A review by bookly_reads
Docile, by K. M. Szpara
1.0
Szpara wrote in The Mary Sue, "People tell me reading Docile feels like reading fanfiction, which I assume means it reads like an author wrote exactly what they wanted." I find that quote wildly disingenuous, because there's no way he doesn't know that people say it feels like reading fanfiction because he used a bunch of old rehashed fanfic tropes. I read many stories about slaves who take drugs that make their submission feel pleasurable as a teenager, long before I learned that real life sexual slavery is on the rise globally, not a thing of the past.
Docile all takes place in America but never once mentions actual American slavery. It is inspired by chattel slavery, in that the slaves of this world are seen as less than people, with no autonomy, and yet chattel slavery is never once acknowledged even as other parts of real life history are. It is an odd and gaping lacuna.
The races of characters are described boringly, incessantly, and obsessively—basically the only descriptors characters get are a running catalogue of skin shades. Light-skinned, pale, dark brown, warm, Black—shade after shade, at the sacrifice of more detailed or varied descriptions. I cannot tell you what most of the characters looked like beyond their skin—no hair styles, no eye colors, etc. Yet race is never acknowledged as anything beyond the visual; again, it is literally not mentioned once that Black people were enslaved in America, even though the characters talk about the 1800s repeatedly. The only hint that racism might still exist is that a Black sex slave is named "Onyx" by his "master," indicating that race fetishization is still a thing. But this is never explored more deeply than the name itself.
Books that *actually* contain themes of anti-capitalism, queerness, romance, slavery, and race:
-An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
-The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Like if you just wanna be horny, have fun, but don't pretend it's deep.
Furthermore, it's a bad slavefic? It's a poorly told story.
I found Docile deeply psychologically unconvincing. Firstly, the "Docile" Elisha becomes a perfect little slave after just six months. I found it unbelievable that someone could change so quickly and think a better writer could have juggled a more extensive timeline.
Yet at the same time, Elisha never had much fight in him to start with. Not taking the drug Dociline was his one and only rebellion, and even that was accepted pretty easily by his "master." I found his lack of willpower throughout incredibly boring. It deflated so much potential tension and made him hard to root for. For example, he's approached many times by an anti-slavery organization that wants to free him—but he never once is tempted to spy on his "master" for them or seek freedom. Literally the same proposition kept popping up in scenes that were nearly identical, but since it was obvious from that start that Elisha was never going to become a spy, those scenes were a waste of space. I would have much preferred reading about an Elisha who was trying to balance spying with falling in love with the enemy.
There's one scene that seems compelling for a moment— As if the stakes never actually mattered in the first place.
Combining this with how under-developed his friend was (Dylan and Elisha had a passing conversation in the beginning, in which we are told but not shown that they're like family. Even this scene was oddly devoid of tension, as she's the only person who knows he's going to leave home to sell himself for his family, but she barely seems bothered by it.), and it was hard to care at all. When I think of writers like Suzanne Collins, who made us care about Katniss's connection to Peeta through a quick but heart-wrenching flashback where Peeta the baker gave some forbidden bread to a starving Katniss, I know it's possible to make readers care quickly and to develop characters properly in the amount of words Szpara uses. I wish his editors had pushed him to do that.
The most unrealistic thing!! Seriously.
Firstly, what a condescending portrayal of rural people. Secondly,
And finally, the last hundred or so pages of the book are literally a dull It is CRAZY to me that an editor didn't recommend that all be cut and condensed into 20 pages at the MAXIMUM. Or maybe an editor did but was ignored. Who knows.
There's an emotional numbness through the book. Read it if you like horny fanfic—or just read horny fanfic, which is free.
Docile all takes place in America but never once mentions actual American slavery. It is inspired by chattel slavery, in that the slaves of this world are seen as less than people, with no autonomy, and yet chattel slavery is never once acknowledged even as other parts of real life history are. It is an odd and gaping lacuna.
The races of characters are described boringly, incessantly, and obsessively—basically the only descriptors characters get are a running catalogue of skin shades. Light-skinned, pale, dark brown, warm, Black—shade after shade, at the sacrifice of more detailed or varied descriptions. I cannot tell you what most of the characters looked like beyond their skin—no hair styles, no eye colors, etc. Yet race is never acknowledged as anything beyond the visual; again, it is literally not mentioned once that Black people were enslaved in America, even though the characters talk about the 1800s repeatedly. The only hint that racism might still exist is that a Black sex slave is named "Onyx" by his "master," indicating that race fetishization is still a thing. But this is never explored more deeply than the name itself.
Books that *actually* contain themes of anti-capitalism, queerness, romance, slavery, and race:
-An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
-The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Like if you just wanna be horny, have fun, but don't pretend it's deep.
Furthermore, it's a bad slavefic? It's a poorly told story.
I found Docile deeply psychologically unconvincing. Firstly, the "Docile" Elisha becomes a perfect little slave after just six months. I found it unbelievable that someone could change so quickly and think a better writer could have juggled a more extensive timeline.
Yet at the same time, Elisha never had much fight in him to start with. Not taking the drug Dociline was his one and only rebellion, and even that was accepted pretty easily by his "master." I found his lack of willpower throughout incredibly boring. It deflated so much potential tension and made him hard to root for. For example, he's approached many times by an anti-slavery organization that wants to free him—but he never once is tempted to spy on his "master" for them or seek freedom. Literally the same proposition kept popping up in scenes that were nearly identical, but since it was obvious from that start that Elisha was never going to become a spy, those scenes were a waste of space. I would have much preferred reading about an Elisha who was trying to balance spying with falling in love with the enemy.
There's one scene that seems compelling for a moment—
Spoiler
when he finds out his friend from home, Dylan, has become a slave and he wants to free her. But the scene where he seeks to free her lacks any twists, drama, or tension. He runs in a race and wins neatly after just a few paragraphs. Furthermore, after he succeeds in freeing her, he doesn't even think about her except briefly 2 pages later.Combining this with how under-developed his friend was (Dylan and Elisha had a passing conversation in the beginning, in which we are told but not shown that they're like family. Even this scene was oddly devoid of tension, as she's the only person who knows he's going to leave home to sell himself for his family, but she barely seems bothered by it.), and it was hard to care at all. When I think of writers like Suzanne Collins, who made us care about Katniss's connection to Peeta through a quick but heart-wrenching flashback where Peeta the baker gave some forbidden bread to a starving Katniss, I know it's possible to make readers care quickly and to develop characters properly in the amount of words Szpara uses. I wish his editors had pushed him to do that.
The most unrealistic thing!!
Spoiler
Was when Elisha's father!! Told Elisha to go back to his "master" early!! After Elisha's FIRST permitted weekend home!! I could sort of believe his father wouldn't want Elisha's sister to see Elisha's docility and be influenced by it, but that apparently wasn't his father's main grievance. No—it was that Elisha had learned to play piano and now took morning runs. Those changes pushed Elisha's father to kick him out of the house—Elisha had sold his entire life away to save his family, but since he wasn't a quaint farmboy anymore, f*ck him.Firstly, what a condescending portrayal of rural people. Secondly,
Spoiler
if Elisha became a slave to protect his family and we don't care about his family because his family randomly doesn't care about him, then. where. are. the. stakes??And finally, the last hundred or so pages of the book are literally a dull
Spoiler
trial in which characters painstaking recap each and every event in the book.There's an emotional numbness through the book. Read it if you like horny fanfic—or just read horny fanfic, which is free.