“I have a rebellion to help lead, the Ten Systems to outrun, and a mission to fulfill. I have no time for a Fellamana male who has as much inclination toward monogamy as fire does to water.”
While the previous two focused on human women (refugees from the evil Ten Systems Empire) and Ssedez men, the main couple in this book is Jenie, who’s half-Ulreya, and Koviye, a Fellamanan native. Jenie was, basically, chainganged into the Ten Systems space force when they conquered her planet and has kept her heritage secret, since she mostly passes as human – but something about the sex planet seems to have triggered the Ulreya mating bond, meaning she could develop a lifelong dependency on the next person she has sex with (but only penetrative sex, apparently). As a leader in the rebellion, with her commanding officer kidnapped and possibly dead, Jenie really does not have time for that, or for her interest in Koviye, one of the Fellamanan natives who are, as a species, naturally polyamorous (sex, to them, is like eating). Koviye’s also something of a leader among his people, thanks to a sex healing gift that runs in his family. (Yes, I had that Marvin Gaye song in my head pretty much every time Koviye’s gift came up.) Per their culture, it’s expected that Koviye spread around his gift, but, despite that, Koviye is fascinated with Jenie, and keeps making up reasons to seek her out. Basically, them being together is a bad idea, so of course they end up together on a small spaceship for a rescue mission.
That’s the basis of the plot and the conflict, and to be honest the plot’s a bit of a muddle. This book’s timeline overlaps with the previous book, so the tension in the first half of the book relies on a rescue mission that we already know the outcome of. The second half of the plot is new but a bit confusing – I had problems following along with what exactly they needed to do and the logistics of it. So, in terms of doing anything other than repeatedly throwing Koviye and Jenie together, it didn’t really work for developing their relationship for me.
What did work was the sex. There’s zero gravity sex, lots of physically improbable/impossible dream sex (so much blue come, SO MUCH) and lots of general lusting around after each other. The sex scenes were fun, if completely over the top (at one point Koviye’s “eyes blaze like licentious daggers”), and verbal consent is emphasized (even though Koviye can also read Jenie’s emotions from her aura). I thought it did a good job following the course of their emotional relationship, too, though I was a bit confused and conflicted about the resolution. I appreciated how both Jenie and Koviye were leaders for their respective people, and how both cared about each other’s emotions, even though they both knew that they couldn’t fully understand how the other felt.
Overall, while this isn’t my favorite of the series, I thought it was fun to finally get a deeper glimpse of the Fellamana, and I’m looking forward to the next book! If you’re looking for some scifi erotica with gleefully improbable alien sex, this is the book for you!
I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.