REVIEW: Claimings, Tails and Other Alien Artifacts by Lyn Gala
Liam loves his life as a linguist and trader on the Rownt homeworld, but he has ignored his heart and sexual needs for years. He won’t risk letting anyone come too close because he won’t risk letting anyone see his deeply submissive nature. For him, submission comes with pain. Life burned that lesson into his soul from a young age. This fear keeps him from noticing that the Rownt trader Ondry cares for him.
Ondry may not understand humans, but he recognizes a wounded soul, and his need to protect Liam is quickly outpacing his common sense. They may have laws, culture, and incompatible genitalia in their way, but Ondry knows that he can find a way to overcome all that if he can just overcome the ghosts of Liam’s past. Only then can he take possession of a man he has grown to love.
Review:
Dear Lyn Gala.
I’ve noticed recently that more and more m/m writers are adding some form of BDSM to their books. I know that you always had BDSM as a theme in quite a few of your works and I have read most of what you published, so I know it is not a fashion trend for you and I am grateful for that. I know you said that Ondry was born out of discussion about a “perfect dominant” at your group. I have not read that discussion; I just wanted your potential readers to know this bit of information.
What you did with Ondry and portrayal of his race in these two books was quite brilliant. I actually spent several days thinking about how to structure this review. Initially I wanted to review only “Assimilation, love and other human oddities”, but so many of the basics of the world are shown in the first book that I decided to review them together. And at the end I cut my long review in two (review of the second book will probably be out sometime next week).
In this story we meet Liam and Ondry when they already know each other well and have traded with each other for a while. It seems likely Ondry has been teaching Liam how to make profitable trades, despite his race being obsessed with trades and profits above everything else (so we are led to believe anyway).
“Liam froze. He had the best command of Rownt language and cultural norms in five solar systems. He could tell a glurble from a gurgle and translate the emotion behind each. After all, as much as the Rownt appeared to be purplish – plum colored, tall, flat-faced humans, they weren’t.
They were a tailed, bipedal race with a set of rules that defied human logic. And they always focused on trade. Always. Personal conversation came later when you were trying to figure out a better way to screw the opposition the next time you did business.
“I am…having no strong feelings at all at this moment,” Liam lied as he tried to school his features into something milder.
The problem was he wasn’t entirely sure the Rownt used facial expression rather than scent or body language. They did a lot of sniffing when they were unhappy.”
Rownt are ruled by Grandmothers (the strongest, tallest females with the most status and respect). I am always interested when a writer decides to explore a purely female based ruling system and I thought the Grandmothers in this book were really fun. I would not mind seeing some of them being more fleshed out as individuals, but I liked what I saw here.
Besides bringing the reader inside of Prarownt (the name of the planet) and showing us its fascinating world, there is not much happening in this novella apart from Ondry and Liam starting their relationship under “interesting” circumstances.
I actually thought that the biggest failing of this story was that when we meet these guys they have already been friends for several years, and I wished I could have seen them getting to know each other, but if the story was originally planned as a stand-alone novella, I understand that choice.
Liam always thought of himself as submissive and because his lovers mistreated him in the past, he took the utmost care to hide his preferences and desires from everybody. He has always wanted to make his partner happy and when he thinks about it, he considers this to be his biggest falling.
When one of his commanders abuses him during the work situation, Ondry makes his move and Liam ends up in his home, chained to the wall. Having typed this last sentence, it sounds much more like a “master/slave” story than what these books are really about. Trust me, Liam may have ended up being “chained to the wall” without realizing it, but being with Ondry is what he wanted and what he actually communicated with a little push from Ondry’s superiors. Ondry thinks that Liam is palteia. Is it the same as submissive? Ondry really does not think so. Myself I was not sure. Let’s put it this way. I had no doubt that Liam was happy with Ondry at the end of this book, but I was just a tiny bit uncomfortable and I could not figure out why.
This relationship, which according to Ondry every adult Rownt longs to have, to find somebody who would openly bring them the gift of serving, of making them happy, because otherwise adult Rownt do not show much emotion – I was not completely sold on it in book one. I mean, I liked it a lot, do not get me wrong because I saw that this was what both characters wanted and it worked for them. But because I cannot relate to what the relationship seemed to mean at all, I was not completely satisfied. But the second book sold it to me completely.
