The Marketplace (Book One of The Marketplace Series)

The Marketplace by Laura Antoniou is a book that's a departure for me. The first time I heard about The Marketplace or Laura was when I read at the former Ravenous Nights, now renamed, Between the Covers. Laura was there and read from one of the books in The Marketplace series. I was enthralled by Laura's reading and was told how The Marketplace is a book that has become a cult classic reading among those in the BDSM and GLBT reading community. I took a chance and decided to buy and read The Marketplace.

The Marketplace is unflinching, brutal and has moments of droll humor. This is a book that grabs you from the get go. Laura's storytelling and writing is engaging, and as you read, you lose yourself in the world and the characters. This is heavy, heavy BDSM where four people are being trained as slaves and will be sold at auction to masters who are allowed to do whatever they want to them. This isn't some fantasy, sexual odyssey where pleasure and pain is combined for the ultimate climax. The slaves are put through rigorous tests and are humiliated to the point where it's almost non-consensual and brutal. The Marketplace reminds me of reality show television where the audience, or in this case the reader, picks a favorite they want to succeed and move forward in the hopes they'll be given to a master who will appreciate them and see how wonderful they are.

The slaves here are taught to bend to the will of others in power and not question why they are forced into doing things, no matter how humiliating. The slaves still have free will and can leave at any time, but they stick to it because they feel they have nothing else to turn to. The training center is run by two people, Alexandra and Grendel who have taken on the task of training four people who already have been involved in the BDSM scene as pseudo-slaves. These four all need major work and they're forced to go through a type of BDSM boot camp. We have Sharon, the spoiled and entitled thinking pleasure slave who thinks she'll be some rich man's slave and pampered and loved. There's Robert, a bear of a man who has a gender identity crisis because of the mistress's he served. Claudia is a true submissive and her mistress adores her but feels Claudia is dead inside and has no real skills and needs to be reprogrammed. Finally Brian embraces the scene but is cocky and doesn't think he needs to be taught or trained. These four will sleep, bathe, eat and work alongside one another for weeks in order to become perfect slaves. Under their caregiver and teacher of sorts, Chris Parker, the majordomo, rules with an iron fist while only obeying Alexandra and Grendel. Chris has a few dark secrets, one of which Brian is very aware of, and because of that he may not succeed.

Over the course of the novel we see the four slaves in training learning basic decorum and life skills such as laundry, cleaning out the stables on the property and housework. If the slaves complain or disappoint Chris and the staff, they're punished with whippings and paddlings and forced to pleasure a number of the staff or any guests who visit and not receive pleasure in return. In most cases it appears they're abused horribly and are expected to ask for more and take whatever is dished out to them.

A book like this is not for the faint of heart. The first section is more of an introduction and one that carries you along. There are more than a few scenes of humor and witty dialogue as you get to know the four slaves and their personalities. But then in the second section, that is where things turn dark and there are more than enough scenes of brutal acts and humiliations such as Brian being punished and forced to be a dog, and Sharon who cannot be broken and refuses to obey is forced to pleasure anyone, male or female in any way they want. A slave has no options or real desires. Their desires are their masters or master and they must always think of the one who owns them and not about themselves.

The reason The Marketplace was so enjoyable for me it because of the writing. Laura's writing and world building is very fascinating and enjoyable even though I flinched a few times because of what the slaves had to endure. There's this one scene with Sharon and two men who degrade her horribly that I had to stop reading. But if you can get past some of the shocking acts, you're in for a treat. Claudia and Robert will tug at your heartstrings and Brian will make you laugh with his statements and insults. Then there's Chris, a true enigma of a man who is still very much a mystery when you finish.

The Marketplace was addicting reading for me and I look forward in reading the next installments. These books are pricey at $10 a pop so most may take a step back from purchasing them. But if you are willing to sacrifice the $10, I would buy The Marketplace. Laura really opened my mind to a new world and way of life not many authors can pull off. I'm glad I took a chance and introduced myself to the world of The Marketplace and Laura Antoniou.

