AUTHOR: J.L. Langley
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 83k)
GENRE: Futuristic gay erotic romance
COST: $5.50
When Navy Captain Nathaniel Hawkins is asked to pose among the aristocracy on the patriarchal planet Regelence in order to find some missing weapons, the last thing he expects – or needs – is to be attracted to the King’s available son, Prince Aiden. Aiden, on the other hand, has no designs to follow what society dictates, wanting instead to pursue his art. That is, until he meets Nate. Attraction is instantaneous. But in a culture that has very strict rules about social conduct, neither man can act on their desire without facing the consequences. The question becomes…are the consequences worth it?
The premise for this novel was fascinating. It’s sci-fi, futuristic, in worlds that emulate Regency England, and most surprisingly, it works. The author knows this universe she’s created like the back of her hand, and her attention to detail shows in very sharp prose. By the time I finished the book, I believed in it, absolutely and utterly. I just didn’t understand it as well as I’m pretty sure she wanted me to. Because the author knows it so well, she has no qualms about going on for pages and pages using terminology that is confusing to those not in the know. It took me far too long to realize that when the princes referred to father and sire in the same sentence, that those were actually two different people – their father and his male consort. Instances of this occur throughout the book, like the way nearly every character has more than one name and is referred to both or all of them repeatedly, sometimes even in the same scene. It’s a shame, really. Clearly, the author has a way with words; they just needed to be clearer some of the time.
This same flaw corrupts what is otherwise a very intriguing plot. The story starts out with Nate being charged with discovering who stole some weapons from the King of Regelence, and the author is quite adept at weaving multiple scenes together to create a growing sense of suspense. About two-thirds of the way through the book, though, things start happening without explanation and the logic of the intrigue begins to fall apart. Aiden identifies one man in the conspiracy, naming him by name to the reader, without that character having made an earlier appearance at all. I actually stopped reading and went back to skim to see if I had missed something, that’s how much it jumped out at me. The last quarter of the book also suffers from the author’s apparent need to both set up sequels in this world she created and make other pretty boys she’s introduced as happy as possible. Out of the blue. It was just too much for me.
That’s not saying I disliked the primary romance. I didn’t. Nate, the rough-edged captain, is a strong and very passionate character, dominating and sexy as hell. I particularly enjoyed his interactions throughout the entire book, and when the sex scenes started…oh my. Hot. Very hot. This is a dom who knows what he’s doing.
My quibble with the romance comes with his romantic interest. Aiden is young – 19 to Nate’s late 30s/early 40s – and I never understood what in the hell Nate saw in him other than a pretty face. For me, he came across as very immature and nowhere near a worthy partner to the more interesting Nate. And I realize that this is specifically trying to emulate Regency romances, but honestly, Aiden might as well have been a woman. Between how he acted and everything that happened to him (plotwise, not sexually), it was straight out of any heterosexual Regency you might have read. That was probably a specific choice on the part of the author. It just didn’t work for me.
What did work –without a doubt – was the sex. Hot. Very hot. Nate is a masterful dom, and the slow build-up from the first kiss to the full exploration of Nate’s needs was extremely well done. It was so well done that I was willing to forgive a lot of the story’s flaws in order to keep reading. By the time the story was over, I bought enough into the romance – and okay, pretty much just wanted Nate to be happy so if Aiden was what he wanted, I’d live with the choice – to consider it worth the time to read. I am curious about whether or not she’s got future stories planned in this universe she created. The cast of characters is certainly large enough.
| Readability | 7/10 – Information dumps and plotting late in the book that comes out of nowhere pulls down what is otherwise some sharp writing |
| Hero #1 | 8/10 – Strong and mostly well-characterized, very believable as a dom |
| Hero #2 | 5/10 – He might as well have been wearing a dress. Annoying. |
| Entertainment value | 7/10 – The sex is hot. Very hot. But what starts out as promising intrigue falls apart 2/3’s of the way through the book. |
| World building | 9/10 – An original meld of sci-fi/futuristic with Regency, made very believable. The only reason this isn’t a perfect score is because poor dissemination of information keeps a complex society from being clear soon enough |
| TOTAL: | 36/50 |
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