be handled or framed in a certain way. Szpara did a good job of framing it in a mostly good way. I won't spoil but the way things ended with an issue of consent, rape, and rapist was not my favorite. I don't think that it was healthy or realistic.
Overall, this book was fascinating, emotional and dark and I truly enjoyed (almost) every second of it!
Bottom Line:
4.5 stars
Age Rating - [ R ]
Content Screening -
Educational Value (0/0)
Positive Value (0/0)
Violence (5/5) - [Rape, physical abuse, confinement, toture, emotional abuse]
Sex (5/5) - [Rape, detailed sex scenes, sexual themes, BDSM]
Language (4/5) - [F**k, D*mn, Sh*t, C*m, Sl*t, D*ck, C*ck]
Drinking/Drugs (5/5) - [Alochol consumption, Rape drugs, Medicinal Drugs]
Trigger and Content Warnings - Rape, PTSD, BDSM, Torture, Physical Abuse, Emotional abuse
Note: This is a highly violent and sexual ADULT novel. It deals with rape and consent and should not be read by young readers or readers who are triggered by rape.
Publication Date: March 3rd, 2020
Publisher: Tor.com (an imprint of Macmillan)
Genre: Erotica/Science Fiction
***********
that was amazing. review to come!
**********
Me: Can I have an ARC?
Publicist #1: No
Me: Okay
Me: *asks another publicist*
***********
It's sci-fi and m/m romance.
MY HEART IS PALPITATING!
| Goodreads | Blog | Pinterest | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram
April 10, 2020
I received an uncorrected proof copy of Docile in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank K. M. Szpara and Tor for the opportunity.
Docile is the story of Elisha. He is a young gentleman who volunteers to become a Docile to pay off his parents' debt which is at a catastrophic amount of £3,000,000. If he had not proposed this then his mother and father would have been placed in debtors prison. A docile is essentially a slave. They become the property of the patron who pays off their debt in exchange for a set time of service. For the £3,000,000 to be cleared Elisha is to be the property of his patron for life. Most individuals who are forced into this life of slavery tend to take a drug called Dociline. It's a drug to make the dociles obedient. It leads them to have the charisma of a robot or a zombie yet most beneficial for the takers is that they don't really know what horrible tasks, duties or punishments are being forced upon them. It is a brainwashing drug. Elisha, having witnessed the effects of Dociline on his mother vows to refuse to take the drug, which is one of his rights. He will be completely aware of what happens to him during his time as a docile which, of course, is for the rest of his life and may not be very pleasant.
In addition to Elisha's first-person point of view perspective, we also follow the trillionaire Dr. Alex Bishop who becomes Elisha's patron in the first-person too. Alex is the CEO of the company that creates Dociline and wanted Elisha to be his guinea pig for a new version he is hoping to release to market. When Elisha refuses to accept the drug, as is his right, Alex is frustrated yet decides to mould him as he wishes as he owns him for life and can do with him anything he wishes... and I mean anything.
This is a queer dystopian novel that is often uncomfortable to read, extremely graphic in nature, is thrilling, beautifully written and yet is often a mind-fuck and has quite a few trigger warnings to discuss. Although other reviewers have referred to this as science fiction, it never really came across that way to me as what is presented is far too close to our current reality. Some of what happens here is not that farfetched when analysing where the human race could be heading in the near future. Docile features BDSM, explicit gay and group sex scenes, torture and punishments, suicide attempts, and rape scenes sometimes from the first person point of view of the rapist. At this point, Elisha is a piece of meat that Alex uses whenever he fancies. It also presents love, friendship, family, and how people change, especially the two main characters over the length of the narrative.
Although it's often uncomfortable to read and is probably the first novel I've read that has incorporated gay sex scenes that were this explicit and detailed I have to admit that Docile is a masterpiece of dystopian fiction. I'm pretty certain that I've read nothing like it. It was engaging and I completely lost myself in the narrative. It made me question our reality, the gravity of debt, my sexuality occasionally, and however horrid some of the actions committed by Alex were, I never really hated him. If anything I often felt sorry for him which shows Szpara's talent to make me care about someone who I should have straight away written off as an utter bastard. It took me three days to read these 500 or so pages and the finale of this standalone novel is actually nice and fitting which was a surprise after many of the nightmare segments throughout. Docile is an exquisite, well-written and often uncomfortable mindfuck of a debut release. I'll be following Szpara's career closely. Recommended.
Docile is the story of Elisha. He is a young gentleman who volunteers to become a Docile to pay off his parents' debt which is at a catastrophic amount of £3,000,000. If he had not proposed this then his mother and father would have been placed in debtors prison. A docile is essentially a slave. They become the property of the patron who pays off their debt in exchange for a set time of service. For the £3,000,000 to be cleared Elisha is to be the property of his patron for life. Most individuals who are forced into this life of slavery tend to take a drug called Dociline. It's a drug to make the dociles obedient. It leads them to have the charisma of a robot or a zombie yet most beneficial for the takers is that they don't really know what horrible tasks, duties or punishments are being forced upon them. It is a brainwashing drug. Elisha, having witnessed the effects of Dociline on his mother vows to refuse to take the drug, which is one of his rights. He will be completely aware of what happens to him during his time as a docile which, of course, is for the rest of his life and may not be very pleasant.
In addition to Elisha's first-person point of view perspective, we also follow the trillionaire Dr. Alex Bishop who becomes Elisha's patron in the first-person too. Alex is the CEO of the company that creates Dociline and wanted Elisha to be his guinea pig for a new version he is hoping to release to market. When Elisha refuses to accept the drug, as is his right, Alex is frustrated yet decides to mould him as he wishes as he owns him for life and can do with him anything he wishes... and I mean anything.
This is a queer dystopian novel that is often uncomfortable to read, extremely graphic in nature, is thrilling, beautifully written and yet is often a mind-fuck and has quite a few trigger warnings to discuss. Although other reviewers have referred to this as science fiction, it never really came across that way to me as what is presented is far too close to our current reality. Some of what happens here is not that farfetched when analysing where the human race could be heading in the near future. Docile features BDSM, explicit gay and group sex scenes, torture and punishments, suicide attempts, and rape scenes sometimes from the first person point of view of the rapist. At this point, Elisha is a piece of meat that Alex uses whenever he fancies. It also presents love, friendship, family, and how people change, especially the two main characters over the length of the narrative.
Although it's often uncomfortable to read and is probably the first novel I've read that has incorporated gay sex scenes that were this explicit and detailed I have to admit that Docile is a masterpiece of dystopian fiction. I'm pretty certain that I've read nothing like it. It was engaging and I completely lost myself in the narrative. It made me question our reality, the gravity of debt, my sexuality occasionally, and however horrid some of the actions committed by Alex were, I never really hated him. If anything I often felt sorry for him which shows Szpara's talent to make me care about someone who I should have straight away written off as an utter bastard. It took me three days to read these 500 or so pages and the finale of this standalone novel is actually nice and fitting which was a surprise after many of the nightmare segments throughout. Docile is an exquisite, well-written and often uncomfortable mindfuck of a debut release. I'll be following Szpara's career closely. Recommended.
Read
January 12, 2022Docile was not what I expected. Cover, title, premise and tagline are all gorgeous. It's actual cover porn. I'd seen this book around a lot and was hyped to finally read it.
