Dragonard

Dragonard #1

by Rupert Gilchrist

For Richard Abdee, first Englishman to be whipmaster to African slaves, it was the beginning of a new life - a life of power, of violence, of sadistic passion and overpowering greed. For he intended to rule everything and everyone around him. Both white and black. Both male and female...

276 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely vile but impossible to put down. I really don’t know what to say

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty engrossing read for only 276 pages. 1st book in a trilogy, but I don't think I'm going to spend the time to hunt down the 2nd and 3rd at the moment.

Plantation Slavery
18th Century
Rape
Murder
Just plain meanness
A bit of insight into African tribesmen (I don't know if any is based on fact)
Caribbean Islands (St. Kitts)
Perversion
Alpha Slave Master (who is a genuine hateful coldblooded bastard)

Well, the above pretty much explains it all. Except for the plot. Entertaining way Rupert Gilchrist wove all that into a plot that held my attention and stirred extreme emotions.

Fair warning though: it's not for all historical romance readers. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't call this a romance because, well, there wasn't any romance.

[Alucard]

Another great cover. Man there was nothing like the 70's for perfect cover art.

[C J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Be warned the protagonist Richard Abdee is purely evil, amoral and narcissistic! The history on slaves and slavery well, I'd like to believe that the worst scenes in this book had absolutely no basis in fact but I'm afraid there's some very real horrific truths to the everyday horrors that must have comprised a slaves' life! This is a very dark book full of controversial and ugly content, not for the faint of heart but based on what one can only surmise to be the brutal realities of any enslaved people. Despite all this I “enjoyed” this uncomfortable story.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another of what I call "Plantation" novels. This one was not very good, although it inspired a series apparently. I only read this one.

Turns out I did read another. I'm going to give this one another star for that reason. Must have been something in it I found interesting.