Review: 3.5 stars - Fascinating world but lacks a lot of characterization and details
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 29, 2013
This was a fascinating story. Different from other Scifi I've read because of the conflicts these two have to go through but so very interesting, I couldn't stop reading.Liam is a closeted submissive and on another world as a Linguist. He's confused but also slightly broken because of his past. Ondry, a trader on the planet Liam works, is of a completely different species but understands Liam like no one else can even with the cultural barrier between the two (like how the way Ondry shows he cares for Liam, Liam thinks he means something else). These two have absolutely nothing in common besides the fact that Ondry can provide Liam everything he desires but refuses to accept. They're actually really sweet together and, if anything, what I liked most about this book is the fact that these aliens were so different, kind of arrogant towards humans, but they cherished Liam because they understood what he was in relation to them.While the story in itself is good, it lacks the necessary depth to be extraordinary. We don't really know Liam and Ondry as people besides a few clues here and there. It lacks that connection between them that we could have gotten by seeing these two interacting more in their bartering together. Besides that, while the world is amazing, it also lacks the level of details I usually like in my Scifi books. We see Liam and Ondry go through all these situations to be together yet I felt like they were either rushed (in some circumstances) or there wasn't really a resolution to them. Point in case, the whole 'incompatible genitalia'. While I understand why the author handled it the way she did, I felt like that was a temporary solution and makes me wonder how, or if, Liam will be satisfied with how things turned out sexually for him for the rest of his life.Overall, I really enjoyed this story. It's a bit shallow in my estimation but it's a fabulous world and I loved how different this was compared to other books I've read. More than that, it was interesting to see what Ondry does to get Liam and the sacrifices they both make. I hope Ms. Gala writes more about these two (or at least in this world) because it'd be awesome to get back to them.