Source
r/MM_RomanceBooks•
BraveBangle

The Administration series by Manna Francis

Review/Recommendation

So it's probably past time I did a review for this series given that I rec it everywhere*, but it's just so damn difficult to cover everything I want to say! So bear with me a bit.

One of the things that seems to confuse people most is what the series is actually about, so I'll start there.

The author, Manna Francis, has said that she is fascinated by the idea of the "minions of baddies". Her example: the Stormtroopers. They don't appear to be inherently bad individuals. Do they know they're working for an evil Federation? Do they not care? What do they do in their free time? Do they find love and have happy family lives in the background? This, I think, is the premise of The Administration.

Toreth is a minion of the "evil" Administration, doing their dirty deed of torturing people for information. He is not a cackling baddie who enjoys inflicting pain on others, but rather someone who just wants to do a good job and go home on time at the end of the day. We follow his life through a series of stories - the longer ones are usually about his job (where he also leads investigations), the shorter ones are usually about his personal life (where he attempts to navigate a romantic relationship). Along the way, we explore difficult questions like what kind of person you have to be to torture people for a living, whether bad guys deserve to be loved, and just what is love anyway? It's basically all just one huge thought experiment, and it's amazing.

But if that all sounds too abstract and irrelevant for you, don't be put off. You really don't have to care about that stuff to appreciate the fascinating-as-hell relationship between Toreth and Warwick. These are two hugely flawed individuals (and when I say flawed, I don't mean "well, they're good but they're not perfect" flawed, I mean "you'll seriously question yourself for liking them" flawed) who, against everyone's better judgement, manage to fall into a relationship together. Theirs is a difficult journey, full of struggles and compromises, highs and lows, but the balance is just so well done, and at times it feels like Manna is toying directly with your emotions. It's addictive! And of course I have to mention the kink - there is excellent kink, played out both in-person and in virtual reality, and the exploration of consent, pain, boundaries, etc, that stems from it is fascinating in and of itself.

You probably gathered that this is not a romance series, it's actually a sci-fi/dystopia/mystery mashup with a deeply examined "romance". Lots of people ask about the end and whether it's worth it, and I'd like to say here that it's more about the journey than the end (which I'm SURE will put a lot of people off, so I'll also just say that I, along with many others, were very happy with the HFN** :) ). But if you do decide to give it a go, please please read until Pancakes because it's not until there that the romance really starts. I have a more detailed reading guide here (yes, a reading guide, because let's face it, Mind Fuck is dense as fuck and you may want some reassurances before continuing), and I'm always open to questions and discussion!

TLDR; read this if:

  • You're looking for something different
  • You like fascinating, morally grey characters
  • You're an emotional masochist and like having your feelings played with

Also, some of my favourite review snippets for your amusement:

"Wow! Why do I like it so much?"

"perfectly crafted torture"

"the most nutritious mind food"

"I actually think I was left with long term issues from this book" - this one's actually a pretty good warning review

And my attempt at trigger warnings: >!non-con, violence, death (including on page and parental), child abuse, feelings of cheating, panic attacks, drug use!<. Also see Manna's warnings page.

And lastly, the core stories are available to read for free on her site, though of course if you have the means then please do support her by buying the books!

* I promise I am in no way affiliated with Manna or the publisher, I am just a normal, obsessed fan!

** As long as you count book 7 as the ending… there's always a caveat!

Posted Oct 28, 2022, 11:01 PM UTC

4019
pop-hon_ula•

I loved this series so much! Well written, unique and interesting. I read all I could online via her site (I think in the correct order?), but have always wondered if I missed out on anything that was only in print.

9
BraveBangleOPTA junkie•

Honestly, the stories on the site are my preferred "reading path" because they don't include the Quid Pro Quo investigation which is by far my least favourite story! If you like the investigations and the world building, it's definitely worth getting the print only stories. Book 8 in particular I really enjoyed (one case on a boy band, and one case set in America), but there's not really much Toreth/Warwick content at all in them.

4
bauhaus12345•

Thank you, this is great! This is a series I have avoided because I just had no idea what its deal was or where even to start haha. But your post might just be the prompt to give it a try!

7
JPwhatevermonsters in the woods 😍•

Thanks for this write up - this series has been on my radar for a while, and it sounds great!

6
The_Corniest_Flake•

Thank you for this post! I hope it gets more people to read this series.

I finished book 2 recently, and I'm still melting inside at the >!"Shh... Just, shh."!< moment of Pancakes.

