Docile Kindle Edition

I shudder at the thought of a world of generational debt: that you are responsible for the bills of your forebears. In Szpara's world, if you can't pay off these debts, you go to debtor's prison or sell your debt to a wealthier person and become their docile, a (usually) drugged-up drone with no will of their own. In these days of high student loans and higher mortgages, imagine how easy it would be to accumulate such a debt. Elisha's parents owe $3 million between them and plan to send his little sister off to be a docile to work some of it off. Well, Elisha's father plans - Elisha's mother had been a docile for ten years and the drug never wore off on her. She has less interaction with her family than a Teletubby. Elisha decides that he will be the one to become a docile instead.I'll be honest: this one took me out of my comfort zone quite a bit. Elisha's debt is bought by Alex, the wealthy scion of the company whose drug, Docile, makes normal people into dociles. Alex is one of the scientists who works on the drug. Imagine his shock when Elisha refuses the drug, as is his right, choosing to experience all the humiliation fully conscious of being what is essentially a sex slave.I was not comfortable reading the sex scenes, but they are vital to the plot and to the whole underlying premise of the book, which is basically about consent and free will. Yes, a person legally consents to becoming a docile, but if they've inherited a debt they have no way of paying (for who can afford to go to school in order to get a good job?), and they're given the choice between prison and slavery, are they truly consenting? It's like Sophie's choice: it's going to be terrible no matter what you choose, and being forced into the choice is yet another form of torture.I stuck with the book, though, and was satisfied by how Szpara resolved things. We live in a world of vast income inequality. Docile is not such a stretch from our current condition.

I don’t think this book is for everyone, but if you are at all interested in D/s power dynamics, have a jaded take on capitalism, and like reading about queer boys doing queer boy things, you should go for it. Without spoiling anything, I will say that the plot didn’t go the direction I was dreading it would; instead, there are imperfect characters making imperfect choices, living with the consequences, and trying to do and be better.I read this whole damned book in a day and a half because I wanted to know where it was going next. Looking forward to more from this author.

You may have noticed as America slides into an actual dystopia (upcoming elections notwithstanding) -- the thought that your debt could make you or your family/loved ones be able to be bought and sold by billionaires like 2008 mortgage loans isn't completely outside the pale. It's actually frighteningly realistic, and K. M. Szpara turned that premise into this devilishly prescient and bite-your-lips-as-you-read sexy book.Elisha has offered himself up as Docile to save his family from debtors prison. His debts are bought by Alex Bishop -- the scion of the laboratory that makes Dociline, the drug they give to debtors to keep them compliant. But when Elisha opts not to take the drug, by daring to be his own person under servitude and discovering what being a servant without Dociline actually means, he puts in motion a series of events that could cut the country's entire socioeconomic structure off at the knees.The characters are well written and fascinating, as is the world, and this book is also hot. H O T. I'd say it's got the angst of a L. J. Shen novel with the sex scenes of a Sierra Simone.Come for the near future SF, stay up all night reading because you might die if you don't know what happens to Elisha next.-- Erin, Paul's wife, whose reading ruins all of his kindle recommendations

This book was different and amazing. (Warning, spoilers ahead.)The first half read like a rather well-written BDSM book. In a world where debt is inherited by the next-of-kin, farm-boy Elisha Wilder sells himself into bondage as a Docile to relieve the $3mn debt owed by his family, thereby protecting his little sister. His contract is bought by a young man, Alex Bishop, the heir of a trillionaire family that makes Dociline, a drug that makes Dociles behave docile and obedient. When it wears off, it also gives them amnesia of the period under the drug. But Elisha doesn't take Dociline. Thus Alex starts to train him into docility without the drug, and succeeds all too well. Then he falls for his creation, and Elisha falls for his master. Thus far, this story is similar to many a BDSM fantasy, a gay version of "Fifty Shades" and similar.But then it does the unexpected, when the relationship is broken up. Now Alex has to deal with his family's fury that he has failed to comply with social expectations, and Elisha with his shattered devotion to Alex. At this point, the novel goes into a fascinating examination of the consequences of the whole set-up, both emotional and political, and comes to a satisfying conclusion.This was particularly interesting if viewed from a broader lens. Intergenerational debt bondage still exists in South Asia. So do forced marriages, where the woman may be required to comply with her husband's demands in much the same was as a Docile. And the fact that in the US, student loans cannot be discharged by bankruptcy suggests it would only take a step further to make Next of Kin legislation possible.It was these resonances that made the book. The author may or may not have introduced them deliberately. But they enormously increased its impact.

