Following the events of Wright’s Slave Trade, the crew of the Purpose continues on its adventures with Rose Rico as captain. Qin territories are being liberated and the slaves freed, however, due to the xenophobic attitude of the Qin, the crew of the Purpose is forced to abandon its job in assisting the Qin military and to make drastic decisions regarding its next job in order to support a colony of Solians on Balanc. This eventually leads to their separation, capture, and re-enslavement, leaving Rose with yet another situation from which she needs to rescue not only herself but the Solians under her protection. Meanwhile, the Qin continue to fight the Domain.

Unfortunately Slave Masters did not manage to improve on the innate problems in Slave Trade and, if anything, the things which dissatisfied me originally were magnified. Individual characters were not focused on at any length which left them, not necessarily 2-dimensional, but definitely underdeveloped. Instead of giving greater strength to fewer numbers, Ms. Wright jumped around to almost every character in the book, giving each one a point of view when the experiences of another, more veteran individual would have sufficed. To me this constitutes a lost opportunity, as these characters could have been very strong, very likeable individuals that could have elevated this novel to a greater level.

The claimed protagonist of this series is supposed to be Rose Rico, however, Rose is frequently left out of point-of-view chapters in favor of peripherals, and she often disappears for long periods of time. I can set aside the fact that I don’t particularly care for her as a person and say: if she were, perhaps, explained a little more clearly and given a fuller personality, the story would benefit and I would probably enjoy her presence much more. Her fiery reactions and gung-ho methods would be better understood and, perhaps, even agreed with were she given the chance to be the central character she was meant to be.

Furthermore, I feel that one of the series’ strongest characters has not been properly addressed. In Slave Trade Ash, the amiable, calm, yet fearful herme, was given an opportunity to show “hirself” as an intriguing character with many possibilities. Through “hir” we could not only access the deep rooted feelings and fears of an abused slave, but we could experience and understand the sadism of the Alphas without having to have separately written scenes. All the reader needed was Ash’s memory and the tension within “hir” at the mention of the Domain.

In Slave Masters Ash was effectively lost as a character. With very few point-of-view chapters of “hir” own, and without the ones available being explored extensively, Ash was reduced to a side character with little to no feeling. The best scene “s/he” received was toward the end when visiting the captive Rikev Alpha. That chapter’s close suggests that Ash could make a strong return in the third book. However, my certainty on that forecast isn’t much. After all, “s/he” had ample opportunity to have emotional, thought provoking scenes during the degeneration of “hir” psyche during enslavement, but unfortunately Ms. Wright did not deem it a necessary point to explore.

Generally, the story itself is a good one. The faults lie mostly in the lack of character development and the skimming of scenes that could be rendered in more detail (or, conversely, the dragging of scenes that could be shortened). For those who prefer action to character, Slave Masters is probably something to add to the reading list. There is quite a bit going on between raiders, captures, Qin battles, and near impossible escapes. When compared to its predecessor, I would say this novel has much more action, and whether or not this is a good or bad thing must be left up to each individual reader.

The third novel in the series still has the potential to satisfy both the conclusion of the action as well as the characters, and hopefully it won’t disappoint.

ISBN: 0743457641
Edition: M.M.Paperback