Review: "What else could a female do but breed and serve her master?"
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 20, 2013
I was looking for a good sci-fi erotic romance, and everything about this book, from the striking cover to the very last page, held my attention and kept me invested in the characters and how the story would turn out. It was really a great read.From the get-go, I knew I was going to love the setting of this book: an off-world/ alien planet, a male-dominated place where a woman has no rights and no say. It's so wrong, and has no place in real life, but I love to read this in romance. Whether a Viking romance, a medieval or sci-fi romance, or dystopian, this sort of world/society just works for me. I like it misguided, primitive, basic and subjugated. I'm always going to go for that theme in a romance, just to see how it will play out for the characters involved.On Parseon, a woman serves, she answers to the men who rule her, and she is disciplined when she disobeys. Women breed; they really have no other use. And if she's lucky, a less unkind man will purchase her as his breeder. When an alpha desires offspring, he selects a breeder from the Breeder Containment Facility. Like a broodmare, she is inspected for suitability. She becomes property, taking care of his home, servicing other men, if he wishes it, preparing his meals, and then, bearing him heirs. I love this whole concept, archaic and inherently wrong, but you know it will lead to the drama, the personal crisis, the hero will have to sort out for himself. That makes a good romance for me, when the hero must come to terms with a misconception, rectifying in his mind the right and wrong of society.Also, in this world, men are divided into two categories: alphas and betas. Alphas are in charge, the strongest and the most aggressive of the men, and the betas are second tier. "Alphas ranked at the top, betas fulfilled support functions, and females, being of limited mental and physical capacity, served as breeders, domestic labor, and secondary sexual outlets, primarily for betas." Betas are like companions to alphas, and this dynamic reminded me a little of ancient Greece. There might be an m/m bond, a sanctioned sexual relationship that serves a purpose, one strictly for release, as on Parseon, it's considered unnatural to lust after a woman. You breed her, but you don't need or desire her, and you certainly don't love her.And what also makes this more problematic for our hero is that he's not only an alpha; Dak is the Alpha, the Commander. So here we have a man going against the rules he's supposed to enforce, against his society's Protocol, because he's falling in love with a female, someone he has been taught is inferior and unworthy in every way. It really made for a great read. The sexual chemistry, the passionate sex, the building up of feelings and emotion, the forbidden quality of it, the innocent and submissive female, and the male who owns her, but who then ends up being 'owned' by the woman holding his heart-- it was all that I love to read in this sort of romance. Just really very good.There is m/m sexual contact between Dak and his beta, but it's not too drawn out, and it didn't bother me, as during this scene, it is his little female Dak is thinking of. For Dak, it was only a duty, and this was before he even touches, and falls for, his breeder. I really loved Dak. So much. Loved how he evolved, how his feelings changed him and his outlook. He begins to show his emotions more, to care, and by the end of it, the reader knows exactly how far this man will go for his woman. He falls hard for her, refuses to share her; she's it for him. No one else for her, and no one else for him.The ending was very sweet and romantic, too. I wasn't expecting how sweet that would feel, and I'm glad the author gave me that extra touch of softness before I said goodbye to Dak and Omra. It ends with a complete story and a full romance for them, and it made me happy for this couple and hopeful for their future. There's more for the author to do on this world (the Council, the Enclave, the Terrans), and I hope she makes a series out of this.