So what is it about? It's set in a world where debt is passed down in families and can be erased by debtors that sell themselves into slavery - the higher the debt, the longer the term. One of the richest families in near-future America has developed a drug called Dociline. Take the drug, and you will spend your time as a slave in a cloud of happiness. You will be a Docile, without a will of your own, but when you wake up and your term ends, you won't have any memory of what you did, or of what was done to you. Elisha wants to rid his family of their three million dollar debt and becomes a Docile, but he will refuse Dociline after what it did to his mother. Even after her term had ended, she remained numb and mindless. And to make things worse, Elisha's super rich patron is no other than Alex Bishop III, whose family invented Dociline. What follows is, as expected, a super unhealthy relationship. Elisha has to obey, becomes a sex puppet, a private cook, and only ever speaks when he is asked to. Nevertheless, Alex and Elisha develop feelings for each other.
I expected a sinister and intense read. I expected complex characters and an uncomfortable observation of society and the harm that capitalism causes to everyone who isn't a multi-millionaire. But that wasn't what I got. I love character-driven stories but I'm afraid to say that Elisha had as much depth as toast, which admittedly was kind of the point. He was supposed to become a drone. But Alex wasn't any more interesting. He would have been far more promising if he had been outright unlikeable and cruel. But he was a spoiled rich boy...and that is all I can come up with when I think about him. Their dynamic was monotone and unsurprising.
The plot wasn't genius either. While the concept was intriguing, the execution lacked inspiration. Sure, the sex scenes were hot, but I got the point after the second time. From then one, there weren't any major surprises. I liked some of the side characters alright, especially Dylan and Jess, but we didn't get to see much of them. I wasn't bored, I still really wanted to see where the story was headed. But where it was headed wasn't exactly exciting.
I also read a few review and articles from BIPOC reviewers that comment on how the book offers an outlook on modern slavery in the US, but completely ignores Black History and the history of slavery in the US. Which is questionable at best, especially because it features Black characters that benefit from this system. I suggest you read other critical reviews and don't just take my word for it, since I'm white and neither an expert on American nor on Black history.
I believe the author shows a lot of potential, and I applaud that publishers like TOR give queer and trans voices a bigger platform. I will keep my eyes open for what K.M. Szarpa will do next. While I obviously wasn't blown away, I have hopes that the author will grow as a writer and publish exciting stories.
Find more of my books on Instagram
So what is it about? It's set in a world where debt is passed down in families and can be erased by debtors that sell themselves into slavery - the higher the debt, the longer the term. One of the richest families in near-future America has developed a drug called Dociline. Take the drug, and you will spend your time as a slave in a cloud of happiness. You will be a Docile, without a will of your own, but when you wake up and your term ends, you won't have any memory of what you did, or of what was done to you. Elisha wants to rid his family of their three million dollar debt and becomes a Docile, but he will refuse Dociline after what it did to his mother. Even after her term had ended, she remained numb and mindless. And to make things worse, Elisha's super rich patron is no other than Alex Bishop III, whose family invented Dociline. What follows is, as expected, a super unhealthy relationship. Elisha has to obey, becomes a sex puppet, a private cook, and only ever speaks when he is asked to. Nevertheless, Alex and Elisha develop feelings for each other.
I expected a sinister and intense read. I expected complex characters and an uncomfortable observation of society and the harm that capitalism causes to everyone who isn't a multi-millionaire. But that wasn't what I got. I love character-driven stories but I'm afraid to say that Elisha had as much depth as toast, which admittedly was kind of the point. He was supposed to become a drone. But Alex wasn't any more interesting. He would have been far more promising if he had been outright unlikeable and cruel. But he was a spoiled rich boy...and that is all I can come up with when I think about him. Their dynamic was monotone and unsurprising.
The plot wasn't genius either. While the concept was intriguing, the execution lacked inspiration. Sure, the sex scenes were hot, but I got the point after the second time. From then one, there weren't any major surprises. I liked some of the side characters alright, especially Dylan and Jess, but we didn't get to see much of them. I wasn't bored, I still really wanted to see where the story was headed. But where it was headed wasn't exactly exciting.
I also read a few review and articles from BIPOC reviewers that comment on how the book offers an outlook on modern slavery in the US, but completely ignores Black History and the history of slavery in the US. Which is questionable at best, especially because it features Black characters that benefit from this system. I suggest you read other critical reviews and don't just take my word for it, since I'm white and neither an expert on American nor on Black history.
I believe the author shows a lot of potential, and I applaud that publishers like TOR give queer and trans voices a bigger platform. I will keep my eyes open for what K.M. Szarpa will do next. While I obviously wasn't blown away, I have hopes that the author will grow as a writer and publish exciting stories.
Find more of my books on Instagram
March 19, 2019
Don't call KM Szpara's Docile a dystopia. This book is something much stranger and yet closer to our own reality. Szpara has an amazing gift for immersing us in a world of exploitation and unbearable tenderness, and making it feel familiar and inescapable. Reading Docile changed me and left me with a new awareness of the structures of oppression that surround me. This book is an unforgettable story of human connection and the struggle to remain yourself in a world of debtors and creditors.
Want to read
July 29, 2019THIS SYNOPSIS. I WANT IT.
"There is no consent under capitalism."
*SCREAMING*
"There is no consent under capitalism."
*SCREAMING*
Read
March 18, 2023Source of book: Bought by me
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
Further disclaimer: Readers, please stop accusing me of trying to take down “my competition” because I wrote a review you didn’t like. This is complete nonsense. Firstly, writing isn’t a competitive sport. Secondly, I only publish reviews of books in the subgenre where I’m best known (queer romcom) if I have good things to say. And finally: taking time out of my life to read an entire book and then write a GR review about it would be a profoundly inefficient and ineffective way to damage the careers of other authors. If you can’t credit me with simply being a person who loves books and likes talking about them, at least credit me with enough common sense to be a better villain.
*******************************************
I always want to support the work of queer creators.
But Tor: I do not think your kinky slavefic (where the slave falls in love with his master, btw) is quite the searing critique of capitalism you think it is.
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
Further disclaimer: Readers, please stop accusing me of trying to take down “my competition” because I wrote a review you didn’t like. This is complete nonsense. Firstly, writing isn’t a competitive sport. Secondly, I only publish reviews of books in the subgenre where I’m best known (queer romcom) if I have good things to say. And finally: taking time out of my life to read an entire book and then write a GR review about it would be a profoundly inefficient and ineffective way to damage the careers of other authors. If you can’t credit me with simply being a person who loves books and likes talking about them, at least credit me with enough common sense to be a better villain.
*******************************************
I always want to support the work of queer creators.
But Tor: I do not think your kinky slavefic (where the slave falls in love with his master, btw) is quite the searing critique of capitalism you think it is.
April 5, 2022
Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Amazon || Pinterest
DNF @ 14%
To be clear, unlike some of the people who didn't like this book, I'm not giving this a one-star rating because of the premise (although I do think it's totally fair for people to have that kind of visceral response to something that is basically slavefic, since slavery was and continues to be a very real and inhumanly cruel issue that impacts many people on a global scale). I personally don't have a problem reading that trope if it's handled well... but here... I'm not so sure it was handled well. Eek.
