Review: SF space opera worthy of the classic pulp masters...spiced with sexual content. NO REFUGE by Annie Nicholas
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 2, 2014
I grew up reading Andre Norton's, Anne McCaffrey's, and Isaac Asimov's space operas. I loved delving into the long-forgotten past of the human race from millennia in our future. How different each author invisioned those penultimate gasps of a dying race!Annie Nicholas wrote her NO REFUGE in a similar vein. Her protagonists, Lucille and Brody, crewed on a mixed-species mining ship. The mated pair camouflaged their human identities under costumes of other races, because to be human was to be hunted to the death by the warrior Ko. In under 25,000 words, Lucille and Brody shared their personal background, how they met, and partook in a rapid-fire adventure aboard a space station. Lucille's yearning for human artifacts revealed her true skin to the Ko at the same time that Brody found a lead to a secret human colony. But, there was a catch...These pages were peppered with realistic emotion, internal debates, and invented SF vernacular. I couldn't help but give a shout at the plot twist which had Lucille literally turning purple! And, throwing the Ko off Lucille's scent that way? Genius! Even the self-imposed sexual limitations were well thought out.From what I know of colony worlds and rebuilding species, there will have to be sharing of genes to bring up the chances for human survival as a whole, so Brody had better get used to the idea of sharing. Other than that (and the fact that the first sex scene was way too early in the book), this was a very fun ride! I look forward to more chances to sample Annie Nicholas's books in exchange for an honest review!