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vailynst's review
3.0
Mini-Review:
3.5 Stars for Narration by Allyson Johnson
4 Stars for Sira & Morgan
2 Stars for Story Development
Concepts were great but the actual storytelling was lacking. I liked the interactions between Morgan and Sira but there wasn't enough solid descriptions in the story to make it have color. It's like I got to know Sira & Morgan without knowing how either look or where they were. It's a big, blob of foggy gray. I'm listening to the audio and do not have the texture of words in print to add my own spin to visuals. Totally reliant on the words and how they are presented by author & narrator.
The first & last half of the book have extremely different writing styles & story narration. The book went from an "experience it from Sira's POV" to let me tell you everything you need to know info dumps.
I should have loved the book but it didn't really click for me. Not enough happened to validate the tail end of the story.
3.5 Stars for Narration by Allyson Johnson
4 Stars for Sira & Morgan
2 Stars for Story Development
Concepts were great but the actual storytelling was lacking. I liked the interactions between Morgan and Sira but there wasn't enough solid descriptions in the story to make it have color. It's like I got to know Sira & Morgan without knowing how either look or where they were. It's a big, blob of foggy gray. I'm listening to the audio and do not have the texture of words in print to add my own spin to visuals. Totally reliant on the words and how they are presented by author & narrator.
The first & last half of the book have extremely different writing styles & story narration. The book went from an "experience it from Sira's POV" to let me tell you everything you need to know info dumps.
I should have loved the book but it didn't really click for me. Not enough happened to validate the tail end of the story.
ashleyjapan's review
5.0
Why do I love this book? Could it be the classic sci-fi character types set in a fully developed universe, presented in a way that makes you feel like you're just seeing one tiny slice of all that this universe could have to offer? Is it the high fantasy writing done by a woman with amazing female characters? Is it Morgan and Sira's relationship, one that doesn't ask too much of the other person and yet still can meet and fulfil each other where they are?
I could go on. This is the sci-fi book I wish I had read when I was in high school. It makes me want to go back to all of my unfinished stories and look at them again. Just the world building alone in this book is awe-inspiring, and I can see why Czerneda felt like she had to go back to this universe again and again. The one draw back is that you get so many new things introduced in this book: characters, worlds, species, cultures, legal systems, etc., that it can be a little hard to keep track of it all. But, in the end, the story won over and the small weirdnesses and overabundance of apostrophes didn't really detract from the main story.
Czerneda, I love your mind, and I can't wait to jump back into it with the second book of this series. I definitely don't regret reading this series in order of publishing, and would recommend others do so too!
I could go on. This is the sci-fi book I wish I had read when I was in high school. It makes me want to go back to all of my unfinished stories and look at them again. Just the world building alone in this book is awe-inspiring, and I can see why Czerneda felt like she had to go back to this universe again and again. The one draw back is that you get so many new things introduced in this book: characters, worlds, species, cultures, legal systems, etc., that it can be a little hard to keep track of it all. But, in the end, the story won over and the small weirdnesses and overabundance of apostrophes didn't really detract from the main story.
Czerneda, I love your mind, and I can't wait to jump back into it with the second book of this series. I definitely don't regret reading this series in order of publishing, and would recommend others do so too!
tome15's review
4.0
Czerneda, Julia E. A Thousand Words for Stranger. 10th Anniversary Ed. Trade Pact No. 1. Kindle 2007.
The first few scenes here hooked me into this romantic space opera featuring complex dynastic drama and cross-species romance. It does not have the stylistic flair of a novel by China Mielville, who set the bar very high for this sub-genre. Nevertheless, the characters are engaging and the plot eventually works its way out—though I could have done with fewer spats between sisters. I will give the next one in the series a read one of these days. 3.5 stars.