You were right that the first half of the second book (Quid Pro Quo story) is not as interesting, Warrick barely appears and it's almost pure murder mystery solving. But the few interactions they have are pretty great. I only had a very vague recollection about some of the events in that story. The other stories are much more captivating, some key moments there I remembered very well!

I was trying to finish the Fall Bingo before I dive into book 3, but I still have 4 books to go.

Edit: okay, so after this post I couldn't resist and decided to start book 3. 😂

5
BraveBangleOPTA junkie•

Their interactions are always great! But yeah that kidnapping case was difficult for me to care about. Apparently Manna added it in because she felt that Toreth should have more time by himself before Warwick came and turned his life upside down... (but that's the fun part!).

Pancakes is the perfect short story - humour, drama, sweetness, evil cats... I love it!

Book 3 is my favourite! No investigation, all relationship! Game, Set in particular gives me all the feels. Enjoy!

3
recursiveMAX420•

I LOVE this series! I’ve read the whole thing a number of time. Pancakes is chef’s kiss. First Against the Wall is IMPOSSIBLE for me to put down, even after multiple re-reads. And Carnac. God I hate him. I LOVE him. So well-written, kinky, nasty, morally grey. Toreth just has such a special, soft place in my heart.

5
BraveBangleOPTA junkie•

Ahh Carnac. Fucking Carnac, LOL. I love/hate him too! >!The biggest reason I'd want to see the series continued is to get more Carnac stories. There's so much potential for his character still!!<

And the writing is so good, objectively I know I should be disgusted by these guys... and yet?!

3
MysteriousButterfly4•

Great post

4
Agamar13•

It's one of my favorite book series ever, I've got them all standing on my bookshelf physically, and lemme tell you, it required a lot of twisting back when Amazon didn't ship to my country.

I love the worldbuilding aspect (though there are a few stories that I don't care about, mostly ones that don't contain Toreth), I love the absolute fucked up morally reprehensible mess that is Toreth's character and I love his relationship with Warrick and how Toreth goes from "a socipath incapable of caring for someone" to "so deeply reliant on Warrick emotionally that he wouldn't survive losing him". I read the last books a few times and I thought what would happen to the other if one of them died: Warrick being the "normal" one would grieve but eventually move on, whereas I think Toreth would either straight up kill himself or just got himself himself killed on the job. Ahem. Yeah, I thought a lot about it.

3
BraveBangleOPTA junkie•

absolute fucked up morally reprehensible mess that is Toreth's character

God, I love it when people describe how fucked up Toreth is. Somehow it makes him even more endearing to me?!

And it's a series which prompts a lot of thought, though yours are a bit on the morbid side lmao. Mine run more along the lines of how to wrangle Toreth/Warwick/Carnac into a threesome without Toreth killing everyone (...okay maybe a little morbid too).

2
iwanttobreaktree•

Oh wow this sounds absolutely up my alley, and it's mostly free? Amazing, thank you so much for the rec 😊

2
sybariticMagpie•

This series started out life as a Blake's 7 fanfic. It's been one of my big favourites for so long now and really influenced me as a writer.

2
BraveBangleOPTA junkie•

I think this series made me appreciate the psychology of writing. How the hell can I go from hating a character's guts one page, to pitying them and liking them a few pages later? Psychological black magic is what it is!

3
thosemedalingkidsDo you know the pillow man•

I've been meaning to ask about your flair, does TA stand for The Administration?!

Really appreciated this write up, I think the concept of minions of baddies and someone just trying to do their job and go home/live their life is a concept I'd love to see more of in stories. Not everyone is a hero or needs to save the world in every book 😅

7 books for a HFN sounds like such a painful slow burn. Which does make it satisfying when the romance/relationship does finally happen; can't wait to try it out!

Thanks again!

2
BraveBangleOPTA junkie•

Yes it does!

And minions of baddies is a super interesting concept that's taken seriously in TA, which makes it unique amongst other books I've read (usually in dystopias they realise what's happening and try/fail at doing something about it). It can make TA seem anticlimactic though if you're expecting a grand plot, hence me trying to frame it from this thought experiment viewpoint.

And the slowburn is not too frustrating because there's no will-they-won't-they situation (though definitely prepare to be frustrated by Toreth's general behaviour!), it's more like little developments/realisations on Toreth's part as he gradually learns how important Warwick is to him. It's one of these books that you really have to try yourself to understand what it's like! I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it!

