Beyond The Plot

Summary:

The Crew of the Humility finally make their way to Hir-fallow for a much needed revamp…. Quite literally, I do not know how they were flying… it was real bad. 

Lucky for Sway, their dock master, Grace, has a voice of a song bird. Unlucky for Grace, turns out her boss is a massive crew with control issues. With the help of Sway and a new ally, the crew book it, with both Grace and the ally in tow. 

With no where to go, traveling on a ship full of criminals, Grace’s life has taken a very drastic turn. She did always want adventure, but is this too much adventure?

Sway has a mate within his grasps but is still fighting his inner demons. Can he find balance between who is and who he thinks he should be?

Review –

Girl my heart. We started out in it… I mean in it. We peeled the curtain back and saw exactly what happens on Rik-Vane. No holding back. 

Which is necessary, I did think the last book needed to show a bit more of how rough their life was on Rik-Vane. And damn if she didn’t here. 

Loved every moment of it.

The rest of the book we explore how Sway, a farasie, comes to terms with his new identity. The person he had to become, which is in great juxtaposition to the way of his people, who are staunch pacifist. It was a very intriguing storyline. I’m glad she went down this route, it prompted me to write up my own post about culture versus ethnicity/race. 

We also got to explore the farasie race a bit more…. I’m glad we did… I do have my opinions on the culture. 🤣😂😂

“Spoilers, Spoilers” – River Song

The following is an open discussion about the book. Details will be discussed here and in the comments. If that’s not for you, this is where we part.

Grace –

I was afraid she wouldn’t fit in but she is really level headed… after the initial freak out that is. Which is understandable. The guy you barely know just saved your life but is a renown criminal. A criminal from the most prolific station in the universe. So her freaking out was reasonable. I’m glad she came around though. Her and sway make a cute couple. 

I will say I was annoyed that she was talking about “forgiving him for his crimes”… girl what are you forgiving him for. He didn’t do anything to you. It’s giving “I’m better than you” energy and have to say really dinged her for me. I do understand that she grew up in a family that forced that elitist mindset on her, so I’m trying not to think on it to hard, plus she did come through when Sway needed her. I love the way she broke down his father’s hypocrisy, that entire Song’s hypocrisy really.

Speaking of, I’m glad Talia went on to clarify that this groups actions and biases do not reflect those of the entire Farasie people. She is great at reminded us that there is good and bad in every group. Which is so simple but is always needed. That is one of the reasons I like her books so much. There is a common practice within this sub-genera to demonize one group of Aliens and they are the big bad forever, with little to no nuance. It’s always rubbed me the wrong way but I never dove into it. Then I stumbled upon Mates of the Domini and the Sister Series Lunar Base Experiments and it buttoned up the unease I was having. Just simply showing the Ratchi in a better light, after that group from the first book, was really all it took to flick that switch in my brain. She does this continuously too, we see both the good and the bad of every group she writes on. Which is so important. Especially in our current climate where people seem to forget “there is no group of people that are a monolith”. Nuance is in everything and should be dually noted.

Farasie –

With that being said, The Song of Retrieval can suck stones. What are they doing! I was screaming in my notes. “Pacifism my ass”. You’d think they would be more progressive than their home planet, since they actively are dealing with victims. Turns out, if you are the perfect victim they just leave you. I think Sway’s father was particularly harsh with him because he is mad at himself. He’s mad he couldn’t protect his Mate and son, and now he’s taking it on in Sway. That’s the only thing I can think of to make sense of his actions. He needs his butt whooped.

The hypocrisy here was wild. The vitriol, with which, they talked about even a mere slap… highly annoying. Not to mention the way they repeatedly let Grace know she wasn’t good enough and would have to fully assimilate to their culture. Then Loyalty went missing. I already called bull. Then Sway’s dad not only kicked him out of the Song and disowned him but sent him to die. Then kidnapped Grace and was going to hold her captive until she gave birth… then steal her child and send her to die. And not *“we are just sending her away. What happens, happens.”* But fully *“we are sending her into the wilderness with no supplies, with the intent of her dying.”*

What kind of pacifism is that? You’d think they’d be kinder to strangers. You’d think they’d also count intentional harm, even if not by your own hands, as harm… but no. 

