Mind Fuck

Damn. That was INTENSE for the last 30-ish%! Only guessed things pretty much on the same page where they were revealed, then bam: tension, fear, and one thing after another until the end. But, okay, okay...back to the beginning.

I was told that this book is slower and pretty intensive, so imagine my surprise when I immediately took sides and got right into the story. I love strong, fearless characters that don't allow others (like, ehm, certain para-investigators) to control them, so Warrick was a hit from right off the bat with me, from

"When the hell did Warrick start running the interview?"

And Toreth was an interesting guy that I can appreciate. Hmm...I wonder how twisted he'll get? ;)
I wonder how he'll change in the next books? show more True, he's somewhat sociopathic and "bad," but that comes with the territory of his job and kept me guessing what he was up to next.

"Sign of a control freak. [Toreth] smiled. He enjoyed control freaks--it gave him something to take away."

In Interrogation, they use a combination of drugs and weapons (like a nerve probe, for example) to break people, and Toreth was a wonderful interrogator:

"He'd never tried the drug before and he didn't have much faith in it. It was supposed to increase susceptibility to pain, and he'd always felt that could be more easily and reliably achieved by turning up the probe."

It's also true that this wasn't a fast-paced book, but it was very well written and sets up perfectly for a continuation of the series. I hear that the short stories are the gems of this (long) series, so if they're even better than this one, then hell yes, I am going to jump on them.

The world building and thorough explanations of the systems and technology were actually excellent too, and allowed me to understand the atmosphere and feel what it's like to live in that strictly controlled society.

Yes, there were times when reading got slow and a bit tedious, but after two or three pages it would change scenes and pick up again and I would be right back into it. And I was strangely attracted to this book, even when a little bored. It had a great, complex plot and a slew of appealing characters and not-so-appealing ideas (mindfuck!).

And this book was so funny at points. It was mostly straightforward in tone, and then it would pop up with a line of dry humor that would have me chuckling or even practically guffawing a few times...

"In fact, you could take every Administration official at Tillotson's level or higher and sink them in the North Sea and it would only improve Europe. Not to mention violate a slew of intercontinental treaties regarding toxic waste."

"'If there was any justice in the world, you'd need a waiver to do that to music.' It took Toreth a moment to realize Seiden was addressing him. 'What?' 'To hum like that. If it's in a key, it's one I don't recognize.'"

Well, I'm gonna stop spoiling the one-liners now and just say that it definitely is worth reading. Great writing, funny moments, 3-D characters, full plot, and I'm expecting much more to come :) show less

Val Toreth is a bright young star at the Investigation and Interrogation division, known for his ability to get information and results out of nearly anybody, whether through charm, sex, or torture. He's assigned the investigation of an up-and-coming company: two people have mysteriously died while hooking into the company's proprietary simulation devices. The investigation is twistier and far more interesting than I expected, and the clues are well placed. (The futuristic dystopia in which all this takes class is equally well put together: information about it comes out casually and naturally through conversations and characters' assumptions.) During this investigation, Val's involvement with one of the company's senior directors, the show more controlled Dr. Keir Warrick, both tests Val's casual approach to relationships and reveals dark secrets about what's really going on.

Fascinating, with a good mix of plot, characterization, and very well crafted sex scenes. I'd expected this to be like the other published m/m erotica I've read, which often feels generic and copy&pasted together. Toreth and Warrick are very distinct individuals; I look forward to reading more of their noirish adventures while trying to survive being under the thumb of the Administration. show less

Astonishing, wonderful, un-put-downable original online fic that is also, alas, decidedly not-for-everyone. A series of novels (with a great many interludes between) that I devoured one by one over the past few days, m/m, featuring the most depressingly realistic dystopian future I have yet to encounter in fiction and an unforgettable couple.

The author phrases it best when she describes her own work:

"The inspiration for the Administration series of stories is a maxim of Chris Boucher, script editor of Blakes 7—There are no bad guys. There are no good guys. There are only better guys, and worse guys.

One of the worse guys is Val Toreth. In a world where torture is a legitimate part of the investigative process, he works for the

show more

Investigation and Interrogation Division .

One of the better guys is Keir Warrick, a corporate director. His small corporation, SimTech, is developing a 'sim' system which places users in a fully-immersive virtual reality."

There are a lot of truly brilliant things about this series. If you ask me, the brilliance of the relationship lies in this:

Toreth is an emotionally retarded, amoral and violent man...who is really good at following rules. He fundamentally doesn't understand the concept of morality, but deeply understands that he survives and functions in society by following rules.

Warrick is a brilliant, sensitive, thoughtful masochist...who is really good at setting boundaries.

The borderline-personality, sexually voracious, violent alpha personality is everywhere. Toreth is a truly extreme version. Fantastically attractive, confident, charming in a sociopathic way, an indiscriminate tomcat, and, oh yes, he tortures people for a living.

Which, while I'm on the subject, is another one of the truly brilliant things about the Administration series. Francis doesn't gloss over Toreth's job. In fact, we spend a lot of time at the Investigation and Interrogations Division, and the most horrifying thing about it is the dull, workaday atmosphere. Paperwork to fill out, budgets to argue over, underlings to manage, damage waivers to process...did you catch that last one? Even the torture is bureaucratic, with strict guidelines about how much pain can be applied in any given situation, greenlit by a separate department for checks and balances.

