Book Review: Mistress Of The Air by S. Nano

Title: Mistress Of The Air

Author: S. Nano

Publisher: Excessica

Publication Date: April 21st, 2017

Genres: Steampunk, Erotica

Shelves: Female-dominant, Female-fronted

Femdom erotica, steampunk adventure, and pulp humor. Most people will tell you the three shouldn’t go together. They might even argue that they shouldn’t even be in the same sentence, much less the same book. They’re wrong. The latter two work together perfectly, and female domination makes everything better – as Mistress Of The Air so ably (and entertainingly) demonstrates.

This is sexy, exciting, and funny – often at the very same time, and even more often in the most inappropriate ways. The characters are parodies and caricatures in many respects, poking fun at Victorian literature, vintage science fiction, pulp adventure, and contemporary erotica, but they are also engaging personalities with whom you cannot help but fall in love.

Mistress Of The Air is the story of Lady Sally Rudston-Chichester, a rich, eccentric, and well-connected Dominatrix who is gleefully self-indulgent, and who never lets common sense or social values get in the way of indulging her passions. She is ably assisted by a submissive transvestite maid by the of Victoria, a automaton steampunk sex-doll named Borghild, and the Corseted Domme itself, the largest airship to ever take to the skies. It is an altogether ridiculous tale, full of slapstick pratfalls, running gags, Wiley Coyote-like equipment malfunctions, and daring escapes from impossible situations. Against that backdrop, readers might expect the femdom and bondage erotica to feel forced and awkward, but the sheer charismatic extravagance of Lady Sally (as so perfectly captured by S. Nano) makes it all work.

Then, of course, there is the duke, bishop, lawyer, and banker, all of whom are here to submit to the kiss of Lady Sally’s whips, floggers, paddles, strap-ons, and steampunk sex toys – which, more often than not, malfunction in glorious moments of painful excess. While they do not get to demonstrate a lot of personality, I loved how the bishop went to such great lengths to keep his vows of chastity while being punished and penetrated by his Mistress. There are also family members of Lady Sally’s throughout the world, on whom she descends to impose herself, and who cause no end of mischief in trying to claim the Corseted Domme for their own means.

The straight man to this comedic entourage is Captain Wyndham, the only man aboard the Corseted Domme not to feel the bite of her whip. If this were a movie, he’d be Harrison Ford, channeling the most daring characteristics of Han Solo and Indiana Jones, only with a sexy C-3PO replacing Chewbacca as co-pilot. He is a man with whom Lady Sally flirts uncontrollably, but who is there more to observe the action on the reader’s behalf than to be dominated himself. The steampunk elements are as inventive as they are erotic, and their tendency to malfunction beneath the over-enthusiastic hand of Lady Sally keeps the story from getting stale or repetitive.

There is a plot here, with a comical series of events that keep the adventure moving, but they are secondary to the sexual exploits. I have, quite honestly, never had so much fun with a story as I did with Lady Sally and Mistress Of The Air. It was everything I could have wanted from the promise of its cover blurb, and so much more. If you can stand a little tongue-in-cheek while enjoying steampunk-fired dildos jack-hammering between other cheeks, then this is a must-read. And, if (like me) you’re left wanting more of Lady Sally, she has three short stories that predate the novel, contained in the Beltane Fire, Fifty Shades of Green, and Of Passion and Steam collections.

Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