Review: 2  stars.  Painful, a downer, not enough emotional reward for me.  But creative and well done world building.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 28, 2013
THE LAST HOUR OF GANN by R. Lee Smith.Bad guys: nasty, hateful, violent.  Good guys: prayer, suffering, forgiveness, martyrdom, doormat.This is the length of four or more books.  I like long books, but some parts dragged. The setting is a group of characters on a long journey by foot.  Humans are stranded on a hostile planet and looking for a way home or a way to survive.  They are joined by lizardman Meoraq who is on a religious journey to a holy temple.There is torture, violence, slavery, and repeated rape.  It was not fascinating the way the author's early book "Heat" was.  It was a downer and it got worse toward the end.  The heroine's actions were not interesting enough for me.  She suffered and forgave throughout the book.  Her actions were Jes**-like.  (Although her words were sarcastic and mouthy.)  But I was sooo tired of people treating her like sh**, and she let them - over and over again.  I wanted Amber to change and she didn't.  I wanted other characters to change and they didn't.  There is a happy ending, but it wasn't worth all the pain through the book to get there.There is a fight to rescue slaves but it was too quick, not enough details.  So much time watching violence, and then all of a sudden that part of the book is over.  And not enough bad things happened to the bad guys.I liked the world building.  I loved the author's imagination.  I liked the terms she used.  His clay (body), fires (sexual desire or semen), take a dip (sex), Do you mark me?  (Understand me).  I liked the unusual creation of lizard creatures.  I liked the different and unusual thinking about sex between species.  I was fascinated with the way beetles and maggots were used for healing.  All this was well done and might be worth the read.CHARACTERS:Scott was the evil human leader who would lie, steal, and kill to get his way.  He reminded me of politicians who get reelected even though people know they do bad, weak, or stupid things and don't care enough to do anything about it.Meoraq (lizardman) was the spiritual praying warrior for God.  He believed everything that happened was because God wanted it.  My reaction was mixed.  I respected his spirituality, but I could not respect his decision making.  All his decisions were based on what he "believed" God was saying to him.  How much of that was his imagination?  I want a character's actions to fit his motivations, but Meoraq did many things that did not fit his character.  Some of the things a warrior should do to protect, defend, or revenge, he would not do - again due to what he thought was God's will.  It was hard to root for him.RELATIONSHIP:Amber is brave, courageous, disciplined, and mouthy.  Meoraq had never met a female like that and was surprised that he wanted her as his wife, even though he found her ugly.  My favorite trope is feeling emotional desire, and that was lacking during the relationship development.  Sex was an action similar to eating.  This felt like a surviving-in-the-wilderness-partnership instead of a romance.  But I did see some emotion at the end, which was good.ABOUT AN OPPOSITE BOOK:I've had mixed reactions to Kristen Ashley books in the past, loved one, others not so much.  But after reading Gann, I was craving a Kristen Ashley fix.  I didn't care if it wasn't good.  I started reading one of her motorcycle books.  Such a relief.  She fills emotional hunger so well.  Emotionally, Gann is at the other end of that spectrum.DATA:Narrative mode: 3rd person.  Kindle count length: 23,044 (1,929 KB).  Swearing language: strong including religious swear words.  Sexual language: strong.  Number of sex and rape scenes: 30 or more.  Setting: the future beginning on earth; the rest of the book on the planet Gann.  Copyright: 2013.  Genre: violent erotic sci-fi romance.