I used to refer to this book as "The Book That Never Goes on Sale" because I swear, it was always $10+ in the Kindle store for years after its publication. I respect the hustle, but I also respect my wallet, you know? And it's nice when books eventually go on sale so those of us who balk at expensive book purchases can still support the author in a small way without also breaking the bank. When it finally went on sale, I may have screamed. I wanted this book SO badly, and didn't get an ARC, so finally, finally, THE PRECIOUS WAS MINE. I was literally so excited, I one-clicked it without reading the sample first, which might have been a mistake.
But I really didn't like this book. For multiple reasons. First, Elisha lives in a world where people can sell themselves into slavery to pay off their debt... which sounds like something that Elon Musk might semi-ironically propose, tbh, just to fuck with people on Twitter. How did this happen? What drove humanity to this vastly questionable decision? Surely, not everyone who is forced to do this ends up as a glorified human sex doll, and, as other reviewers have pointed out, this doesn't even really scrape at the surface of the uncomfortable fact that poverty is rife with infrastructural racism, so this "sell yourself into slavery" scheme would disproportionately impact people of color.
I get that this is a fantasy... and I think C.S. Pacat made it work with CAPTIVE PRINCE. But that was set in a fantasy land whereas this is set in our present day, and the inclusion of mind rape drags and Alex's wholesale buying in to the system (the way he eagerly anticipates turning Elisha into a sex robot with the mind rape drugs is fifty shades of gross). I really wanted to enjoy this book but I ended up just feeling bored and squeamish by turns. Nothing about this book was sexy to me, and if there was supposed to be social commentary about Big Capitalism, I think the book missed the mark. I should have listened to my friends' reviews... a lot of people whose opinions I trust didn't like this book. But hey, maybe you will love it. That would be awesome too. Maybe just read the sample first.
1 star
December 6, 2019
Docile
is one of my most anticipated reads for 2020 so thank you Tor Books for this advanced copy. It's safe to say that
Docile
is one of my favorite reads for the year.
Set in a near-future dystopian world, Maryland, the setting for this story, passes the Next of Kin Law where debt cannot be erased by death or bankruptcy, but passed down for generations. Families crippled by healthcare costs, student loans, and other expenses value up to the millions and the disparity between the rich and the poor has never been more profound. In order for families to pay off the debt, adults may enter into contractually authorized partnerships with wealthy individuals. In return for substantial money, either paying entire debts or partial, the debtor will live an extended period time as a "docile". By accepting this role, you essentially are a slave, and the person who is paying off the debt can essentially do whatever they want (with a few exceptions). Some dociles are servants and housekeepers, some are companions, and some can be sex slaves. In order to make the process a bit more manageable, medical company Bishop Laboratories created a formula, Dociline. This formula helps dociles relax and become subservient—allowing for their term to go more smoothly.
Elisha Wilder is the older son of David and Abigail, and they also have a daughter Abby. The family has crippling debt so Elisha decides to enter the Docile Program. He would never have expected that Alexander Bishop III, heir to Bishop Laboratories, would select him as a docile in hopes of having a disciplined companion that would calm his parents' anxiety about finding a partner. What's the worst that can happen? I will not go any further than here with any synopsis notes—READ IT AND FIND OUT! You won't be disappointed.
Docile is dark—seriously folks, there's graphic rape in this book so I am putting this disclaimer now for anyone who is excited about picking this book up. While the book is dark, it is also very erotic and hot at times, which was unexpected. What?! Docile is a dystopian 50 Shades of Gay. I've never read anything like it and for that, I'm thankful. For years now, I've been reading LGBT romance(ish) novels and have been bored to tears. The book either "fades to black" during the sex scenes, or the characters are unrealistic and unrelatable.
To my last point about characters being unrealistic and unrelatable, Author KM Szpara changes the landscape in Docile with character development. I loved every single character in this book. Whether or not they were meant to be likeable, that's up for debate. Every single character in this story has a purpose and it keeps the story moving.
At almost 500 pages, Docile feels like it will be long read, however I finished this book in two sittings. I could not put it down. Docile is one of the most bingeworthy books I've read in a long time. It's very unapologetic and dark, so it's definitely not for everyone, and that's ok. The ending is not only satisfying, but provides a possible series introduction (FINGERS CROSSED, PLEASE KM SZPARA!!). Docile will be out March 3, 2020, and I will make sure every single one of you puts this book on your TBR!
Set in a near-future dystopian world, Maryland, the setting for this story, passes the Next of Kin Law where debt cannot be erased by death or bankruptcy, but passed down for generations. Families crippled by healthcare costs, student loans, and other expenses value up to the millions and the disparity between the rich and the poor has never been more profound. In order for families to pay off the debt, adults may enter into contractually authorized partnerships with wealthy individuals. In return for substantial money, either paying entire debts or partial, the debtor will live an extended period time as a "docile". By accepting this role, you essentially are a slave, and the person who is paying off the debt can essentially do whatever they want (with a few exceptions). Some dociles are servants and housekeepers, some are companions, and some can be sex slaves. In order to make the process a bit more manageable, medical company Bishop Laboratories created a formula, Dociline. This formula helps dociles relax and become subservient—allowing for their term to go more smoothly.
Elisha Wilder is the older son of David and Abigail, and they also have a daughter Abby. The family has crippling debt so Elisha decides to enter the Docile Program. He would never have expected that Alexander Bishop III, heir to Bishop Laboratories, would select him as a docile in hopes of having a disciplined companion that would calm his parents' anxiety about finding a partner. What's the worst that can happen? I will not go any further than here with any synopsis notes—READ IT AND FIND OUT! You won't be disappointed.
Docile is dark—seriously folks, there's graphic rape in this book so I am putting this disclaimer now for anyone who is excited about picking this book up. While the book is dark, it is also very erotic and hot at times, which was unexpected. What?! Docile is a dystopian 50 Shades of Gay. I've never read anything like it and for that, I'm thankful. For years now, I've been reading LGBT romance(ish) novels and have been bored to tears. The book either "fades to black" during the sex scenes, or the characters are unrealistic and unrelatable.
To my last point about characters being unrealistic and unrelatable, Author KM Szpara changes the landscape in Docile with character development. I loved every single character in this book. Whether or not they were meant to be likeable, that's up for debate. Every single character in this story has a purpose and it keeps the story moving.
At almost 500 pages, Docile feels like it will be long read, however I finished this book in two sittings. I could not put it down. Docile is one of the most bingeworthy books I've read in a long time. It's very unapologetic and dark, so it's definitely not for everyone, and that's ok. The ending is not only satisfying, but provides a possible series introduction (FINGERS CROSSED, PLEASE KM SZPARA!!). Docile will be out March 3, 2020, and I will make sure every single one of you puts this book on your TBR!
February 5, 2023
5/5stars
This was my second time reading this and I loved it even more than the first time!
This was my second time reading this and I loved it even more than the first time!
September 7, 2020
This Review ✍️ Blog 📖 Twitter 🐦 Instagram 📷
Docile is one of those books that is already controversial and will always be. You should simply try it to see if it works for you or not. I actually did not know what to expect when I got into the book but things are clear for me now! I saw this being compared to 50 Shades of Grey and I can see why!
The writing is very good and gripping, I think I finished the book in 3 days and I wanted to read more specially at the beginning. It did not feel like a debut writing-wise so I think the author nailed it from that aspect. The synopsis explains the story better than I can do so check it out if you want to know what the book is about.
The characters were also well written and very realistic. I did care about them although I know the author took the things to the extreme and exaggerated more than once.
