Review: Intriguing series beginning...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 18, 2011
**minor spoilers included, although if you realize that this is a romance, it's not really too spoilery to discuss the main relationship**I liked it, but it had the same problem that a lot of romance novellas have; the relationship development was rushed. I like Char, and I like Jake, but them feeling strongly about each other seemed rushed, and I would have liked to have seen it actually develop rather than just suddenly have them want to be with each other. In fact the first time they have sex, it took me totally off guard because there was no lead up. I can understand why it would happen - they both just escaped death, but it felt awkward reading it.-----------------------...Tyler, but he was in great shape. And definitely not engineered. Those were genuine, earned muscles under that tight-fitting hemp shirt.He swung her chair around and knelt in front of her, removing the straps from her arms and legs. Again without thinking, she reached out and ran her fingers through his hair.He looked up sharply. She expected anger, but she saw tears. It had all gotten to him too, then. She smoothed the furrow between his eyes. Did she want to comfort him? Or did she want him to comfort her?He lifted the harness off her chest, and she floated up from the seat. His hands almost surrounded her waist as he pulled her down. She wrapped her legs around his hips, anchoring herself.He searched her eyes, silently asking permission to keep going. She guided his hand to the single strap on her top. He pulled it down and kissed her neck, moving toward her breasts. In the weightlessness, she moved easily to give him access to anything he wanted.-----------------------OK...so we get that he's in shape, but she doesn't think about wanting him or being attracted to him or anything else to indicate that she's even remotely thinking about getting him naked. He unbuckles her, and suddenly she's touching his hair. He's crying, so she decides to have sex with him.As I said, I don't think it's unbelievable that it happened, but it would have worked better for me personally if she had been thinking about how she needed to feel alive, she needed to feel some human connection and he was there and convenient. She sort of thinks those things after, but, I feel like not having insight into those thoughts before it happens made me think, "Where the heck did that come from??"On the plus side, I felt all the sex scenes were handled well. They aren't exactly "closed door," but they aren't described as a blow-by-blow either. I like when the focus is more on the connection and the mood rather than "flowery or crude name for tab A" inserted into "ridiculous or crude name for slot B."The relationship aspect of the story aside, the story line pulled me in. I felt that just the right amount of background was given, and it was worked into the story subtly rather than obvious info dumps. There are definitely more things about this world to learn, but we're given enough to understand what's happening in the immediate story and what we're given was at least enough to whet my appetite for more.I'm looking forward toSpiderwork, a Science Fiction Fantasy (Apocalypto 2), the sequel to this novella, and the rest of the related stories.