The Academy

The Marketplace #4

by Laura Antoniou, Cecilia Tan, Michael Hernandez

The Academy is erotic fiction by Lori Selk

Genres: Erotica, BDSM, Fiction, Smut, Queer, Audiobook, M M Romance

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Darby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a lot of good information - plot development for Chris Parker! If you've read the first three books in this series, you will enjoy reading the Academy. There were some questions left in the previous book and many are answered in very interesting ways in the Academy. The format is a novel with short stories interwoven into it.

[Tequila · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of The Marketplace series is so unlike the books before it and that's exactly what I love about it. At first when I read that there were multiple short stories by other authors included, I wasn't 100% sure how I felt about that. That was until I found out how wonderfully these short stories by the other authors fit so well with the main story! The stories by the contributing authors added so much to the main story and I was more than happy to finally get Chris Parker's back story! Antoniou and her contributing writers have added another great installment to The Marketplace series.

[Tiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still in love with Chris! <3 But the only problem I had with this installment was the jumping around with the different side stories. I find it interesting how they expanded the world of the Marketplace. But I was more invested in the story line involving Chris and Michael (poor little cinnamon role). I love the discussion about ethics in the lifestyle and how it brought up a lot of argument not just about the lifestyle but about sex, gender identity, education. Even threw in my favorite Disney lesson: "No matter what be true to who you are inside." <3

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I would tear up while reading this and look at my partner and go "this is really moving porn". The stories and the structure are pretty hot until she gets to the extra cissplainy chapter.

[Meggan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll be honest. I didn't actually read this one, I listened to it on Audible. So today when I came back to edit my rating I opened the book to find it was a series of short stories tied together around one primary story. My instant thought was, "OOOOOOOOh that explains it." I couldn't for the life of me figure out why at the beginning of the stories being told by the people attending the annual Academy were titled and the author of that story was given. Well played, Laura, well played.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The short stories were great additions and added a wonderful flavor to the story of trying to better the training and shift out those that are seen as lower quality. I believe this story takes place a few months after The Trainer ends.

Seeing Chris seemingly in his element trying to convince all the sides into accepting Anderson's proposal of setting up "... a standing committee of Standards of Training, including a certification process for accrediting new Trainers" was awesome. He held his own and got it pushed through though he did have to make some modifications, in the end everyone got what they needed/wanted.

*******************Spoiler Alert**************************













I was so shocked when Chris was sold to Tetsuo. From The Marketplace and The Trainer, there were hints that all Chris wanted was to be a slave, I just didn't see how that was going to be possible with him.

[Charles Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warning: there are story spoilers in this review .

In the middle of the third novel in this series, I had the thought that this series could be all about telling the story of Chris Parker. This novel does nothing to later my thoughts about this series telling his story in an understated, substantial manner -- at least to the end of this fourth book in the series.

SPOILERS FOLLOW:

I'm gratified to discover the hypothesis I formed about the character Chris Parker, when I was still thinking of him as a supporting character instead of as a main character is true. He is a female to male transsexual with a strong drive to serve a strong male Master who has overcome many traumas to become the person he wants to be. By the end of this novel he has achieved the goal he has striven his entire life to achieve -- it is an odd sort of happy ending for him, but a satisfying one.

[Ruz El · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

This one threw me at the start. This volume focuses on Chris Parker at a trainer conference in Japan to present a new way of certifying new trainers. What sets this one apart from the previous volumes is that having all the marketplace trainers in one setting allows for stories to be told from different, and these interludes break up the main story and are basically short stories. So it feels like a anthology in a way, and is a little frustrating since the main narrative is so good. Thankfully for the most part these short story interludes are really good and challenge the idea of what true marketplace slave training is, how it's will beyond simple sexual gratification so the format manages to work. Also worth noting that neat the end is a interlude that is basically "Chris Parker: Year One" so readers who share my fascination with the character should appreciate it. I'm already looking forward to the next edition.

[ElsieAgnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m sad to say I was disappointed by this instalment.

