Quid Pro Quo (The Administration, #2) in The Administration Zone

May 25, 2011 Emanuela ~plastic duck~ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: rainbow-gay, post-apocalyptic-dystopian

Do I need to tell you I won't be objective? This is freaking awesome, so more freakingly awesome even than the first time I read some of the stories. I already know what these guys went through and that's why this is so fascinating, because it's like hunting for easter eggs, for the moments when the relationship between Toreth and Warrick evolves and you're there and you can say: ha ha, caught!

The first part of the book has the novella Quid Pro Quo, which begins with the episode you can read for Do I need to tell you I won't be objective? This is freaking awesome, so more freakingly awesome even than the first time I read some of the stories. I already know what these guys went through and that's why this is so fascinating, because it's like hunting for easter eggs, for the moments when the relationship between Toreth and Warrick evolves and you're there and you can say: ha ha, caught!

The first part of the book has the novella Quid Pro Quo, which begins with the episode you can read for free on Manna Francis' site, Unlucky Break, and then it revolves around a failed kidnapping. There's not a lot of romance in this part, but you get a lot of world building and it's awesome. How many times will I use awesome in this review? Well, I don't want to be coherent, holy frigging cow, with no disrespect to those who worship cows, but this series takes my guts, twists them and I'm still happy. Well, I paid a lot of attention to details, and I wonder how Manna Francis' genius is not studied in schools, because everything makes a lot of sense, it seems you're there, the world she created is complete, the rules which govern it are thought in a comprehensive way, you feel you're thrown into cold waters to swim, but you find your ground. I enjoyed it a lot. The past investigations tied to the current one. The corporate laws. A system we loathe, because it goes against our upbringing in democracies, which has the Administration on one hand, bound on stifling resistance and free thought, and the corporations on the other hand, pursuing their interests. And our two protagonists are both deep into this system, sometimes with conflicting interests. They are not free spirits trying to overturn that system, as we would expect from our heroes, they are integral parts of it. While it's almost easy to like, or not to dislike, Warrick, because we don't perceive a harmful intent from him, Toreth - the torturer, the proud bastard with his amorality, the selfish Administration minion - grabs you and doesn't let you go until you've reached the bottom of his being. I shouldn't love him, but I do, because because...

Well, read the shorts after the novella (they are also available for free from the author's site). If the novella is all world building, the short stories are all relationship. It's not possible to call it romance yet. But is it ever?

The best is Pancakes. The first cracks in Toreth's armor. I love reading how in denial he is, how he can manipulate his own mind pretending what he has with Warrick is not blossoming something else. We don't hear his words, we see this jealousy, the extreme possessiveness which is becoming an obsession. Toreth lives his life, sleeping around as always, but sometimes it seems the non-game part of his relationship creeps up on him, making him do or think the unthinkable. I don't think I can say Toreth is fragile, but the fact that sometimes he behaves normally - buying presents, attending family gatherings, drowning his disappointments in alcohol - makes us forget he enjoys his job as a para-investigator and it manipulates us in treating him like a normal human being, while he still remains a sociopath. The short story Family highlights - for us readers, especially - how different Toreth is. When Warrick's niece, Val, calls him Uncle Toreth, when she tries to connect with him in the way children do, there is both a sort of comic effect, because it's like dressing a beast in ribbons, and also a cringing effect, because who would want to leave a child alone for five minutes with him? Tarrin, Warrick's brother and Val's father, has probably a sane reaction to Toreth, but we perceive it as a supreme act of impoliteness. Who is he to judge our hero without knowing him? Yeah, right, lol

So. Here I am. Further enthralled by this wonderful series. There's not much better than this. In the world. ...more

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Mar 11, 2011 LenaLena rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, mm, crossposted-on-jessewave

Mind Fuck wasn鈥檛 a 5 star read for me, personally. I loved the world building. Who can resist a good dystopia? Not me. This particular dystopia, with its totalitarian regime (The Administration) and its corporate counterpart of the Confederation of European Corporations, is absolutely chilling in all its futuristic cold-war-style bureaucracy.
听
Toreth had his days filled with Chevril鈥檚 offloaded prisoners, explaining to Justice representatives why it was possible to seriously interrogate prisoners ...more

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Oct 26, 2019 Sun rated it really liked it

REREAD November 2019

Yup...this series is even better this time around. It really does stand up to the test of time. I remember how everyone would say that even if you didn鈥檛 like the first few stories, just wait until Pancakes. And it鈥檚 because Pancakes is, in it鈥檚 own f鈥檇 up way, one of the most romantic interludes you鈥檒l ever read.