The first few scenes here hooked me into this romantic space opera featuring complex dynastic drama and cross-species romance. It does not have the stylistic flair of a novel by China Mielville, who set the bar very high for this sub-genre. Nevertheless, the characters are engaging and the plot eventually works its way out—though I could have done with fewer spats between sisters. I will give the next one in the series a read one of these days. 3.5 stars.
tjoliverbooks's review
4.0
A telepathic romance in space, dealing with xenophobia, screwed up family relationships, a dying people, breeding programs thrown off by a choice from one of the "chosen" people (reminds me of a Dune trope) and a bit of fascinating story-telling about evil pirates and the ultra-rich who pull their strings. The element I found that stood out were the "recruiters" and it harkens back to historical facts about press ganging/crimping sailors (and others) to work on ships. I really liked that reminder of what has gone before, and what is likely to happen in the future. It is an element I don't see much in the genre.
stargrace's review
4.0
Not my typical genre, but was recommended to me by BlueKae - really enjoyed the book due to the wonderful character descriptions.
lmcox's review against another edition
2.0
This was not really what I expected. I expected a space opera in an SF world, I expected a little bit of cheesiness, and I expected a focus on characters over story - and I got all of that. I didn't expect, however, the fantasy elements, the incredible amount of cheesiness, and the excessive explanation of every character's motivations that contribute to one of the most convoluted plotlines I've ever read. I expected to love it, and I just didn't. I did get sucked in, I was invested in the story, cared about the characters, wanted to know how things would end up. But there were very noticeable rough patches that made it hard to get through.
There was a lot about this book that was frustrating. The pacing is first and foremost. So many goddamn things happen, and every moment is treated as if it's Incredibly Important and Crucial, which made the whole thing feel melodramatic and made it hard to tell when something ACTUALLY important was happening. There was a point where I thought the story was almost over - and then realized I was exactly halfway through and still had SO MUCH MORE to get through. There were too many villains, too many unnecessary journeys (why did they even need to stop on that planet where Morgan had a delivery? Nothing narratively important happened there that didn't happen elsewhere, too).
There was also the narrative devices - half the story, all of the "chapters," are first-person from Sira's perspective. The other half is made of "interludes" from an omniscient narrator from various characters' perspectives. I feel like in this case, less would have been more. We know way too much to keep the story interesting, while Sira knows too little. We're supposed to be invested in Sira finding out about her life and history but we already know all of the (very obvious) answers, so it doesn't really work. In general, I feel like we got all kinds of information way too many times; there was no subtlety. We get an explanation of Choosing several times, we get incessant descriptions of how Morgan and Sira feel for each other, we get long descriptions of how particular characters feel about things every time we visit those characters. Everything is overdone.
The relationship between Sira and Jason Morgan was inexplicable and overdramatic. I mean, I guess the eventual plot twist of the story explains why it happened so quickly, but there was no chemistry between them. Talking excessively about how it feels to touch hands or to see each other or to be around each other sounded super forced and not romantic at all - otherwise their relationship would have been right at home in a romance novel, because of the sappiness and artificiality of their interactions. And the rest of the characters were pale, underdeveloped shams.
Despite all that, I did kind of enjoy the plot. And the world-building was pretty good - I liked some of the details of the worlds, like the giant space station that's a mall, and there's at least an attempt at some sort of culture-building as well.
I will attempt to go through the plot, step by step, but I'm probably going to leave out a lot because so much happened.
The novel starts with the perspective of Terk, a non-human whose body seems to be chicken-like. He's a Trade Pact Enforcer, which deals with all off-world crime involving member species of the Trade Pact, and he's following two members of the Clan. Clan members look human, but have extraordinary telepathic ability - while some humans have telepathy, it's much rarer and much less strong than Clan telepathy. The Clan members are attacked; one gets away, the other is severely injured and Terk takes him into custody.
The one who got away is Sira, though she doesn't know it. Blocks have been put on her memories during travel to keep her safe. From what? We don't know yet. The one in custody is a relative of hers, Barac, who was her escort. Sira hears compelling voices in her head telling her to find a ship and get off the planet. She runs into a human, Captain Morgan (lol) who initially refuses to take her on. Barac pays Morgan a visit, as they happen to be friends, and tells him that he's looking for Sira. Sira, meanwhile, gets captured by a slaver named Roraqk and after some disorienting hijinks she escapes.
When Sira approaches Morgan again, he agrees to let her work as temporary crew until they get to another planet. He doesn't tell her what he knows about her - he suggests she goes by Sira, but doesn't tell her it's her own name, and she thinks she's human and he doesn't correct her. So Morgan and Sira leave the planet, but Barac - working begrudgingly with the Trade Pact Enforcers - follows. Oh, and Barac has also contacted Sira's sister, Rael, who is also there. Sira begins to learn how to be a crewperson on a ship, and very suddenly falls in love with Morgan, who gently rejects her advances. This is important, because Barac keeps talking about Choice, which is when female Clan choose their male partner - and apparently, if the female is much stronger than the male, he will die.
