Alpha Trine

There is something really special about this book, and I think it is the combination of fantastically imaginative world building, a mysteriously twisting plot line, and some very creative characters who make their way through a galacto-political mess of, well, galactic proportions. The back story is much deeper than I first suspected, and while some of the more immediate questions get answered to the point that the ending (intermediate as it may be) is mostly satisfying, there is a ton of issues left for the sequel. Add to this a well-woven adventure and a passionate love story, and this novel has got just about everything I look for in a great science fiction story.

Zeus is a wonderful character. In trouble from the word go, as he is show more the only survivor aboard a spaceship adrift in Mar'Sani space, he grows up worrying about the fact that some will never see him as Mar'Sani. Adopted by the royal family, he thinks of himself as one of them, but there are those who see him as a despised human. Yeah, humans haven’t got the best reputation in this version of the future, and I am curious to find out exactly why. I did get a few hints in this first volume, but I suspect there is a lot more behind everyone's hatred than I saw here. Zeus goes through some harrowing experiences, but he is proud, doesn’t want to be seen as weak, and is determined to master is life one way or the other. He loves his Mar'Sani family deeply, especially his brothers, the twins, and when he runs into Dargon he is truly conflicted about his attraction to the stranger.

Dargon is a Dar Massaga, a species of lion-like marsupials (I loved that idea!) whose members are born as lions, then shift to a humanoid form when they are one year old. They live in harmony with their symbiotes, a separate species consisting of Alphas that bond with males and Zetas that bond with females. Dargon is the captain of a spaceship that could be either a pirate or some sort of special forces on a secret mission, Zeus isn’t sure which at first. Despite his hatred for humans, Dargon and Alpha find themselves drawn to Zeus, and that causes no end of problems for all three of them.

Alpha is Dargon's symbiote, and doesn’t have a fixed form but resides as a torque on his chest. But he moves as well, and plays a rather interesting role when Zeus and Dargon make love. He also has a lot more secrets than I ever suspected, and as those begin to emerge toward the end of this first book, I got even more excited about the sequel.

This story took my breath away. I loved the fact it starts practically at Zeus's birth and I was able to learn about the Mar'Sani and everyone else as he did. There are a ton of revelations yet to come, and I cannot wait for the next installment. If you like well-written science fiction with a double dose of machinations on a galactic scale, if you enjoy stories where the aliens are truly alien, yet you are able to relate to them anyway, and if you're looking for a read that is likely to be impossible to put down, then you will probably like this novel as much as I did. I think it is brilliant!



NOTE: This book was provided by Less Than Three Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. show less

3.5 stars

Zeus was adopted by his parents when he was a baby. They had just lost theirs to the sea and a space ship was discovered with the baby in it. He is human, and his parents aren't, but Zeus does everything his big brothers do, including being trained to fight. When he is older, some of the people of his clan don't believe that a human should be accorded any of the honour that Zeus is, and rather than have his father banish more citizens, Zeus leaves his homeland. Just after he is reunited with his brothers, Zeus leaves the space station in a ship that he is trying to fix. Dargon doesn't like human, but both he and Alpha, his symbiote, can't resist Zeus. Of course, trouble is following them, so there isn't much time to get to know show more one another before the surprises start coming.

I read the older version, which doesn't appear to have as much story as the newer release. It did feel as though there were several large chunks of story that were missing, or that could have been explored more thoroughly. What there was, though, was enjoyable. The action was pretty much non-stop, and Zeus proving everybody wrong time and again, and the respect and love that his brothers and family have for him is fun to see. I am interested in reading the expanded version, and in continuing on with the series. Cool concept, and the writing really sells the story. show less

I am a mean and vicious human and I am about to stab somebody's baby in the guts with an alien machete. If you have a problem with it, move along, if not - feel free to proceed.

~~*~~

1.

There are more alien species in these 150 pages than in all five Star Treks combined.

Too much info is cramped into too short of a book. The author is overly descriptive and repetitive where it comes to tiniest details.

There are too many words that leave no room for emotional side of the story. The book is a list of events, without a chance for us to connect with what is happening and/or the characters. The only emotion came with an overused "male" ("the other male", "big male", "his male" and so on) and that emotion was frustration.

A grocery list is show more more emotional than this book.


2.

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MINOR spoilers below.

The overwhelming majority of aliens despise mean and treacherous humans.... oh, no, no, wait!!! There isn't a single human in this book. However, there is a lot of talk about vicious corporations. But no real, flesh and blood, humans, no :/

It only takes about 10% of the book to figure out that Zeus is not really human. Yet no one in the book notices that for a very very long time.

And so Zeus is hated for being "human", especially by Captain Wasshispants, whose ding-dong nevertheless popped up and proclaimed itself mated to Zeus after he had sniffed the man once.

The good Captain is on important mission - he is smuggling to safety a royal family rescued from the evil humans, who experimented on them.

The crew knows about the royal family, the crew interacts with them every day, the crew supports them and helps them, the crew hangs out with them, the crew is being kind and gentle to them. And yet every single one of those space idiots under the good Captain's command fail to see that Zues, who they also know pretty well, is re-lat-ed to the fa-mi-ly, as in bro-ther-slash-sis-ter car-bon co-py, same D.N.A kind of re-la-ted. And so they continue hating him.

3.

To get you an idea what the writing is like with all descriptions (no always word for word, but pretty close):

... purple [creature] with blue antennae on her ridged forehead ran half a meter,

... "a massive guy, a half meter below three meters tall" (kid you not! - Mrella),

... her body covered in black and white silky fur, her tail, curled up above her head, twitching.

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Not sure I will try any more books by this author :/ show less

I feel the need to disclaim that I'm not one for reading mpreg (male pregnancy) stories--they're just not my thing--but I picked this up for a challenge. That said, this really doesn't have a major mpreg element until closer to the end, so that didn't really impact my rating of this story. What was really challenging here is that this is a very difficult story to follow. There are lots of names of people, places, and races that aren't really presented with context. There are jumps in time with little indication that there's been a shift. So I struggled to really get into the story or fully understand what was happening as a result.

This book really appealed to me. It was written for the GR Gay Sci-Fi Group (according to the beginning) and whilst there are a few editing errors, it is well put together with some interesting concepts and side-issues. Even the space names weren't too complex for my mind's interpretation! I'll certainly look our for more by this author :)

More porn than plot, but interesting plot when you can find it.

More porn than plot, but interesting plot when you can find it.