Katiebabs

The idea of getting so deep into submission that I was willing to sell myself to a complete stranger in exchange of a lifetime of servitude and sex has a certain appeal. There is a rush of that, an absolute that both terrifies me and excites me.

This novel hits that button and punches it hard. It isn't a stroke story, but one of five people growing into their role from five very different directions. The ensemble arrangement, which each chapter is from a different point of view, builds up slowly at first but then seems to rush by. The details lavished on the initial days and the struggles of learning different of wanting to be a slave and being taught one were wonderful. Some of the personalities grated on me, as one would expect, and there were times I wanted to slap almost everyone for doing something stupid.

I loved the rich diversity of characters, both in their personalities on-role and off-role. Some of the characters were flatter than others (including one of the to-be-slaves). There were some characterizations that I felt hinted at another book and weren't full developed, but it didn't detract too much from the story.

This isn't a stroke story and, actually, that very point is made in the story. It's a tale of truly submitting and finding joy in it instead of getting off with a quick bang.

I was lucky to get a copy of this while it was free. The Marketplace tells the story of 4 people in training to become either pleasure slaves or better slaves. Alexandria and Grendel run the house and assign them duties to improve them for the auction block. The trainees are put through their paces and we get to see their ups and downs as well as their backstories and what brought them to the house. I enjoyed watching them progress and seeing their setbacks. I would guess that most readers will hate Sharon, she is my favorite and after finishing the book I long to discover her fate. If you want straight erotica and tons of sex, this isn't the book for you. This book has plenty of sex but doesn't go heavy into the scenes, it mainly tells a story that you can envision yourself being a part of. Haven't you wondered what happens at these places? The only thing I found odd was the daily beatings and no treatment afterwards. All in all this is a book I could read again and highly recommend. I'm beginning the next in the series.

Laura Antoniou is, in some circles, considered to be one of the best authors of sadomasochistic fiction. And that isn't much of a surprise, since she really has mastered the art of creating intense sexual scenarios mixed with beautiful ways of writing. The Marketplace, the first part of her (at least within the BDSM scene) famous Marketplace-series, was originally published in 1993, and has all over the kinky and fetish world been celebrated as one of the best creations ever when it comes to the genre known as BDSM erotica. Since 1993 Antoniou has written four sequels, and these days not too many people argue against the fact that she's become one of the leading authors of BDSM literature.

The book focuses on the four slaves Robert, Brian, Claudia, and Sharon, who all get accepted into a rigorous training program under Master Grendel and Mistress Alexandra on a beautiful estate in the countryside. Grendel and Alexandra are representatives for an international organization devoted to trading in submissive slaves, and Marketplace - the name of this organization - is the largest but also most secretive organization in existence for people with these unique interests. For a few weeks the four slaves are drilled into being perfect servants, and throughout the book steaming sex is mixed with moving portraits of people with but one goal in life: to become the perfect servant to a Master or a Mistress.

And these people are: Robert, a shy, heterosexual man with great capacity but low self-esteem; Brian, a homosexual who has never doubted his own excellence; Sharon, an erotic bombshell used to being able to pick and choose any man she ever wanted; and Claudia, who already serves under Mistress Madeleine but nonetheless is sent to the Marketplace in order to improve her skills.

The Marketplace is a book that both beginners and more experienced people within the BDSM scene can enjoy tremendously, partly because it doesn't contain any off language or terminology that only the initiated will understand, but also because it isn't all about sex all the time. True, people have sex to the left and right, but the book also contains very interesting characters whose growth is quite fascinating to follow.

This might not be the first book to give to your spouse's parents for their anniversary, but if you want some exquisite inspiration for your exploration to the world of kinky sex and role-playing, then The Marketplace comes highly recommended indeed!

This book is the hottest thing I have ever read. The Marketplace introduces Grendel and Alexandra, traders and trainers of premium slaves. Both are expert dominants. The book is deliberately vague about their relationship. Four would-be slaves apply to undergo the Marketplace training regimen at the hands of Grendel and Alex and their major domo Chris. None is a true amateur. In fact, all four consider themselves to be accomplished submissives. Almost immediately, the dominants strip the four of their illusions and show them how far they are from being Marketplace material.