So anyone. Sira and Morgan land on a planet where Morgan is delivering technology parts to some local important guy. En route, though, Morgan gets a message from the lead Enforcer telling him to give Sira to said local important guy so the Enforcers/Barac can pick her up. I'm a little fuzzy on why he agrees to do this, since he's clearly very reluctant to give her up and wants to protect her. He get in trouble with some local priests, and Sira can somehow sense his danger, and she goes and rescues him - even after realizing he was going to turn her over. Then they discover that when they touch, Sira can kind of partially enter her head. Sira, who doesn't remember anything about anything, especially that telepathy exists, is very freaked out by this. Morgan kind of explains telepathy to her a little bit. I think this is the point where Rael kind of appears as a ghost and gives them a little more information, but I'm not sure. Morgan also reveals to Sira that he knows her memory has been blocked, and he knew all along that she was telepathic, and also that he was working with her family. But he doesn't tell her she's not human, apparently - I didn't even realize that until she later finds out and throws a fit about it. Anyway, he removes some of the blocks on her memory, so she starts remembering more, but gradually.
Then they go to a giant space mall, I think. Sira plans to leave him behind at some point because she's just a danger to him. Oh, also, they're kind of definitely in love at this point and consider each other family. He realizes she's going to leave and convinces her not to. Instead, they crash with his lobster-like friend at his restaurant for a few days. Then Sira decides to run away and promptly gets caught by Roraqk - that slaver who captured her like 150 pages before. He's discovered who she is and that there's a bounty on her from a bad guy whose name I cannot remember. At this point, I thought I was at the climax of the story - and then realized I was literally only halfway through. Morgan and lobster friend find Roraqk's ship (and Sira) and then Roraqk launches from the space mall station and takes off for the bad guy's planet. The Enforcers and Sira's family follow.
Morgan, Sira, and lobster manage to take over the ship and kill Roraqk - but one of the crew is taken over by the bad guy - who is, like Sira, a Clan member - sets the ship on course to the bad guy's planet, and destroys the control panels. Sira is rapidly getting better at telepathy. She calls on her sister and tells her the bad guy's name, and the sister freaks out because he's Clan and he's supposed to be dead and also very bad. Morgan, Sira, and Lobster decide to take escape pods down to the planet so they don't end up exactly where the bad guy expects. They don't quite land all together - Sira and Morgan are separated from Lobster. Then the bad guy kidnaps Morgan and Sira and Lobster rescue him, but that gets Sira trapped in the process. Then she escapes. Then she gets captured again, and finds out he means to make her Choose him - and if she doesn't, he'll just take her mind over and wipe it with his mind and use her body to make babies, because apparently Sira is the most powerful telepath ever produced by the Clan's selective breeding program.
Morgan teams up with Barac and everyone helps save Sira - and Sira, who was supposed to be in a state of Choosing, has suspended her Choice, which is something no one has ever done. She is not Chooser or Chosen (it doesn't make sense the women that have made their selections are called Chosen but w/e) so she has no Clan rights. She has to go back to the Clan now. So she does, and meets her father, who explains to her that she was the one who wanted her memory blocked, because she WANTED to go off and marry Jason Morgan, because the Clan Choosers were getting too powerful and would never find a suitable match that they wouldn't destroy. Why would it help to pair with humans who are a lot weaker? NO clue. At this point, Morgan has been sent off-planet but he turned right around to go rescue Sira (even though there was no indication she needed rescuing). Anyway, it turns out that the father, who was supposed to be on Sira's side, really just wants the same thing the bad guy wanted: he agrees with the council that if she can't find a match, they'll just wipe her and use her body to breed stronger people.
So Morgan shows up, I think Sira Chooses him, and they leave together. The end.
There was a lot about this book that was frustrating. The pacing is first and foremost. So many goddamn things happen, and every moment is treated as if it's Incredibly Important and Crucial, which made the whole thing feel melodramatic and made it hard to tell when something ACTUALLY important was happening. There was a point where I thought the story was almost over - and then realized I was exactly halfway through and still had SO MUCH MORE to get through. There were too many villains, too many unnecessary journeys (why did they even need to stop on that planet where Morgan had a delivery? Nothing narratively important happened there that didn't happen elsewhere, too).
