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A review by tessisreading2
Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro
2.0
Too much romance for a hard science fiction novel; too much hard science fiction for a romance novel. Essentially. I love a good sci-fi romance as much as the next person (probably more; most of the sf readers I know don't read romance) but the actual primary romance in this book takes up very few pages - it is much more Soz's story as she searches for romance, deals with family drama, and fights a space war; she has several partners throughout the book (although it's pretty clear to anyone who's ever read a romance novel who she will end up with) and the actual amount of time spent with her True Love, page-wise, is extremely limited. Additionally, finding romance/seeking a true partner is very low on Soz's priority list - which is fine, but means that the reading experience is like reading an sf novel rather than reading a romance novel... but the romance component is entirely reliant on Genetic True Love Soul-Bonding Psychic stuff (essentially: instalove) which is basically intolerable in any novel but a romance novel. The family interpersonal stuff is just weird and creepy (
Spoiler
the emperor, Soz's half-brother, is also her uncle because he was actually fathered by their grandfather, and he is also consumed with incestuous desire for their motherOne is also left with the sense that this book wants to be a more nuanced look at empire: the Traders are sadistic space psych-vampires, essentially, and yet we also see the Skolian emperor acting the same way