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The Woman In Black Origin
Six year old Saskia Osuka is orphaned and placed in the care of the state. At the orphanage, under the care of a kindly old man, she makes a new family, and a new home. After scoring one-hundred percent on her SCAB's (Societal Career Aptitude Batteries), she will be given the rare opportunity to choose her own career path. This gift however, becomes a nightmare when a power mad politician and pedophile takes a shine to her.
With his wealth and connections, her new family is ripped away, and her home destroyed to cover her kidnapping. In a secret basement under his home, she spends years being sexually, mentally, and emotionally abused. When she's too old for his taste and no longer has a will of her own, she's taken as a protege' of Liam, a man who spent his youth in the basement. Here she learns that she will become a weapon for her rapist. She'll learn how to be a spy and a master thief. She'll learn how to become invisible and become anyone she needs to be whenever she needs to be them. Finally, she will come face to face with the origins of her becoming the Woman in Black.
With his wealth and connections, her new family is ripped away, and her home destroyed to cover her kidnapping. In a secret basement under his home, she spends years being sexually, mentally, and emotionally abused. When she's too old for his taste and no longer has a will of her own, she's taken as a protege' of Liam, a man who spent his youth in the basement. Here she learns that she will become a weapon for her rapist. She'll learn how to be a spy and a master thief. She'll learn how to become invisible and become anyone she needs to be whenever she needs to be them. Finally, she will come face to face with the origins of her becoming the Woman in Black.
200 pages, Paperback
First published August 10, 2015
1 person is currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Sacha Valero
14 books22 followersBorn and raised in Southern California, Sacha Valero grew up in the age of Star Wars, the Space Shuttle program, and cheesy heavy metal ballads. A voracious reader of the Choose Your Own Adventure series, he moved on to the likes of Tolkien, Steven King, and Clive Barker before being bitten by the science fiction bug. He draws inspiration from the writings of Issac Asimov, Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, and Arthur C. Clark.
Sacha Valero lives in Costa Mesa, CA where he caters to the beck and call of a German Shepherd with a bit too many human characteristics.
Sacha Valero lives in Costa Mesa, CA where he caters to the beck and call of a German Shepherd with a bit too many human characteristics.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 11, 2016
The Woman in Black: Origin by Sacha Valero, is a compelling, tense, and gripping book set on a futuristic planet, Patentia, involving young Saskia Osuka, a six-year-old whose parents die, necessitating her to live in an orphanage, where she is cared for and her intellect flourishes.
After she is settled into her new life, her intellect and resourcefulness attract the unfortunate and evil attentions of Jarelan, a corrupt politician and wicked pedophile, who burns down the orphanage and arranges Saskia’s false death.
Jarelan is ruthless, corrupt, manipulative, and controlling, and some scenes are intended for mature audiences.
The plot is exceptionally well-composed and jumps right into the story, is tense, compelling, and thought-provoking, while the science fiction aspects of the novel are unique, fascinating, and engagingly developed, offering an insightful and gripping look into a futuristic world of darkness and corruption.
After she is settled into her new life, her intellect and resourcefulness attract the unfortunate and evil attentions of Jarelan, a corrupt politician and wicked pedophile, who burns down the orphanage and arranges Saskia’s false death.
Jarelan is ruthless, corrupt, manipulative, and controlling, and some scenes are intended for mature audiences.
The plot is exceptionally well-composed and jumps right into the story, is tense, compelling, and thought-provoking, while the science fiction aspects of the novel are unique, fascinating, and engagingly developed, offering an insightful and gripping look into a futuristic world of darkness and corruption.
December 26, 2015
WiB is set thousands of years in the future with space flight seen in the same casual context that you or I might see a bus ride to the mall. I’m a fan of space opera and I liked the depth that the author provided with brief historic backgrounds for interstellar settlements and races. Underneath the drama of star-spanning empires are the everyday lives of the common people, and the book follows the journey of Saskia, a six year old genius who lives in a nurturing orphanage that provides her with a surrogate family.
Saskia’s intellect attracts the attention of Jarelan, an unprincipled politician who kidnaps her then burns down the orphanage and leaves another child’s body in Saskia’s bed so that Saskia becomes officially dead. His plan is to train Saskia as his personal assassin to use as a tool during his rise to supreme political power. Businessman … mayor … governor … then maybe even senator and emperor. It’s a fruitful and well-trodden literary path.