There was also the narrative devices - half the story, all of the "chapters," are first-person from Sira's perspective. The other half is made of "interludes" from an omniscient narrator from various characters' perspectives. I feel like in this case, less would have been more. We know way too much to keep the story interesting, while Sira knows too little. We're supposed to be invested in Sira finding out about her life and history but we already know all of the (very obvious) answers, so it doesn't really work. In general, I feel like we got all kinds of information way too many times; there was no subtlety. We get an explanation of Choosing several times, we get incessant descriptions of how Morgan and Sira feel for each other, we get long descriptions of how particular characters feel about things every time we visit those characters. Everything is overdone.
The relationship between Sira and Jason Morgan was inexplicable and overdramatic. I mean, I guess the eventual plot twist of the story explains why it happened so quickly, but there was no chemistry between them. Talking excessively about how it feels to touch hands or to see each other or to be around each other sounded super forced and not romantic at all - otherwise their relationship would have been right at home in a romance novel, because of the sappiness and artificiality of their interactions. And the rest of the characters were pale, underdeveloped shams.
Despite all that, I did kind of enjoy the plot. And the world-building was pretty good - I liked some of the details of the worlds, like the giant space station that's a mall, and there's at least an attempt at some sort of culture-building as well.
I will attempt to go through the plot, step by step, but I'm probably going to leave out a lot because so much happened.
The novel starts with the perspective of Terk, a non-human whose body seems to be chicken-like. He's a Trade Pact Enforcer, which deals with all off-world crime involving member species of the Trade Pact, and he's following two members of the Clan. Clan members look human, but have extraordinary telepathic ability - while some humans have telepathy, it's much rarer and much less strong than Clan telepathy. The Clan members are attacked; one gets away, the other is severely injured and Terk takes him into custody.
The one who got away is Sira, though she doesn't know it. Blocks have been put on her memories during travel to keep her safe. From what? We don't know yet. The one in custody is a relative of hers, Barac, who was her escort. Sira hears compelling voices in her head telling her to find a ship and get off the planet. She runs into a human, Captain Morgan (lol) who initially refuses to take her on. Barac pays Morgan a visit, as they happen to be friends, and tells him that he's looking for Sira. Sira, meanwhile, gets captured by a slaver named Roraqk and after some disorienting hijinks she escapes.
When Sira approaches Morgan again, he agrees to let her work as temporary crew until they get to another planet. He doesn't tell her what he knows about her - he suggests she goes by Sira, but doesn't tell her it's her own name, and she thinks she's human and he doesn't correct her. So Morgan and Sira leave the planet, but Barac - working begrudgingly with the Trade Pact Enforcers - follows. Oh, and Barac has also contacted Sira's sister, Rael, who is also there. Sira begins to learn how to be a crewperson on a ship, and very suddenly falls in love with Morgan, who gently rejects her advances. This is important, because Barac keeps talking about Choice, which is when female Clan choose their male partner - and apparently, if the female is much stronger than the male, he will die.
So anyone. Sira and Morgan land on a planet where Morgan is delivering technology parts to some local important guy. En route, though, Morgan gets a message from the lead Enforcer telling him to give Sira to said local important guy so the Enforcers/Barac can pick her up. I'm a little fuzzy on why he agrees to do this, since he's clearly very reluctant to give her up and wants to protect her. He get in trouble with some local priests, and Sira can somehow sense his danger, and she goes and rescues him - even after realizing he was going to turn her over. Then they discover that when they touch, Sira can kind of partially enter her head. Sira, who doesn't remember anything about anything, especially that telepathy exists, is very freaked out by this. Morgan kind of explains telepathy to her a little bit. I think this is the point where Rael kind of appears as a ghost and gives them a little more information, but I'm not sure. Morgan also reveals to Sira that he knows her memory has been blocked, and he knew all along that she was telepathic, and also that he was working with her family. But he doesn't tell her she's not human, apparently - I didn't even realize that until she later finds out and throws a fit about it. Anyway, he removes some of the blocks on her memory, so she starts remembering more, but gradually.
