maya56's review
3.0
3.5 STARS
Lovely story but would have liked a bit more 'differences' between two alien species.
Lovely story but would have liked a bit more 'differences' between two alien species.
mrella's review
1.0
Please, do not read this if you are Ariel Tachna. I have nothing against you, I don't even have anything against this book, it's just not my cup of parberry juice. I simply feel a strong urge to share my feeling about a book that took me less time to read than to write this review.
****
Spoiler alert, sorta:
I can say this whole review is one big spoiler, but the book is damn predictable, the first chapter of the story spoils it for you without me even trying.
****
A crew of spacers - not dental spacers - gets infected with some unknown plague. Peeps die left and right and in between, too.
In an uncharted part of the universe those spacers conveniently, within days of contracting the disease, stumble across a new, unknown planet populated by angelic-like beings, who - ha-ha, surprise! - are too friendly and too helpful and totally have the scary plague under control. And get this: spacers and angels can even understand each other perfectly... 'cause spacers' universal translator is just that. damn. good.
The crew gets better under very intimate care (cure by hugs) provided by the angels, while spacer's First Officer, who is still mourning his lover and now rooming with the cutest Senior Medical Apprentice on the planet, takes sudden turn for the worst. OK, two turns, but first one was a parberry hangover.
The SMA falls for the FO, the FO falls for the SMA. Their relationship deepens during the terrible times of new dangers aka hangover and plague. Very Shakespearean, let me tell you:
"She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
And I loved her that she did pity them."
(not that either of them were female)
*sniffs and blows her nose-y*
In his fever-induced nightmares the FO gets permission from his dead lover, Nikolai (Коля-Коля-Николай, сиди дома не гуляй < - - that was Russian), to date, to marry and to be merry. What a great (dead) guy.
*sniffs and blows her nose-y*... crap, I only had one tissue. Snot, meet Computer Screen.
FO survives the terrors of hangover and the plague. Upon his crew's departure he wants to say goodbye to his angel, but SMA is nowhere to be found. FO is heartbroken, but duty calls. In the mean time SMA secretly becomes a part of the spacer's crew and invades the FO's quarters. Oh, sweet reunion!
*sniffs and blows her nose-y*... thank goodness for a stray napkin.
They room together yet again.
All is well with the uncharted part of the universe. Amen.
I might have liked it in second grade, sex aside, but nowadays I am just not into that kind of rainbows and lollipops.
Finished it in 30 minutes, skimming all the way.
****
Spoiler alert, sorta:
I can say this whole review is one big spoiler, but the book is damn predictable, the first chapter of the story spoils it for you without me even trying.
****
A crew of spacers - not dental spacers - gets infected with some unknown plague. Peeps die left and right and in between, too.
In an uncharted part of the universe those spacers conveniently, within days of contracting the disease, stumble across a new, unknown planet populated by angelic-like beings, who - ha-ha, surprise! - are too friendly and too helpful and totally have the scary plague under control. And get this: spacers and angels can even understand each other perfectly... 'cause spacers' universal translator is just that. damn. good.
The crew gets better under very intimate care (cure by hugs) provided by the angels, while spacer's First Officer, who is still mourning his lover and now rooming with the cutest Senior Medical Apprentice on the planet, takes sudden turn for the worst. OK, two turns, but first one was a parberry hangover.
The SMA falls for the FO, the FO falls for the SMA. Their relationship deepens during the terrible times of new dangers aka hangover and plague. Very Shakespearean, let me tell you:
"She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
And I loved her that she did pity them."
(not that either of them were female)
*sniffs and blows her nose-y*
In his fever-induced nightmares the FO gets permission from his dead lover, Nikolai (Коля-Коля-Николай, сиди дома не гуляй < - - that was Russian), to date, to marry and to be merry. What a great (dead) guy.
*sniffs and blows her nose-y*... crap, I only had one tissue. Snot, meet Computer Screen.
FO survives the terrors of hangover and the plague. Upon his crew's departure he wants to say goodbye to his angel, but SMA is nowhere to be found. FO is heartbroken, but duty calls. In the mean time SMA secretly becomes a part of the spacer's crew and invades the FO's quarters. Oh, sweet reunion!
*sniffs and blows her nose-y*... thank goodness for a stray napkin.
They room together yet again.
All is well with the uncharted part of the universe. Amen.
I might have liked it in second grade, sex aside, but nowadays I am just not into that kind of rainbows and lollipops.
Finished it in 30 minutes, skimming all the way.
angelwrites's review
3.0
I wanted to like this, I really did... and in some respects it was a lovely story. I truly enjoy Ariel's characters, love her historical work, so I was excited to see an SFR from her.
I just wish there had been more SF. The initial premise is so intriguing - an alien race with medically gifted wings - that I was looking forward to some solid world building, some serious culture clashes, some intersting differences in anatomy. It never quite panned out. There really wasn't a wide divergence from Earth in any serious way. Cities. Restaurants. Familiar job structures. Familiar furniture and plumbing. The aliens are essentially human in most ways, males having oddly identical equipment to their human counterparts, down to the prostate, which probably bothered me most.
But, I'm an old SF geek, and these things are important to me. They most likely wouldn't be to others. I just fell that if you're going to set a romance on an alien world, there should be some ...alien-ness.
All that said- the characters are sweet and their tender courtship quite touching. The healing, of course, refers to more than just the physical of which Ryan is in desperate need. As with all of Ariel's characters, it was hard not to get attached and I did root for them despite all else I've said.
I just wish there had been more SF. The initial premise is so intriguing - an alien race with medically gifted wings - that I was looking forward to some solid world building, some serious culture clashes, some intersting differences in anatomy. It never quite panned out. There really wasn't a wide divergence from Earth in any serious way. Cities. Restaurants. Familiar job structures. Familiar furniture and plumbing. The aliens are essentially human in most ways, males having oddly identical equipment to their human counterparts, down to the prostate, which probably bothered me most.
But, I'm an old SF geek, and these things are important to me. They most likely wouldn't be to others. I just fell that if you're going to set a romance on an alien world, there should be some ...alien-ness.
All that said- the characters are sweet and their tender courtship quite touching. The healing, of course, refers to more than just the physical of which Ryan is in desperate need. As with all of Ariel's characters, it was hard not to get attached and I did root for them despite all else I've said.
More...