Along the way to supreme power Jarelan uses the underage Saskia to satisfy his carnal desires and the sex scenes are an unfortunate and needlessly graphic distraction from the narrative. Rape is an expression of physical violence against the individual, yet Jarelan’s long term objective is to break Saskia’s will, which requires psychological violence. My objection to these scenes is that they needlessly describe the flow of fluids and the practical physics of Jarelan’s violations without explaining how the politician used those activities to impose an emotional domination over Saskia and turn her into a cowed and loyal employee. We saw sufficient details of Jarelan’s bad character with his crimes of blackmail, arson and murder. I didn’t need multiple descriptions of underage rape to convince me of his personal undesirability.
Further on in the story we are told how Jarelan used homosexual rape to establish his control over Liam, the politician’s physician and hit man. Like with Saskia, there is plenty of room to explore the psychological development of this co-dependent relationship, and I would have liked more (non-sexual) details of their interactions to understand how Jarelan achieved his dominant relationships. However the burning anger and desire for revenge that the young and violated Liam would feel is dismissed with the cryptic line… “As the months turned into years, Liam was taught to never harm his master, and he would be rewarded. And he had been.”
The lack of detail here leaves a large hole in the narrative.
I understand that describing the foundation of Jarelan and Saskia’s “relationship” with the counterpoint of Saskia’s growing independence is one of the big deliverables of the story to set up the background for a sequel, but there still needs to be a satisfactory self-contained story within this book. Vignettes of illegal activities showing Saskia gaining familiarity with her role as Jarelan’s employee are well done, but the repeated descriptions of underage rape were an unfortunate distraction that prevented me wanting to know the actors in detail. The details of Saskia’s final revengeful torturing of David served little purpose except to convince me that I don’t want to read any more about her adventures.
I had some other quibbles with technical details in the book, and I acknowledge that this is a hobby horse of mine, so other readers may not be concerned by these issues. For example, Jarelan inflicts chemical surgery on the juvenile Saskia to destroy her ovaries, but somehow the lack of these organs doesn’t prevent the onset of puberty for her. A sentence or two explaining the use of oestrogen implants or similar would be useful.
In my opinion the book has the elements of an interesting story but the delivery fails. Replacing the detailed sex scenes with more subtle references to Saskia’s violation would help enormously and move the novel into a three star rating.
Saskia’s intellect attracts the attention of Jarelan, an unprincipled politician who kidnaps her then burns down the orphanage and leaves another child’s body in Saskia’s bed so that Saskia becomes officially dead. His plan is to train Saskia as his personal assassin to use as a tool during his rise to supreme political power. Businessman … mayor … governor … then maybe even senator and emperor. It’s a fruitful and well-trodden literary path.
Along the way to supreme power Jarelan uses the underage Saskia to satisfy his carnal desires and the sex scenes are an unfortunate and needlessly graphic distraction from the narrative. Rape is an expression of physical violence against the individual, yet Jarelan’s long term objective is to break Saskia’s will, which requires psychological violence. My objection to these scenes is that they needlessly describe the flow of fluids and the practical physics of Jarelan’s violations without explaining how the politician used those activities to impose an emotional domination over Saskia and turn her into a cowed and loyal employee. We saw sufficient details of Jarelan’s bad character with his crimes of blackmail, arson and murder. I didn’t need multiple descriptions of underage rape to convince me of his personal undesirability.
Further on in the story we are told how Jarelan used homosexual rape to establish his control over Liam, the politician’s physician and hit man. Like with Saskia, there is plenty of room to explore the psychological development of this co-dependent relationship, and I would have liked more (non-sexual) details of their interactions to understand how Jarelan achieved his dominant relationships. However the burning anger and desire for revenge that the young and violated Liam would feel is dismissed with the cryptic line… “As the months turned into years, Liam was taught to never harm his master, and he would be rewarded. And he had been.”
The lack of detail here leaves a large hole in the narrative.
I understand that describing the foundation of Jarelan and Saskia’s “relationship” with the counterpoint of Saskia’s growing independence is one of the big deliverables of the story to set up the background for a sequel, but there still needs to be a satisfactory self-contained story within this book. Vignettes of illegal activities showing Saskia gaining familiarity with her role as Jarelan’s employee are well done, but the repeated descriptions of underage rape were an unfortunate distraction that prevented me wanting to know the actors in detail. The details of Saskia’s final revengeful torturing of David served little purpose except to convince me that I don’t want to read any more about her adventures.
I had some other quibbles with technical details in the book, and I acknowledge that this is a hobby horse of mine, so other readers may not be concerned by these issues. For example, Jarelan inflicts chemical surgery on the juvenile Saskia to destroy her ovaries, but somehow the lack of these organs doesn’t prevent the onset of puberty for her. A sentence or two explaining the use of oestrogen implants or similar would be useful.