3
bookthief8•

I stopped reading at 7 based on the reviews of 8 through 9! It seems like the general consensus, and I am happy with where I stopped. I know I shouldn't be rooting for those two, as awful as they can be, but you just can't help yourself.

Is the author planning to write any more? If they right the ship in a new volume, I can force myself to suffer through the three I chose not to read.

2
BraveBangleOPTA junkie•

I've not heard anything, but even if she did write more it's probably safest to assume that they won't be focused on Toreth and Warwick as their story is kind of done. >!Book 9 makes it seem like she's angling for a Carnac redemption arc which I would LOVE, but given the shaky reception to the last two books and the general mixed feelings about Carnac, it seems unlikely it'd be worth the effort for her. :(!<

1
1oz9999finequeefs•

Added to my tbr, sounds great!

2
maychi•

I’m bit late to this post but I just finished this series and have a bit of a hangover. That’s really interesting about the history of the series. It does give me “a day in the life of a storm trooper” vibes.

I didn’t know anything about the series before reading it and am really mad I didn’t know about not reading books 8&9. I have to a say I hated where 9 left off. All the good feelings from their moving in together evaporated with what Toreth did with Sara and the fact that all of that was brushed over. I’m sort of tired of Toreth’s crap, I want Warrick to leave him. Book 9 gave Warrick this sad, long suffering air that really made me sorry for him.

Ngl I think the hangover from this series comes from it not being fully resolved to a satisfying level. I get that Toreth’s continued infidelity is realistic, but let’s be real—if this series was realistic then Warrick would’ve peaced out a long long time ago (bc no one has that much patience). And honestly the fact that Toreth can’t keep to the very minimal rules Warrick imposes just doesn’t bode well at all. If Toreth is that clueless that he doesn’t recognize that sleeping with Sara and Warrick finding out would’ve caused serious problems, it’s only a matter of time before he drunkenly brings a casual bang home and Warrick catches him.

Although Tbh sometimes it feels like there’s nothing Toreth could do to push Warrick away for good other than hit him for real, which also gets really frustrating. But I do think that if Warrick had a satisfying sexual experience with another dominant things would be a lot different. I understand Toreth’s appeal from Warrick’s perspective but he also puts so much weight on the fact that only Toreth gives him what he needs it makes the relationship feel very unequal. Like Warrick is trapped by his kinks in this emotionally abusive and codependent relationship, and that’s the only thing keeping him with Toreth. It makes me wonder what Warrick would do if he had other places to go to scratch his itch.

I have to say even if book 7 was the end, it doesn’t feel good that Warrick has made such a big commitment to him without barely anything in return. I don’t expect Toreth to stop being a sociopath, but I was hoping that he could at least get his cheating in control and stick with getting his sociopathic kicks during the day being a torturer.

2
BraveBangleOPTA junkie•

Sorry to hear it wasn't satisfying for you :( It definitely helps to go in with some expectation management so it's unfortunate you only saw the advice after! I hope you found it a worthwhile read anyway?

In terms of Warwick putting up with Toreth - if you view it from the angle that Toreth is personality disordered and can't be expected to behave like a typical person, then Warwick's patience makes more sense as it comes from a place of understanding, rather than just putting up with it for the sake of kink. I don't think this is shown as well as it could have been, but I'd like to think that the small acts that Toreth does (the gifts, sleeping around less, moving in, etc) are actually really appreciated by Warwick because he understands how significant they are for someone like Toreth to do these things. I believe Warwick and Carnac also discuss the best way of "handling" Toreth which is something like being clear and consistent with consequences, so he knows how to set boundaries but interestingly only sets hard boundaries for physical abuse. So basically, Warwick understands Toreth and how to work with him but still chooses to be with him which for me is the unrelatable part, but then again he is the kind of person who owns overly complicated contraptions just because they do their jobs well...

if Warrick had a satisfying sexual experience with another dominant things would be a lot different

I do wonder if this is where Manna was going with the introduction of Thomas. That would have been an interesting plotline!

I think if you had stopped at book 7, it might have felt like Toreth was slowly getting his cheating under control, whereas 9 slaps you in the face with a big fat NOPE on that front lol. To be honest I find it more realistic that way, but the no-cheating route would definitely have been more satisfying!

1
maychi•

It wasn’t not satisfying per se, but it’s exactly what you said. Book 7 made me feel like they had a chance and book 9 squandered all of that away.

Part of the charm of this series is seeing Toreth become a real boy, but then stuff happens like in book 9 to remind you that Toreth’s self denial about how hurtful his sleeping around is to Warrick is pathological and that will never improve, particularly bc Warrick doesn’t push him on it either.

