I really enjoyed this novel.
Set in a foreign world, the first part of the novel introduces us to Jerna Setiq, his wife and children, his occupation as a teacher, and by and by, the parameters of this foreign world.
The story takes off when Jerna is falsely accused of child molestation, and this effects his life in a radical way. Duh, you might say, but no, this is not planet Earth where he lives, the justice system on Jerna's home world is rather more brutal.

There were some issues for me with this novel.
1) Jerna seems an odd fellow in the first part of the novel. The choices he makes do not all of them seem logical and believable. On the other hand, had he chosen differently, the novel would have contained a possibly shorter, possibly different story, so I guess suspension of belief is what is needed here.
2) I have seen other reviews which astutely argue that it is not bdsm or at best an odd sort of bdsm that is portrayed in this novel. And that's leaving out the consent issue; the setting is definitely of the non-consent variety. But apart from that, there were scenes, descriptions and sentences in there that made me raise my eyebrows and question the author's knowledge on the subject. (E.g. an expression like 'submission is easy, domination is the difficult bit in bdsm', the rapidity with which Jerna seems to reach subspace, the seeming reluctance of one of the men to top Jerna again for fear of what it might lead to.)
3) Not all characters seem well formed or well thought out. At times they seem purposely shallow in order to allow for story building. (E.g. Ria and Tyrme.)
4) Towards the end of the novel, the atmosphere gets rather sugary and lovey-dovey.

But in spite of all of that, I really enjoyed reading this novel's story, which could also be called 'The trial and tribulations of Jerna'.
Recommended! ( )

Someone could wonder if Remastering Jerna is a romance, and truth be told the publisher doesn't list it as one. When I started it, even I had my doubts, the story of Jerna seemed without hope, harsh and without pity, and love had a very little role. At least the passionate love, since, on the other hand, Jerna loves very much his family, a wife and two daughters, but I saw little passion in it. So for a good share of the book, I remained with my question: if and when I would have found the 'romance' part of the book. The if was a legitimate doubt, because nor the author or the publisher promised it to me. Due to all this, you can imagine how glad I was when I finally found THE love I was searching, but, as you can understand, in the end this is not a romance, but more the life journey of Jerna, who starts as a teacher and ends as the taught.

Jerna was a submissive for a Master he respected, but I'm not sure he really loved. Even if the Master, Kimis, fulfilled Jerna's need to be dominated, it didn't satisfy his desire to have a family, to have child, and all the other ordinary things of life. Life with Kimis was mundane and good, but not complete. Jerna left Kimis to marry Tyrme, a good woman who, in all the novel, will always have a positive role; but to me Tyrme seems more a good friend, a loving companion, but not a lover. To Jerna's eyes, Tyrme is a whole with their daughters and family, when Jerna is torn apart from them, never once he says he misses Tyrme as individual, but instead he always mourns for his family. With this, I'm not saying that Jerna doesn't love Tyrme, I'm only saying that, as Kimis didn't fulfil every Jerna's need, so it doesn't Tyrme. In a way, Jerna passed from a Master to another, Tyrme is a very authoritative woman, quite the one who leads the family, but he hasn't still found the right one.

When Jerna is framed with a crime he didn't commit, he is forced to divorce from Tyrme and sent to prison. Jerna is a strong man, even if a submissive, and he faces the trial of prison and all the violence inside (also rape), with a strength that seems impossible. It's not a body strength, more a strong will and maybe also something that he learnt from his training as submissive. From the prison Jerna ends to be an endured servant in a brothel, and this means also being a whore: in his mind Jerna doesn't see it as a betray towards Tyrme, since it's only his body involved, not his mind, and above all not his heart.

All above changes when Jerna meets Ria; at first Ria is an untrained Master, who in his fight to find an outlet to his desire to dominate makes more damage than nothing. Ria is not a bad man, but he is not trained. The first bad experience between Ria and Jerna, I believe, is not all Ria's fault. It's true, he is untrained, but Jerna, from his side, has a bit of an aloof attitude, something he has always had from the first. Nor with Kimis or with Tyrme, whom in a way Jerna considers Master, Jerna has ever let this attitude down; he submits with his body, but deep inside, I think he still believes to be superior to them. Same attitude with Ria, even if maybe in this case he is more right than not. Anyway this leads to Jerna to agree to be Ria's teacher, to teach him how to be a good Master. Jerna starts it thinking to teach something to Ria, but I think that, in the end, also Jerna will learn a lesson, and maybe for the first time, he will find the right Master... one who he himself trained to the role. So yes, if someone was wondering why the 'remastering Jerna' of the title, when apparently it was Jerna who was remastering Ria, this is the answer: both Ria than Jerna will learn that it's not enough to know how to do a BDSM scene, to have a real D/s relationship it's needed something more.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1933720662/?tag=elimyrevandra-20