Eric Del Carlo

The world the author tried to pull us into was very difficult to get in. Lots of confusing things that weren't explained, too many even. And it all felt much too rushed. Might have been better if he had taken the time to describe a few things instead of just throwing us in a high-tech futuristic world and leaving us to figure out what was what.

Even now I'm not even sure if I understand what it was all about besides the fact that a 40 yo assassin with cat genes (don't ask me how that came show more about, I have absolutely no idea) is running from hunters that want to kill him and while he's running he meets a street muscle for hire less than half his age that shows him the way in underground pathways....

Narurally they're both horny for each other instantly, and even though they're stuck in a duct vent with some weird monster after them, they still take the time to take themselves in hand.

The ending leaves the possibly for a sequel.

First book I read by Eric Del Carlo. show less

First Question: is it a romance? Mmm, I don't know. Well, yes define a romance is always difficult, and usually the only common points I can find are: two main characters, a love between them and an happily ever after. And with these parameters, Steel Sleet is a romance. But I can feel in this book that writing romance is not the mainly work of Eric Del Carlo.

Nickerson is a genetically shifted warriors. He lives Off-World, patrolling the Earth colonies on space and preventing the earth show more criminals to bring their business up there. But then he is sent again on Earth and he finishes in a trap. Now he is on run for his life and he finds a companion in BlaqJaq, a streetmuscle, a type of mercenary who has a moral code, he only works for the goods. And now he is drawn by this man, double his age, but handsome and with a gentle touch he is not used.

The story is mostly about their run amond the underwolrd tunnels to avoid the hunters who are after Nickerson, and only in two brief moment we can taste the passion between the two man, so this is my concern in classify it as a romance. But if you want to read a good fastpacing novella, this is your book.

The book is pretty good even if a little short (less then 90 pages). And I have the feeling (and hope indeed) that this is not the final point of this story, cause even if it has the HEA, it's also an open ended story, so I really want to know what happend next. show less

This is the classic apocalyptic futuristic tale. In the previous book, Nickerson, an enhanced paid assassin for the government, was sold for an illegal hunt from his employers; Nickerson is more than forty years old and for the legal government he is too old to do the job, and so, since he has feline genes in him, he is the right target for an illegal hunt. Only that Nickerson was not of the idea to willing go to death, and with the help of a streetmuscler, BalqJaq, a young con who lived in show more the underneath city, he fough against his old alleys and won.

The story is set in a three way world: there are the underneath cities, almost an hell where people try to survive, there is the superficial terrain, a wild zone abandoned by human beings, and there are the space colonies, the civil and "legal" new world. The last book dealt with Nickerson and BlaqJaq's adventures in the underneath world; this one is the tale of their experiences in the superficial world... I have the impression that the next one will be set in the new space world.

Nickerson and BlaqJaq are at the opposite. Nickerson is older, wiser and more experienced, while BlaqJaq is younger, impulsive and a bit naivee, even if he has seen more thing a boy of twenty should see. On the other hand, BlaqJaq is stronger, with a very impressive body, while Nickerson has the grace of the felines of whom the genetic is in his body. Those counterbalanced elements make them a complete couple: no one of them is the master or the slave, no one is the boss or the boy; they have their own duties, Nickerson put the experience, BlaqJaq the refreshing thirst of life, something that Nickerson thought to have lost.

There is sex in this tale, but it's not the main event of the story, it's almost a pass by event, something that is good, but not something that you absolutely need to enjoy the story.

Again the story is not too long, less than 120 pages, and again it has an open ending, to make you want to read the next book in the series.

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In a fantasy world were people are divided into Village and City, Wyst is a young guy from Village. The separation is not only physical but also in behavior: Villagers are simple men who live of barter and of what the nature gives them, hunting, fishing and harvesting; free love is a normal behavior, but people are safe and health in the small community of the village. In the City instead everything has a price even sex; and the sex is something dirty, something that is seen with suspicious. show more In the City there is a virus which is killing people and everything and everyone is suspected to be the source of the disease. Fear, suspicious and rage is arising.

Wyst is "touched" by the goddess who protects his village, and having contact with the goddess is a taint punishable with exile. Wyst is forced to leave the Village and he goes to the City, but he is perplexed, in the City everyone wants something, everything has a price, and Wyst is not used to this. Lucky him he meets Gamomal, a gentle man who like him, for different reasons, is a banished among his people.

The story is very strange, and I don't know if you can define it a romance; there is not actually a love at first sight between Wyst and Gamomal, also since Wyst is not used to consider sex a way to express love; sex is a common practice, something Wyst is used to share without problem during the ceremonial Galas in his Village. And so he slowly realize that he loves Gamomal not since he enjoys sex with the man, but when he realizes that he can't no more bestow his favors indistinctly to men and women alike.

Gamomal is a difficult character to understand, he doesn't speak much. He is for sure gentle and he cares for Wyst; he is very proud and generous, what he has he shares freely. He is not a particular clever man, but he knows that: he was the son of a troubadour, but he had not the skills to continue his father's profession, but still he is probably more cultured than the people he is forced to live with.

The nice and original parallelism between the fantasy world in the story and the real world, is that in this fantasy world the virus is spread through breath and cured through blood, and so Wyst and Gamomal's lovemaking is not a death risk, but the reason why Gamomal is safe from the virus.

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