Ok look, I get it. Toreth is a sociopath, sure (although I do have doubts about him being a true sociopath, I think he’s more on the border). But that’s not a carte blanch to just be an asshole and everyone around you just has to put up with it no matter what. I mean Warrick needs to grow a pair. I realize that he can’t push with Toreth bc that won’t get him anywhere, but we already said that Toreth needs strong consequences. If he actually came out and told Toreth to stop sleeping around I think Toreth might actually take him seriously and at least try—he’d probably succeed in curtailing it to a large degree. But Warrick’s too scared to straight up confront him about it. I don’t think Dillian should have kept quiet about Toreth kissing her, Toreth needs other people to point out to him that sleeping around has consequences bc he will never make the connection himself.

And it wasn’t just what Toreth did with Sara that bothered me either. Warrick’s conversation with that doctor made it obvious that living with Toreth and being constantly aware of his infidelity is taking a toll on him. Like I said it made him seem—defeated— like he hates that his partner is like this but there’s nothing he’s willing to do about it and he’s resigned to put up with it all no matter what.

What’s also frustrating is that Toreth can cheat as much as he wants but Warrick can’t cheat at all. It’s just crazy unfair to Warrick. The thing too is that this narrative only works bc they live in a society with no pregnancies and no STDs, so Toreth can be a man whore with no personal consequences. Warrick wouldn’t be so chill about the cheating if STDs were a thing and he had to worry about whether Toreth used protection or not.

I also don’t understand how Toreth’s behavior isn’t more embarrassing to Warrick. I know that it gets to him, but he keeps inviting Toreth to SimTech functions, knowing that he’s probably gonna bone someone the minute he isn’t looking. And no one points anything out to Toreth ever. No one says to him, “I’m surprised you’re still together given how much of an asshole you are.”

I’m really mad there isn’t a book 10 to resolve some of this and by the looks of it, one isn’t coming. I’m also surprised there’s barely anything on AO3, definitely nothing that tackles Toreth’s issues.

You’re right that book 9 seemed to be introducing new storylines, which if more books really weren’t planned, I wonder about book 9’s existence at all. I would’ve liked for that Thomas storyline to pan out. I really needed Warrich to get his kink on with soemone other than Toreth. But I wouldn’t even mind just a peak into Toreth and Warrick years into the future.

2
BraveBangleOPTA junkie•

But that’s not a carte blanch to just be an asshole and everyone around you just has to put up with it no matter what

That's the thing though, Toreth doesn't really understand assholery. People probably call him an asshole all the time (like SO many jilted lovers, resisters, probably people at work too) but he doesn't understand right or wrong so if anything it just mildly amuses him. He gets a lot of power through his senior para title so he doesn't need to care about his personal standing with others unless he's looking for a favour or something. Also from Toreth's point of view, Warwick has previously said that it's fine for him to sleep around, so why should that change?

So basically Toreth wouldn't understand the "stop being an asshole/be fair" argument if Warwick asked him to stop sleeping around. He would see it entirely as a power play - Warwick going back on his word and trying to control him in a very significant way, and he's terrified of giving up control so he would probably refuse or run. I think Warwick knows all this and has decided that the benefit of having Toreth to himself is not worth the high chance he'd run. He's had multiple opportunities to just walk away so he must have done a lot of weighing up of pros and cons and decided Toreth is worth the compromise. Our speculated Thomas plot would have been a nice test of his resolve on that! (Argh, I want it so much now!) And yeah book 9 sets up a lot of tension which is unfortunately not resolved. It felt like book 7 was the original soft ending and then 9 was starting to edge into Carnac being the focus more (which I would have been totally fine with!) so there probably wouldn't have been too much Toreth and Warwick development anyway. I know Manna had a lot of ideas for more stories but I don't know what the chances are of us actually getting them, which is why I generally advise people looking for a HFN to take 7 as the end.

One more thing about the cheating - I know Warwick is not 100% happy but there's a kind of realism to that which is not narratively satisfying, but which I personally quite like and relate to. I feel like real compromise is not represented much in romance so to see it here, with Warwick really understanding and agreeing to it, is validating in a way. Also the idea that even someone like Toreth can be loved, and that there's someone out there for everyone, is quite romantic. There's no reason why someone Toreth-like can't exist in the real world and to think it's possible for them to find this kind of happiness makes the optimist in me happy. Though yeah, I think it's definitely a stronger HEA for Toreth than for Warwick!

1