Then they go to a giant space mall, I think. Sira plans to leave him behind at some point because she's just a danger to him. Oh, also, they're kind of definitely in love at this point and consider each other family. He realizes she's going to leave and convinces her not to. Instead, they crash with his lobster-like friend at his restaurant for a few days. Then Sira decides to run away and promptly gets caught by Roraqk - that slaver who captured her like 150 pages before. He's discovered who she is and that there's a bounty on her from a bad guy whose name I cannot remember. At this point, I thought I was at the climax of the story - and then realized I was literally only halfway through. Morgan and lobster friend find Roraqk's ship (and Sira) and then Roraqk launches from the space mall station and takes off for the bad guy's planet. The Enforcers and Sira's family follow.
Morgan, Sira, and lobster manage to take over the ship and kill Roraqk - but one of the crew is taken over by the bad guy - who is, like Sira, a Clan member - sets the ship on course to the bad guy's planet, and destroys the control panels. Sira is rapidly getting better at telepathy. She calls on her sister and tells her the bad guy's name, and the sister freaks out because he's Clan and he's supposed to be dead and also very bad. Morgan, Sira, and Lobster decide to take escape pods down to the planet so they don't end up exactly where the bad guy expects. They don't quite land all together - Sira and Morgan are separated from Lobster. Then the bad guy kidnaps Morgan and Sira and Lobster rescue him, but that gets Sira trapped in the process. Then she escapes. Then she gets captured again, and finds out he means to make her Choose him - and if she doesn't, he'll just take her mind over and wipe it with his mind and use her body to make babies, because apparently Sira is the most powerful telepath ever produced by the Clan's selective breeding program.
Morgan teams up with Barac and everyone helps save Sira - and Sira, who was supposed to be in a state of Choosing, has suspended her Choice, which is something no one has ever done. She is not Chooser or Chosen (it doesn't make sense the women that have made their selections are called Chosen but w/e) so she has no Clan rights. She has to go back to the Clan now. So she does, and meets her father, who explains to her that she was the one who wanted her memory blocked, because she WANTED to go off and marry Jason Morgan, because the Clan Choosers were getting too powerful and would never find a suitable match that they wouldn't destroy. Why would it help to pair with humans who are a lot weaker? NO clue. At this point, Morgan has been sent off-planet but he turned right around to go rescue Sira (even though there was no indication she needed rescuing). Anyway, it turns out that the father, who was supposed to be on Sira's side, really just wants the same thing the bad guy wanted: he agrees with the council that if she can't find a match, they'll just wipe her and use her body to breed stronger people.
So Morgan shows up, I think Sira Chooses him, and they leave together. The end.
stefaniajoy's review against another edition
2.0
CW: what the book refers to as "mind rape" (which is not graphic nor sexual to my understanding, but it was a term used by the book); a species called the Clan, whose members are repeatedly referred to as Clansman or Clanswoman - which I guess is innocuous? but for me all I can think of is the KKK.
This review should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt, because I paid $9.99 for it and did not feel it was worth it. This feeling was heightened by the fact that I think I've read it before. (No actual spoilers, just a ramble about having possibly read the book before): Though if I had, I didn't read it well--probably skimmed because I didn't much like the writing style but wanted to know what happened--so I kept having nagging suspicions about what happened, but was confused because this book was not on my shelves, so I thought I hadn't read it. Originally I just thought it was because I'd read the sample, but apparently not? Anyway, I think I was going to end up reading this book eventually because I just love the title, and that kept pulling me in.
I highly dislike plot-lines where the romances include some sort of "Choice" or "Chosen", especially when it is magically binding/the person is magically/psychically drawn to another person. To be fair, there is choice (sort of?) and this is part of the main conflict - overcoming this magical system that this species has used to select themselves into a corner.
This review should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt, because I paid $9.99 for it and did not feel it was worth it. This feeling was heightened by the fact that I think I've read it before. (No actual spoilers, just a ramble about having possibly read the book before):
I highly dislike plot-lines where the romances include some sort of "Choice" or "Chosen", especially when it is magically binding/the person is magically/psychically drawn to another person. To be fair, there is choice (sort of?) and this is part of the main conflict - overcoming this magical system that this species has used to select themselves into a corner.
vailynst's review against another edition
3.0
Mini-Review:
3.5 Stars for Narration by Allyson Johnson
4 Stars for Sira & Morgan
2 Stars for Story Development
Concepts were great but the actual storytelling was lacking. I liked the interactions between Morgan and Sira but there wasn't enough solid descriptions in the story to make it have color. It's like I got to know Sira & Morgan without knowing how either look or where they were. It's a big, blob of foggy gray. I'm listening to the audio and do not have the texture of words in print to add my own spin to visuals. Totally reliant on the words and how they are presented by author & narrator.