Grade B.
AmazonBNKoboAREBook DepositoryGoogle
Space opera, aliens, a female-dominant species, and happy BDSM. I might have to pick this one up.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I will do so again: I found both of these books to be entertaining and thought-provoking. I liked the interplay between the two MCs and their character development (mostly evident in the second book). Good review!
I also thought, as I read, that “palteia” was essentially “submissive,” but without the negative connotations (e.g., weak, willing to be abused, less-than) that *Liam* (and, perhaps, other humans in these books) seemed to associate with the word “submissive.”
I really liked both of these books – I think I liked the first a little bit better but I’m not sure I can say why. This one just hit all of my happy reading buttons.
@JPeK: I am not sure. I mean yes, it probably means that based on what meaning we humans put in the word “submissive”, but does this word have the same meaning for Rownt? I am not hundred percent sure, but I can definitely agree that it is close, but without negative connotations as you said.
Cleo, I really like both of these books as well, but for me the second book develops the communication theme so very well that I liked it more for that reason. Actually I think these two books are more like two parts of the same story for me and I find it hard to talk about this one without mentioning the second one. Maybe that’s why this review feels like prelude.
Viridian I think you should :).
“communicate by sent”? Hmm. Worried. Are editing fails like that common in this one? :/
Color wheel, that was my editing fail, not the book’s.
Oh whew. Sorry, that was a harsh way to put it. But I am easily distracted by typos. Otherwise, any concept that remotely relates to “Ferengi romance novel” amuses me too much to miss. :)
@Colorwheel: It’s kind of a cross between Ferengi and Vulcan, because the Rownt are very logical, as well as being excellent traders (but they don’t actively suppress emotions like the Vulcans). They also live much, much longer than humans (the hero is maybe 200 years old and he’s considered a young man) so they regard humans and most other species as young and foolish.
Sirius~
I really enjoyed these books, too – even though I am normally a bit squeamish about historical abuse/BDSM. I love space opera though, so I took a chance, and I’m so glad I did. These books, I felt, were a really beautiful review of how culture and language influences even the most basic behaviors. It’s not all deep thoughts, though – although Liam’s past abuse shadows everything in book one, it’s still a hopeful, rather fun book (alien misunderstandings, etc.)
But, as you note, there’s a chunk missing – how Liam met Ondry, what really happened with the Grandmothers during the palteia transfer… but hey, I posted mostly to share the short stories that Lyn Gala released right before book 2:
1. *Slow Attractions* from Ondry’s POV, first meeting Liam:
http://boymeetsboyreviews.blogspot.com/2014/09/author-visit-exclusive-claimings-short.html
2. *Headstrong* from She-Who-Was-Hasha’s POV (the Grandmother that ‘looks like Ondry), during the temple ceremony:
http://itsaboutthebook.com/2014/09/25/guest-post-and-exclusive-excerpt-by-lyn-gala/
3. *Escape Hatch* from Liam’s POV, as he decides to study Rownt to escape the front line:
http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/assimilation-love-and-other-human-oddities-by-lyn-gala-with-exclusive-short-story
I hope you enjoy the shorts as much as I did!
Eh, to be more specific (I worded poorly!) the first short story I linked in my previous comment, Slow Attractions, shows the first *scene* in Claimings, Tails & Other Alien Artifacts — from Ondry’s POV. (I loved it! It’s awesome to read, especially in comparison to Liam’s POV).
@elf: I am confused, because I do not see your first comment. :)
@cleo: I know Vulcans, because I had watched some rerun episodes of the original “Star trek” but just to show how episodic my knowledge is I had no idea who Ferengi were till I looked it up.
@Sirius: The links landed it in spam. It should be showing properly now.
@Sunita: It does thank you and elf thanks again, I have not read these shorts but absolutely will do so now.
@Colorwheel: Oh no worries at all. I type quotes so typos are a possibility no matter how often I will reread so I appreciate it. I hope you will like the story.
@elf: I add my thanks for the links to the shorts! :)