REVIEW: Assimilation, Love and Other Human Oddities by Lyn Gala
Ondry and Liam have settled into a good life, but their trading is still tied up with humans, and humans are always messy. When political changes at the human base lead Ondry to attempt a difficult trade, the pair finds themselves entangled in human affairs. Liam wants to help the people he left and the worlds being torn apart. He also wants to serve Ondry with not only the pleasures of the nest but also by bringing human profits.
Ondry has no hope of understanding human psychology in general; he only knows that he will hold onto his palteia with the last breath in his body…and he’d like to keep his status and his wealth too. Unfortunately, new humans bring new conflicts and he is not sure how to protect Liam. He does know one thing that humans seem to constantly forget–that the peaceful Rownt are predators, and when their families are threatened, Rownt become deadly killers. Liam is his family, and Ondry will protect him with his last breath… assuming that he can recognize the dangers in time to do so.
Dear Lyn Gala,
I reviewed the first book in this series here. This book continues to deepen the relationship between Ondry and Liam, and a significant part of it is also devoted to the relationship with a new human trader/first contact specialist in the midst of human civil war. I would say that the main theme in this story is communication. Communication between two lovers from different species is *fascinating* to me. Rownt’s psychology did have some similarities to humans, but A LOT of very significant differences and I did not feel that you wrote a race that just looks different from humans.
It is a lot of fun to read about Ondry trying to understand some major definitions from human psychology – mostly because he wants to understand Liam better, but also because he wants to conduct more profitable trades for himself and community. After reading this book it was clear to me that wealth is not the most important thing for Rownt – status is. Status seems to be a flexible thing and something that can go up and down depending on the conduct of the trader in many areas of his life. Ondry is young (he is not even 200 years old, Rownt seems to have a thousand-year life span, and some grandmothers live even longer), but he already has a Ka status which he guards jealously, because if Grandmothers (even some of them) continuously refuse call him as Ka, apparently his status could be lowered. Apparently finding palteia for himself is something that added more prestige and status for Ondry as well, since so many Rownt want that but fail to find a palteia and become a chilta.
“Ondry would never admit that to another adult, but to say that his palteia was a brilliant trader was a compliment to himself for having the foresight to have claimed one so intelligent.
“What are you talking about?” Liam asked. “You got the legal documents out of her.”
“And you earned a promise for two trees. Trees are a gift to the city, and you have gifted Janetjay with two sources of cinnamon that will live long after either of us. They will sprout young trees, and cinnamon that will live long after either of us. They will sprout young trees, and cinnamon will be your gift to this world. The value of that…”
Ondry could feel pride pressing against his chest. He pulled Liam close and stroked his neck. One day Ondry hoped to buy a bench, and on it he would inscribe Liam’s name and place it under those trees so all Rownt would remember who had made this gift. It would last far longer than the drapes Ondry had promised the temple, and Ondry’s name would be there alongside Liam’s”
Ondry keeps insisting that Liam is not the same thing as a sexual submissive (I think there are more differences than the similarities, but again opinions may differ). These two cannot have sex the way we understand it anyway – because their sexual organs are not exactly compatible. They do find a way to pleasure each other, but while what Ondry does for Liam may look at least somewhat familiar to you (if you read the m/m books where one partner has tail ), what Liam does for Ondry is not sexual as we understand it at all.
“That elicited a sigh, and Liam shifted, his hot skin pressing against Ondry, “I told you that my people have very little respect for submissives.”
“I still dislike the linguist implications of that world,” Ondry said. If anyone else designated his palteia with a category using the root “sub,” Ondry would be most displeased, and he would likely show that displeasure in rather physical ways. Instinct told Ondry that “palteia” and “submissive” could not be the same. A rational species – and humans had shown every indication of being rational – would not dismiss the value of having one who would serve willingly.”
I guess what I was worried about after book one was the implication that as palteia Liam would have to serve Ondry. I read master/slave stories and have nothing against them, but this series just did not feel like one. Apparently “serving” means conducting trades for Ondry, which is something that brings them both profits – and they both trade anyway, so Liam now works for Ondry. This work seems to be something that he enjoys tremendously and Liam seemed to thrive much more amongst Rownt than he did amongst humans anyway. As I said, they seem to pleasure each other pretty equally, even in a completely different way. Also, Ondry protects Liam from physical threats –fighting is not something that Liam ever enjoyed and I can respect it, not everybody is born to be a soldier. Liam took a linguistic exam because he wanted to escape the horrors of the war in the first place. Basically what I see in this relationship is two beings equally supporting and helping each based on who they are.
