rjbedell's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
A gripping, intimate, and profound romance plot line is weakened only slightly by incomplete world-building and repetitive language. The sci-fi component drives the plot, but takes a back seat to the two emotionally embattled and haunted leading men.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Stalking, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Grief, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Torture
Minor: Murder, Medical content, and War
miraileah's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
5.0. I absolutely love the arranged marriage trope in romance novels, and this one was an outstanding example. I adored the two leads and reading about each of their unique baggage, as well as the ways their partner and friends helped them process and move past it. I can’t speak to if the domestic abuse rep is good/accurate, but as someone who has not gone through that, I thought it seemed excellent. I also really enjoyed the politics and the mystery elements of the novel. Highly recommend this book!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Racism
Moderate: Sexual content, War, and Torture
jamesdaniel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Kidnapping and Torture
amsswim's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Thank you, Jen, for the recommendation. I love science fiction, and romance for me is a treat when done the way I like. I'm very picky on romance I read because I really don't love all romance tropes, but this one has some of my favorites. It's about the yearning, we must focus! Combining the perfected use of the romance tropes with a new sci-fi background I really loved. The overall story was interesting and kept me coming back as well. I saw a review saying the romance was a background to the sci-fi plot, but I felt the opposite that the sci-fi was a different setting for romance plot points used before, but maybe that just depends on how much you read each of those genres.
Either way if you're looking for a sweet, lgbt, sci-fi romance, this is it!
Either way if you're looking for a sweet, lgbt, sci-fi romance, this is it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture
Minor: Death, Sexual harassment, Medical content, and Sexual content
kal517's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Physical abuse and Torture
analenegrace's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This was a very interesting sci-fi with loveable characters, a good romance, and an interesting mystery to solve. My greatest criticism is that I was, at times, a little confused about how this world functioned, and I needed a little bit more understanding of the universe.
My big question is about the humanness/earth of this world, they used the word human but didn't seem to be traditionally human on earth and there weren't, seemingly, other species besides humans that I could tell.
My big question is about the humanness/earth of this world, they used the word human but didn't seem to be traditionally human on earth and there weren't, seemingly, other species besides humans that I could tell.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and War
Minor: Sexual content
thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did. There are some solid bones here; however, I think the execution was clunky and deeply unsatisfying in a lot of places. This was sold to me as a sci-fi romance, and, while I love speculative romance in general, I find that sometimes authors struggle to balance the speculative plot and the romance, and I think that that was a problem here. Much of the book’s energy is put into the science fiction plot and the romance suffers for it. By the end of the book our two leads are talking about how much they love each other I couldn’t fathom why. A big part of the reason for that is that the entirety of the romance pivots on chronic miscommunication, which I found absolutely infuriating. It feels like they barely know each other because all their conversations are riddled with misunderstanding. They each spend way more time in their own heads when they're talking to each other than they do focused on the other person. So much of the tension between the two leads would be completely gone if they would just behave like adults and talk honestly with each other but they don't do that until over halfway into the book. At the same time, the sci-fi plot wasn't compelling enough to warrant all the focus that was put on it. It's effectively a mystery plot, and I didn't find myself particularly caring who the culprit turned out to be, and in fact struggled through most of the book to even remember who people were because nobody really stood out that much besides our two main characters. Overall, this was just a big letdown for me. It's not a bad book, and I understand why people like it, but I definitely think it's been way overhyped, and this is a story that could have been told much more effectively than it was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Medical content, and Kidnapping
Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual content, War, and Alcohol
bennoyb's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Torture
twistykris's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Loved Jainan and Kiem as characters, but I struggled to really feel very interested in the political-space plot. The beginning was a bit of a slow start, in terms of world-building. The development between Kiem and Jainan was lovely, even with the miscommunication trope: I feel like it worked because they were both trying to be respectful of each other. I was rooting for them the whole time!
The audiobook is well-narrated but it needs some serious audio-balancing.. it was almost TOO dynamic? I had to keep turning the volume up and down, which is troublesome when listening with headphones. Parts were much too quiet and sometimes the narrator would suddenly speak VERY loudly which was off-putting; you can demonstrate loudness without being LOUD, if that makes sense?
I liked this book, and I will read Ocean's Echo in the future (same universe, different characters), but I don't have an urgent need. This book was sweet, but at times I struggled to keep reading/ listening. Again, the political parts were just kinda.. meh for me? I know it's a ME thing, but I just kept wanting to get to more of the developing relationship. I couldn't help but compare it to one of my favorite reads of last year, The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer.
The audiobook is well-narrated but it needs some serious audio-balancing.. it was almost TOO dynamic? I had to keep turning the volume up and down, which is troublesome when listening with headphones. Parts were much too quiet and sometimes the narrator would suddenly speak VERY loudly which was off-putting; you can demonstrate loudness without being LOUD, if that makes sense?
I liked this book, and I will read Ocean's Echo in the future (same universe, different characters), but I don't have an urgent need. This book was sweet, but at times I struggled to keep reading/ listening. Again, the political parts were just kinda.. meh for me? I know it's a ME thing, but I just kept wanting to get to more of the developing relationship. I couldn't help but compare it to one of my favorite reads of last year, The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Torture and Physical abuse
yuna's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
Minor: Torture