In my opinion the book has the elements of an interesting story but the delivery fails. Replacing the detailed sex scenes with more subtle references to Saskia’s violation would help enormously and move the novel into a three star rating.
February 26, 2016
I received this novel for free in exchange for a free review. I know that the copy that I received had been edited from prior reviews as I was aware of the rape scenes and the author stated they had been toned down from prior versions.
The novel is set well into the future, involved an orphan named Saskia, who is very intelligent. After she scores very high on intelligence testing after she is sent to an orphanage after her parents pass, she attracts the attention of a man named Jarelan. Jarelan is horrible person and I don't think I've hated a character this much since I read Game of Thrones and read about Joffrey. He manipulates his way through political channels through blackmail and he has an entire team around him of people that he has in his service by breaking their will as children. To do this, he isolates them from pretty much anyone else and repeatedly rapes them until they get too old for him.
There was a lot of technical things like crystapads and holograms as this is set in the future. The only thing I really had to suspend my belief on is that while Saskia is held hostage, as soon as she is able to get pregnant, they perform a procedure on her to completely remove all of her reproductive organs chemically so that they can never be put back with the technology available during their time. With all of her reproductive organs removed, she is still described at twenty three years old, later in the novel, as a seductive full body that turns both men and women on.
There are child rape scenes in the novel, but the version I read was not graphic as described in previous reviews. They are there, but not in detail. You know it happens, but you don't see all the dirty details.
I did enjoy the novel, but I hope there is a sequel planned. I was really hoping to see Saskia get revenge on everyone that had hurt her as a child. She does to an extent, but not to the people I really wanted to see bad things happen to. I also would have liked to have seen her contact her friend at the orphanage, Carina, and found out what happened to her. The title says "Origin", so I hope that means there will be another novel where we find some of these things happen. I would definitely read another novel in this series if there was one and I will check out other books by this author
The novel is set well into the future, involved an orphan named Saskia, who is very intelligent. After she scores very high on intelligence testing after she is sent to an orphanage after her parents pass, she attracts the attention of a man named Jarelan. Jarelan is horrible person and I don't think I've hated a character this much since I read Game of Thrones and read about Joffrey. He manipulates his way through political channels through blackmail and he has an entire team around him of people that he has in his service by breaking their will as children. To do this, he isolates them from pretty much anyone else and repeatedly rapes them until they get too old for him.
There was a lot of technical things like crystapads and holograms as this is set in the future. The only thing I really had to suspend my belief on is that while Saskia is held hostage, as soon as she is able to get pregnant, they perform a procedure on her to completely remove all of her reproductive organs chemically so that they can never be put back with the technology available during their time. With all of her reproductive organs removed, she is still described at twenty three years old, later in the novel, as a seductive full body that turns both men and women on.
There are child rape scenes in the novel, but the version I read was not graphic as described in previous reviews. They are there, but not in detail. You know it happens, but you don't see all the dirty details.
I did enjoy the novel, but I hope there is a sequel planned. I was really hoping to see Saskia get revenge on everyone that had hurt her as a child. She does to an extent, but not to the people I really wanted to see bad things happen to. I also would have liked to have seen her contact her friend at the orphanage, Carina, and found out what happened to her. The title says "Origin", so I hope that means there will be another novel where we find some of these things happen. I would definitely read another novel in this series if there was one and I will check out other books by this author
September 11, 2015
I should've just avoided this when I read the blurb. This book may be interesting for others, but reading graphic scenes of a man raping a young girl is just not, in any way, interesting to me. I tried skipping those scenes altogether but every time I skipped one there was just another a few pages later. Halfway through the book, I re-read the blurb and decided I wasn't interested in going any further.
The earlier portions about the orphanage were interesting, since how often do you see someone writing about an orphanage full of happy kids who like their teachers and caretakers? But that only lasted so long, and then the book got to what it was truly about. This is just a topic I can't stomach.
Take this review as fair warning.
- I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, such that it is.
The earlier portions about the orphanage were interesting, since how often do you see someone writing about an orphanage full of happy kids who like their teachers and caretakers? But that only lasted so long, and then the book got to what it was truly about. This is just a topic I can't stomach.
Take this review as fair warning.
- I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, such that it is.
December 5, 2015
Was loving this book, the writing was excellent, the world created was vivid, the characters engaging.
I was all geared up for a 5 star until the nine-year-old lead character is repeatedly raped in detail, including anally.
I admit to liking non-con in my reading matter occasionally, and I probably would have continued if the girl had been 16 or over, but a completely undeveloped pre-pubescent nine-year-old being torn internally by an adult male?
