tc_mill's review
4.0
4.5 Stars
It can be tough to balance searing hot sex, characterization, and worldbuilding all at the same time in less than 200 pages, but Belthir and Sparrow manage admirably in this bounty hunter sci-fi BDSM romance.
The story opens with Miho, a young man in desperate financial straits looking for any job he can get as a bounty hunter. In exchange for a hefty sum from a contracting corporation, he’s going to take down Laric Malkin within a year. But along the way he comes into conflict with Hevick, a rival bounty hunter. As a reader I got off to a rough start with Hevick, whose rivalry with Miho seemed a little too intense. But I soon came to see that was a result of the sparks flying between them on a very different level.
Miho’s trip takes him to Taushi, a pleasure planet, just before their equivalent of Mardi Gras. Or maybe a grand opening of a furniture store, the kind where they give you free snacks along with a million different types of couches. It’s a big party, is the point, with few holds barred.
When Miho and Hevick meet up again at a dance club, the ensuing scene was genuinely hot and made me rethink their chemistry, although it winds up with an encounter that’s rough, rushed, and awkward (in-story), alas. Although, speaking of rushed–when a mutual contact offers Miho to Hevick as a sub for the biggest BDSM party of this planet’s year, Hevick is disappointingly unsurprised. I’d have enjoyed flabbergasted reaction paragraph or two, to be honest.
The preliminary negotiation and training between Hevick and Miho is both realistic and touching (although I winced to see a Dom practicing with a flogger for the first time on a new sub’s back. In a sci-fi universe of all places, maybe a realistic dummy?). It’s especially interesting because Miho’s Alerian culture has a strong taboo against being submissive. Despite his background, he and Hevick have excellent chemistry, and the overall culture of the pleasure planet seems to encourage fun and cozy BDSM rather than the dark and depraved–although Miho was sort of conned into this through a roundabout search for information on Malkin. I also appreciated a certain dominatrix side character.
After their Mardi Gras period together, the party is over and the two hunters go their separate ways. But, since they’re both on Malki’s trail, it’s not long before their paths cross again. Miho’s luck continues to not improve as a bad bet lands him in a gladiatorial area. Thanks goodness for bio-regeneration tanks, and for the coincidence that places Hevick in the same arena.
One thing that impressed me about this story is the worldbuilding–future society does *not* function exactly like the 21st century with the occasional flying car. Gender roles vary, for instance, as do sexual mores. A lot. The scene with Miho’s fellow gladiators really drove this home. Miho’s seemingly game-ending injury, and Hevick’s reaction to it, also make clear the romantic bond between them. I liked to see Hevick’s tender side when he’s not actively topping–and as Miho observes, apparently he takes orders well enough, too, when they’re for his own good.
I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I will say I was beginning to doubt their target Malkin even existed. Also, the buildup to the climax includes a massive bioterror attack–on live television, no less–that felt kind of glossed over. But then the actual climax includes, in more or less rapid succession, truly wild kitchen sex, skydiving, gender role fuckery and culture porn, and marriage and homecoming rituals. All good on their own, and pretty mindblowing alltogether, in the best possible way.
This review is cross posted from my blog.
It can be tough to balance searing hot sex, characterization, and worldbuilding all at the same time in less than 200 pages, but Belthir and Sparrow manage admirably in this bounty hunter sci-fi BDSM romance.
The story opens with Miho, a young man in desperate financial straits looking for any job he can get as a bounty hunter. In exchange for a hefty sum from a contracting corporation, he’s going to take down Laric Malkin within a year. But along the way he comes into conflict with Hevick, a rival bounty hunter. As a reader I got off to a rough start with Hevick, whose rivalry with Miho seemed a little too intense. But I soon came to see that was a result of the sparks flying between them on a very different level.
Miho’s trip takes him to Taushi, a pleasure planet, just before their equivalent of Mardi Gras. Or maybe a grand opening of a furniture store, the kind where they give you free snacks along with a million different types of couches. It’s a big party, is the point, with few holds barred.
When Miho and Hevick meet up again at a dance club, the ensuing scene was genuinely hot and made me rethink their chemistry, although it winds up with an encounter that’s rough, rushed, and awkward (in-story), alas. Although, speaking of rushed–when a mutual contact offers Miho to Hevick as a sub for the biggest BDSM party of this planet’s year, Hevick is disappointingly unsurprised. I’d have enjoyed flabbergasted reaction paragraph or two, to be honest.
The preliminary negotiation and training between Hevick and Miho is both realistic and touching (although I winced to see a Dom practicing with a flogger for the first time on a new sub’s back. In a sci-fi universe of all places, maybe a realistic dummy?). It’s especially interesting because Miho’s Alerian culture has a strong taboo against being submissive. Despite his background, he and Hevick have excellent chemistry, and the overall culture of the pleasure planet seems to encourage fun and cozy BDSM rather than the dark and depraved–although Miho was sort of conned into this through a roundabout search for information on Malkin. I also appreciated a certain dominatrix side character.
After their Mardi Gras period together, the party is over and the two hunters go their separate ways. But, since they’re both on Malki’s trail, it’s not long before their paths cross again. Miho’s luck continues to not improve as a bad bet lands him in a gladiatorial area. Thanks goodness for bio-regeneration tanks, and for the coincidence that places Hevick in the same arena.
One thing that impressed me about this story is the worldbuilding–future society does *not* function exactly like the 21st century with the occasional flying car. Gender roles vary, for instance, as do sexual mores. A lot. The scene with Miho’s fellow gladiators really drove this home. Miho’s seemingly game-ending injury, and Hevick’s reaction to it, also make clear the romantic bond between them. I liked to see Hevick’s tender side when he’s not actively topping–and as Miho observes, apparently he takes orders well enough, too, when they’re for his own good.
I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I will say I was beginning to doubt their target Malkin even existed. Also, the buildup to the climax includes a massive bioterror attack–on live television, no less–that felt kind of glossed over. But then the actual climax includes, in more or less rapid succession, truly wild kitchen sex, skydiving, gender role fuckery and culture porn, and marriage and homecoming rituals. All good on their own, and pretty mindblowing alltogether, in the best possible way.
This review is cross posted from my blog.
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