I have a different version of these books, even before the last version with the black-and-white covers. The issues with grammatical and spelling errors do not occur with my early versions.

I don't know why I haven't reviewed these books before. This series is flatout one of the hottest things I've ever read. There's a few short stories in a similar category, but no other novels. I've read them repeatedly over the past decade and a half.

Of course, there's lots of sex scenes, it's erotic fantasy. Sex generally happens in erotica.

And yet, that is not MOST of what occurs in these books. It's real in a way that very little SM erotica is real, in that there are characters, they grow and change and learn, and it's ABOUT much more than the sex.

IME, people who are not into the scene do not care for these novels. What I mean by that is... if you just think the imagery of SM is vaguely hot, along with lots of other things that are also hot, these books might not be a huge turn-on to you. For example, my husband finds them boring, never got past the first book. He's just not a pervert like me. ;)

However, if you are the type of person who was surprised to discover how utterly profound SM was when you started doing it, these novels will speak to you. Yes, you will find them hot. But beyond that... you will find them realistic in terms of the feelings, the issues, the differing characters. There is so much MORE than sex to all of this... and Laura captures that like no one else.

This was an excellent book and I cant wait to read more of the series! I was intrigued immediately by all of the characters. I loved that you had a chance to be in each of their heads, to see how they got to where they are today. I love the idea of The Marketplace and how the training is played out. I am now obsessed with knowing more about Chris, the majordomo of the house. Im gonna have to get the next in the series. My one complaint is the price of the ebooks. This one was 7.99, but it seems the following books are 9.99! I hate paying that much for ebooks. :(

Far too sparing descriptions of setting and persons; the writing style is far too spartan to maintain interest. Despite all the hype, and the highbrow premise, the tale features far too much violence for violence's sake. Grendel is a central character of no positive traits - this book does serve the purpose of frightening anyone curious about BDSM away from any serious exploration.

I loved the first book in this series. The subsequent books weren't up to par - but 'The Marketplace' was great. I loved the multiple points of view. I help run an online community, and had a blast identifying the different behaviours of the character's with people I had observed all around me!

A lot of erotic fiction tries very hard to stick to the 'carbon copy character syndrome', and this book does an excellent job of cutting through the sludge and bringing to life characters that really draw you into the story - regardless of whether you love or hate them. I recommend this book to everyone I encounter who wants to read good s/m erotic fiction. Not your usual page after page of sex scenes. There is a story here!

I loved this book. LOVED IT.

I loved the whole idea of the Marketplace and the slaves being trained to accept everything and anything that is thrown at them. The way the trainers purposely manipulate the strengths and weaknesses of the slaves to show the slaves that they are not all they thought they were, and to open their eyes to the fact that they had so much more to learn.

The characters were fabulously believable. I loved how each of the characters told their own stories of how they became interested in becoming slaves. They were stories and attitudes towards the Lifestyle I have seen in real life. You could recognize the misconceptions that they had and the fantasies they brought with them, thinking it would all work out to be exactly what they wanted. The experiences they go through to find out that their fantasies were just fantasies were excruciating to read but made the story a real drool-fest for me!

I loved to follow the arrogant and lazy Sharon, who has used her pretty little body to get what she wants always (you just WANT her to get a bad beating). At times you felt sorry for them, at times you think they deserve what they get, and at times you wish you were there BEING them. I couldn't put the book down, yet I could only hold it open with one hand ;)

50 Shades should be ashamed, as should those who read it... THIS is a GREAT BDSM series and should be mandatory reading in the community.
Brilliant characterization, who doesn't love Chris? Supurb story telling and an engaging world.
Erotic tales with something for everyone.
I was engaged from

