If you consider yourself of kinky books but haven't read the Marketplace Series from Laura Antoniou I must say that you are deluded in your self-assessment.
In fact, Laura published my non-fiction essay, "Be Careful," in her anthology Some Women
in 1995. Rereading her notes in "The Slave" earlier this week gave me a thrill still and a hope that she still likes my work if she has time to read with all of her appearances around the world. I hope I have such luck in my career one day! This is my contributing author's copy of the original anthology.
. The photo is of my copy of the book from the Kickstarter campaign that I supported. There will be a different paperback copy from Circlet Press later this year. Didn't know about the Kickstarter? You need to follow Laura Antoniou on Facebook, dears.Let me be perfectly clear -- if you have not read the other five books in this series do not get this one. You will be lost. Instead go to the bottom of this article and follow the links to the Circlet Press editions of the first five books. Do not just search on Amazon or another site because buying them used will give neither the author nor the publisher anything. If you want to support quality fiction, you need to buy it from the current publisher or author.
The Marketplace series covers the time period of 1993 to 2005 so we have a full ten years of our past for Laura to write in should she desire to continue to do so but given the financial and critical success of her mystery The Killer Wore Leather: A Mystery
she may be inclined to start a new series or explore other genres. The Marketplace is a fictional world-wide consortium of people who want beyond the fantasy of consensual slavery into a money-making enterprise that should benefit everyone involved. Joining the secretive world is a long process but one that seems to be helped a great deal by money and connections. We learn more and more about the Marketplace with each book in the series.The Inheritor: Book Six of The Marketplace Series
pulls together several storylines from the previous five books. The two main viewpoint characters are Chris Parker who has been in every book and can rightly be called the series main character and Robin Cassidy who we met in "The Slave" but also again in "The Trainer" and "The Reunion." Both of these are "Slave" characters, yet Chris has never been only a slave but also a Trainer, someone who trains other slaves and even junior trainers. This duality of his role within the Marketplace universe proves to be the main conflict of the sixth book. I'll get back to that in a minute.The secondary subject of "The Inheritor" is Robin's future. Now on her third contract with a widowed master named Aiden, her life seems ideal. She gets all of the kink fun she wants, has responsibilities reflecting her personality, education, skills, and talents, and may be headed toward a "golden contract," a lifetime contract. While we spend a good deal of time in Robin's head we also spend some time with her master, Aiden, and this gives us a new view in the series -- the Owner's view. Oh, trainers have been owners, too, in the series and we've been in the owner's minds in some of the supplemental short stories, but this is Laura's first time really diving into the life of an owner. I'm probably biased but that interested me as an owner in the "soft world" as those in the Marketplace universe would call my lifestyle today.
We also see the return of two impressive characters of Ken Mandarin (Spotter, Agent, and Owner) and Michael LaGuardia (Owner and former Junior Trainer) who we have seen in other books. Indeed, one could say that Michael is one of the main characters of "The Trainer" and "The Academy" so it was very nice to see how his life has turned out. Both of these characters play an important role in the two main plots. I don't want to spoil these if you haven't read the book so I'll leave Robin's life aside and return to Chris again.
Chris Parker was an amazing Trainer, earning the title of Master Trainer and a respected place in the Marketplace. But in the "The Academy" we learn that he has also not merely longed to be a Slave but has been one to the Head of the Training House he is part of for many, many years. Imala Anderson heads the most prestigious American Training House and yet she has refused to publicly acknowledge Chris's true status. By the end of "The Academy" and in "The Reunion" we believe that Chris has finally found the life he wants and needs in contract with Sakai Tetsuo from Japan. You cheer for Chris because unless you are a true sadist, you'd like the main character of most series to find that happy ending.
Some readers have accused Laura Antoniou of being a sadist on Facebook... I can't say that I agree because "The Inheritor" pulls together the previous threads, conflicts, and personality of the first five books so well, that Chris's latest challenge felt foreshadowed to me as well as logical if not desireable. His challenge? Imala has died and threatened to have their entire Training House and its history destroyed unless Chris stops being a Slave and takes over as Trainer of Trainers for their house in the eyes of The Marketplace. For a man like Chris who places tradition, honor, and service above all others, this is a challenge that sets his own happiness against the entire world he has been dedicated to for more than half of his life.
The turmoil this causes in Chris and within the rest of The Marketplace is described in rich details yet not so many that we feel distracted from the action and the characters. There were a few rough areas that I hope a Circlet Press Editor can help discover but nothing that prevented me from enjoying the book. While others might cry must later in the book, I found myself most emotionally pulled in chapters 10-12 when we see Imala at the very end of her life still manipulating Chris in her machiavellian fashion. If there is one character I can say that I would hit in this series, it would be Imala Anderson and yet I understood her motivation and her assessment of Chris.
Chris is not just a Slave and that is true of our lives. I am not just a Wife or a Daughter, I don't stop being one, I simply add to the roles I play. This is true for most people's lives. This is a reality that is starkest in "The Inheritor" out of the sixth books so far. Only the most dickish Owners are one role and we are shown how shallow they are in the series. Even if you have a single Marketplace role the depth of that role variety from character to character and over the course of their lifetimes. I'm sure many of us might fantasize about being wealthy enough to be in the Marketplace but emotionally and in terms of roles, we can identify with these characters. It is these characters and our ability to identify with them that makes Laura Antoniou one of the masters of kinky fiction for well over a decade now.
While the Big Five publishers have eskewed fiction published by real kinky folks in favor of the romances or the poorly written paranormal series from those who "research it", Laura Antoniou has generated a loyal readership that will not be disappointed. Just keep some facial tissue near you when you read book six.
If you'd like to read the books in this series, please follow the below links to find them in their last printing form via Amazon.com.
The Marketplace (The Marketplace Series) (Volume 1)
The Slave
The Trainer (The Marketplace Series Book 3)
The Academy (The Marketplace Series Book 4)
The Reunion (The Marketplace Series Book 5)
Only in ebook or audible at the moment... The Inheritor: Book Six of The Marketplace Series
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