It's arguable whether Toreth is really a sadist. Flexibly dominant, yes. But he doesn't seem to get a sexual charge from his 'enhanced interrogations'. He takes pride in a job well done. In efficiency, thoroughness, guaranteeing a swift guilty verdict. But there's no sign of any emotional peaks or valleys, no revulsion or pleasure, no matter how broken his victims are.

His victims are not really people to him. They are things, or boxes on a to-do list.

By contrast, Toreth's relationship with Warrick is intensely emotional. Vulnerable, passionate, exciting, sweet, tense...it's an emotional roller coaster. With Warrick, Toreth comes alive. The author holds the parallel between Toreth in the colorless, tiled underground cells of I&I and the technicolor perfection of Warrick's virtual reality, between Toreth's detached torture by-the-books and the exact same acts, performed in bed with Warrick, but suddenly drenched in feeling.

Mind Fuck is only the first novel in the series, and it charts the very beginning of Warrick and Toreth's relationship. Subsequent stories hit every single possible conflict that ought to drive the two of them apart, the stress points in their relationship. If these two survive as a couple, it's because they've been tested and tested again, and ended up stronger for it every time.

The novels, which put Toreth and Warrick in frightful, life-or-death situations, mix really well with the interludes, which tend to focus on smaller, more domestic dramas. It's easy for Toreth to shine in a James Bond/Clockwork-Orange style pinch, suave and lethal and saving the day in his messed-up way. He loses that polish when he's persistently refusing to admit that he finds comfort from sleeping in the same bed with Warrick, or stumbling over even the mildest declaration of affection.

(Warrick, by the way, just shines all the time. He is an impossible dreamboat.)

And Francis spends a lot of time showing us how the two people closest to Toreth work out their relationship with him. How they respond to various expressions of concern from loved ones--Warrick's sister, for example, lobbies hard for him to dump Toreth--how plain tolerant they have to be, how rewarding it ultimately is.

Really, if any of this sounds even vaguely interesting, give it a try. It's really good. show less

3.75 stars

The story —middle part in particular— is a bit too heavy regarding the detail level, more than once needlessly.

For the moment, only having always present that's a futuristic story I can not despise Toreht, who between his aspect —tall, blond and in black uniform— and his work doesn't make but to remind me to a stereotypic SS officer. The scenes with Tanit in Toreth's office, in spite of the neologisms that are used, it proved to be revulsive for me and I couldn't help the constant presence in my mind of my vernacular term for Toreth's "tool" (picana) used profusely for the dictatorial governments during the XXth century in my country (including my childhood and first youth).

The suspense plot is VERY good and the last show more chapters, from the revelation of the instigator, are simply first-class. The only weakness that I could see was the thing about the ginger-haired man, I caught it instantly, so that an experienced senior like Toreth didn't spot it just as fast. is difficult to believe.

Chemistry, sex and kinks between Toreth and Warrick are incredible and I cannot wait for going ahead and to see how the incipient feelings develop among themselves. I'm delighted that the first of those feelings be trust, a cautious trust for now but I expect to so much more...

NEXT! show less

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This was a deep, complicated heavy read for me. Not at all what I was expecting when I started to read. Primarily it was a mystery, who-done-it, wrapped around a world-building, emotional thrill ride where the true focus is on rather dysfunctional (emotionally) characters. There has already been much said about the main characters who are quite complex and are being rolled out and developed, I believe, in the next books. I find Toreth to be fascinating. What an arrogant bastard with the conscience of a child...great combination, but he's more than that too. I'm looking forward to reading more of his character as well as Warrick. In fact, Warrick may fascinate me more because it just feels like there is still a lot to learn about him, show more he was very reserved throughout this story. Good sexual tension and a hope for more to come.

Manna's writing was well paced, if not a little slow in the beginning. Her development and release of Toreth's twisted sense of humor was very well done. Also, she gave an interestingly sparse but clear vision of this dystopian world of New London. I often felt very in the moment. Although the psycho elements were difficult at times for me to keep up with I was very comfortable in the settings and world in general. I appreciate that when a subject matter is complex an author doesn't muck it up more with surroundings that unnecessarily complicate the experience.

I'm moving right on to the next Manna story.

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http://www.attentionisarbitrary.blogspot.com show less

It took me a while to get into the plot, but once I was absorbed, I couldn't read fast enough. The whodunit aspect of the novel was very well written and extremely exciting at the end -- I kept waiting for the author to spring some horrid surprise on her unsuspecting reader but it was altogether a satisfactory conclusion. Plus, the relationship between Toreth and Warrick is pretty hotttt -- especially in the second book. It's all about control and losing your control.

Omg I love this book so much but I can't write a good review of it. I loved the main character. He's a control freak and a workaholic who feels no guilt about manipulating people for his own purposes. Of course, this lends itself quite well to a particular sort of relationship dynamic. I really liked the meet-cute, if you can call it that. The whole book is great, though. And scary, in that psychological thriller sort of way.