First there are a number of large chapters that are not written by the author but instead are fan fiction type stories within the world of characters we mostly don’t know.

This book is written differently to the others, a lot a transitions between chapters of different characters and setting within the story and then there are first person flashback chapters thrown in as well all revolving around Chris Parker.

I found it all a bit disorienting and unorganised. We had a huge amount of new characters dump on us and personally I didn’t care about any of them.

There is a lot of politics and conversations going on but not much else, there was talk of things happening and yet not much was happening. The majority of the character development was Parker and was told in first person or third person flashbacks, it was very info dumpy to me.

The book just seemed to never end and I found myself struggling to finish.

[Sévérin Grimm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Mrs. Antoniou's novels! I will read the others.

And NO!!! It's not porn. If that's what you're looking for, you'll be disappointed (maybe you should read Jack Brighton's instead of Mrs Antoniou's novels). Yes, there is a few sex scenes in it, but this is NOT the theme, that doesn't define the genre of this book at all.

Even though I usually don't like much short stories, I liked the way the short were inserted such a way they really feel parts of the main story.

And as someone else said, there are typos and mistakes in French sentences. If you want us bilingual people to believe that your characters are bilingual too or French speakers, you MUST write the French sentences perfectly.

[Adele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently I am not a fan of the "novelogy" format. Most of the inserted short stories are in a narrow range from okay-leaning-toward-bad to okay-almost-good. None are truly great or truly awful. Some of the ones by guest authors have familiar characters behaving in out-of-character ways and all of them, even the ones by Antoniou herself, interrupt the flow of the book for me. The larger novel plot is okay, but it is more Michael point-of-view and he hasn't really changed that much. Anderson's story doesn't make me view her more positively than I did before either. I do enjoy the scenes of Chris and Tetsuo and I like the outcome for Chris, but those elements were not a large enough part of this book to win me over.

[Kimberlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series. I appreciate how the author makes distinctions between bondage/discipline, Dominance/submission, and Sadomasochism. While in its own way a sex-oriented urban fantasy, it creates a world of complicated, realistic characters. The myriad versions of the D/s dynamic are all given their moment, and such interactions in all of their subtle variants are convincing.

My favorite book of the series. There is so much more nuance given to this secret world, and the insights into Chris and his backstory are worth the price of the book alone!

[Shannon Dyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Round up to 3.5 stars. My least favorite of the series, but still worth reading. Some of the short stories seemed a little out of place.

[Danny Tyran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am surprised to discover that I had never written a review of this novel (or my review disappeared!). Especially since it is excellent. Laura knows how to hold our interest for the duration of her books and, in this one, other writers' short stories intertwine well in the thread of her own story.

I already knew Cecilia Tan and David Stein, two of these writers, who are excellent too. I discovered Mr. Christian and Michael Hernandez, who are good too. As for Karen Taylor, the other author of this collection of short stories interspersed in this novel, it is Laura Antoniou's spouse.

This is not the book I liked most in the whole series, but it's still much better than the majority of BDSM stories we find on the market presently, and it was worth reading it a second time.

Once again, there are mistakes in French sentences. "Vas-y" ("go on" in French) does not spell "Vasi.” And "C'est" ("it's" in French) does not spell "Ces't"; the apostrophe must go after the C, not before the t. It's not in English! In French the apostrophe usually goes after the first letter (e.g. "il m'aimerait,” not "il maimerai't). I find it always disappointing when a talented author and a perfectionist such as Laura does not ask someone to check what she wrote in another language to be sure she did it perfectly.

Despite that, I give 4½ stars to her 4th novel of the Marketplace series.

[TinaMarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Academy -

Thank You, Miss Claudia by Karen Taylor - 5
Revisit Miss Claudia as she oversees a new maid. A man wanting to be a chamber maid, uniform and all. Nice to see Miss Claudia again.

The Tiger in the Dinging Room by M. Christian - 5
A slave's punishment requires her to wait naked in a room to contemplate the reasons she is worthy of her master's time and while doing so facing a burglar who's intent to do her harm. At first his presence trips all her erotic fantasies, thankfully she realizes his intent is not the same.