The blurb says her captivity and abuse lasts years, I have no wish to read that.
One of my very few one star reviews.
DNF
I was all geared up for a 5 star until the nine-year-old lead character is repeatedly raped in detail, including anally.
I admit to liking non-con in my reading matter occasionally, and I probably would have continued if the girl had been 16 or over, but a completely undeveloped pre-pubescent nine-year-old being torn internally by an adult male?
The blurb says her captivity and abuse lasts years, I have no wish to read that.
One of my very few one star reviews.
DNF
October 23, 2015
This story is set far into the future, on the planet Patentia. This makes for an interesting setting. Although the inhabitants make full use of the technology surrounding them, such as holographs and crystapads, there is little personal freedom with the children who are sent to academies from the age of ten where their future career is decided.
Saskia, a bright and intelligent six year old, is sent to Lesia Orphanage after the death of her parents. Here, she makes friends with Carina and takes care of a little boy, Pip. She settles in but soon comes to the attention of Oswald Jarelson, a powerful and ambitious politician. Jarelson is a paedophile and kidnaps Saskia, setting the orphanage on fire to remove all traces of her from official records. Saskia is now a victim; alone, with no-one to help her. She began as a kind and helpful little girl but this side of her is lost for ever as she has no choice but to develop her survival skills.
Like many powerful men, Jarelson has a psychopathic personality. He has a group of bodyguards, one of whom, Liam, who was himself abused by Jarelson as a child, helps Saskia and tells her she will be trained to work for Jarelson. Whilst Saskia continues to suffer, Jarelson's career takes off. Through blackmail and bribery he becomes Mayor and then Governor.
This book deals with the darker side of human nature and there are scenes involving both sexual and physical abuse which I found difficult to read. I think the author is trying to portray the reality of abuse and how it has a devastating effect on the victims. There are also characters such as David, Melissa and Camille the dentist, with few, if any, redeeming qualities.
The book is interesting, well written and raises the issue of the harm that can be done to a child through abuse and shows how the effect can be permanent. Saskia herself acknowledges that, the little girl she once was, is lost. As an adult she takes on a new identity. She possesses a determination and ruthlessness which makes her a formidable adversary. However, she has no empathy. All the goodness has been drained from her: She is dead inside.
I wanted Saskia to take her revenge on the adults who had ill treated her and betrayed her when she was a child, and, although she does begin to do this, I found the ending too abrupt and unexpected. I would also have been interested to know what happened to Carina. However, the main question for me is whether Saskia will get her revenge on Jarelson.
A thought provoking and original read.
Saskia, a bright and intelligent six year old, is sent to Lesia Orphanage after the death of her parents. Here, she makes friends with Carina and takes care of a little boy, Pip. She settles in but soon comes to the attention of Oswald Jarelson, a powerful and ambitious politician. Jarelson is a paedophile and kidnaps Saskia, setting the orphanage on fire to remove all traces of her from official records. Saskia is now a victim; alone, with no-one to help her. She began as a kind and helpful little girl but this side of her is lost for ever as she has no choice but to develop her survival skills.
Like many powerful men, Jarelson has a psychopathic personality. He has a group of bodyguards, one of whom, Liam, who was himself abused by Jarelson as a child, helps Saskia and tells her she will be trained to work for Jarelson. Whilst Saskia continues to suffer, Jarelson's career takes off. Through blackmail and bribery he becomes Mayor and then Governor.
This book deals with the darker side of human nature and there are scenes involving both sexual and physical abuse which I found difficult to read. I think the author is trying to portray the reality of abuse and how it has a devastating effect on the victims. There are also characters such as David, Melissa and Camille the dentist, with few, if any, redeeming qualities.
The book is interesting, well written and raises the issue of the harm that can be done to a child through abuse and shows how the effect can be permanent. Saskia herself acknowledges that, the little girl she once was, is lost. As an adult she takes on a new identity. She possesses a determination and ruthlessness which makes her a formidable adversary. However, she has no empathy. All the goodness has been drained from her: She is dead inside.
I wanted Saskia to take her revenge on the adults who had ill treated her and betrayed her when she was a child, and, although she does begin to do this, I found the ending too abrupt and unexpected. I would also have been interested to know what happened to Carina. However, the main question for me is whether Saskia will get her revenge on Jarelson.
A thought provoking and original read.
December 2, 2015
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
It is only fair to say this book won’t be for everyone as it deals head on and occasionally graphically with violence and sexual abuse towards children.
