Reviews

Flight by Laurie A. Green

lindca's review

2.0

I read and really enjoyed the prequel novella Farewell Andromeda, so I had high hopes for this story. Unfortunately, I had significant problems with multiple aspects of it.

First and most importantly, there was a major issue of (lack of) consent.

Spoiler

Sair was a slave who for years was forced to act as stud to other slaves to produce edible offspring for his captors. Drea knew at least the sexual slavery aspect of this yet offered him passage on her ship and escape from his pursuers only by acting as stud for her. Death or coerced sex. She compounds this by tying him down and forcing him into their first (virtual) encounter and without consent also reads his mind and memories. While she later apologizes when she learns more about his dead mate and child, the coercion was there from the start and made me dislike her intensely. The whole initial virtual sex only was a bit bizarre and I hoped we would learn the reason for it. Instead, for some inexplicable reason, Drea has fallen for Sair and ends up relinquishing to him her virginity without explanation.

As despicable as Drea's actions were, Sair's simply made no sense. He'd been kept for years as a sexual slave yet, despite Drea treating him like crap at the beginning, he is so mesmerized by her incredible pulchritude that he is as horny as a teenaged virgin (he's even turned on by two drones "coupling!") and falls for her almost immediately.

No, just no.

There is no real romance in this sci fi romance, just some unlikeable people acting impulsively, badly, and irrationally. I've already got the rest of the story, so I will read on at least a bit to see if this improves at all. But for now, I'm really disappointed.