Publisher's Weekly Review
Szpara's disquieting and riveting debut raises pressing questions about power and consent amid plentiful kinky gay sex scenes. Set in a near-future America where pharmaceuticals are used to induce sexual submission, 21-year-old Elisha Wilder sells himself into sexual slavery as a Docile to erase his parents' crushing debt. Alexander Bishop, 30-year-old heir to the fortune behind the memory-erasing, compliance-ensuring drug Dociline, buys Elisha for a life-term to prove to his family that he shares their values and is ruthless enough to head the company. But angry, defiant Elisha refuses to take Dociline, having witnessed the drug's effects on his mother, and Alex resorts to harsh conditioning, sexual punishment, and force to make Elisha his submissive. As Elisha begins to cave under Alex's training, their relationship evolves into something resembling a romance, baffling both Elisha's family and Alex's elite social circle. But when a former lover's jealousy pushes Alex to take extreme action, the novel veers into a layered courtroom drama with plenty of surprises. Elisha's rapid conversion to docile and Alex's limited self-awareness, however, cloud this sharply written examination of consent. This queer dystopia is an arresting, disturbing, and ultimately satisfying challenge. (Mar.)
Booklist Review
This debut novel imagines a world in which a system has developed to provide a "solution" to generational debt, where debtors sign up to become Dociles, completely submissive servants to the rich and powerful. Elisha Wilder attempts to sell off his parents' debts by becoming a Docile, but plans on avoiding the seeming cognitive decline his mother suffered from being a Docile by refusing Dociline, the drug that insulates those entering the program from its effects. Elisha's new patron, Alex Bishop, is not only a rich doctor who Elisha feels confusingly attracted to, but is also a member of the prominent family that invented Dociline. Alex and Elisha's growing affection for each other is complicated by the inequities of power, and may have consequences for the Docile program as a whole. Exploring issues of consent, debt, and the power dynamics between the rich and poor, Szpara's debut examines how structures of power can deform and manipulate human relationships. Recommended for those interested in sf that explores power and sexuality, with content warnings for issues of consent.
Library Journal Review
In Maryland, Next of Kin laws mean that all debt accumulated in life passes down to your children, with debtors' prisons a harsh reality. To become a Docile means getting your generations of debt paid off. It also means becoming an indentured servant for whatever services your contract owner desires. The drug Dociline helps users hide from the emotional and physical trauma, but everything has a price. To protect his family, Elisha becomes a Docile to Alexander Bishop, one of the family that created and oversees the drug. Elisha has chosen to refuse Dociline--but not his owner. Explicit sex, mental and physical dominance, and control are strong beats within a story of two young men discovering the truth about their own lives and those of others around them. VERDICT This powerful debut is filled with achingly tender and brutally raw prose. Szpara strikes out at capitalism as well as the pharmaceutical trade and its effects, while dancing on the emotional knife's edge between love and obedience.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton