Demoted Book 1: Subjection
In a world where intellect and achievement are valued above all else, a young man risks everything to save his brother from a life of slavery. Thrown into a harsh, unyielding world where slaves are treated as less than animals, Sascha struggles to come to terms with everything he knows being ripped away from him, but a life of success could never prepare him for his life as one of the Demoted. Sinking lower and lower, Sascha begins to lose hope, but the whim of a mysterious, wealthy man has the potential to change all that.
Cashiel has a dark history that he guards carefully. Between family and business and politics, he rarely has time for a slave, much less a lover. But when he sees a young man who reminds him of the very history he is trying to escape, he makes an impulse decision that he’s not sure whether to regret or not. The slave could expose everything, or he could be the most valuable asset that Cashiel has ever acquired.
Cashiel and Sascha share desires, hopes, and a home. Each man is limited by status, hindered by history, and desperate to succeed. The question is, will that be enough?
Demoted Book 2: Sedition
Sascha’s world changed when Cashiel Michaud bought him, rescuing him from a brothel and a life of torture. They developed a sexual relationship, but can their relationship amount to more than that? Deceit, lies, and political scandal color not only their world, but their relationship, and dark figures from both men’s pasts threaten to intrude on the few moments of peace they have. A slave is never safe from harm, nor is an outcast family member. In the end, are Sascha and Cash strong enough to face the challenges, or will they be torn apart forever?
Demoted Book 3: Succession
After the news breaks about Cashiel Michaud’s involvement in research to undermine the Demoted system, he and Sascha find themselves detained as a legal case develops. Separated, they work from both sides to get released, making sacrifices and arrangements along the way. If they do reunite, will they be the same?
Sascha and Cash face a number of threats from the outside world, and some from the people closest to them. When they don’t know who to trust, their plans and their relationship are put to the test. And the results of this test could affect the world.
In a world where intellect and achievement are valued above all else, a young man risks everything to save his brother from a life of slavery. Thrown into a harsh, unyielding world where slaves are treated as less than animals, Sascha struggles to come to terms with everything he knows being ripped away from him, but a life of success could never prepare him for his life as one of the Demoted. Sinking lower and lower, Sascha begins to lose hope, but the whim of a mysterious, wealthy man has the potential to change all that.
Cashiel has a dark history that he guards carefully. Between family and business and politics, he rarely has time for a slave, much less a lover. But when he sees a young man who reminds him of the very history he is trying to escape, he makes an impulse decision that he’s not sure whether to regret or not. The slave could expose everything, or he could be the most valuable asset that Cashiel has ever acquired.
Cashiel and Sascha share desires, hopes, and a home. Each man is limited by status, hindered by history, and desperate to succeed. The question is, will that be enough?
Demoted Book 2: Sedition
Sascha’s world changed when Cashiel Michaud bought him, rescuing him from a brothel and a life of torture. They developed a sexual relationship, but can their relationship amount to more than that? Deceit, lies, and political scandal color not only their world, but their relationship, and dark figures from both men’s pasts threaten to intrude on the few moments of peace they have. A slave is never safe from harm, nor is an outcast family member. In the end, are Sascha and Cash strong enough to face the challenges, or will they be torn apart forever?
Demoted Book 3: Succession
After the news breaks about Cashiel Michaud’s involvement in research to undermine the Demoted system, he and Sascha find themselves detained as a legal case develops. Separated, they work from both sides to get released, making sacrifices and arrangements along the way. If they do reunite, will they be the same?
Sascha and Cash face a number of threats from the outside world, and some from the people closest to them. When they don’t know who to trust, their plans and their relationship are put to the test. And the results of this test could affect the world.
Author/s: Alicia Cameron
Publisher: Fantastic Fiction Publishing
Publication Date: 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62234-224-2/978-1-62234-242-6/978-1-62234-262-4
Buy it from Forbidden Fiction
Maria's Rating: ★
I’m not even going to pretend that this is a review, because at this point I am too pissed off by the turn of events to bother being calm and objective. I was so upset I just flipped through most of the third installment despite practically wolfing down the first two books in less than twenty-four hours.
I really thought I found a gem of a series when I found Demoted. It had all the ingredients for a good read: dystopia, impudent slaves, unwilling masters, lots of politicking and intrigue. Of course, even in the beginning, I wasn’t very convinced by the whole Assessment business – I mean, look:
1. If they were so advance and smart, why the fuck would they want to keep using pen and paper to administer the exams when they have, oh, I don’t know, computers? It’s something I would have expected from an environment that already has access to hover cars and has already gone through the Fourth World War.
2. If Sascha were half as brilliant as he was made out to be, why the fuck didn’t he just make himself and his brother pass? It wasn't even necessary for one of them to fail. That’s like taking a bullet for someone when you can just get both of you out of the bullet’s way instead.
3. If it was such a matter of life and death (well, close to it), why do they administer the exams like you would... a normal finals? Why is it so easy to change the names in the answer sheet?? And they claim people spend billions in researching this test so it’s standardized? Are you fucking kidding me? IT’S SO DUMB. I CAN’T EVEN SUSPEND MY DISBELIEF. TOEFL and IELTS are both standardized tests administered across the globe for non-native speakers of English, and they’re handled better than this so-called Assessment. And those are just English proficiency tests that won’t send you off to slave school if you fail!!
Admittedly, despite my original qualms about reading from the first person point of view, I thought it was nicely done. I admit it was a bit confusing to have to switch from Sascha’s perspective to Cash’s, but I got used to it easily. The flashbacks in the first book were also very well done; the transition was very smooth without making the quality of storytelling suffer.
I also appreciated how in the second book Sascha didn’t pull the punches when he called Cash out on his shit. It was a very realistic, very detached standpoint that he took – at least he wasn’t clouded by his little crush on Cash to have some illusions about some fairytale romance thing going on between them.
But of course, it’s not as if that matters by the third book. In Succession (Book 3), the development of Sascha and Cash and their relationship in the first two books all gets thrown out the window. See, instead of concluding the story, Alicia Cameron introduces us to tonload of new characters that facilitate the plot.
So you say, hey, that’s okay, right? New characters as plot device, that’s cool?
Unfortunately, Cameron doesn’t stop at plot devices. Instead, she introduces us to Syrus (“Sy”). For some unfathomable reason, the author decides it will be brilliant to introduce a new main character in the third book – in the last book. If that’s not bad enough, we suddenly have – surprise! – menage! Cash, who goes through so much internal battle to send Sasha to that sleazy Torenze guy even for the sake of their research (the one thing that probably matters to him more than his own life), is suddenly okay with a third guy in their relationship. He suddenly finds it hot.
?????????????
Guys, this is the same Cash who dumps his best friend ever since childhood because Bobby won’t stop pawing on Sascha. And that was in the beginning, when he wasn’t even in love with Sascha yet. WHAT THE FUCK? Are we even talking about the same person here?
Cash’s character, which develops in the past two books, is suddenly in a downward spiral in book three. He’s not himself – he’s all over the place, he keeps power tripping to prove himself (and failing), and his lack of preparation for spontaneous, adverse events makes him look absolutely stupid. Is this the same guy who actually came up with a way to destroy the Miller System? He acts so brainless it almost makes it look like he owes everything to Sascha.
On the other hand, Sascha, for all his so-called proclaimed intelligence, keeps making dumbass decisions, like falling forr Torenze’s tricks. He gets ridiculously clingy to Sy even when he claims in the beginning that he feels like he will be betraying Cash by even thinking of Sy that way. In the last book, Sascha acts like a whiny, clingy, melodramatic little bitch who can’t keep it in his pants because hey, it’s menage now and he has his choice of boys. He gets this… I don’t know, diva attitude I can’t even reconcile with the character he was in the second book. Then again, why do I ask for continuity when I’m obviously not going to get that from this series?
Consequently, we’re treated to pointless, unnecessary scenes of blowjobs, fake rape, actual rape, more forced blowjobs and ultimately a freaking threesome because – uhm, I don’t actually know? In the first two books, Sascha and Cash are able to work out their differences in status and age and overall viewpoints in life without any external help; I really don’t understand why Alicia Cameron decided it would be a good idea to throw in an extra main character. And so late in the series!
Overall, I am extremely disappointed. And more than that, I am so mad. I got really invested in the relationship between Sascha and Cash and I was looking forward to seeing how their story as master and slave would conclude. Instead, I get a surprise menage out of nowhere, and some… silly plot twist beneath a bunch of senseless, gratuitous sex scenes that really shouldn’t have taken over 200 pages to tell. The addition of Sy in the third book felt like an afterthought that shouldn’t have made it past the editors because it’s so dumb and late and completely unnecessary. His addition cheapened all the struggles, all the heartaches that Sascha and Cash went through in the first two books by themselves. He doesn't even contribute to anything, and he's in fact the biggest reason why Sascha and Cash argue a lot in the third book.
And can I just say how silly it is that Sy is the one who conveniently finds out about Torenze's betrayal? Deus ex machina much? What, so they can give their walking sex toy a "significant" role? It's stupid and I'm not laughing.
When I was first drafting my review for this series, I was impressed by the book covers. The characters are obviously Sascha and Cash, and we see their transition as the story is told. After reading the last installment, I’ve decided that the third book cover is a bad joke, because obviously instead of just Sasha and Cash, there’s also Sy. Wherever he fits. Seriously. Wherever.
Really, if they wanted to go for menage, they should have started another series with that theme in the first place. Not randomly inserted it somewhere in a series that’s going so well. They just ruined the entire thing.
Demoted majorly sucked. What a total waste of time.
I really thought I found a gem of a series when I found Demoted. It had all the ingredients for a good read: dystopia, impudent slaves, unwilling masters, lots of politicking and intrigue. Of course, even in the beginning, I wasn’t very convinced by the whole Assessment business – I mean, look:
1. If they were so advance and smart, why the fuck would they want to keep using pen and paper to administer the exams when they have, oh, I don’t know, computers? It’s something I would have expected from an environment that already has access to hover cars and has already gone through the Fourth World War.
2. If Sascha were half as brilliant as he was made out to be, why the fuck didn’t he just make himself and his brother pass? It wasn't even necessary for one of them to fail. That’s like taking a bullet for someone when you can just get both of you out of the bullet’s way instead.
3. If it was such a matter of life and death (well, close to it), why do they administer the exams like you would... a normal finals? Why is it so easy to change the names in the answer sheet?? And they claim people spend billions in researching this test so it’s standardized? Are you fucking kidding me? IT’S SO DUMB. I CAN’T EVEN SUSPEND MY DISBELIEF. TOEFL and IELTS are both standardized tests administered across the globe for non-native speakers of English, and they’re handled better than this so-called Assessment. And those are just English proficiency tests that won’t send you off to slave school if you fail!!
Admittedly, despite my original qualms about reading from the first person point of view, I thought it was nicely done. I admit it was a bit confusing to have to switch from Sascha’s perspective to Cash’s, but I got used to it easily. The flashbacks in the first book were also very well done; the transition was very smooth without making the quality of storytelling suffer.
I also appreciated how in the second book Sascha didn’t pull the punches when he called Cash out on his shit. It was a very realistic, very detached standpoint that he took – at least he wasn’t clouded by his little crush on Cash to have some illusions about some fairytale romance thing going on between them.
But of course, it’s not as if that matters by the third book. In Succession (Book 3), the development of Sascha and Cash and their relationship in the first two books all gets thrown out the window. See, instead of concluding the story, Alicia Cameron introduces us to tonload of new characters that facilitate the plot.
So you say, hey, that’s okay, right? New characters as plot device, that’s cool?
Unfortunately, Cameron doesn’t stop at plot devices. Instead, she introduces us to Syrus (“Sy”). For some unfathomable reason, the author decides it will be brilliant to introduce a new main character in the third book – in the last book. If that’s not bad enough, we suddenly have – surprise! – menage! Cash, who goes through so much internal battle to send Sasha to that sleazy Torenze guy even for the sake of their research (the one thing that probably matters to him more than his own life), is suddenly okay with a third guy in their relationship. He suddenly finds it hot.
?????????????
Guys, this is the same Cash who dumps his best friend ever since childhood because Bobby won’t stop pawing on Sascha. And that was in the beginning, when he wasn’t even in love with Sascha yet. WHAT THE FUCK? Are we even talking about the same person here?
Cash’s character, which develops in the past two books, is suddenly in a downward spiral in book three. He’s not himself – he’s all over the place, he keeps power tripping to prove himself (and failing), and his lack of preparation for spontaneous, adverse events makes him look absolutely stupid. Is this the same guy who actually came up with a way to destroy the Miller System? He acts so brainless it almost makes it look like he owes everything to Sascha.
On the other hand, Sascha, for all his so-called proclaimed intelligence, keeps making dumbass decisions, like falling forr Torenze’s tricks. He gets ridiculously clingy to Sy even when he claims in the beginning that he feels like he will be betraying Cash by even thinking of Sy that way. In the last book, Sascha acts like a whiny, clingy, melodramatic little bitch who can’t keep it in his pants because hey, it’s menage now and he has his choice of boys. He gets this… I don’t know, diva attitude I can’t even reconcile with the character he was in the second book. Then again, why do I ask for continuity when I’m obviously not going to get that from this series?
Consequently, we’re treated to pointless, unnecessary scenes of blowjobs, fake rape, actual rape, more forced blowjobs and ultimately a freaking threesome because – uhm, I don’t actually know? In the first two books, Sascha and Cash are able to work out their differences in status and age and overall viewpoints in life without any external help; I really don’t understand why Alicia Cameron decided it would be a good idea to throw in an extra main character. And so late in the series!
Overall, I am extremely disappointed. And more than that, I am so mad. I got really invested in the relationship between Sascha and Cash and I was looking forward to seeing how their story as master and slave would conclude. Instead, I get a surprise menage out of nowhere, and some… silly plot twist beneath a bunch of senseless, gratuitous sex scenes that really shouldn’t have taken over 200 pages to tell. The addition of Sy in the third book felt like an afterthought that shouldn’t have made it past the editors because it’s so dumb and late and completely unnecessary. His addition cheapened all the struggles, all the heartaches that Sascha and Cash went through in the first two books by themselves. He doesn't even contribute to anything, and he's in fact the biggest reason why Sascha and Cash argue a lot in the third book.
And can I just say how silly it is that Sy is the one who conveniently finds out about Torenze's betrayal? Deus ex machina much? What, so they can give their walking sex toy a "significant" role? It's stupid and I'm not laughing.
When I was first drafting my review for this series, I was impressed by the book covers. The characters are obviously Sascha and Cash, and we see their transition as the story is told. After reading the last installment, I’ve decided that the third book cover is a bad joke, because obviously instead of just Sasha and Cash, there’s also Sy. Wherever he fits. Seriously. Wherever.
Really, if they wanted to go for menage, they should have started another series with that theme in the first place. Not randomly inserted it somewhere in a series that’s going so well. They just ruined the entire thing.
Demoted majorly sucked. What a total waste of time.
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