The world-building is not that good, the author focuses only on a couple of main characters and the world around them but never fully expand upon the world-building! I think there were many questions I wanted an answer for and it was like the whole universe revolved around the characters he chose and the majority of the population was forgotten.
The plot line is weird. First I need to mention some trigger warnings like rape and drugs and a suicidal attempt. There are many graphic sexual scenes and that’s why it has been compared to 50 Shades of Grey! I thought the story is going to have more depth but it fell to many tropes and I think it really is Slave-fic! The line “There is no consent under capitalism” is literally about sex and I thought it was more than that! The pacing is all over the place because it starts okay with gripping story but then we have like 20 chapters that are each 1 page and the last part things take a different direction and it becomes a court-law story.
Summary: This was like a mix between 50 shades of grey and legally blonde! I think it had some strong aspects to it but that was on the account of other things! The book is controversial and the current rating is getting lower and lower than prior to release! I think you may never know until you try it so give it a chance!
You can get more books from Book Depository
“There is no consent under capitalism”
Docile is one of those books that is already controversial and will always be. You should simply try it to see if it works for you or not. I actually did not know what to expect when I got into the book but things are clear for me now! I saw this being compared to 50 Shades of Grey and I can see why!
The writing is very good and gripping, I think I finished the book in 3 days and I wanted to read more specially at the beginning. It did not feel like a debut writing-wise so I think the author nailed it from that aspect. The synopsis explains the story better than I can do so check it out if you want to know what the book is about.
The characters were also well written and very realistic. I did care about them although I know the author took the things to the extreme and exaggerated more than once.
The world-building is not that good, the author focuses only on a couple of main characters and the world around them but never fully expand upon the world-building! I think there were many questions I wanted an answer for and it was like the whole universe revolved around the characters he chose and the majority of the population was forgotten.
The plot line is weird. First I need to mention some trigger warnings like rape and drugs and a suicidal attempt. There are many graphic sexual scenes and that’s why it has been compared to 50 Shades of Grey! I thought the story is going to have more depth but it fell to many tropes and I think it really is Slave-fic! The line “There is no consent under capitalism” is literally about sex and I thought it was more than that! The pacing is all over the place because it starts okay with gripping story but then we have like 20 chapters that are each 1 page and the last part things take a different direction and it becomes a court-law story.
Summary: This was like a mix between 50 shades of grey and legally blonde! I think it had some strong aspects to it but that was on the account of other things! The book is controversial and the current rating is getting lower and lower than prior to release! I think you may never know until you try it so give it a chance!
You can get more books from Book Depository
March 22, 2019
Do you ever find yourself thinking, "Gee, I wish CAPTIVE PRINCE and PRETTY WOMAN would have an alarming baby that they then dressed in pastel button-downs and frat boy glasses"?
WELL THEN
This is a smart, super-readable m/m social-sci-fi romance novel about debt slavery, the complexities of consent, and OUR INEVITABLE CAPITALIST HELLSCAPE. I read my ARC at the speed of light and had a wonderful time.
WELL THEN
This is a smart, super-readable m/m social-sci-fi romance novel about debt slavery, the complexities of consent, and OUR INEVITABLE CAPITALIST HELLSCAPE. I read my ARC at the speed of light and had a wonderful time.
September 25, 2020
I recently read a heartfelt and heartbreaking book called ‘My Tender Matador’ by Pedro Lemebel. Set in Santiago during the unsuccessful 1986 assassination attempt on Pinochet, it centres on an aging drag queen simply called the Queen of the Corner (because the ramshackle house she lives in is literally located on a corner.)
She embroiders tablecloths etc. for military wives to make ends meet. Ironically, this makes the Queen of the Corner quite extraordinarily connected in her world, even if she largely remains oblivious to political undercurrents.
It also brings her to the attention of dashing Carlos and his cadres, who charm the Queen of the Corner into letting them use her house for their clandestine meetings. The Queen is immediately taken with young Carlos, and so begins an achingly delicate courtship between the two.
However, it is abundantly clear that Carlos admires her for the unapologetic and fiercely independent way she lives her life. It is equally clear that Carlos is exploiting the Queen’s attraction to him, just as the Queen knows intuitively that he will indulge her hopeless crush so that she is comfortable with their ‘arrangement’ and considers it fair value.
Writing about toxic relationships or ones where the power dynamic is skewed can be extraordinarily difficult and rewarding, for writer and reader. Unfortunately, there seems to be a modern trend whereby the exact mechanics of such imbalances are accepted as the status quo, rather than properly examined or analysed.
I’d go so far as to say that the partner in which all the power resides is ‘celebrated’ for his dominance (yes, they are invariably male), which is transmuted into a sense of mystery, virility and eroticism tinged with danger. This ‘formula’ has found expression in everything from E.L. Grey’s ‘Fifty Shades’ to Stephanie Meyer’s ‘Twilight’ saga.
In ‘My Tender Matador’, there is something beautiful in watching Carlos the cadre gradually fall under the spell of the Queen of the Corner. Yes, it is an opportunistic or parasitic relationship, but one gradually senses the centre of power shifting between them.
Or perhaps it is a case of them both being equally open-minded about their mutual opportunism, which then paradoxically gives them the clarity to see each other as they truly are – flawed, dishonest, damaged and deceptive. It is a kind of intimacy that results in a much deeper bond than any physical connection would have provided.
I was immediately reminded of ‘My Tender Matador’ when I began reading ‘Docile’, especially at the beginning when Alex encounters Elisha for the first time at the relatively neutral meeting ground of the Office of Debt Resolution (ODR), a very real boundary or barrier between two starkly contrasted realities.
The one is the world of Alexander Bishop III (or ‘ABIII’, as per his personal monogram), the heir of the billionaire family that owns the patent for Dociline, the drug administered to Dociles to allow them to serve their sentences of indentured slavery without incident (or any memory of the experience).
The other is Elisha’s much more familiar world of industry and agriculture. This represents a proletarian underclass where debt is hereditary. Elisha’s mother submitted to being a bondservant for her family, but returns with permanent mental damage from Dociline. And the family’s debt is still intact.
This gives Elisha no choice but to become a Docile himself, especially to protect his younger sister Abby from the same experience. When he meets Alex for the first time, Elisha is sexually inexperienced and, crucially, unsure about his own orientation (though I suspect this is merely a gambit on the part of Szpara to up the stakes between his main protagonists.)
There is an immediate spark of attraction between the two at the ODR, which is one important pillar of the narrative. The other is that Dociles have various ‘rights’, one of which is to refuse to take Dociline. Though if one has no recall of doing so or any memories of what follows, what is to stop someone simply being ‘drugged’ without consent?
This is a right that Elisha crucially invokes once Alex has accepted him as a Docile. It raises the immediate question of why Alex didn’t do a proper pre-screening of Elisha, especially given his political importance and how any choice of Docile is likely to reflect on his status and influence.
In fact, herein lies my major problem with Szpara’s narrative. His world-building is designed to drive the initial meeting between Alex and Elisha and everything that happens thereafter between them, as it is all about their ‘relationship’. The 75 chapters alternate between their first-person viewpoints.
Everything else about their world is left frustratingly opaque. There is a single reference to the concept of nexum or mancipatio, a type of debt bondage contract from the Roman Empire whereby the debtor pledged his or her person as collateral:
Debt bondage existed in the early Republic largely as a result of increasing control over the ager publicus, or public land, by individuals who acquired disproportionate wealth and power and distorted the republican ideal of a commonwealth. As farmers and laborers lost access to the land that was theoretically held in common by the Roman people (populus Romanus), they were unable to earn a living, and nexum was resorted to as security for debts.
