Review: Short, But Very Satisfying
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 16, 2014
This is a wonderful novella.  It's a complete story, and well told.  The characters are fully fleshed and I cared about them.  The love story is beautiful.  A previous reviewer thought that the writing was awful.  I'd have to disagree.  The author wrote sparely, but nothing was left out, or compromised, and the editing was great.  I wish it had been longer, because I really like the characters, and I wanted to know what happened to them, ultimately.  There could very well be a sequel.  But, it didn't end on a cliffhanger.This is a pretty classic story of love and deep ties between different races, or, in this case, different species who happen to share enough DNA to be sexually compatible.  The foundational story is complex, and told sketchily.  We are told just enough to understand the action.  It's enough.  Another reviewer thought that the book was more like an outline than a complete book.  I disagree with that evaluation, as well.  The book is complete.There is, for such a short novel, an amazing amount of personal growth in the main characters, particularly in Ekkatt, the male lead, who has to surmount a lifetime of being told humans are nothing more than insensate beasts.  He finds himself in the unusual circumstance of interacting with a conscious human, who proceeds to destroy all of his established beliefs.  This is the story of Ekkatt and Mari, one of the human women he and his crew have "harvested" from Earth to bring back to the meat markets on his own planet.  He is immediately confronted with the evidence that everything he has been told is a lie, but, of course, resists that knowledge at first.Mari and Ekkatt's story is very romantic.  The love scenes are intensely erotic, but far more sublime than you will see in most romance novels.  There is a sense of wonder within all these scenes (and there are plenty) that is truly exalted.Is it the best book I've read this year?  No, but it's a very lovely story.  It will leave you feeling very satisfied, and it's a book I recommend.