In the book Merchants of Knowledge and Magic by Erika McCorkle, Calinthe is a merchant of knowledge who is traveling throughout the Pentagonal Dominion. She is trying to collect secrets for her boss so that she can retire as soon as possible with her partner, Pom.

There are many different planes that Calinthe needs to travel through including the Ophidian Plane. She dislikes the matriarchal slave traders who would enslave her if they knew that she was intersex. Calinthe’s father is a dragonfly or Odonata and her mother is Ulese, which is sort of like human but not exactly.

Her boss, Lord Williford, is a demon lord and also one of my favorite characters. I think that Nicholas Hoult would be acceptable in this role. It would have to be someone British who is a little bit sweet and also very naughty. There is a lot of sex in this book. When the characters aren’t having sex, then they are talking about sex. I cannot remember reading the phrase “ball gag” quite as often in one book.

So Calinthe and Pom are traveling around the Pentagonal Dominion. Their original quest becomes about a hundred side quests. I personally only became almost bored with one of the military quests until Calinthe turned into a cat. When I was at the 80% mark, Calinthe and Pom get into some serious trouble. You begin to care for characters by this point and want them to survive this conundrum. Will they make it out of the predicament? I had my fingers crossed for quite a long time because they needed all of the help that they could get.

I think that the world building in this book is phenomenal. It’s not like anything that I’ve read before. I would like to see it made into a movie or a series. People need visuals to help understand what the characters look like. I hope someone does some fan art. It could be amazing.

If you like fantasy/science fiction with LGBTQ characters and situations, then you will love this book. If you don’t know what a ball gag is, for the love of God – do not Google it!!! If you have to Google it, at least use the incognito page. This book is not for those who are offended or even a little bit squeamish about sex.

• I read this book as part of The Write Reads Blog Tour. All opinions are my own. Obviously.