Reviews

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon

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wonderwomannz's review against another edition

4.0

1st book from this author that I have listened to and I liked it. It kinda reminded me of a book that I read as a teenager, Clan of the Cave Bear. I am definitely going to listen to more in this series as I want to see where and what comes next.

kreadsromance1's review against another edition

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3.0

Genre and opening thoughts: Science fiction romance where human women are abducted by aliens and end up crashing into a planet with lots of hunky barbarian male aliens. As with all books in this series, the sex is good and plentiful, and the attraction is quick to materialise thanks to a parasitic alien plot device called a "khui". But this book also contains a rape scene and secondary character death. I've found that you don't need to read the series in order (I started with Lauren's Barbarian, then went on to Willa's Beast before finally picking this one up) but I do wish I'd read this one first as it introduces a lot of background characters mentioned in the other books.

Spoiler

Main pairing: Georgie/Vektal
Favourite character: Liz
Villain(s) Basketball head aliens and little green men

Character rating: 10/10
Plot rating: 8/10
Setting rating: 8/10
Overall rating: 9/10

Pros:
Ruby Dixon knows how to write erotica rife with sexual tension and romantic connection. Even (maybe especially) when there is a language barrier in the way for our heroes. As surreal as some of the story may seem - and that isn't necessarily bad, surrealism is a legitimate thing! - the attraction and passion are still burning through these pages and there is no doubting the sincerity of the characters.

The pacing of this novel is pretty spot on, except for some minor dawdling of Georgie when she is supposed to be rescuing her friends. The storyline whisks you along at a pace that you would struggle to call slow or boring, while still leaving plenty of time to linger on the juicy parts of the romance.

The other thing Ruby Dixon knows how to write is comedy. These books aren't necessarily designed to be a laugh a minute, and you'll absolutely come across some really serious and emotional moments in this series, but when it comes to the lighthearted moments this author knows what she is doing. There is a lot of human to be found between the lost in translation moments, and I really enjoy how the author represents English from the alien point of view. We witness both parties responding to what they think the other might have said, which leads to strange, amusing conversations; and we also get to be part of an "in" joke with the human characters because we hear conversations between the humans that the alien doesn't understand, in chapters written from the alien point of view.

Cons: The only thing I definitely wished was different about this book was the rate at which they discovered tech that allowed them to actually communicate effectively. I would have liked the language barrier to have been removed slightly earlier so that we could spend more time watching the couple interact and get to know each other.

There is also a character death which I wish hadn't happened, although you could definitely foresee from the way her storyline was being set up. Her plot was heartbreaking and I wanted to see her grow and heal in her own book.

Final opinion: The other thing I would say about this series is that you know what you're getting. Maybe I am speaking too soon having read 3/18 books so far; but essentially you have human woman, stranded on "Not-Hoth", resonates with a well muscled, primal male who probably doesn't immediately speak the same language, they go on a caveman style adventure and then have children. But honestly, this isn't actually a huge negative for me. Sometimes I just want to pick up a book where I can guess the broad outline, know I'm in for some good erotica, and enjoy the humour of the writing and the blend of sci-fi and prehistoric romance genres. Sue me. (Please don't!)

jessicathedestroyer's review against another edition

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5.0

Okay, I'm not going to lie. I actually really liked this book. I'm not super into the whole Alien/Human sex stuff. But the story is very well written. The characters are relatable (minus the aliens, but even they have depth) I'm actually really impressed. I only started to read this because of how BookTok was freaking out. I am not disappointed.