I enjoyed it immensely.

Unlucky Break 3.5
Friday 3.5
Pancakes 5
Surprises 4
Family 3.5
Mirror, Mirror 3

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Feb 08, 2010 Deanna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-happy-place, kinked, m-m, mystery-thriller

This may just be my favorite series of all time. The quality of writing never diminishes. Mind Fuck, Quid Pro Quo, Games & Players, Control and Quis Custodiet (and soon to be book #6!) are all equally good. One of my absolute favorite themes is dystopian future & totalitarian governments. So I am in heaven with this story! The characters of Torreth & Warrick are amazing. I love them both equally & that is rare for me as I usually have a favorite. The secondary characters are just as well written ...more

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Apr 17, 2015 Elizabetta rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopia, bdsm, kink, kids, series2, power-play, lt-400-pgs, long-time-rel, family-drama, crime-police-procedural

4.25 stars

quid pro quo = something for something, an equal exchange of goods contingent upon each other (鈥榞ive and take鈥�)

Quid Pro Quo is a compilation of short stories in this order:

Quid Pro Quo (novella)
Unlucky Break
Friday
Pancakes
Surprises
Family
Mirror, Mirror

These stories very nicely study the 鈥榞ive and take鈥� of Warrick and Toreth鈥檚 relationship.

Unlucky Break (chapter 1 in QPQ) 3.5 stars
Warrick breaks a wrist while he and Toreth are up to some kinky-dinks. So funny how they get Warrick out ...more

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Feb 22, 2014 Joy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favs-more-than-5-stars, re-read-2014, best-of-the-best

I bought the book--best reading experience I've had all year--there is no one better than Manna Francis--

Favorite quote: "Trust made it work. When things went well, when he felt his own control starting to slip away, he trusted Toreth to know how far to take things and when to stop. Danger and trust. A paradox." ...more

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Mar 07, 2014 Erica Anderson rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, dystopic, 2014-reads, m-m

Manna Francis is a hidden gem of a writer. It's difficult to categorize her work--it's certainly not romance, although there is a compelling relationship between two lead characters. It's not "just" a mystery, because characterization is definitely her focus. This set of novellas, like the first book in the series, Mind Fuck, is set in a dystopic New London. Val Toreth, the sociopathic interrogator anti-hero, has a new case and once again gets himself into trouble with the corporates.

Toreth cont ...more

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Apr 13, 2014 Serena.. Sery-ously? rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2014, eng-2014

