Review Detail of Saarlink in Abuse of Magic

This is a book that keeps making me almost stop reading then drawing me back in until the next thing that makes me want to stop reading. Very early we are introduced to happy slaves who are just so happy to be slaves... yea almost dropped it right there but thought I would give it a bit more time as it was so early in the book. The magic system was interesting and I started to like the characters. Then comes the child rape. Like 3 different times in not many chapters. Once was jarring, three times was when I should have stopped. Especially as it changed at least one of the characters so much that they are now fairly unlikeable. But I enjoyed the magic system and wanted to see what would happen with it if nothing else. Maybe this was just a one off dark beginning set up that would never come again? Then comes the stupidest king to ever live. Okay sure, I thought, he is a puppet of the real people in charge of the kingdom. Oh wait no, a few chapters later we learn that he is actually smart and in charge. Really? So smart that he signs the dumbest and most lopsided contract I have ever seen? Would you trust a complete stranger you have never met before and sign a life or death contract with them without even reading said contract? Now I am left bored to tears by all the politics and magic is so far from the story I don't even know when it is coming back. I am done. It is a good premise and the world seems like it could be fun but the author REALLY needs to work on being more stable. There are too many changes to the kind of story being told, the tone, and so on.