If intensely detailed, gay, dominant abuse sex is your thing, then this could be the best book you've read all year. If intelligent social commentary and strong plot line are your thing- maybe not a good choice at all. To me, as I patiently waited for some of the social aspects to be further investigated, primarily i just felt I was bombarded by some schizophrenic, hardcore, sexual fantasy fullfillment, through story telling. I gave up at 30% in, so would welcome someone telling me the pure tedious pornography of the first third, gave way to some earth shattering insights and perspectives - I'll happily stand corrected. Images of electronically programmable, irremovable butt plugs and deeply uncomfortable , deeply abusive , power play sexuality that will probably continue to make me feel a little sick for some time. But as I said- if that's the sort of malarky that floats your boat, then you will love this lame epistle - pornography posing as profundity. I felt polluted, not enlightened, by this book.

I loved this book. Something really different and I read it in one sitting and was really interested with the subplots.

This one had its ups and downs for me. Ultimately, it defied my expectations based on what I’ve heard from other reviewers, but it also didn’t live up to what its marketing made it out to be.Content warnings include: rape, slavery, normalized drug use, memory loss due to drug use, injection of untested drug, abuse, sexual content on-page including rape which is partially from the POV of the rapist, impact play, unprotected and protected sexual interactions, legal proceedings, trauma and PTSD, abandonment, character getting admitted into mental institution against their will, attempted suicide, depression.Docile‘s marketing appealed to me immensely, especially with the “there is no consent under capitalism” tagline. It’s presented as a thoughtful anti-capitalist critique.Once the book was released I heard more about the opposite – that is was not much more than slavefic erotica that doesn’t question its motives.Another negative I heard is that the book presents a dystopian future of the US – yet it doesn’t in any way acknowledge the country’s past with slavery or its connection to race. I wondered more than once while reading about why the US was chosen as setting anyways – it could have worked just as fine had it been an unspecified place and time that doesn’t necessarily have to be a future of our current world. I actually found hearing about the real places and other countries distracting, because it kept bringing up the question of context and how other countries and the world in general, climate change, wars, and any other current problem and issues are doing and how they view the US’s debt resolution system. The parallels to our current systems would still be there in a non-real-world setting after all. (And yes, while writing this I was absolutely thinking about The Hunger Games and how it has the same issue and good memes that make fun of it!)Generally, the book made quite a few choices that I just found strange, and especially in the first half I frequently found my suspension of disbelief broken. Not in the worst way, but I did pause and think “huh?!” quite a few times. I found it hard to reconcile several of the book’s aspects, especially in regards to worldbuilding, and to me it just didn’t seem very well thought through.I can see why so many people compare the book to slavefic. The first half in particular reminded me of those stories. It was uncomfortable, but it was also presented as “oh but they are both hot and have orgasms”. It was entertaining to read, but it felt a bit aimless, and I kept being kind of confused about the plot, the characters, and what the book was trying to be. The combination of those together, but also different context clues from different scenes didn’t quite slot together for me. For example, Alex simply accepting that Elisha refuses Dociline, when previously he went on and on about how he only purchased Elisha’s contract to test the new version of the drug on him. He made a huge deal out of the first injection just to have Elisha publicly refuse, so it was weird when he had pretty much no reaction to that, especially since in other scenes he gets upset about the smallest perceived transgressions of Elisha’s and punishes him for it. Of course, it’s Elisha’s legal right to refuse, so this might have factored into Alex not punishing him for it, but I don’t think there is a single page spent on Alex’s thoughts on this refusal. Another example that perhaps is more relevant would be the Dociles’ treatment and usage. One moment they are props at weird sex parties, groped and humiliated, and often treated as pets to be trained. There’s long ramblings about a Docile’s behaviour reflecting on the patron, and how any of Elisha’s perceived less than perfect behaviour reflects badly on Alex. But then in other scenes suddenly the same people involved in what I described previously are all caring and concerned, notice Elisha’s panic attacks and actively go out of their way to help him and Alex.So, yeah, overall something just felt off to me.Around the middle of the book there were some events that completely threw me and that in my opinion did not fit at all. However, they also presented a huge turning point, and the second half of the book is very different from the first. This is also where Alex and Elisha’s relationship shifts and the actual capitalist critique starts, though I wish it had gone a step further than it did.The whole consent under capitalism is addressed, as in, is it truly consent if the surrounding circumstances force you to do it. But it’s also brought up in context of a support system and trauma recovery helping through uncomfortable truths and extending pressure with the goal to get through a brainwashed mind, and isn’t that the same lack of consent, which…. uh. I don’t know about that comparison.I initially thought this book would be a romance more than anything else. It’s not! I would not categorize it as romance at all, even though the beginning makes you believe otherwise. There are in-depth discussions about the foundations of Elisha and Alex’s relationship being absolutely NOT the ones for a romantic and equal and consensual partnership, told from both perspectives and throughout the entire process of recovery in Elisha’s case. Their feelings and relationship shifts several times throughout the book, and while there is a romantic subplot, the romance part is not a the front at all, and not treated as healthy or the be-all-end-all goal.The character development, in theory, was excellent in this context. However, I found it almost too subtle. Throughout the entire book I felt like I had to be told about the character development, because personally I didn’t feel like I was shown it on-page, and I wouldn’t have recognized it in some cases had it not been told. Not sure of the writing was at fault of if this is a case of me not being able to read between the lines (which has happened before.)The ending was… fine. I liked the resolution in itself and for the characters, but the climax felt sort of anticlimactic and it didn’t feel particularly impactful. Not every dystopia needs a big rebellion and bloodbath, and change often takes a long time, so in a sense it did feel realistic. It just also didn’t really feel especially meaningful or emotional.That said, I liked the way the characters ended up, both in regards to each other and in their lives and situations. It was fitting, with a hopeful outlook but also keeping in mind what happened between them before, especially the ugly things.Overall, the book had its ups and downs. Some things I liked, others I didn’t, some choices were just straight up weird and I have no idea why they were included in the first place.I did have a good time reading. Docile is very readable despite it’s length and the plot including a lot of back and forth, and I finished it in not quite two days because I wanted to keep going and see how it ended up. I’m tempted to say the pacing is a bit off, because at times it almost seemed like the characters were going in circles, and the legal proceedings towards the end repeated themselves. Except I was always engaged and interested. It was never boring, and I could spend hours reading without noticing time pass.So despite the ups and downs, the things that didn’t make sense, and several of the drawbacks, it did end up working for me.Lastly, I want to mention that it reminded me of some of Cordelia Kingsbridge’s old works, except much slower paced, less action heavy and less well thought through.

