Docile

Docile Book Review by K.M. Szpara 

Docile is an odd little book. 

One of my best friends recommended this book and because she knows me so well and knows what I like and dislike, I inherently trusted her. She told me that I would hate Harrow the Ninth, a book I read recently, and she was right.

So when she told me that I would enjoy Docile I was more than inclined to trust her whereas I might have been wary of someone else’s counsel. 

Now, my first statement was fallacious to some degree. 

Docile might be odd, but it is not what I would describe to be as little. 

In fact, I actually thought Docile was quite a large book and should have ended sooner than it did, but I’ll get to that later. 

The general premise of Docile is a world in which there is no consent under capitalism-a bold statement that the book advertises as its main selling point. In this world, capitalism has reached such drastic disparities between the rich and the poor to the extent that debt is handed down to family members for generations. 

Hypothetically, your grandmother could have gone to college, amassed major student loans, and then died before she could pay them off. That debt would then be passed onto her children, and then their children and so on and so forth. 

So in this world, you can have millions of debt for options, choices, and activities you haven’t even done, but your ancestors have. 

Cue our main character, Elisha Wilder, a young man that is desperate to pay off his family’s debts so that his younger sister doesn’t have to. However, Elisha’s family is necessitous and he lives out in the country with little to no opportunity for schooling or job prospects. 

Thank goodness the Docile system exists. 

Dociles are people who are trying to pay off either portions of their debt, or their entire debt, by essentially selling themselves. The job of Dociles differ. You could be a lab rat, forced to endure harsh manual labor, or you could be a sexual partner or a butler. The needs vary based on the patrons’ desires and wishes. 

The Docile system is systemic. It invades every inch of society and influences how both the affluent and impoverished both function. Elisha Wilder has no choice but to sell his life in order to pay off his family’s debts and take care of the ones he loves.

The only catch? He refuses to take dociline-the drug that many Dociles choose to take in order to serve out their terms in a mindless drug-addled state. The rich believe this is humane-why remember a time of slavery and servitude? And many prospective Dociles would rather drug themselves than live through the trauma that most of them must suffer.  

However, Elisha knows the long term effects of dociline, he’s seen it first hand with his mother after she finishes a ten-year sentence. He refuses to become like her-doll-like and lifeless even though experts and scientists alike at Bishop Laboratories-the people responsible for the creation of dociline-claim it is safe and that it leaves your system two weeks after injection.

But Elisha knows better. 

Which is why, when he’s chosen by his patron, Alex Bishop III and chooses him in turn, it comes as a massive shock when Elisha refuses dociline. 

What follows is a sick brainwashing system in which Alex attempts to “train” Elisha like a dog in order to show his friends, his family, society, and most importantly, himself, that he’s capable of leading on the Bishop legacy and able to control something as lowly as a Docile. 

What he doesn’t expect is how Elisha will affect him in return and their influence on each other when feelings of romance, love, and codependency enter the picture. 

To be very fair, this premise is not very unique. I had a conversation with my best friend in which I listed several examples of where I’ve seen this kind of premise before, especially in fanfiction.

Most notably (and obscurely), I read a story back in the day for an anime called Ai No Kusabi by the name of Taming Riki with almost this exact same plotline minus the world and characters. 

The idea itself is not original, but because this is published and it’s adult fiction, I assumed Szpara would go much further in depth than many of these fanfictions with the same plot would have, notably by delving more into the capitalistic society, the wage gap disparity, systemic poverty, psychological trauma, and social inequity. 

And…he does? Kind of? Sort of? But not really, not as much as I would have liked or would have expected from a novel of this caliber. 

My biggest criticism of the book is that it became more focused on romance and love with a backdrop of social criticism instead of the other way around. I think Szpara loses himself in Alex and Elisha’s relationship which I found disappointing. 

I’ve read the cheesy, romantic, very messed up power relationship dynamic of this situation before, often with an emphasis on the sex scenes (let’s be real what else did we expect from fanfiction), but I was surprised that Szpara fell into the same category. 

The sex scenes in the book were intense and descriptive, often moreso than other scenes in the novel. And while Szpara does delve into some of the facets I listed above, he did it in a way that was not nearly as in-depth as I would have liked or expected. 

That being said, the book isn’t bad. I thoroughly enjoyed most of it, even if I was disappointed with the lack of depth and nuance it had seeing as how the book was marketing itself in such a way that seemed otherwise. 

The ending of the book was also…not what I expected. Once again, from a published adult novel, I expected (and wanted) the ending to be gritty, dark, and disorienting. Instead the ending was very much like all the fanfictions that came before it: romantic and unrealistic. 

Which, frankly, was upsetting to me that Szpara ended the book with the notion that Alex and Elisha might end up together in what seemed like a happy-ever-after fantasy when their relationship was so destructive and toxic for myriad reasons. 

I feel like I’ve complained about this book’s pitfalls more than anything, but I’ll reiterate once again that it wasn’t bad. I do think the pacing got a bit weird towards the end with the trial and I think the whole last stance could have been reduced and shortened for the better of the story. 

But really, at the end of the day, what’s not to like? It’s a spicy novel with some hot scenes and the hint of deeper thinking that keeps this book from being called porn entirely. I didn’t hate it, it was extremely entertaining, but I also wanted much more than what I got. 

Recommendation: If you like the idea of a kind of BDSM style relationship that is sanctioned by society then you’ll like this book. If you’ve read this premise in fanfiction, who knows maybe you’ve Taming Riki like I have in my youth, then you’ll like this book too.

The book doesn’t get as deep or critical as the cover would have you believe, but there’s just enough depth and nuance to keep the book interesting and start the cogs in your brain turning. 

Score: 7/10