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Author: S. Reesa Herberth & Michelle Moore
Rating: 5 Stars
Publisher: Samhain
Length: ~85k
Primary Relationship(s): MMF
Other Relationship(s): M/F, M/M, F/F
Category or Genre: Science Fiction
Does this Review contain spoilers? A very mild spoiler.
How was the copy provided? Already owned.
Other Relationship(s): M/F, M/M, F/F
Category or Genre: Science Fiction
Does this Review contain spoilers? A very mild spoiler.
How was the copy provided? Already owned.
Has this review been posted before? Yes, in a much shorter form.
When Violetta Vane invited me to contribute a review, I decided it was a good excuse to read The Slipstream Con, by S. Reesa Herberth and Michelle Moore. I'd heard good things about it from some other folks, and I like romances that revolve around interesting and unusual relationships.
A couple of outer space bounty hunters falling in love with the thief they're chasing sounded pretty unusual to me.
Vanya and Tal spend three years chasing Kellen Frey before he turns himself in out of the blue. All three of them know something is wrong with this picture, but no one wants to look a gift horse in the mouth—especially not when Kellen has been drawing pictures of the three of them having sex and Vanya and Tal have learned him so well in the course of chasing him that they've begun to fall in love with him. Of course, not looking at what you don't want to see has its drawbacks, and before they know it, The Plot has bitten them on the ass.
I kind of love the plot. Because it's more than just characters falling in love, and no matter how much I like that part, I really like a book that gives me a little something more. What's more, there is nothing predictable about the plot here. Every time you think you've got it figured out, there's a new wrinkle.
Those wrinkles come with fantastic characters, whether they are our protagonists, allies, or villains. I'm pleased to be able to say that that strong characterization goes hand-in-hand with great world building. I grew up on the kinds of adventures in space that some people call space opera, and having a vivid universe to travel through is part of what makes them work. From the grey-market nanotechnology to the Empress's palace, the universe here is just as vivid as the people.
The Slipstream Con is well-written, which is a welcome change from so many ménage or poly titles I've tried. There's a lot of great craft going into the writing, and the story is more than an excuse to get from one sex scene to another.
As a matter of fact, there are no sex scenes in this book—it's a sweet romance. And while I'm a big fan of sex scenes in general and would have loved to see a few, I think the most important thing about sex scenes is that you write them in whatever level of detail suits the book. In their choice to omit them entirely, I think the authors have done that. It just wouldn't be in character for the three of them to be having sex any earlier than they presumably are, and extending the timeframe of the book just for the sake of getting a sex scene in there would not have served the story. In romance, that can be a hard choice to make, but in this case, I think it was the right one.
Overall, I give it five stars. There are a couple of places where I thought the writing was a little rough and the editing could have been better, but only a couple. They didn't interfere with this being a fun read full of characters I really cared about beating the odds and finding a way to live happily ever after. If you're looking for sexy bits, you've come to the wrong place, but if you want a fun adventure full of people falling in love even when it's a pain in the ass, give it a read.
Guest reviewer Ruth Diaz writes genre romances about non-mainstream relationships. She hides a number of science fiction and fantasy publications under another name, and her first romance publication, The Superheroes Union: Dynama, is due out on August 20 from Carina Press. For more information, you can subscribe to her blog, like her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter (where she is most active and, well, opinionated).
A couple of outer space bounty hunters falling in love with the thief they're chasing sounded pretty unusual to me.
Vanya and Tal spend three years chasing Kellen Frey before he turns himself in out of the blue. All three of them know something is wrong with this picture, but no one wants to look a gift horse in the mouth—especially not when Kellen has been drawing pictures of the three of them having sex and Vanya and Tal have learned him so well in the course of chasing him that they've begun to fall in love with him. Of course, not looking at what you don't want to see has its drawbacks, and before they know it, The Plot has bitten them on the ass.
I kind of love the plot. Because it's more than just characters falling in love, and no matter how much I like that part, I really like a book that gives me a little something more. What's more, there is nothing predictable about the plot here. Every time you think you've got it figured out, there's a new wrinkle.
Those wrinkles come with fantastic characters, whether they are our protagonists, allies, or villains. I'm pleased to be able to say that that strong characterization goes hand-in-hand with great world building. I grew up on the kinds of adventures in space that some people call space opera, and having a vivid universe to travel through is part of what makes them work. From the grey-market nanotechnology to the Empress's palace, the universe here is just as vivid as the people.
The Slipstream Con is well-written, which is a welcome change from so many ménage or poly titles I've tried. There's a lot of great craft going into the writing, and the story is more than an excuse to get from one sex scene to another.
As a matter of fact, there are no sex scenes in this book—it's a sweet romance. And while I'm a big fan of sex scenes in general and would have loved to see a few, I think the most important thing about sex scenes is that you write them in whatever level of detail suits the book. In their choice to omit them entirely, I think the authors have done that. It just wouldn't be in character for the three of them to be having sex any earlier than they presumably are, and extending the timeframe of the book just for the sake of getting a sex scene in there would not have served the story. In romance, that can be a hard choice to make, but in this case, I think it was the right one.
Overall, I give it five stars. There are a couple of places where I thought the writing was a little rough and the editing could have been better, but only a couple. They didn't interfere with this being a fun read full of characters I really cared about beating the odds and finding a way to live happily ever after. If you're looking for sexy bits, you've come to the wrong place, but if you want a fun adventure full of people falling in love even when it's a pain in the ass, give it a read.
Guest reviewer Ruth Diaz writes genre romances about non-mainstream relationships. She hides a number of science fiction and fantasy publications under another name, and her first romance publication, The Superheroes Union: Dynama, is due out on August 20 from Carina Press. For more information, you can subscribe to her blog, like her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter (where she is most active and, well, opinionated).
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