I learned more from this cogent Wikipedia definition than I did from Szpara’s novel itself, which is especially problematic if it is to be considered SF. As for Dociline, there is a long tradition in SF of drugging populations into obedience, from Soma in Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ to the movie ‘Soylent Green’. Exactly why Dociline is not simply applied to the population as a whole is an issue that Szpara never explores.
So what is Szpara’s key driver here? Well, to put it bluntly, Elisha is Anastasia Steele and Alex is Christian Grey. So Elisha drops his bombshell about refusing Dociline … Again, why? He knows that, as a Docile, he will not only be forced to have sex with Alex but be passed around to Alex’s friends and their Dociles like a party favour of the week, which could be problematic especially if he does not know if he is gay or not …
Alex then realises that he will have to ‘train’ Elisha into a submissive state more akin to a true Docile, which begins an elaborate process of reward-and-punishment, culminating (well, climaxing) in the much-telegraphed ‘first fuck’. Which is basically a rape carried out by a pampered and privileged predator.
Worryingly, Szpara writes this scene with all the heavy-handed cues of bad gay porn. I have read reviews comparing ‘Docile’ to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. Well, I have to say there is nothing about the Ceremony in this scene. It is tawdry and titillating, without a scrap of nuance.
Even without Dociline, Elisha finds that he enjoys being violated … a conviction soon put to the test when Alex takes him to his first Patron and Docile ‘party’ (yes, there is an orgy scene, and even a horse race staged with Dociles as steeds.)
In order to ‘please’ Alex (and also because he is perpetually horny), Elisha embarks on a kind of ‘Stockholm Syndrome for Dummies’ auto self-initiation programme (he also learns how to cook, play the piano and go shopping, so it is not all down to his prodigious talent for being tied up and fucked silly.)
However, so successful is he at ingratiating himself into Alex’s good graces that the two soon find themselves developing ‘feelings’ for each other. But neither can tell whether or not any of this is genuine … From this point on it is all downhill, unless you enjoyed the movie ‘Pretty Woman’. Of which this movie is much a gayer version, with none of the charm of Julia Roberts to leaven the proceedings.
I don’t want to give too much away about the plot, as this is a book that depends heavily on the twists and turns of its baroque melodrama. Suffice it to say that we end up with a half-baked courtroom thriller (not to mention a ‘mad scientists in a lab’ routine thrown in for good measure).
Probably thinking that their readers would be bored by so much plot, Szpara then throws in what is perhaps the most elaborate sex scene in the entire book (no mean feat, that.) Except the two characters involved – why, oh why did Szpara have to resort to that particular pairing? – renders it utterly tone-deaf to any internal logic or psychological layering.
It has absolutely no relevance beyond porn. I must admit to having to Google ‘sounding’, which I discovered involves inserting a rod up your urethra. Which is a pretty good description of reading this sleaze-bucket of a completely exploitative and non-SF excuse of a novel.
She embroiders tablecloths etc. for military wives to make ends meet. Ironically, this makes the Queen of the Corner quite extraordinarily connected in her world, even if she largely remains oblivious to political undercurrents.
It also brings her to the attention of dashing Carlos and his cadres, who charm the Queen of the Corner into letting them use her house for their clandestine meetings. The Queen is immediately taken with young Carlos, and so begins an achingly delicate courtship between the two.
However, it is abundantly clear that Carlos admires her for the unapologetic and fiercely independent way she lives her life. It is equally clear that Carlos is exploiting the Queen’s attraction to him, just as the Queen knows intuitively that he will indulge her hopeless crush so that she is comfortable with their ‘arrangement’ and considers it fair value.
Writing about toxic relationships or ones where the power dynamic is skewed can be extraordinarily difficult and rewarding, for writer and reader. Unfortunately, there seems to be a modern trend whereby the exact mechanics of such imbalances are accepted as the status quo, rather than properly examined or analysed.
I’d go so far as to say that the partner in which all the power resides is ‘celebrated’ for his dominance (yes, they are invariably male), which is transmuted into a sense of mystery, virility and eroticism tinged with danger. This ‘formula’ has found expression in everything from E.L. Grey’s ‘Fifty Shades’ to Stephanie Meyer’s ‘Twilight’ saga.
In ‘My Tender Matador’, there is something beautiful in watching Carlos the cadre gradually fall under the spell of the Queen of the Corner. Yes, it is an opportunistic or parasitic relationship, but one gradually senses the centre of power shifting between them.
Or perhaps it is a case of them both being equally open-minded about their mutual opportunism, which then paradoxically gives them the clarity to see each other as they truly are – flawed, dishonest, damaged and deceptive. It is a kind of intimacy that results in a much deeper bond than any physical connection would have provided.
I was immediately reminded of ‘My Tender Matador’ when I began reading ‘Docile’, especially at the beginning when Alex encounters Elisha for the first time at the relatively neutral meeting ground of the Office of Debt Resolution (ODR), a very real boundary or barrier between two starkly contrasted realities.
The one is the world of Alexander Bishop III (or ‘ABIII’, as per his personal monogram), the heir of the billionaire family that owns the patent for Dociline, the drug administered to Dociles to allow them to serve their sentences of indentured slavery without incident (or any memory of the experience).
The other is Elisha’s much more familiar world of industry and agriculture. This represents a proletarian underclass where debt is hereditary. Elisha’s mother submitted to being a bondservant for her family, but returns with permanent mental damage from Dociline. And the family’s debt is still intact.
This gives Elisha no choice but to become a Docile himself, especially to protect his younger sister Abby from the same experience. When he meets Alex for the first time, Elisha is sexually inexperienced and, crucially, unsure about his own orientation (though I suspect this is merely a gambit on the part of Szpara to up the stakes between his main protagonists.)
There is an immediate spark of attraction between the two at the ODR, which is one important pillar of the narrative. The other is that Dociles have various ‘rights’, one of which is to refuse to take Dociline. Though if one has no recall of doing so or any memories of what follows, what is to stop someone simply being ‘drugged’ without consent?
This is a right that Elisha crucially invokes once Alex has accepted him as a Docile. It raises the immediate question of why Alex didn’t do a proper pre-screening of Elisha, especially given his political importance and how any choice of Docile is likely to reflect on his status and influence.
In fact, herein lies my major problem with Szpara’s narrative. His world-building is designed to drive the initial meeting between Alex and Elisha and everything that happens thereafter between them, as it is all about their ‘relationship’. The 75 chapters alternate between their first-person viewpoints.
Everything else about their world is left frustratingly opaque. There is a single reference to the concept of nexum or mancipatio, a type of debt bondage contract from the Roman Empire whereby the debtor pledged his or her person as collateral:
Debt bondage existed in the early Republic largely as a result of increasing control over the ager publicus, or public land, by individuals who acquired disproportionate wealth and power and distorted the republican ideal of a commonwealth. As farmers and laborers lost access to the land that was theoretically held in common by the Roman people (populus Romanus), they were unable to earn a living, and nexum was resorted to as security for debts.
I learned more from this cogent Wikipedia definition than I did from Szpara’s novel itself, which is especially problematic if it is to be considered SF. As for Dociline, there is a long tradition in SF of drugging populations into obedience, from Soma in Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ to the movie ‘Soylent Green’. Exactly why Dociline is not simply applied to the population as a whole is an issue that Szpara never explores.
