Genre: Scifi Romance/Space Opera
Publisher: Self (27th February 2013)
Available: $2.99 at Amazon
Rating: 3 stars
Rater: Pippa
From the publisher:
Marlee's people are dying—the valuable anysogen gas that covers their planet is making the entire population infertile. When the council tells her she must leave her partner and choose another to improve her chances of having a baby, she’s devastated. She swears she’ll never love again—it hurts too much.
Tyris thinks he has everything he wants, despite his world suffering from overpopulation—until his wife leaves him because he is forbidden to have children.
In an attempt to convince his world, and his wife, that he’s worthwhile, Tyris goes hunting for a lost planet said to contain untold riches in the form of anysogen gas.
When he crashes on her world, Marlee and Tyris agree to pretend to live together while they try to repair his ship and escape from the planet. But as they battle the harsh winter on the planet together, keeping their distance becomes even more challenging than the snow, the council and the risks of a real relationship...
What I liked:
I loved the premise about the essential FTL fuel becoming scarce, a similar situation to present day with fossil fuels running out, but combined with the horrible side effects of nuclear power when it goes wrong. Marlee and her people are in a terrible, emotionally desperate situation on their planet, with a real moral conundrum that promised much conflict. I liked the idea of Tyris's quest, and the concept of the contraceptive chip being forced on anyone with a criminal record. The romance was sweet and the bedroom scenes tastefully done. Forbidden love (and in a way, this is a play on that trope with partners being chosen, but then forced to break up) is one of my favourite themes, and this story does it with a twist.
What I didn't like:
Emotionally, the story fell flat for me. Considering how many options there were for serious conflict, the tension was lacking, particularly in the romance. It didn't go deep enough. Plus it had a slightly weak plot line toward the end regarding the lack of enthusiasm to escape amongst some of the colony members that wasn't adequately explained. The opening scene also made me dislike the two characters intensely, leaving me with little sympathy for the hero at the start. This was mitigated somewhat throughout the story with Tyris supporting Marlee, but I couldn't empathize with him totally.
In conclusion:
If you like dystopian scifi with romance and aren't looking for the 'everybody dies' scenario, this could be for you. Some interesting world building and differing concepts of society, but not visceral enough for me. I really, really wanted to love this story but can only say it scored a 'like' - I would probably read the sequel to see how the overall story arc develops, although it wouldn't be high on my TBR priorities at the moment.
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