Tinman
2.5 stars
I like dark fic but this was very cold and heartless. Here, we have a sixteen-year-old boy, pimped by his own mother and brutalized by the ‘Master’ she sells him to. He has no name and no hope in the world. Well, his only hope would be to escape these two miscreant abusers. Heed the warning about the ending, because while the boy is allowed a choice, it never assures that he will finally find some softness in his world.
The story title seems to refer to the song ‘Tin Man’ by 70‘s folk/rock band, America, which includes two lines: “Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man, that he didn’t already have…” I suppose the Master in the story was trying to teach a lesson to the boy by playing this song incessantly. He does give a semblance of ‘order’ to the boy’s life that he didn’t have before, but I can’t figure out why a little compassion and warmth couldn’t have been added to the mix. That this is tagged BDSM will surely offend many in the life who see the Master’s behavior as nothing more than abusive.
Then again, the story prompt asked for very dark specifics and the author crafted something that remained true to that. Two stars for the effort and for the writing, but this really wasn't 'ok' for me.