Which also brings me to — isn’t it a high crime to go after a human in any manner. Shouldn’t he be charged with something. Kidnapping at the very least. Attempted murder could be argued since that was the next step for the plan. And why didn’t the Domini mercenaries step in at any point here. They definitely know better. And the cause they are working for is to protect and yet they are choosing to harm a female. I understand that the Authorities probably didn’t get involved because then more attention would be brought into our Delivery Guys but I think this would be a good opportunity to let it be known not all of Rio-Vane is unsalvageable and to make it clear that the society is endorsing the condemnation of an entire station full of people. (Clear that majority are the worst of the worst but what of those born or stolen).

Sway – 

On to Sway: Pobrecito. First off. The Master – horrid. Probably the most villainous villian I’ve read in the last two years and he wasn’t even on page, just the retelling of who he was. Gahhh leee. Though Elffa, from Mated to the Alien Baller by Talia Rhea, is right behind him. (That heifer… I digress).

What do you mean you’re a cannibal for funsies!? Did make me want to rewatch Zach’s story arc on Bones though. lol. 

Anyway, ugh the things Sway went through and we only heard a snippet, my heart hurt right off the top. I’m so glad she showed us more of what their lives were actually like. That’s one thing I felt I was missing from Tanin’s book, we saw how he turned out, we heard whispers of who he was and we heard what happened to his mom but it really didn’t give a full picture of life on Rick-Vane. 

The first chapter of this book painted a clear picture. I hope we continue to add details to that picture throughout the series. 

I’m also glad we went down the route we did with his personal journey. I was hoping he would put his pacifism to the side. It’s just not who he is and he was beating himself up for that.  He was trying to force himself into a box that just wasn’t for him. You could tell it was doing more harm than good.

Which is why I love the blunt conversation with Loyalty and the follow up conversation with Grace. Especially loved when Grace said:

“You could have made the choice to kill him, and no one could have stopped you. But you made the choice not to. For you, pacifism isn’t something you’re forced to do because your nature demands it anymore. That’s like praising you for being vegetarian. You don’t have a choice in that, and he doesn’t have a choice in his pacifism.” – Pg. 509

Put so simply. She goes on to let him know his father is the Farasie equivalent of the liquid at the bottom of a trash can, and love that she did.  He needed his world lens to change and between her and Loyalty they really opened his mind.

Vytyln-

I’m already excited about his book. 1st who is this lady!? Sneaking aboard a random ship. Can we be friends? How did she end up in space? Did she also sneak here way there? If so, girl how. 

To be fair though… uhh who ever is on earth “border” patrol really needs to be fired cause how are so many ships/people getting passed you? 

What’s up with his little mate trap thing? And I believe she mentioned “BDSM”. My ears are wide open. Let’s get into that please. Rotfl. 

Also, I wonder who Vytlyn is going to be? Who was he on Rick-Vane and who is he now? Why is he so grumpy? Outside of the obvious “my life has quite literally been hell for a very long time”. I wonder what role his mate will take up on the ship? Is she also mechanical? How will she fit in with the rest of the crew? 

So many questions. 6 months to ponder more. lol. 

Alred: I knew that ‘man’ was my people. lol He is seemingly from a cat like species which makes sense because he gives cat energy. Probably why I like him so much. Leo recognizes Leo. 

When we met Loyalty I was already trying to figure out how Alred could use his help for his end project. 

Now I’m speculating that he gets rewarded for finding a way to give his people their/a body back. And him pairing with a human means his child will be the first Undriott to be born. 

I wasn’t expecting him to already have Undriott DNA on him. After he asked for Loyalty’s blood I assumed the next excerpt would have him getting his hands on his species DNA somehow. So now I’m wondering what the next development will be.

Related Posts: Culture versus Ethnicity