Bullseye by Cecilia Tan - 5
A cautionary tale, when a spotter crosses the line. His attempt to be a trainer goes horribly wrong. Well written.

The Nurse by Karen Taylor - 4
Very brutal read. The owner is diagnosed with AIDS, he purchases a new slave with nursing skills and his lover brutally takes out his anger and frustrations on him.

The California Way by M. Christian - 3
Doris is purchased in a household with owners being Ma, Pa and a boy. Ma is a man, Pa is a woman, the boy is a man but they all have their roles and Doris is their new toy. I’m guessing the point was to illustrate how far out the Californian way is from the Marketplace. It didn't work for me, detracted from the cohesiveness from the overall book.

In Service by David Stein - 5
A slave as a Trainor, the story ended too soon. A man wanting to become a 'real slave boy', seeks out Mr. Benjamin to train him for the Marketplace. I could have easily listened to more about Mr. Benjamin.

Alex's Choice by karen Taylor - 5
Great finding out how Rachel and Chris knew each other and how she came to join Alex and Grendel's House. Alex and Rachel get it on then Rachel tells her and Chris' story.

Redemption by Michael Hernadez - 4
Morgan seeks revenge on Ian after Ian abused a potential slave. Non-consensual kidnap and sadistic torments but still turned Ian on.

Insha'Allah by Karen Taylor

[Theresa Glover]

We all read smut. There's no reason to deny it. But there's no reason to read bad smut when there is intelligent, well-written, complex, and engaging erotica like this on the market. Just because something sells a bajillion copies doesn't make it good. Quality matters, and what makes a good book, regardless of genre, is good writing. Laura Antoniou is a respected member of the BDSM community and clearly busts her ass to write a damned good book. I read the first Marketplace books (The Marketplace, The Slave and The Trainer) back in the 90's, and I loved them then. Since that time, Antoniou has continued the Chronicles of Chris and Robin (my unofficial title) through 3 more books (The Academy, The Reunion and The Inheritor). I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to meet the author in 2015 and started re-reading the series then. Due to (reasons), I wasn't able to finish at the time, but have finally finished the last two books this year. Like many fans have already howled about, there are some seriously gut-wrenching moments in the last book, but it is a satisfying, gratifying, earned and well crafted end to a fantastic series. I highly recommend getting this series on audiobook because the voice talent embellishes the high quality of writing with a gloriously dignified and sophisticated accent. Besides, who doesn't like hearing graphic sex scenes read in a wonderfully prissy British accent?

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent representation of queer, bi, pan, BDSM relationships: the characters are plural in their races, genders, cultures, ages, bodies, sexualities, kinks, and personalities—they aren't tokenistic or shallow at all, and non-hegemonic identities are completely, refreshingly normalized. And, the main character is so trans, but that's not his entire characterization—it's just about unheard of. I'm here for it. Also, a S/M novel which focuses on power play more than leather fetishism (though there's enough of that to sort of pay respects to the heritage)? Yes.

My main grievance with the series is the fairly uncritical use of the terms "master" and "slave". This is problematic given the loaded history of these words, but there is a very high emphasis on consenting to such relationships.

My only other qualms with this series are minor: there is a single casual reference to heterosexuality as being "normal" (which could be explained as a single character's misconception, since that reference was made in the first person); and there are several occasions of douching, which is obviously an unhealthy misogynistic practice.

But seriously, this series is wonderful and sexy. It's not explicitly queer, but it quietly champions queerness and queer relationships.

[Anuja Varghese · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book as much as the others in this series. Part of what I like so much about Antoniou's writing in the first three Marketplace books is her attention to detail and ability to build believable characters and scenarios. Many of the characters in The Academy seem one dimensional (for example, she introduces Canadian characters who say "eh" in every sentence. Being Canadian, I had to roll my eyes a bit at that). I thought this book moved extremely slowly and lacked the erotic energy that makes the other books so good. The inclusion of short stories by other authours is jarring and does nothing to make The Academy a better read. At some points, it almost feels like Antoniou didn't have quite enough material to write a full novel and shoving short stories in at random intervals was her best solution. It's interesting to see some of the mystery of Chris Parker solved, but the ending is entirely too neat and tidy to feel real at all. Altogether a disappointing read for me.

[Kyle Wendy Skultety (gimmethatbook.com)]

This book gets no stars because it was SO disappointing. It's supposed to be a full length book, with chapters written by different people. However, I got the feeling that I was reading a book in a series, where I missed the first 2 books. There seemed to be a lot of background stuff going on that I had no idea what it was about, and the characters were drawn very poorly, with no real sense to them at all. The writing, no matter who was doing it, was muddy and disjointed. There was also way too much talking, not enough BDSM. Even those scenes were strange.

To add insult to injury, the printing of the book was off, so that the last 20 pages had blanks, and then different pages followed others, so that I never could get to the real ending!!

What a waste of my money.

[Jadelynn Wikkid · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I was a little bit iffy on this one, thrown off by the "novelology" concept -- but I pushed myself and am glad I did. The book takes place at the annual meeting of Marketplace slave owners and trainers, which will prove to be contentious thanks to a proposal authored by Chris Parker that promises radical changes in the Marketplace.

Within the base plot there are various Marketplace-based short stories written by other authors. These alone make fantastic reading.

This is book 4 in the Marketplace series and should not be skipped. We are given some backstory about Chris Parker, which answers many questions still left from books 1, 2, and 3. And leaves a lot more for the next installments!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this series of books so many times they are starting to fall apart. I'm anxiously awaiting her new one that is suppose to be out sometime this year. This is a good series that gives you an in site to the people who are a part of this lifestyle. Laura Antoniou is a very good writer. There is a lot of reality in these books along with some fantasy. The characters give one a lot to think about. I like the way this book goes back and forth. You get a lot of the past that you might have questioned in the first books. Very erotic books!

[Cherie Syncère · Rating 4 out of 5]

A "convention" of Trainers...I did not expect to like it as much as I did.

At this point, I am used to Antoniou's prolific writing style. I did not like that other authors were contributing to this story. The stories (and authors) were good, but they were like commercials that took me away from the characters that I invested in.

I identified with Chris (again), because we share the same sentiments on training and submission. Maybe that's why I did not like some of the other characters. The ending made me pout a little: I was happy for Chris, but I was also concerned.

[Dani Hermit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing addition to the marketplace series. I especially found the little stories expertly wound into the narrative to be enjoyable. I very much enjoyed being able to spend more time with Chris Parker, getting his backstory and seeing what was happening with his trainee Michael. Though I was disappointed with the ending Michael got, Chris's ending was perfect.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoilers

Finally a book that focuses on Chris Parker! I suffered through dealing with Michael again because he was just a way to learn more about a book character who I might have a bit of a crush on. Seeing him where he needed and wanted to be at the end was really a beautiful conclusion. The book wasn't perfect, but I had fun. I am curious as to what future books will be about.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's great to be reliving these as audiobooks. I will forever be in love with Chris Parker. This is the book where we find out everything about him. These audio books also include some delightful short stories that are integrated into the story. Over 24 hours of pleasure.

[Aubri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Marketplace book dragged quite a bit for me. It was almost exclusively focused on politics. While some of the short stories were engaging, others did not catch my attention at all. This book took me 2 months to finish; I was ready for it to be over long before it was.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series really does improve with each book. This really gives a lot of good background on the question of who Chris Parker is and how Chris became the ultimate trainer.

[Melise · Rating 2 out of 5]

These stories are written by various authors. The quality of the stories really varies between each story. Probably only about 1/3 of the stories are really ones that I would recommend.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was nice to see the characters from the first part of the series return. A very satisfying read.

[Paula Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything that I was looking for in an erotic book depicting the Master/slave power exchange!

[Eroshome · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sooooo still want to do this, lol.