OK, maybe not real ones, but the echoed memory of such carnal treatment was fresh again upon my skin, warm with sympathy for the slaves-in-training and warm elsewhere in appreciation of the artistry of the domination taking place. I can recall with amused embarrassment how much my own distantly past tenure as property began much like Sharon's. I was selfish, self-centered and clueless about respect for my superiors. I love the way the writing takes us seamlessly through a very wide variety of perspectives. Antoniou has a gift for relating and humanizing the caricatures naturally created by the ordinary BDSM scene and transforming them into beautiful and lovable characters whose transformative journey takes the reader on a palpable roller-coaster ride of emotion, eroticism and introspection. I am moved to new respect for all the Tops who ever had to put up with this wee mouse. <3

The new edition of the Marketplace is ever so much better than the old edition. Not only visually prettier (it's trade size and has a beautiful cover - not those ugly out-of-print Masquerade things), but also a 'bonus story' that adds to the joy of re-reading this favorite s/m classic! After devouring The Academy, reading the Marketplace again, reacquainting myself with the original characters was like slipping between the covers with familiar play partners - fun, and a few surprises. The added story gives us even more insight into the complex relationships between Grendel, Alex, Rachel and Chris, the slave trainers who we all learned to love when they were teaching Sharon, Robert, Claudia and Brian how to prepare themselves for a life of a slave in the mysterious Marketplace. It's a must-read for Marketplace fans, and a must-have book for people who appreciate classy erotica.

The Marketplace series is, by far, one of my favorite renditions of BDSM in an erotic-fiction setting. The characters are both accessible and extremely realistic in their portrayal, making it a joy to follow them through their journey. As the book progresses, the explorations into the different ways in which a person might react to having stepped through the BDSM looking-glass, as it were, are both insightful and poignant.

Even more significantly, this book portrays a kind of power exchange that can be difficult to talk about in real life situations, much less in a work of fiction. The writing is excellent and manages to walk that fine line between symbol and detail that can be supremely challenging to find when crafting a voluntary exchange of power. This is an incredible read for anyone interested in (or friendly to) the ideas of kink and how they line up with the dynamics of the struggle between control and surrender as it takes place inside a person's mind. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the genre.

Long before there were any shades of grey or any other color, with prose better written than any Beauty dared strive to achieve, there was Laura Antoniou's Marketplace series. I read this book and its mates years ago, and promptly placed them on my shelf sitting proudly near Macho Sluts, Telepaths Don't Need Safewords, Best Transgender Erotica and other books I have read and loved. Recently I bought The Marketplace as a gift for a girlfriend. Her birthday is early in December, and I thought she might enjoy one of my old favorites. Boy was I right!!! I went to buy her the next one for Christmas, and found that she had already bought all but the most recent for herself!!!
If you have never read this series, I envy you in that you have all this ahead of you still... NOW GET CRACKING, YOU'VE BEEN WASTING TIME!

I loved this book when I first read it several years ago - I love it even more now. To the experienced BDSMer many of the characters will seem familiar, even if you have never read it book before. The Do-Me-Queen Princess, The awkward Sissy maid, The delicate yet 'always proper' servant girl, The leather boy looking for something "more"... here is the Marketplaces newest arrivals. Maybe you've seen them in the clubs or even online? Ever wonder what would happen to such a person if they got what they say they want? Ever wonder what "REAL D/s" is? Ask yourself - do I have what it takes to train a slave? Read this and ask yourself again.
This book (heck this entire series) is what I go for whenever I hit a rut in my scene life. I've often referred to it as "the most realistic fiction" in BDSM literature. And I recommend it to EVERYONE in the scene.

I loved everything about this book (and the ones that follow). What a magigal yet realistic place Laura Antoniou has created. I adored the characters, their trainers, the settings... the possibilities. The perspectives of each of the slaves being trained are unique and believable. I ached for their success as much as they did. And I wondered what it would be like to be a professional slave trainer. Chris Parker is amazing character and, thank goodness, he appears in the next books as well, becaues you are going to find yourself wondering about him. A keeper for your erotic book library!

This is the first in a now five-part series about a system of buying and selling human beings who enter with their eyes open and their options limited. There are four people who enter the Marketplace and begin their training, or re-training in one case, in order to be sold into voluntary slavery. The characters are fascinating and their intense psychological study makes for an 'I couldn't put it down' reading. Once I discovered the series I couldn't wait to read them all so I could start back at the beginning and re-read them.