The first & last half of the book have extremely different writing styles & story narration. The book went from an "experience it from Sira's POV" to let me tell you everything you need to know info dumps.
I should have loved the book but it didn't really click for me. Not enough happened to validate the tail end of the story.
3.5 Stars for Narration by Allyson Johnson
4 Stars for Sira & Morgan
2 Stars for Story Development
Concepts were great but the actual storytelling was lacking. I liked the interactions between Morgan and Sira but there wasn't enough solid descriptions in the story to make it have color. It's like I got to know Sira & Morgan without knowing how either look or where they were. It's a big, blob of foggy gray. I'm listening to the audio and do not have the texture of words in print to add my own spin to visuals. Totally reliant on the words and how they are presented by author & narrator.
The first & last half of the book have extremely different writing styles & story narration. The book went from an "experience it from Sira's POV" to let me tell you everything you need to know info dumps.
I should have loved the book but it didn't really click for me. Not enough happened to validate the tail end of the story.
ineffablebob's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
A Thousand Words for Stranger is a space opera romantic thriller, with plenty of mystery and danger as the protagonist Sira works her way through the dangers of both her own lost memories and the world around her. It takes place in a universe filled with all kinds of sentient beings who hop between planets easily on all kinds of spaceships, and we see plenty of both exotic locations and unfamiliar aliens as Sira travels with the roguish trader Jason Morgan to escape danger while rediscovering herself. If you like Star Wars-ish adventures through the galaxy with more emphasis on superpowers than hard science, this is likely right up your alley.
This is the first book of the Trade Pact trilogy, which chronologically comes after the Stratification trilogy but was written first. While the author's writing style is much the same in both, and both deal with strong female characters growing into their own power and finding love, the settings are very different. The Trade Pact books take place in the space opera universe that was only background in Stratification, with all the planet-hopping space wandering and alien beings that implies. A matter of personal preference whether you prefer the chronological or publication date order to read these - personally, I prefer the chronological order. Otherwise Stratification feels very small with its much more limited scope, but that does take some of the surprise out of Sira's discoveries about herself and her relatives in the Trade Pact books.
This is the first book of the Trade Pact trilogy, which chronologically comes after the Stratification trilogy but was written first. While the author's writing style is much the same in both, and both deal with strong female characters growing into their own power and finding love, the settings are very different. The Trade Pact books take place in the space opera universe that was only background in Stratification, with all the planet-hopping space wandering and alien beings that implies. A matter of personal preference whether you prefer the chronological or publication date order to read these - personally, I prefer the chronological order. Otherwise Stratification feels very small with its much more limited scope, but that does take some of the surprise out of Sira's discoveries about herself and her relatives in the Trade Pact books.
carol26388's review
4.0
Three and a half stars, rounding up for a positive after-taste. Reminded me somewhat of Andre Norton's Witch World, only with more technologically advanced societies.
I love reading about the bird-person at the beginning, his thoughts on the mission and analyzing the trouble people had reading him due to lack of facial expression. Truly interesting, and it was sad to lose him to the main characters.
The progression of Sira and Morgan's relationship from an infatuated fixation on Sira's part and reluctant compassion on Morgan's to straight up love on both their parts is fun. So is Morgan the human telepath holding his own against Sira's people. The premise of the telepathic breeding was interesting. The settings were well done, from the shopping mall planet to the rural isolation of the hideaway. Overall, while mostly predictable, it still was an enjoyable ride.
I love reading about the bird-person at the beginning, his thoughts on the mission and analyzing the trouble people had reading him due to lack of facial expression. Truly interesting, and it was sad to lose him to the main characters.
The progression of Sira and Morgan's relationship from an infatuated fixation on Sira's part and reluctant compassion on Morgan's to straight up love on both their parts is fun. So is Morgan the human telepath holding his own against Sira's people. The premise of the telepathic breeding was interesting. The settings were well done, from the shopping mall planet to the rural isolation of the hideaway. Overall, while mostly predictable, it still was an enjoyable ride.