lothy
in
women_lead
Book rec: Blowback by Lyn Gala
I posted this review at mayitbe_books, but since the novel features femdom, I had to crosspost it here!
Genres: sci-fi, romance
Synopsis: Tom is a soldier and sniper on a ship tracking space terrorists. Despite being unlucky at love, he hopes to catch the eye of a crewmate. Da’shay, an exotically beautiful alien with her own very strange ideas, keeps ruining his plans. While Tom loves playing trust games in the bedroom, where he’s happy to let a woman take complete erotic control, in real life he never trusts easily. Da’shay is no exception to that rule. But when danger forces Tom to rely on Da’shay, he finds himself drawn to more than just her body. Her strength and her suffering intrigue him. As the conspiracies and blowback threaten the entire crew, Tom finds his loyalties and his love starting to turn toward the one woman he never would have expected.
Review:
I've loved Lyn Gala's fanfiction for a long time but this is the first time I've read one of her published works, specifically an ebook. It was absolutely excellent (and I'm not just saying that because the author's my LJ friend and will probably read this review).
As with the best romance novels, the storyline and characterisation of this novel would still be worth reading even if there was no romance. There's a fairly interesting plot revolving around space travel, aliens, conspiracy and slavery; it's admittedly not terribly complex but is very well written.
The romance itself is very much one of dominance and submission, with the woman in charge. (As anyone who knows my tastes will realise, this makes me jump for joy - it's unbelievably difficult to find female dominants in fiction, least of all in consensual relationships.) You probably do need to have some slight appreciation for power dynamics and BDSM to enjoy the novel, but there's no S&M, only light bondage.
The romance is slow to evolve and thus all the more interesting and credible. The secondary characters, especially the other crewmembers, are almost as well-crafted as the leads. And when I finished reading it, I desperately wanted more... all hallmarks of a novel I will definitely re-read many times in the future.
Genres: sci-fi, romance
Synopsis: Tom is a soldier and sniper on a ship tracking space terrorists. Despite being unlucky at love, he hopes to catch the eye of a crewmate. Da’shay, an exotically beautiful alien with her own very strange ideas, keeps ruining his plans. While Tom loves playing trust games in the bedroom, where he’s happy to let a woman take complete erotic control, in real life he never trusts easily. Da’shay is no exception to that rule. But when danger forces Tom to rely on Da’shay, he finds himself drawn to more than just her body. Her strength and her suffering intrigue him. As the conspiracies and blowback threaten the entire crew, Tom finds his loyalties and his love starting to turn toward the one woman he never would have expected.
Review:
I've loved Lyn Gala's fanfiction for a long time but this is the first time I've read one of her published works, specifically an ebook. It was absolutely excellent (and I'm not just saying that because the author's my LJ friend and will probably read this review).
As with the best romance novels, the storyline and characterisation of this novel would still be worth reading even if there was no romance. There's a fairly interesting plot revolving around space travel, aliens, conspiracy and slavery; it's admittedly not terribly complex but is very well written.
The romance itself is very much one of dominance and submission, with the woman in charge. (As anyone who knows my tastes will realise, this makes me jump for joy - it's unbelievably difficult to find female dominants in fiction, least of all in consensual relationships.) You probably do need to have some slight appreciation for power dynamics and BDSM to enjoy the novel, but there's no S&M, only light bondage.
The romance is slow to evolve and thus all the more interesting and credible. The secondary characters, especially the other crewmembers, are almost as well-crafted as the leads. And when I finished reading it, I desperately wanted more... all hallmarks of a novel I will definitely re-read many times in the future.