I’m always delighted to see more science fiction with M/M relationships, even if most are really gay romances with a futuristic setting, as this is. So, if you are looking for hard core science fiction with a deep plot, that happens to feature a gay couple, this isn’t it. If you are looking for a gay romance, with a unique setting and some futuristic technobabble amid the extra spicy sex scenes, then read on.

There have been some deadly attacks on Confederation space in recent months. Admiral Peter Keller has been dispatched to track down the culprits. The Confederation believes the attacks are pirates, but Keller is unconvinced. Nevertheless, he doesn’t stop hunting smugglers while he investigates. Blaise gets caught smuggling, and Keller gives him a choice: three years hard labor, or three years aboard his ship servicing the Admiral. The story is predictable – sparks fly between them, but since the Admiral obviously has real control over the freedom of Blaise, can he really fall in love with his captor? And despite being the dominant in control, Keller worries that Blaise’s reactions and feelings aren’t real because he has no choice. I’ve read this plot before with pirates, cops, etc. However, it is a fine line between a familiar plot being boring and a familiar plot being comforting. The scifi setting, invasion plotline and the mild BDSM keeps the book from being boring though the “miscommunication” between the men does get annoying at times. However, the future gives the authors license to get very, very creative with the sex.

This isn’t hard core BDSM such as you would find in “The Initiation of Pb500,” with humiliation, St. Andrew’s crosses, and real pain, but it goes a bit beyond light BDSM. The future has some interesting sex toys that I’m sure many wish really existed today (such as the Anal Beads of Orion that stay icy cold even inside the body!) and the authors let their imagination run wild. Sex in zero gravity, force field restraints, and so much more. The book has a lot of sex, bordering on erotica rather the romance, but I enjoyed every page.

Overall, this was completely escapist, but very enjoyable. Recommended. ( )

Blaise Risner, the captain of a small cargo ship, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Confederation Army is dealing with some nasty attack to their ship and space colony, and they blame the pirates, and so the attention is very high. In normal time, probably Blaise would skip the control, but now he is arrested for smuggling, piracy and other minor violation. Since he can't avoid to admit the smuggling crime, he tries to negotiate for the other two accusation and Admiral Peter Keller is willing to listen to him. Peter is not new to similar arrangements with his prisoners: a sentence to hard labor commuted to service him as personal assistant... very personal assistant. More the prisoners are stubborn, and more Peter likes to bend them (pun intended).

If you stick to the romance rules, what Peter does to Blaise could easily be classified as non consensual sex, since Blaise at first claims that, if he had a choice, he would have never submitted to Peter. But truth be told, he doesn't protest so much, and for what I can understand, he enjoyed every single encounter with Peter, even the first one. What I like of the story is that the sexual relationship evolves with them: at first it's obviously only sex, Peter has not a personal interest in Blaise if not since the man is an interesting sex partner that gives him a lot of satisfaction. But more they are together and more their relationship deepens, but always remaining primarily a sexual one: there is not many chances for Blaise or Peter to know each other other than in a sexual way, they don't speak a lot; who they are and what they like is all communicated through sex.

Peter is obviously the domineering character, even if he is not the stronger in a physical way, actually I have the feeling, even if I'm not sure, that he is even leaner and smaller than Blaise. But he has for sure the attitude of a leader and he is used to the command; he lives his personal life as he lead his spaceship: no one questions his orders. Problem is that, on the other side, Blaise instead has the classical behavior of a rebel, he is not used to be ordered around, but he will find out that, in some cases, he likes it. It's not clear if Blaise, before Peter, have already realized that he has a submissive nature in bed, but he will discover it with Peter. There is not doubt that in bed this two work in a very good way, all the trouble arrives when they are out of the bedroom. They are both very stubborn, and they don't know how to communicate; they arrive to hasty conclusion even before having taken the time to analyze all the possible side of a problem.

The book is quite long and it's a very classic futuristic novel, even if the reader has not many chances to see the two heroes among other people or outside the bedroom, but in the few cases when it happened, the setting is light and enjoyable, there is not the usual heavy use of detailed description to force the reader to understand a different and fictional world.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1935192493/?tag=elimyrevandra-20