So what is Szpara’s key driver here? Well, to put it bluntly, Elisha is Anastasia Steele and Alex is Christian Grey. So Elisha drops his bombshell about refusing Dociline … Again, why? He knows that, as a Docile, he will not only be forced to have sex with Alex but be passed around to Alex’s friends and their Dociles like a party favour of the week, which could be problematic especially if he does not know if he is gay or not …
Alex then realises that he will have to ‘train’ Elisha into a submissive state more akin to a true Docile, which begins an elaborate process of reward-and-punishment, culminating (well, climaxing) in the much-telegraphed ‘first fuck’. Which is basically a rape carried out by a pampered and privileged predator.
Worryingly, Szpara writes this scene with all the heavy-handed cues of bad gay porn. I have read reviews comparing ‘Docile’ to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. Well, I have to say there is nothing about the Ceremony in this scene. It is tawdry and titillating, without a scrap of nuance.
Even without Dociline, Elisha finds that he enjoys being violated … a conviction soon put to the test when Alex takes him to his first Patron and Docile ‘party’ (yes, there is an orgy scene, and even a horse race staged with Dociles as steeds.)
In order to ‘please’ Alex (and also because he is perpetually horny), Elisha embarks on a kind of ‘Stockholm Syndrome for Dummies’ auto self-initiation programme (he also learns how to cook, play the piano and go shopping, so it is not all down to his prodigious talent for being tied up and fucked silly.)
However, so successful is he at ingratiating himself into Alex’s good graces that the two soon find themselves developing ‘feelings’ for each other. But neither can tell whether or not any of this is genuine … From this point on it is all downhill, unless you enjoyed the movie ‘Pretty Woman’. Of which this movie is much a gayer version, with none of the charm of Julia Roberts to leaven the proceedings.
I don’t want to give too much away about the plot, as this is a book that depends heavily on the twists and turns of its baroque melodrama. Suffice it to say that we end up with a half-baked courtroom thriller (not to mention a ‘mad scientists in a lab’ routine thrown in for good measure).
Probably thinking that their readers would be bored by so much plot, Szpara then throws in what is perhaps the most elaborate sex scene in the entire book (no mean feat, that.) Except the two characters involved – why, oh why did Szpara have to resort to that particular pairing? – renders it utterly tone-deaf to any internal logic or psychological layering.
It has absolutely no relevance beyond porn. I must admit to having to Google ‘sounding’, which I discovered involves inserting a rod up your urethra. Which is a pretty good description of reading this sleaze-bucket of a completely exploitative and non-SF excuse of a novel.
March 14, 2020
Update: I've downgraded to 2 stars. The more I think about it the more this book doesn't sit well with me and I don't want to recommend it.
I saw someone say that this book reads like fan fiction and that is a really accurate description. This isn't an insult, fanfic is lovely and a rich tapestry, but it's worth noting when it comes to the style of the prose, many of the themes, and particularly the sex scenes. (They are very very detailed, a staple of fanfic, not so much a staple of non-romance fiction.)
For me the whole thing stands on a faulty premise and while I sped through the first half I found myself growing weary of it in the second half. I could no longer think maybe it was going in a different direction. It was what it was and the more I got a good look at it, the more I knew it wasn't for me. And I suspect some readers will have the same issue I do.
The premise is that income inequality has become so extreme that people become indentured servants to pay off their debt. These can be long, even lifetime terms. To keep this system running, the servants are called "Dociles" and given a drug called Dociline that keeps them in a happy haze where they're willing to follow orders. It is a world very similar to our own, except for these differences, and I think that's one of its biggest flaws. Perhaps if this was another world we could dive into the issue without the long history of slavery overshadowing the story though it's never addressed.
But that was just one of the issues of the book. The other is that our main characters are Elisha, who has decided to save his family from debtor's prison by becoming a Docile, and Alex, the trillionaire who needs a Docile to keep his family off his back (for reasons that are never quite entirely clear). Alex and Elisha will, of course, fall in love. Except not. The big twist is that Elisha refuses Dociline, though it ends up not being much of a factor in the long run, since Alex is able to brainwash him quite quickly into caring for Alex's company and wellbeing above all else. It is a relationship with a ridiculous power differential. And even though the book knows this and spends a lot of time explaining this to us, it still wants to somehow salvage it. To me, a relationship that starts under these conditions is unsalvageable, so the book's efforts to get me to come around and see Elisha grow into a full person and Alex understand how wrong he was were all well and good, but that didn't mean I wanted these two anywhere near each other ever again. Like fan fiction, it is concerned above all else with the romance at its center. And that is hugely to its detriment.
The "There is no consent in capitalism" on the cover also irked me. The book's situations are so extreme that its version of capitalism doesn't feel connected to ours, and it is too concerned with the love story to spend much time actually critiquing capitalism. You can be pro-capitalism and anti-slavery, that's not too hard of a line to draw. And there's no bite here, no satire, no takedown of the wealthy. Instead the wealthy people are caricatures and so are the poor, we don't have much of an idea of how the actual society is able to function which leaves it all rather toothless. That Alex and Elisha are gay and no one cares is nice and all, but it didn't make up for the other problems I had.
I saw someone say that this book reads like fan fiction and that is a really accurate description. This isn't an insult, fanfic is lovely and a rich tapestry, but it's worth noting when it comes to the style of the prose, many of the themes, and particularly the sex scenes. (They are very very detailed, a staple of fanfic, not so much a staple of non-romance fiction.)
For me the whole thing stands on a faulty premise and while I sped through the first half I found myself growing weary of it in the second half. I could no longer think maybe it was going in a different direction. It was what it was and the more I got a good look at it, the more I knew it wasn't for me. And I suspect some readers will have the same issue I do.
The premise is that income inequality has become so extreme that people become indentured servants to pay off their debt. These can be long, even lifetime terms. To keep this system running, the servants are called "Dociles" and given a drug called Dociline that keeps them in a happy haze where they're willing to follow orders. It is a world very similar to our own, except for these differences, and I think that's one of its biggest flaws. Perhaps if this was another world we could dive into the issue without the long history of slavery overshadowing the story though it's never addressed.
But that was just one of the issues of the book. The other is that our main characters are Elisha, who has decided to save his family from debtor's prison by becoming a Docile, and Alex, the trillionaire who needs a Docile to keep his family off his back (for reasons that are never quite entirely clear). Alex and Elisha will, of course, fall in love. Except not. The big twist is that Elisha refuses Dociline, though it ends up not being much of a factor in the long run, since Alex is able to brainwash him quite quickly into caring for Alex's company and wellbeing above all else. It is a relationship with a ridiculous power differential. And even though the book knows this and spends a lot of time explaining this to us, it still wants to somehow salvage it. To me, a relationship that starts under these conditions is unsalvageable, so the book's efforts to get me to come around and see Elisha grow into a full person and Alex understand how wrong he was were all well and good, but that didn't mean I wanted these two anywhere near each other ever again. Like fan fiction, it is concerned above all else with the romance at its center. And that is hugely to its detriment.
The "There is no consent in capitalism" on the cover also irked me. The book's situations are so extreme that its version of capitalism doesn't feel connected to ours, and it is too concerned with the love story to spend much time actually critiquing capitalism. You can be pro-capitalism and anti-slavery, that's not too hard of a line to draw. And there's no bite here, no satire, no takedown of the wealthy. Instead the wealthy people are caricatures and so are the poor, we don't have much of an idea of how the actual society is able to function which leaves it all rather toothless. That Alex and Elisha are gay and no one cares is nice and all, but it didn't make up for the other problems I had.