E' ben risaputo di come io riesca facilmente a fissarmi e quando succede.. Apriti cielo, niente mi ferma!
Mi sono fissata con la serie "The administration" di Manna Francis (il cui primo volume 猫 Mind fuck!), ho provato a resistere al lato oscuro ma niente, il dito mi 猫 inavvertitamente sfuggito su "Compra con un click" e me lo sono ritrovata sul Kindle prima che il buon senso potesse farmi la sua solita ramanzina, del genere "Serena, ti sembra il caso? Hai miliardi di serie in corso e libri che E' ben risaputo di come io riesca facilmente a fissarmi e quando succede.. Apriti cielo, niente mi ferma!
Mi sono fissata con la serie "The administration" di Manna Francis (il cui primo volume 猫 Mind fuck!), ho provato a resistere al lato oscuro ma niente, il dito mi 猫 inavvertitamente sfuggito su "Compra con un click" e me lo sono ritrovata sul Kindle prima che il buon senso potesse farmi la sua solita ramanzina, del genere "Serena, ti sembra il caso? Hai miliardi di serie in corso e libri che ti aspettano felici da millenni.. Vuoi PROPRIO comprarlo?!".
Maledetti tasti scivolosi, 猫 colpa vostra, ecco!!! :DD
Se Mind Fuck mi aveva conquistato, Quid pro quo mi ha letteralmente rapito! Diverso eppure complementare al primo, ho sicuramente trovato terreno fertile per un grande sviluppo dei personaggi e un continuo della storia da dove, pi霉 o meno, si era interrotta nel primo volume :33
In realt脿 si tratta di una storia lunga (quella descritta dalla trama), che copre circa la met脿 del romanzo e una serie di mini-racconti-barra-capitoli che secondo me, sono la parte migliore.. Li ho letteralmente adorati!!!!
Nel primo volume avevo espresso alcune perplessit脿 circa la costruzione del mondo in cui si muovono i nostri protagonisti.. Ora invece non posso che nutrire cieca adorazione per l'autrice e il modo in cui mi ha preso per mano (a volte anche strattonato, tanta era la foga che mi ha avviluppato al libro!) e mi ha fatto scoprire, toccare e comprendere "con mano" tutto il mondo dell'Amministrazione. Ci siamo dentro fino al collo, iniziamo a capire cosa voglia dire far parte dell'Amministrazione (in teoria, il regime totalitario "cattivo") e le corporazioni (indipendenti e pronte a tutto pur di perseguire i loro scopi.. Direi che in quanto a badass-aggine e "Io mi faccio i conti in tasca a discapito degli altri" siamo ai livelli dell'Amministrazione.. Il pi霉 pulito ha la rogna :DD). La Francis non usa la descrizione a ruota libera, n茅 introduce l'argomento: il lettore 猫 portato nel vivo della vicenda e pian piano ricostruisce tutti i dettagli necessari per comprendere il sistema.. Le regole, il modo in cui tutti cercano di aggirarle, le conseguenze, e i vari sotterfugi da parte di tutte le parti coinvolte :DD
La parte che continuo a preferire e ADORARE sono per貌 i personaggi: Warrick e Toreth.. anche perch茅 ci sono enormi sviluppi che mi hanno fatto andare in brodo di giuggiole :33
Warrick ha guadagnato una cosa come 118293429223832 punti - soprattutto nella novella "Pancakes".. Ha sempre una risposta pronta, spesso caustica, ha capito come gestire Toreth (E non 猫 facile, credetemi!), 猫 metodico, e il rapporto con Toreth 猫 woah. Peccato che nella prima parte sia poco presente.. E fortuna che si riprende abbondantemente nella seconda met脿!
Toreth l'ho amato sin da subito e continua a piacermi da morire: 猫 un badass vero, amorale, crudele, impietoso, egocentrico ed egoista. Uno stronzo patentato insomma :D
La mia mente - durante la lettura - continuava a ricordarmi che non era normale questo amore nei suoi confronti.. Per貌 davvero: leggete di lui e vedrete che 猫 impossibile non affezionarcisi!!! Il romanzo non sarebbe stato lo stesso se non ci fosse stato Toreth *_*
Una cosa che ho adorato 猫 il modo in cui lui sia sempre pi霉 legato a Warrick nonostante non lo ammeterebbe nemmeno se gli strappassero gli occhi o vendessero sua madre. Lo cerca, lo desidera, inizia a cambiare le sue abitudini. La svolta epocale!!
Anche questa volta 猫 riuscito a farmi una tenerezza impressionante!!

Se tutto ci貌 non fosse sufficiente a incuriosirvi, vi dico che la Francis scrive meravigliosamente e che i dialoghi sono meravigliosi: alcuni scambi di battute semplicemente epici, sono morta dalle risate!!!

Thumbs up for Manna Francs and.. Go on with the next volume! :D ...more

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May 29, 2015 Kirsten rated it liked it

(3.5 stars)

Not enough Warrick. Also I appreciate the deft touch the author has with the torture and gory bits. While they're fairly explicit and uncomfortable, they don't feel gratuitous. ...more

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Mar 18, 2010 Hpstrangelove rated it it was amazing

Shelves: m-m, mp3

Excellent book in the series - mix of the traditional Toreth/Warrick dynamic but we also get more world building. We get to know about the government and corporate set up and division of law, and where exactly Toreth and Warrick fit in.

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