Review: On Guard by Dusk Peterson

Things are definitely getting tense. Fundamental beliefs are being questioned and we’re beginning to see the end of the not-so-eternal dungeon. Of course, the problem is whatever is going on with Layle Smith.

And the loyal guards are caught in the middle; they aren’t the most imaginative guys. I mean, prison guards tend not to be.

The author says it’s a lovers’ quarrel, but what it really is is a battle between, well…the harsh idea that justice must be done and seen to be done and the softer path of the future.

In many ways, this series isn’t really about prisons. It’s much more about asylums and the way we treat the mentally ill.

So…yeah.

(The pacing has got a little slow here…or has it?)

Review: Sweet Blood by Dusk Peterson

Reform is finally happening. There will be rules against torture…maybe. Elsdon has penned the latest revision of the code in such a way as to set up a test. Is torture effective?

Who wants to be in the control group here?

There’s also a case of DID, which is done somewhat better than most such examples. The two personalities know each other and work together. But somehow it’s the first ever case reported in the entire history of an established torture dungeon that often has to deal with the mentally ill. My suspension of disbelief was hiding under the rack here. Then I get to the afterword and discover the author isn’t actually sure DID exists.

(Yet he still did better representation than most…but I wouldn’t put it up as a shining star. Please talk to somebody with DID before writing about it. They exist and they aren’t all hopeless institution cases).

Other than that, the focus here really is on the basic argument: Does torture work?

Which is something not everyone wants to read an entire book about, but I enjoyed it.