Review: Poorly written, not enough detail, gaping plot holes, and tedious.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 08 29, 2013
I didn't finish this book, got bored hence the default 1* rating. Poorly written, not enough detail, gaping plot holes, and tedious.I'm not sure what category to put this in - this story is- NOT erotica (As some reviewers have pointed out. Not enough sexual tension etc);- NOT SciFi; far too unimaginative and unsophisticated;- NOT well written enough or engrossing to be a good story- hence may be it's geared towards the tender romance variety? But I didn't feel any chemistry for that either.Overall, perhaps it's just a little bit of the above genres but not enough to be any of thoseI like books that capture my interests. There are some books that require one to read a good few chapters before one is engrossed. Due to the gaping plot holes, the poor writing style and lack of imagination this didn't intrigue me.=================The Characters:Heroine: Mari speaks many different languages and is a linguist, hence she picks up the Alien language very quickly. Her age wasn't really mentioned in the chapters I read, but the readers are informed on numerous occasions that she has vivid red hair (I assume she's a natural ginger sans freckles). She's defiant and originally challenges her captors. However, after the hero spares her, she's rather mellow and doesn't seem freaked out by being far away from earth and living in Alien territory.Hero: apart from being rather tall with cat like eyes, there's not much Alien about him that i could tell. Mari, the heroine describes him as resembling Native Americans, however, I've never seen bronze 7 feet Native Americans (the few I met were mixed heritage and resembled light-skinned Hispanic). He's rather mild, not the Alpha Male type. Basically, he's a tall, dark handsome cliche found in chick lit but with feline eyes. It's unfortunate the author didn't make him purple or blue skinned with horns on his head or something more imaginative. Tall, bronze skinned with long black hair reminds me of men I've seen from certain Middle Eastern countries and Punjab.================Plot holes:I'm not going to mention the glaringly obvious plot holes or I'll give away the story. However, a few are:1. The Alien species can speak English. Even the heroine points out that if one can converse with a species than it doesn't make much sense to allocate them as pets or food? The responding argument was not convincing enough to make this plot work. Even during the slavery trade - one of the reasons why slavers believed they were dealing with inferior species was because they believed the Africans they dealt with did not have a formal language or a proper culture.2. The Aliens believe that the humans are primitive and don't posses a proper culture. Considering that Earth has satellite it would be pretty easy for the Aliens to pick up a huge amount of data which would prove that humans have a form of electronic communication, entertainment and civilisation. The Aliens own form of living isn't very sophisticated hence I didn't understand why they thought they were so much more superior? I appreciate it might be a denial process (to justify the capturing of women) but again far too far fetched an argument. The Aliens technology such as their "blackberry" type hand held computer would be easily spotted by any number of aliens visiting earth.3. Considering the Aliens were suffering plagues and so forth - surely earth would have far more valuable possessions than human meat that would help them - additionally, you'd think they'd have sophisticated vaccinations or protective gear too.4. Mari manages to convince the Aliens within a space of a few minutes that she ought to be allowed to stay awake and engage in conversation with them. It seems that the aliens capitulated far too quickly. The story also jumps so one minute she's woken up and confronting them and the next minute we're told it's been a few days and they're impressed by her oddity.5. The Aliens do not look much different from many humans living on Earth. If they'd traveled to South East Asia, the Middle East or even the Far East they'd see beings much like them. Hence, their incredulity over Mari being able to engage in conversation with them is baffling. In fact even if they were to visit Norway or Iceland they'd find Viking like tall people (when I go there I feel like a munchkin and I'm 5.9). Hence, the story just wasn't convincing.I can't get into the reasons properly because I don't want to give away the story. I think it would be better if the Aliens found Mari in a primitive planet where her spaceship and stranded. The beings of that planet could be primitive but human physically and thus they mistaken her for one of them - when she's out bathing or something. She eventually slowly learns a few of their tongue and thus they are shocked by her even talking to them.================Summary of Plot:Mari (a human) was collecting eggs when she's captured by an Alien species with the intention to sell her at a meat market (humans are an expensive delicacy for certain species). The Aliens failed to tranquilize her properly and hence she wakes up to find herself naked and trapped in a cage on a cargo spaceship.She engages with her captors who are surprised by her "intelligent" form of interaction as they assume humans to be uncivilised and non-sentient beings. When they try to return her to hypersleep, she resists. Within the space of a few minutes and without much persuasion she manages to convince them to allow her to stay awake and in a page or two later she's managed to persuade the Hero that's she's not a pet or food.