The central plot focuses on Saskia, initially a six year old orphan, who finds herself under the predatory orbit of Oswald Jarelan who increasingly holds positions of power over her as she develops towards early adulthood. The theme of the book is the brutal dehumanisation of an individual which propels them to become the avenging killer of the title, however the story does not shy away from the distasteful and graphic and casual readers should be aware that there are some sections of this book, particularly a few chapter openings, which make for difficult reading. This may be deliberate on the part of the author but I’m afraid it made me skim forwards a couple of times.
If I focus on the writing however, this is competently done and the world that is created, albeit a sci-fi version of our own, is recognisable and in that sense believable. As for Saskia’s journey and origin story this follows a Leon/Nikita path to her development as the Woman in Black and the book clearly represents her back story as she steps into her new role and identity. It is also clear that this is the first part of what is likely to be an ongoing series, particularly as it leaves a large opening for the future story and ends quite abruptly (the word Origin in the title is also a fairly big clue).
Overall if you are comfortable with stories that feature sexual violence this may work for you but it wasn’t really my type of thing.
It is only fair to say this book won’t be for everyone as it deals head on and occasionally graphically with violence and sexual abuse towards children.
The central plot focuses on Saskia, initially a six year old orphan, who finds herself under the predatory orbit of Oswald Jarelan who increasingly holds positions of power over her as she develops towards early adulthood. The theme of the book is the brutal dehumanisation of an individual which propels them to become the avenging killer of the title, however the story does not shy away from the distasteful and graphic and casual readers should be aware that there are some sections of this book, particularly a few chapter openings, which make for difficult reading. This may be deliberate on the part of the author but I’m afraid it made me skim forwards a couple of times.
If I focus on the writing however, this is competently done and the world that is created, albeit a sci-fi version of our own, is recognisable and in that sense believable. As for Saskia’s journey and origin story this follows a Leon/Nikita path to her development as the Woman in Black and the book clearly represents her back story as she steps into her new role and identity. It is also clear that this is the first part of what is likely to be an ongoing series, particularly as it leaves a large opening for the future story and ends quite abruptly (the word Origin in the title is also a fairly big clue).
Overall if you are comfortable with stories that feature sexual violence this may work for you but it wasn’t really my type of thing.
May 16, 2016
This was as very intense dark read. The vulnerable of vulnerable…a young orphan is kidnapped from an orphanage and forced to be a sex slave for a psychopath whose control only deepens, as he is elected mayor and then governor.
Definitely a very cringing read, the author doesn’t hold back in highlighting the ultimate scum of all humanity. Being somewhat of a feminist, I felt this novel to be a very difficult read. I would have very much liked to see Saskia simply cut of the man’s private parts…that would have been a pleasantly nice twist for the reader.
The author does however successfully cultivates the reader to have extreme hatred towards the antagonist, so I understand why she delivers such explicit scenes for this effect.
All in all, if you are into these kind of dark psychopath novels, then you will enjoy this read very much. A unique plot, with lots of surprises.
Definitely a very cringing read, the author doesn’t hold back in highlighting the ultimate scum of all humanity. Being somewhat of a feminist, I felt this novel to be a very difficult read. I would have very much liked to see Saskia simply cut of the man’s private parts…that would have been a pleasantly nice twist for the reader.
The author does however successfully cultivates the reader to have extreme hatred towards the antagonist, so I understand why she delivers such explicit scenes for this effect.
All in all, if you are into these kind of dark psychopath novels, then you will enjoy this read very much. A unique plot, with lots of surprises.
September 20, 2015
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I’m not typically a science fiction or thriller reader, but I love expanding my reading horizons and I enjoy supporting fellow indie authors so I gladly agreed to read and review The Woman In Black.
This book is set in the future and follows the traumatic events surrounding 6 year old Saskia after the deaths of her parents. As the synopsis states, Saskia is sexually, mentally, and emotionally abused, and as a result, the book is not for everyone. Those parts of the book I did not enjoy. However, The Woman In Black was well written, and I found the science fiction aspect of the book intriguing and interesting. I think readers with an interest in science fiction thrillers will enjoy it.
I’m not typically a science fiction or thriller reader, but I love expanding my reading horizons and I enjoy supporting fellow indie authors so I gladly agreed to read and review The Woman In Black.
This book is set in the future and follows the traumatic events surrounding 6 year old Saskia after the deaths of her parents. As the synopsis states, Saskia is sexually, mentally, and emotionally abused, and as a result, the book is not for everyone. Those parts of the book I did not enjoy. However, The Woman In Black was well written, and I found the science fiction aspect of the book intriguing and interesting. I think readers with an interest in science fiction thrillers will enjoy it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews