I enjoy alien stories. I dig the sci-fi; I love how creative and strange an author can get with a new culture; and I really love watching how cultures colliding can play out when humans get thrown into the mix. I even enjoy when a romance comes into it; the confusion and miscommunication as the two different species sort themselves out can be a lot of fun. What drives me nuts about this particular sub-genre is how it mostly ends up boiling down to exploitative abduction/noncon fantasies with weak partners (usually women) and no character ANYWHERE who can adequately manage to explain across the cultural gap to these aliens why overriding a human’s will can be so upsetting/damaging to that human. I can handle abduction and noncon if in the end, there’s some type of understanding between the 2 MCs about what cultural lines were crossed, and an expectation that it won’t happen again. What I hate is when everyone just ends up shrugging and saying “well, since you REALLY LOVE her, it’s fine.” It’s not fine.
Even so, I can still sometimes manage to look past that lack of understanding if the characters and writing are worth it. I managed that in the first book of this series. I liked it fine, the narration was excellent, and the characters weren’t perfect, but I got along with them well enough. This second book – not so much.
Narrator’s still great. Let’s get that out of the way.
Now for the book itself. First off, the plot is an exact carbon copy of book 1. Heroine out on the streets spies alien in danger and is compelled to help. Alien is now obsessed and tracks her down because HE MUST HAVE HER. She escapes him using cleverness! But, unfortunately ends up in a worse situation. He (and company) rescues her again and takes her away on his ship. On the trip, he heads out on a mission that goes wrong, and is once again in jeopardy! Heroine must audaciously run in to save the day, astonishing all the aliens with her feisty female-ness and proving she is unlike anyone else ever…..except the heroine from the first book who literally just lived the same story. I swear, the author took her first scene outline and just wrote it again with different (weaker) characters; it is that similar.
Second, I don’t know what book the other reviewers read, but there is no strong female character (SFC) to be found anywhere. The author keeps harping on it, telling us again and again the heroine is a tough, BA, free spirit, but repeating it just does not make it so. The author actually has to back that up with demonstrable proof somewhere in the book, just like any other character trait. Telling me a thing is true is not the same as showing me that thing is true, and being able to parkour doesn’t make you a SFC. Instead, this girl acted like an indecisive door mat for ¾ of the book. And when she does actually take action toward the end to rescue her alien, it felt like a completely different character. I just could not credit that the same woman who had wandered through the action for the first parts would actually be allowed to take point on a mission to save anyone. She, in no way, had proved herself capable of doing so to that point.
I also couldn’t actually buy that she was supposed to be her brother’s head of security. She wandered around alone, making stupid dangerous choices that would affect everyone she cared about, hardly gave an order to anyone, never actually functioned as a leader, couldn’t manage to tell an unwanted suitor to back the *$%^ up (because she DOESN’T LIKE CONFLICT?!), and kept extremely important information from her brother and the rest of her team because she was…selfish? Scared? Ashamed? Confused? Yeah, me too. I certainly couldn’t figure it out. Besides which, we’re supposed to believe later that her brother is EXTREMELY worried for her safety, which does not lend itself to appointing little sister to such a dangerous position. Her actions and the way her brother actually treats her are more in keeping with a naive, teenaged baby sister who is cossetted and locked in a tower for her own safety. That is bad characterization for both the brother and for Kali.
Kali’s also completely unable to verbalize to her alien why she’s upset. She locks herself in the bathroom and refuses to speak to him. Literally says “I’m not talking to you.” Again like a petulant teenager. Never once does she call this alien a murderer, kidnapper, or almost-rapist. Which he decidedly is, even if the author wants us to believe he has reason. And if Kali could have said it and then built the relationship from there, maybe this book would have actually been worthwhile.
And third, (Tiny Spoiler Here): On a less major and more ridiculous note, the character named Razor gets the erotic shaving scene? Really? You’re not even TRYING at that point.
All that aside, what was most upsetting to me as I read was the overall attitude toward women. I was extremely disturbed (and perturbed) by a lot of what went on in the subtext of this book. Here’s my list of situations/scenes that are the worst offenders.
Before you read it, know this, I do NOT expect these kind of books to be some type of treatise on modern feminism. We’re all here for the fun and the fantasy, and I get that. I like escapist fantasy fun as much as the next gal. But I do expect these stories to treat their characters with some level of respect, or it’s just not enjoyable, and this book had no respect whatsoever for many of the women in it, particularly Kali.