The development of the story is never slow, the characters have flesh and blood and are not cookie-cutter versions of the BDSM life. There is love, hate, envy, lust, brutality and sexuality in liberal doses in them all and they continued to capture my imagination. There is plenty of sex to satisfy everyone but their main accomplishment is their interesting characters and lifestyles.

My only complaint, and it is a constant one throughout the five books, is the editing and proofing. It is abysmal; it is more than a little distracting to have to insert words that are left out, re-read sentences several times to figure out what it should have said, misspelled and incorrectly used words all over the books. It is not hard to get a good proofreader, I'm one. I began to proof the pages and was astonished at how many marks I made on them. Get a proofreader and your books will be first class.

I brought the first of the series, and loved it, I then got the rest, wondering about Chris's secret, and that kept me reading till the end (wont tell). My companion (pet, yes I do have a male pet) is now reading them and after reading a line that says, a slave is not worth much if they only speak one language, he is now learning to speak spanish and is thinking of learning more languages. On top of that he also has learned how to keep my apt clean the way I like. We now talk of buying a house and he is already thinking on how to run it, and what or who will be needed.

I have recently begun to read erotica. Erotica of all kinds. Never having tried S&M before, I set out looking for a book that would not only keep my interest but also give me a peek into this new world. I learned alot and gained much respect for those involved and the story had me hooked. I bought The Slave, The Trainer and The Acadamy the next day. Excellant, highly recomended, if not for the eroticaness of it, for the story line.

This is the first book in Laura Antoniou's renowned Marketplace series. It focuses in on four candidates who have come to the Marketplace to be trained as slaves. This is NOT a feel good, PC version of S/M, but a harsh, sometimes brutal look at consensual slavery. There is some wonderful sex, but the focus of the book is more on the psychological and physical adaptations that all four of the main characters must make in order to become the true slaves that they wish to be.

This is one of my very favorite BDSM books for one reason only; it is an enthralling read. The characters are well fleshed out (except for the enigmatic Chris Parker, whom one doesn't get to know very well until much further in the series). The plot flows well, and it is a very compelling read.

The short story alone at the end of the book, which bridges books one and two very well, is worth the price of this book!

Caveat; if you do not like scenes of corporal punishment and very graphic, heavy S/M, this book is probably not for you.

I was really quite pleasantly surprised by this story of the training of four would-be slaves. It was on the order of Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty books, but focused more on the characters of the slaves than on the sex (as compared to the Rice books--there's still plenty of sex & kink). Anyway, a surprisingly complete read.

Did you know that sex slaves are trained and sold in modern America? The Marketplace depicts the training of four would-be submissives in such realistic terms, readers are compelled to check the New York phonebook for this uncommon academy. All of the characters are vividly portrayed with a nice blend of strengths and weaknesses, and a refreshing sense of humor permeates this classic of bdsm literature.

This book gave me so much more than I expected. I had heard that it was good porn - and it is! But I never expected to find characters who I would admire so much and come to really care about.
The story is well written, compelling and believable. I found myself getting involved with the story and the people in it in a way I've never experienced with any other books. And the best part is that there are three other books in the series, each continuing the story in its own way.
I think Ms. Antoniou is a genius in this genre and I'm truly grateful to her for what I've learned about human nature from these stories. I hope she continues writing for a long, long time. I'll continue reading.

