Title: Tortured by Amazon Redheads
Author: Giles English
Publisher: Giles English
Publication Date: Aug. 30, 2019
Genres: Fantasy, Erotica
Shelves: Female-dominant
Drawing inspiration from grimdark fantasy, old-school men’s adventure novels, and female domination erotica, Tortured by Amazon Redheads is actually a far better read than you might expect. Giles English not only knows how to construct a fantasy that’s full of tension, drama, and action, but he knows how to tell a story, making me pause on several occasions to appreciate a description or a turn-of-phrase.
This is what I would call a violent fantasy with sexual elements that are only as erotic as your imagination allows them to be. Whether the fates of Severus and his Roman companions is the stuff of nightmares or fetish fuel is entirely up to the reader, but that distinction does nothing to take away from the fantasy tale of conquest and vengeance. I was intrigued from the very first scene, and anxious to know how the various relationships would be resolved.
There are two key relationships here that drive the story forward. The first is that of Severus, the captured Roman, and Badba, the Amazon who takes such an interest in him. There’s genuine affection beneath the domination, and the pivotal decision he makes in the closing chapters, putting her happiness above his own fate is impressive. The second is that of Vesta, slave of the Amazons, and Severus, her ex-husband. It is a combination of guilt and love that leads Severus into Amazon territory, and a desire to make amends by freeing his ex-wife is what gives him the courage to endure his sexual torments. As the story progresses, we get glimpses of the hurt beneath her anger, but it isn’t until her decisions so twist the climax that we fully understand.
As for the sexual slavery and erotic domination – which involves chastity, torture, pegging, and queening – it is the depiction of a Roman culture of toxic masculinity (and fear of feminine sexuality) that makes it so effective. The domination of gender, culture, and sexuality accentuates the power exchange and increases the significance to what it means to be unmanned and made the sexual slave of uncivilized women. Against that backdrop, what Severus comes to feel (and do) for Badba is far more heroic than merely slaying a dragon or retrieving some magic talisman.
Tortured by Amazon Redheads is everything you might expect or crave from the blurb, but it is so much more. A surprisingly deep and complex tale that’s as clever and compelling as it is dangerously erotic.
Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀
Beauty in Ruins 
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