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD
1. Kali has NO agency. She ends up being repeatedly passed around between the 3 groups of male characters, usually while she’s unconscious (so to be more like an object and less like an inconvenient, actual person). Her own brother accuses Razor of being a rapist, then ends up doing a 180 and believing him when Razor says he just really, really loves her and only wants to protect her, WITHOUT EVER SPEAKING TO KALI TO CONFIRM. To the point that he makes an agreement with Razor that the alien can have her (HAVE HER), as long as he keeps her safe on his own planet. STILL WITHOUT TALKING TO KALI, who’s been unconscious, and so, unavailable for comment. She could have been raped and abducted and her brother, who has no way of knowing the truth, has essentially arranged her marriage with her possible rapist. All on the word of that possible rapist.
2. Kali can’t stand up for herself. She let’s her brother do this to her. He straight up sells her to aliens, sending her to a completely different PLANET, to keep her “safe” without consulting her wishes or even having a conversation with her. This so-called SFC who he has appointed his head of security, trusted (seemingly) to watch his back in basically the worst gang-war street situation ever, and take care of his people, apparently cannot be trusted to keep herself safe now that his enemy has been defeated, he’s been appointed leader by the aliens, and the aliens are providing support to his new leadership……but yeah, now she’s not safe. She sits there and cries, and lets him, and does not MAKE him have that conversation or even explain himself. She only gets a bit of information once HE decides he can’t let her leave with out telling her why he did it. And they still don’t have an actual conversation where Kali gets to choose. Big Bro just wants to feel less bad about sending her away and talks at her the entire time.
3. In fact, most conversations involving Kali’s activities, plans, or future happen AROUND her, with no contribution from her, and she just lets it happen. It gets so difficult for the author to credibly exclude her from dialog that Kali actually has to lose consciousness so people can continue talking and acting around her. THIS HAPPENS MORE THAN ONCE. Right when you expect this so-called “SFC” to step in and have an opinion…she passes out. Again.
4. Everyone knows Kali’s pregnant…except Kali. And even when she finds out, others (i.e. Razor, her brother, and the male doctor) decide her living arrangements, medical care, and what’s best for her, having conversations around her, over her head, out of her presence, and (again!) over her unconscious form.
5. There is not nearly enough difference between the bad blue alien wanting to abduct Kali as a sex slave and Razor wanting to abduct Kali as a sex…mate. Except, Kali wants it? Sort of? But Razor reeeeeally loves her? I’m not even sure. And I don’t think Kali had enough information to be sure either. I was just disturbed by the abundance of similarities and complete lack of differences, and Kali apparently wasn’t disturbed enough.
6. The nurse-lady tells the aliens to ASK HER HUSBAND how to “handle” women. Because apparently you need a man to tell you that. And he tells them….trust, love and accept. Not a single word about respect. Because what SFC needs that? Then Razor talks to the other alien about his human mate…without talking to the human mate. Because apparently, primary sources are unnecessary. He actually makes an active decision in the book NOT to talk to the other female human mate to get advice. That seems completely bizarre and contrived to me.
6. Women as…pets? Half the time the aliens seem to be in a state of amused surprise – These human women, so feisty! It’s adorable! Okay, maybe a culture gap argument can, kind of, apply there. But Kali’s brother’s conversation with Razor before the ship leaves shows that the human men are no better. He tells Razor how to take care of his new pet…I mean mate, to make sure she gets a lot of exercise and explain what her favorite foods are! I kid you not, like an anxious pet parent dropping a poodle off with a sitter. It is the most awkward conversation I’ve read in a long time, and it all happened (again!) without Kali even being there.
BONUS: This one had nothing to do with women, but really bothered me anyway…
WHY IS THE ONLY GAY CHARACTER EVIL?! I thought the brother was going to be gay too, then you just have an evil human guy who can’t take no for an answer. But no. Instead, Mr. Villain ended up being the evil gay guy, and that made me angry.
TLDR version: I was hoping to find out what was going to happen with the other 2 sisters from book 1 and their missing alien friend, which…you find out a bit, right at the end. But, maybe just take it on faith he gets rescued and try book 3. After reading this one and being so frustrated with its treatment of all the female characters I was actually taking notes to write this review, I’m not sure I will be reading any more.