May 31, 2020
Q: Do you really believe you have any free will left? (c)
Education in this dystopia is a hoot:
Q:
“I paid off my PhD in only three years as a Docile. Nothing but opportunity lies before me, now.”
...
“Why are you here?” ...
“To pay off my debt.”...
“College debt,” he adds. “Turns out a philosophy major isn’t what it used to be.” (c)
In this book which is more of erotica than sci-fi, BTW, they have loads of crazy stuff (besides erotica / very dubious con):
- Nexus,
- Dociline,
- Empower Maryland,
- A society gone heavy on pharma,
- Lots of Stockholm Syndrome going around,
- People who are VERY serious in believing the slavery 'training' is 'work'. Minboggling. *Eyeroll* Wanna become a CEO, be a good son, a responsible member of society - go train a slave!
I'm taking off an star for a lot of characters being bery copy-paste but the rest of it is stellar.
Q:
Reimagine my life... Pretend I didn’t break a person. (c)
Q:
No one seems to notice, all too busy speed-walking to work or breakfast or whatever they do for fun in the city. (c)
Q:
“Nexum, the system by which citizens can pay off their debts with personal servitude.” (c)
Q:
I just spent three fucking million dollars—not to mention an additional twelve thousand per year—to support the poor. (c) Very generous. All the way acqwiring a shiny fucktoy.
Q:
They don’t make love like that, anymore. Now it’s all bank accounts and subpoenas and Genea-Economic records. (c)
Education in this dystopia is a hoot:
Q:
“I paid off my PhD in only three years as a Docile. Nothing but opportunity lies before me, now.”
...
“Why are you here?” ...
“To pay off my debt.”...
“College debt,” he adds. “Turns out a philosophy major isn’t what it used to be.” (c)
In this book which is more of erotica than sci-fi, BTW, they have loads of crazy stuff (besides erotica / very dubious con):
- Nexus,
- Dociline,
- Empower Maryland,
- A society gone heavy on pharma,
- Lots of Stockholm Syndrome going around,
- People who are VERY serious in believing the slavery 'training' is 'work'. Minboggling. *Eyeroll* Wanna become a CEO, be a good son, a responsible member of society - go train a slave!
I'm taking off an star for a lot of characters being bery copy-paste but the rest of it is stellar.
Q:
Reimagine my life... Pretend I didn’t break a person. (c)
Q:
No one seems to notice, all too busy speed-walking to work or breakfast or whatever they do for fun in the city. (c)
Q:
“Nexum, the system by which citizens can pay off their debts with personal servitude.” (c)
Q:
I just spent three fucking million dollars—not to mention an additional twelve thousand per year—to support the poor. (c) Very generous. All the way acqwiring a shiny fucktoy.
Q:
They don’t make love like that, anymore. Now it’s all bank accounts and subpoenas and Genea-Economic records. (c)
September 16, 2019
This book held me by the throat and punched me in the face and I said thank you very much.
June 13, 2020
480 pages and he never explained how the stupid fingerprint-lock butt plug worked what a waste of time
February 26, 2020
This is an incredibly challenging book to review. On the one hand, I couldn't put it down. It pushed the boundaries of what I feel like is acceptable in commercial fiction, and there's a lot of value in that. It contends with really thorny questions of consent and medical ethics and morality.
On the other hand, it vacillates painfully between interesting, meticulous commentary and absolutely cringeworthy Kink 101 sex scenes and tropes straight out of "my mom sold me to One Direction" fanfiction erotica. The ending undoes any good that happens in the middle. It reads like Szpara really labored over the premise of the book, then rushed through the actual resolution--or perhaps his editor did. The grammar is...not good, and the interesting, dark exploration of capitalism and sexuality gets quashed beneath a more or less standard romance novel/courtroom drama conclusion. Not to mention the fact that the one black character with the most face time is named...literally...Onyx. Cringe, cringe, cringe.
In many ways, this book really fits the stereotype of dystopian fiction: "What if the stuff that already happens to marginalized folks happened to nice white people?"
On the other hand, it vacillates painfully between interesting, meticulous commentary and absolutely cringeworthy Kink 101 sex scenes and tropes straight out of "my mom sold me to One Direction" fanfiction erotica. The ending undoes any good that happens in the middle. It reads like Szpara really labored over the premise of the book, then rushed through the actual resolution--or perhaps his editor did. The grammar is...not good, and the interesting, dark exploration of capitalism and sexuality gets quashed beneath a more or less standard romance novel/courtroom drama conclusion. Not to mention the fact that the one black character with the most face time is named...literally...Onyx. Cringe, cringe, cringe.
In many ways, this book really fits the stereotype of dystopian fiction: "What if the stuff that already happens to marginalized folks happened to nice white people?"
Shelved as 'dnf'
December 27, 2020Audio - 5 Stars
Story DNF @ 64%
The ratings don't lie.
This went from an interesting conversional piece to I just don't care anymore.
Story DNF @ 64%
The ratings don't lie.
This went from an interesting conversional piece to I just don't care anymore.
June 20, 2020
Incredibly engaging, but also a book with a lot of complicated ideas. I have to think about it for a bit.
****
So, my thoughts, for what they are worth.
Some of the online furor surrounding this book is the lack of engagement with the historical history of slavery in the US. I agree that the story didn't feel complete without some mention of that history. But. And this is a very large "but," I really do have to wonder how well received any commentary of that nature would be received coming from a white male author. Yes, I do realize the author is trans, but there is a huge pushback right now on authors who don't stick to "playing in their own backyards."
I think one of the missing pieces in the story is that the author wanted to focus on class inequality without touching on the intersection of race. At all. Even without the mention of historical slavery, the world occupied by the characters appears to be colour blind. At the same time, the set up here is that indentured service is a "natural" extension of the current capitalist system. I don't think that extension can happen without the interplay and "support" of fundamentally racist polices.
So that said...I also think asking Szpara to incorporate all that intersectionality is 1. a huge ask for a debut novelist and 2. probably would have created even more controversy as there is no way that everyone would have been satisfied with the analysis.
On top of all this, there is the incredibly complicated relationship between Alex and Elisha which asks the reader to undertake a whole other layer of thought and analysis ie. consent in an inherently unequal relationship.
Honestly it makes my head ache just thinking about it all.
At the end though, it was really engaging because not only did I want to know what was going to happen, I wasn't sure what outcome I was even hoping for. It never felt like things were clear cut, and I still don't know how I feel about all of it. That, just by itself, is an incredible accomplishment for a debut author.
A final note: some other reviews mention this, but if you didn't catch it, there is a lot of very graphic sex in this book, along with the aforementioned problems with consent. If that is a problem for you, consider yourself forewarned.
****
So, my thoughts, for what they are worth.
Some of the online furor surrounding this book is the lack of engagement with the historical history of slavery in the US. I agree that the story didn't feel complete without some mention of that history. But. And this is a very large "but," I really do have to wonder how well received any commentary of that nature would be received coming from a white male author. Yes, I do realize the author is trans, but there is a huge pushback right now on authors who don't stick to "playing in their own backyards."
