Exquisite Possession
by Cari Silverwood
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My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Fast paced, filthy, funny, frenzied and fabulous. An exciting, humorous and often thought provoking conclusion to this epic series.
I'm probably (OK definitely) going to take a while to get to the crux of this review, so I'm going to lay down now how much I LOVED this book, how gripping the story was, how fabulous the characters were, how hot the sex was and how sad I am that the series has ended. Whilst this can be read as JI and Fern's stand alone story, reading the series will give you a better understanding of where all the other characters fit, along with how and why certain events happen.
I fuck therefore I am. He would rewrite Emery's ideas on what made a self-aware AI.
Acquired Possession, book #1 of the Machinery of Desire series was my first ever Cari Silverwood read. (Actually that's a slight fib, My Romance Curse was the first but since that was written on a whim and a dare I'm not counting it here.) I saw adverts for that book, downloaded a sample and immediately 1-clicked to purchase the book as soon as I got to the end of the sample. I haven't looked back since - I'm still not sure if that's a good or a bad thing ;)
"Girl," he sucked in air. "This was my best idea. I hope you and Aunt M have a better one."
Now to return to feeling lost and despairing.
It seemed late in life to take up biting his nails.
Each book in the series has brought something new to the story of Aerthe and it's inhabitants. Each tale has opened our eyes to a new facet of what life is like for its people. They've also contained some downright filthy and perverted sex scenes, and boy are they wonderful to read. Now normally I'd be bleating on about the amazing world building skills of the author, but in Exquisite Possession she took things in a different direction. We had a story that looked inwards at what makes us human and what constitutes a good or a bad person, rather than focusing on the outwards.
Still learning how to human ... Some days he seemed a cross between her perfect Dom and a teenager.
JI/Osta was a mechanoid, a sentient robot for want of a better description. He took over a 'human' body (or technically a Scav body) in Book 2 of the series. Fern is a human, dragged through time and space, otherwise known as a portal, to become a blood slave to the Mekkers. Only Fern stabbed the judge who ruled that they weren't 'sentient' enough to have rights and ended up being ejected from their landship broken, battered, bruised and close to death. So it's fair to say that both characters come with a fair bit of baggage.
The first part of this book focuses on JI and his battles with the fantasies he has about Fern. Fantasies that include pain, humiliation and domination. Fantasies that just perhaps Fern might have too.
With a thrill to top what already had grabbed his balls ... he realized Fern could be his experiment. His little experiment on sex.
Little being more due to her size compared to his, not to what was possible. Because there was everything. Possibilities seemed endless. He, an ex-mech with control of a girl.
JI goes through a lot of soul searching, but it never felt too introspective or naval gazing. Usually because CS would always drop in some of her wonderful humour when things started getting a little too serious.
"I would never hurt you more than you want,"
This was much more of a love story than any of the other books, possibly with the exception of Blue and Sassik's story. It still retained dark edges and some very extremely kinky play, some of which involved the surgical implantation of blunt spikes around a part of JI's anatomy. However JI was always far too caring to ever truly be a bad man, and given Fern's traumatic past he was the perfect hero for both her and us. That didn't stop him from using the connection both he and Fern had with the mechlings to his own benefit.
"Is a part of you still Osta? The thinking part of you?"
"No. I'm not him at all. I told you that."
He wanted to ask her if that would scare her more than she could bear but didn't dare to. Because the answer might scare him.
The second part of the story is more 'traditional' sci-fi action, if being strung up naked on the nose cone of a war ship, your body pierced by countless wires, could ever be considered traditional. Like all truly great books, lots of strands and easter egg clues all wove together to bring a very satisfying ending to this amazing series. Did I also mention that there is a lot of very hot, kinky and lust filled sex?
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Blurb -
A mech in love is capable of truly dangerous things.
On the day JI finds Fern, the human female stabbed by the judge, she shoots him, twice.
Though he was once a three-story battle mech, JI is now a man, with a man's desires. How eagerly Fern climaxes when held down, leashed, and stimulated, or taken roughly from behind.
He needs to study her ...
On the day JI finds Fern, the human female stabbed by the judge, she shoots him, twice.
Though he was once a three-story battle mech, JI is now a man, with a man's desires. How eagerly Fern climaxes when held down, leashed, and stimulated, or taken roughly from behind.
He needs to study her ...
War intervenes. If no one opposes him, the judge will litter the land with the dead and have his final, perverted revenge on Fern.
But what can an ex-battle mech do when he's merely a man, apart from beat the ground with his fists and scream?
Love will surely transcend this evil, or at least show JI how to tear the judge, limb from limb.
This is a dark romance and includes rough, kinky sexual scenes. If you don't understand where dark stories can go, this might not be for you.
This is the last book in The Machinery of Desire series.
Though it is possible there will be spin-off stories, they won't be part of the series.
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Ratings
5 stars - This is a book I will not forget and would definitely read again.
4 stars - I really enjoyed this book, I might not read it again but I would definitely recommend it to others.
3 stars - This story was good but either forgettable or just very typical of its genre.
2 stars - Whilst the book was readable I either didn't enjoy parts of the plot or just could not connect to the main characters.
1 star - This is a book I simply could not finish for reasons listed in the review.
