Friday, March 8, 2013

Review: Dark Soul by Aleksandr Voinov



Title: Dark Soul Vol 1-5
Author: Aleksandr Voinov
Genre: M/M Erotica 
Number of pages: 310 
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Source: Netgalley 


 

Love lights even the darkest soul.
A killer's moral compass rarely points true, and among made men, being gay is a capital crime. But Silvio Spadaro, deadly prodigy and heir to a Family fortune, is determined to find his own way--at the feet of the man he loves or by the barrel of a gun--no matter the dangers or costs.

Stefano Marino lives a  comfortable--some might even say enviable--life. As a mob boss at the top of the food chain, he has it all: money, respect, a beautiful wife he loves as much now as the day they wed. But he also has a turf war on his hands, and far too soft a heart for this dark business.
When Silvio is sent to help Stefano with his turf war, sparks fly. Stefano loves his wife, but he wants Silvio. It's a desire he hardly knows how to process, but Silvio, ever the patient predator, maneuvers Stefano closer and closer to his bed each day. Stefano resists; giving in to these dark desires means giving up on his marriage, and exposure would surely mean death. Yet there's no denying Silvio's magnetic pull, or the long-repressed urges inside himself. Yielding is inevitable, but he may yet find a way to hold on to everything--and everyone--he loves.


This book has been on my kindle for a really long time. I got it when it was getting a lot of buzz on twitter. I've only read one m/m book, but thought it might a great read for when I wanted to go out of my comfort reading zone and needed something different. Well, last week I was in a slight book funk and burned out on all my usual genres when I remembered I had this on my kindle. I am so glad that I gave this book a chance. 

Dark Souls is actually a serial, divided into five different parts. I must say, I'm glad I had them all when I started reading it.  I do love a tortured hero, and in this book Stefan and Silvio  are just that. Both have issues Stefano is a California mob boss and finds himself attracted to Silvio, but fights it tooth and nail, because in the mafia a boss just doesn't love or have feelings for another guy-it can get you killed. Silvio comes from the Italian Mafia, and had a horrible childhood. He ran from his family and dealt with his issues by getting into a relationship with his fathers enemy. 


This book is intense, dark and not a light and fluffy read. Parts are difficult to read and it touches on subject matters that made me squirm. I almost stopped reading at volume three because of them, but I was too invested in Stefanos story to stop. I really liked how it was not easy for Stefano and Silvio to get together. Obstacles kept getting thrown in their way, and Stefano was so wishy washy in who he wanted to be with that it made me want to scream some sense into him at times.

Stefano and Silvio had such a struggle to get together that I really would have liked to have seen a different ending. It just felt rushed, and I thought that maybe it was done that way on purpose for future books, but an epilogue into their relationship would have been nice. All in all, I'm glad I took a chance on this book even if it did make me uncomfortable at times.