Nach der Empfehlung einer Freundin habe ich das Buch als ebook erstanden - und das, obwohl ich wirklich ungern englisch-sprachige Bücher lese. Doch das Thema klang so interessant, dass ich über meinen Schatten gesprungen bin......und was bin ich froh, es getan zu haben!!Ich lese echt viel, aber selten war ich von der Entwicklung und von den Emotionen der Hauptcharaktere so angetan und mitgerissen, wie bei diesem Buch.Elisha's Schicksal zu verfolgen, wie ihn sein Leben als Alex' Docile langsam verändert und zu dem macht, was er in der Mitte des Buches ist - schleichend und als Leser war man als es eskalierte selbst überrascht, dass man es gar nicht vorher bemerkt hat. Ich zumindest nicht.Genauso die Veränderung von Alex im Laufe des Romans.Selten habe ich so mitgefiebert, gehofft, gebangt, Angst gehabt, war wütend.Der Autor hat es geschafft, dass ich mit jeder Emotion der Protagonisten mitgefühlt habe, was das Lesen des Buchs zu einem einmaligen Ereignis gemacht hat (auch wenn ich es sicher noch ein weiteres Mal lesen werde - spätestens, wenn es hoffentlich auf Deutsch erscheint).Jeder, der auf gay-romance in einem Setting steht, was, wenn man sich die USA heute anschaut, gar nicht so weit weg erscheint, wie man hoffen möchte, ... gerne mit den Potagonisten mitfiebert und auch manchmal mitleidet, kein Problem mit D/s und teilweise non-consent hat...Dem sei dieses Buch wirklich wämstens empfohlen!Ich würde gerne 10/5 Punkten geben, geht aber leider nicht.

This book captured me from the moment I read the excerpt and I’m so glad I splurged to buy it. I couldn’t stop reading it....and I’m rather sad that it’s over with now.The world in this book feels real and possible. The characters are believable and their motivation rooted in their reality. I loved reading about Elisha’s journey and watching him grow - the same for Alex.Do yourself a favour and read this book!