Desecrating Solomon, the newest release from author Lucian Bane, is a romantic thriller with a uniquely dark twist.
Read on for my review!
*Warning: This book contains some violent content and victimization that could be triggering. Please read it, and my review, with caution.*
Chaos has been raised in a life of pain, punishment, and discipline. She knows only the truth of the Order and the purpose she serves and for which she has been prepared her whole life.
“She was a bucket of bleeding raw insides. There was no cleaning this. There was no bringing comfort to these wounds, no mending this kind of broken mess it had all somehow become.”
Part of fulfilling that purpose is finding Solomon Gorge and presenting him for Desecration.
Solomon, still unrecovered from the pain and tragedy in his own life, has moved back home to West Virginia to take on the role of caretaker for an elderly woman–a role assigned him by the church.
“Solomon looked at her. A perfect image of young, beautiful innocence standing right there before him. She’d called him when she was half dead. He’d heard. He’d answered. Yes, he’d do it. In a heartbeat. He’d give his life to protect her, gladly, definitely, and without a doubt.
The bond between Solomon and Chaos is immediate. So much so, and so deeply so, that it could easily fall into the realm of impossible to believe. The saving grace here is the element of the supernatural–the sense that, even before meeting, Solomon and Chaos have some sort of (dare I say it?) divine connection.
Desecrating Solomon is a unique blend of religion, spirituality, and eroticism, and the storyline is definitely intriguing. I did feel, however, that it was oddly rushed and not quite developed enough in many places. I got a feel for the connection between Solomon and Chaos, and even a bit of a shallow glimpse into the character of each as an individual, but it felt very surface at times.
I was also incredibly bothered by Solomon’s treatment of Chaos toward the end of the book. For most of the story, he treasures and cares for her. He says he loves her. But then he treats her as if she is a child who cannot be trusted to think for themselves or allowed to see the truth. And it’s not a matter of Dom/Sub in this case, which I could understand and accept more readily. Instead, it was just an odd sort of imbalance in the relationship between the two, in which Solomon manipulates her (as every other person in her life has) in order to achieve his end goal–nevermind that the end goal is her safety.
“Loving somebody isn’t a one time thing, it’s an everyday thing. Something you do to them, with them, for them. Because of them. Every day, all day. And night.”
Despite the sometimes less than optimal implementation, I did like the overarching idea behind the story. I simply would have liked to see it played out in a more meaningful and deeper way.
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