The larger communication issue the book explores is Liam and Ondry having up close and personal contact with Susan Diallo – the first contact specialist/trader/military person. I am not sure what to call her, because she can do several things at the same time. I really enjoyed her portrayal – not just because she is a brilliant linguist and brilliant in so many other ways (for example, she understood some complexities in Rownt language after one conversation with Liam). No, what I loved is that at some point Susan screwed up very badly – because of the best intentions but also because of her arrogance. She screwed up so much that Ondry has this desire to kill her, which he has to fight almost till the end of the book and probably in the next book of the series as well. You see, she unintentionally endangered Liam because of her gaffe and Ondry is very unhappy when somebody does that. Very unhappy! Have I mentioned that Rownt are predators and hunters by their basic natures?
Anyway, the author manages to make me still like her, in fact I like her a lot, and I really appreciated that. I could see Susan’s point of view and understand why she made the mistake she did.
At the end of the book Ondry and Liam have a chance to take their trades much further than before and even though the Rownt dislike change (Liam hates change too, maybe that’s another reason he took so much to them), they are both happy and welcome it. I loved the ending and an looking forward to the third book in the series. I think it’s the last one, but of course I can’t be sure.
Grade B+
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Looks interesting. I assume one needs to read the first book. I’ve added it to my wish list.
This book is wonderful. And the first book, even more wonderful. I had never heard of space opera before Lyn Gala, and I read very little science fiction. But these books are something else. I’m searching for adjectives…transportive? Consuming, for sure. And anything that makes you analyze why we are the way we are, and is that really the best way, is a good thing.
@autonomous:
I just edited my review and added the link to my review of the first book, sorry about that. I hope link works, if not here it as well:
https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-reviews/review-claimings-tails-and-other-alien-artifacts-by-lyn-gala/.
I think you should read first book before you start the second one, yes.
@Eliza: These books had became such comfort reread for me :).
Ooooh. I got both these based on your review and wholeheartedly loved them! They’re warm and vulnerable and sweet. Now I have to find the rest of the backlist.
I liked the first one better, and I’m having trouble putting into words exactly why. Part of it is that I got impatient with the story line involving Susan Diallo – and I wasn’t as forgiving of her.
My biggest complaint is that I felt like the world building was uneven – the Rownt stuff was great, and the human stuff seemed less well thought out to me. In the first book I was fine with the vague references to a human civil war and incompetent but all powerful Command because the heart of the story was with the Rownt and what was going with the humans wasn’t really important. But in this one, I either wanted to know more details about the humans (what, exactly, is Command and where does their power come from?) or less.
@Allison: I find her backlist a little uneven – I recommend Turbulence, it’s one of my faves.
Cleo I think I was very happy with the world building, because I was not really interested in more details about humans , I was mostly interested in Rownt and how Ondry and Liam will grow as a couple amongst them, etc. As much as I am interested in the third book, I kind of worry about Liam being subjected to human manipulations again, we shall see. And I was pleased in what direction relationship went – I was worried it will be master/slave and I was happy it did not happen.
Re: backlist – it is not that I find it uneven ( there were some books I did not like but you may like it), but I definitely think that based on reading one of her books or two one cannot predict even a little bit what her backlist is like. She really tries to write different books and different characters, that’s all I am saying :). She does seem to do a lot of scifi and BDSM is often present in her books in one form or another, but those are certainly not the only two themes which you can find in her stories I think. I enjoyed “Turbulence” too.
http://www.amazon.com/Lines-Sand-Lyn-Gala-ebook/dp/B00563Y5ZC/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1421509182&sr=1-7&keywords=lyn+gala
These two books are probably became my favorites of hers now, but this one had been a long time favorite for a long time. I rarely care for gangsters and you need to decide if you can suspend a disbelief about people like them being capable of redemption in the first place, but I thought once I passed initial point of disbelief ( and not everybody can do it I totally understand ), I thought romance was perfect. It is also funny because I usually don’t care for rigid division of the roles in bed , but here it felt so organic that one man prefers to top and one to bottom that it worked for me very well. There is a strong d/s theme between them, but mostly in bed only. If none of these are squeaks for you Allison, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Gah “a long time favorite for a long time” – please ignore the second “long time” .
Argggh! I love space opera romance and my tastes usually match Sirius’s pretty well, but I have grown much less tolerant of D/s in the past year.
But maybe the alien species set-up can overcome my reluctance?
Hi Hapax, there is nothing remotely resembling any heavy BDSM play here – he chains Liam to the wall once or twice and makes him wear the leash once or twice – something that Liam really enjoys. There is no sex between them as we understand – as I mentioned in the review their sexual organs are not compatible. To bring Liam’s sexual pleasure Ondry plays with his tail ;), but what Liam does is not really sexual at all as we understand it. I was wondering how much chilta/ palteya relationship will resemble dominant/submissive relationship and the best I can say is kind of , sort of, but really not much and I can only compare it with other romance novels, not with reality of course.
Thanks for the recs!