I think one of the missing pieces in the story is that the author wanted to focus on class inequality without touching on the intersection of race. At all. Even without the mention of historical slavery, the world occupied by the characters appears to be colour blind. At the same time, the set up here is that indentured service is a "natural" extension of the current capitalist system. I don't think that extension can happen without the interplay and "support" of fundamentally racist polices.
So that said...I also think asking Szpara to incorporate all that intersectionality is 1. a huge ask for a debut novelist and 2. probably would have created even more controversy as there is no way that everyone would have been satisfied with the analysis.
On top of all this, there is the incredibly complicated relationship between Alex and Elisha which asks the reader to undertake a whole other layer of thought and analysis ie. consent in an inherently unequal relationship.
Honestly it makes my head ache just thinking about it all.
At the end though, it was really engaging because not only did I want to know what was going to happen, I wasn't sure what outcome I was even hoping for. It never felt like things were clear cut, and I still don't know how I feel about all of it. That, just by itself, is an incredible accomplishment for a debut author.
A final note: some other reviews mention this, but if you didn't catch it, there is a lot of very graphic sex in this book, along with the aforementioned problems with consent. If that is a problem for you, consider yourself forewarned.
Read
March 5, 2020Hello darkness, aka I don’t know what to rate what I read, my old friend..
So my biggest problem with this book had nothing to do with this book. I got stuck at 30% for almost two weeks after being beat-up by the flu and then I went into a slump. I felt no motivation to pick this back up (or anything else, really, though I felt honour bound to finish what I had started) because the beginning of this book is the most uncomfortable part.
In the beginning we are neck deep in watching Alex, our rich entitled 'thinks he's a do-gooder' protagonist train our Docile protagonist, Elisha, into being the best little slave he can be — all so his family's debt can be paid and they can be afforded a stipend so they can try not to incur any more debt. Yes, Elisha's signed away all but his most basic rights, though some apparently still exist and yet everyone is shocked when they are called into play, but he exists inside a system where a drug was created so that you can be treated more or less like furniture. Worse than furniture, even. Anything can be done that does not do harm. That's a.. broad range, particularly when you're the Docile of a trillionaire and feel you are afforded the right to do anything.
But outside of the framework itself, and beyond the knee-jerk sympathy felt towards Elisha, I didn't feel much for either of these characters. Elisha is in the unenviable position of having to sign over his life to clear his family's debt, sure, and Alex is trying to do the best he can for his Docile who he has to actually consider a real person because he's not on-meds, and the whole thing is just uncomfortable because until this moment, Alex never did. Consider them real people, I mean; not that anyone but the poor seem to, either, but still. The drug is his family's legacy but, more than like, like all of the haves vs the have-nots, there's just no consideration, no awareness, and this ends up being a thirty-year-delayed wake-up call for him — and, maybe, for society?
I'm not saying this isn't supposed to be uncomfortable. It definitely is. And I suppose it's no different than comparing District Twelve to District One in THE HUNGER GAMES but, like, add sex instead of violence? It was definitely good at spotlighting at decadence and depravity of this society's culture in stark contrast to the fact that people are literally signing over years of their lives so that they, and future generations, can avoid prison or worse. But halfway through this took a sharp turn into a sorta conspiracy and then courtroom drama, all while one character is trying to recover from trauma and rediscover their agency, and it's just a lot of things.
This was a story that I requested because I wanted to be shocked, made angry, even heartbroken, but I think I wanted to feel those emotions from the complexity of the story and less uneasy over the spoiled antics of the rich. But I think therein lies the problem. Even today, the rich are just so rich, while so many people have so much less, and it's a tough pill to swallow to think that one day they might own people, too.
Ultimately, DOCILE seems to follow the standard (from what I know which, is, admittedly not much..) tropes of slavefic stories and I think if you go in knowing that, you'll appreciate what Szpara does. I just wish there'd been more explored for how this had started, whether or not the rest of the world followed along (this deals primarily with only one State and while it's mentioned vaguely that Maryland isn't the only one, I have to wonder..) and.. I don't know, I think I just wanted this to feel bigger than it did. But maybe I would've minded less if not for the slump? Which is why, well, there's no rating.
** I received an ARC from Edelweiss and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
---
This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.
So my biggest problem with this book had nothing to do with this book. I got stuck at 30% for almost two weeks after being beat-up by the flu and then I went into a slump. I felt no motivation to pick this back up (or anything else, really, though I felt honour bound to finish what I had started) because the beginning of this book is the most uncomfortable part.
In the beginning we are neck deep in watching Alex, our rich entitled 'thinks he's a do-gooder' protagonist train our Docile protagonist, Elisha, into being the best little slave he can be — all so his family's debt can be paid and they can be afforded a stipend so they can try not to incur any more debt. Yes, Elisha's signed away all but his most basic rights, though some apparently still exist and yet everyone is shocked when they are called into play, but he exists inside a system where a drug was created so that you can be treated more or less like furniture. Worse than furniture, even. Anything can be done that does not do harm. That's a.. broad range, particularly when you're the Docile of a trillionaire and feel you are afforded the right to do anything.
But outside of the framework itself, and beyond the knee-jerk sympathy felt towards Elisha, I didn't feel much for either of these characters. Elisha is in the unenviable position of having to sign over his life to clear his family's debt, sure, and Alex is trying to do the best he can for his Docile who he has to actually consider a real person because he's not on-meds, and the whole thing is just uncomfortable because until this moment, Alex never did. Consider them real people, I mean; not that anyone but the poor seem to, either, but still. The drug is his family's legacy but, more than like, like all of the haves vs the have-nots, there's just no consideration, no awareness, and this ends up being a thirty-year-delayed wake-up call for him — and, maybe, for society?
I'm not saying this isn't supposed to be uncomfortable. It definitely is. And I suppose it's no different than comparing District Twelve to District One in THE HUNGER GAMES but, like, add sex instead of violence? It was definitely good at spotlighting at decadence and depravity of this society's culture in stark contrast to the fact that people are literally signing over years of their lives so that they, and future generations, can avoid prison or worse. But halfway through this took a sharp turn into a sorta conspiracy and then courtroom drama, all while one character is trying to recover from trauma and rediscover their agency, and it's just a lot of things.
This was a story that I requested because I wanted to be shocked, made angry, even heartbroken, but I think I wanted to feel those emotions from the complexity of the story and less uneasy over the spoiled antics of the rich. But I think therein lies the problem. Even today, the rich are just so rich, while so many people have so much less, and it's a tough pill to swallow to think that one day they might own people, too.
Ultimately, DOCILE seems to follow the standard (from what I know which, is, admittedly not much..) tropes of slavefic stories and I think if you go in knowing that, you'll appreciate what Szpara does. I just wish there'd been more explored for how this had started, whether or not the rest of the world followed along (this deals primarily with only one State and while it's mentioned vaguely that Maryland isn't the only one, I have to wonder..) and.. I don't know, I think I just wanted this to feel bigger than it did. But maybe I would've minded less if not for the slump? Which is why, well, there's no rating.
** I received an ARC from Edelweiss and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
---
This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.
Read
June 12, 2022This book isn’t the kind of one where I can write two cute summarizing lines and say it constitutes a review. My draft is already two pages long and is nowhere near done, but this book includes extremely provoking topics that require a lot of unpacking and analysis - so in that case, review to come.
> 3.5 stars
i received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for a review
> 3.5 stars
i received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for a review
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,571 reviews