This is the story of four slaves - Brian, Claudia, Sharon and Robert - who all have an inherent need to be "owned" in the fullest sense of the word. We follow their journey as they are trained in a crash course by Alex, Grendel and Chris.
Basically, The Marketplace is a secret society catering to those who wish to own well-trained slaves and those who wish to be sold as slaves. When we're talking about a slave in this context, we're talking about one with no limits.
I'm ambivalent about this book for a number of reasons. Firstly, if this was reality, the training provided in this book would be utilised by owners who can't be bothered training their own slaves and who want to buy one off the shelf. To me, that takes the dominant's authority away from them - isn't half the pleasure of owning a slave knowing that you've trained them yourself?
Secondly, there is a huge amount of sex in this book. I'm no prude and I don't have a problem with sex, but BDSM is not all about sex. If you want a lot of sex scenes mixed in with punishment, then you'll love this. But to me, it misrepresents what real-life BDSM is about and enforces the "kinky sex" stereotype that a lot of people seem to have about BDSM.
Thirdly, the grammatical and typographical errors throughout are horrendous. I don't know what device was used to type The Marketplace, but repeatedly mis-spelling "circumstance" as "circomestance" could easily have been corrected in most modern word processors. There are other oft-repeated and very annoying grammatical errors, which drove me to distraction. I admit that I'm fairly picky about things like this and I can live with a few errors, but this book is riddled with them.
However, I found this an interesting read overall. It is more than just a bunch of sex and BDSM scenes and it has a storyline.

This is a book of fiction about the training and selling of slaves and the process they go through. While offering some components of BDSM, I do not think it is intended to offer a "real-life" look at it. If that is what you are looking for, I don't think you will find it here. It is purely fictional and not intended as a guide. In my opinion it was written strictly for the enjoyment of the reader. There is lots of sex and punishment. It also gives you a look at different types of people and the reasons they each want to be a slave(or think they do). There are other books that follow and they get better as they go along.

Laura has amazingly created a rich and wonderful world of people that I could get addicted to. The character development is amazing , and I find myself reading the next book hoping to find out more. I would definitly recommend this book for those that look for a more modern approach to the 'lifestyle' ...just remember ..this isn't a how to ...(try screw the roses send me the thorns .. for that) ...one again ..thanks Laura. .I'm looking forward to the next book.

This was an interesting read for me, as I have been finding S&M fantasies fascinating lately. It is not your average porn, nor is it really erotica. Instead it is the story of 4 people who submit to becoming complete slaves, even encompassing allowed sexual brutality and enslavement. The sex scenes are fantastic and the pyschological elements are good as well. Not perfect, but definitely an enjoyable and hot book for those interested in th topics.

Great characters and such, unfortunately this book fell short of my expectations. Why? The lack of an editor. I know small presses have a hard time getting things edited, but for crying out loud, all of the blatant spelling and grammatical errors distract from the message of the book. I haven't picked up any of the others because the first was so disappointing. Ms. Antoniou, get a decent editor!

Having been involed in the lifstyle for some 5 years this makes for interesting reading. Yeah we know it's fiction with a twist of fantacy, but it does have a fair level of the correct mindset needed by those that are portrayed. The contents of this book will challenge some, placate others and generally entertain most. Laura? well done great job and a great writing style, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

SJB

Mind absorbing. Positively the best s/m books I have had the priveledge of reading. Stories start and begin with never a dull moment. You just can't put them down once you start reading them. The author has a grip on the lifestyle and the people portrayed are done so perfectly.

This was the worst in the books from this author. If you like descriptive scenes, this is not for you.
Pretty well written but the story has no interest and there does not seem to be any point in it.
Skip this one.

I love S&M. Unfortunately, the grammar errors in this book make it almost impossible to read. The continued mistakes, like the use of the word "then" every time the author means "than," are extremely distracting. I often had to read sentences more than once to figure out what the author was trying to say. Ms. Antoniou needs an editor.

Laura Antoniou's Marketplace series is a must for those who want an authentic glimpse into BDSM. She makes you feel like an honored guest at one of Grendel & Alexandria's dinner parties. You get a behind-the-scenes look at slave training with realistic and humanizing situations. It's a sexy, thrilling ride guaranteed to peek the interest in a newcomer to the scene and to satisfy the more experienced palate. If you wanted to know what pain and punishment have to do with eroticism, this first book The Marketplace is where you should start. The characters come alive and you will definitely be back for more to see what happens with Chris and his charges. Antoniou provides the reader with a sense of family and loving service that brings the characters and situations to life.