Enraptured (Kaldor Saga 1) by Scarlet Hyacinth

[reviews_and_ramblings]

First of all, big warning: if you don't like a chick with masculine "characteristics" (don't let me go into details), you will not like this book. I think we have to be quite sincere, there are books written by men for men AND women, there are books written by women for women AND men, and then there are books written by men FOR men and by women FOR women. It's not impossible that men could enjoy romance only for women, I know there are out there men who read, for example, Danielle Steel, and more recently, Suzanne Brockmann. But they are aware that they are entering an exclusive playfield, a playfield that is open to special admission nevertheless.

Enraptured is a romance by women for women. It's a man on man story, but the I would not say that it's gay. True, being setting in a futuristic world where "homosexuality" is not more an issue, there is not even the smallest problem for the "all male" nature of the characters. More, being an inter-breed story, between Demons and genetically modified Humans, the issue is more the difference in race than the same-sex relationship. To add spicy to the thing, the Demons are an all male breed, their women all died for a virus centuries before, and they naturally modified their genetics to be able to reproduce between males. So yes, there is male pregnancy in there, and that is another plus factor for the submissive male to be more a chick than a rooster.

Said all that, it's a good romance? IF you try to read it knowing the purpose for which it was written, then yes: Enraptured is a funny romp, the futuristic setting is light and easy and the story didn't fall in the overadorned style that usually these stories have. The futuristic world is very much like a medieval "romance" setting, not the real Middle Ages, but more the fictional rendering that you often find in a romance novel; the plot is classic, the bastard son of a king raised in a monastery and subject to the lascivious attention of a villain, a powerful mage. Just when the evil father promised the innocent son to the villain for a much abhorred mating, an handsome stranger prince comes to the rescue of the "damsel" in distress. Only that the prince is not exactly a "prince charming", but more a demon with black leathery wings.

Where is the originality of the story? I think it's in the lightness, all events, even when dramatic, are more funny than angst. This is more a sexy romp than a sci-fiction novel. There are also a lot of kind homages to similar fiction out there: the human princes have long and colorful hair, they have to be virgin till they come to age, and so on.

So yes, if read with the right perspective, this debut novel by Scarlet Hyacinth is very nice, and I think I will read also the following books in the saga.

http://www.bookstrand.com/enraptured

Amazon: Enraptured [Kaldor Saga] (Siren Publishing Classic Man Love)

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Comments

[pandorasvase.livejournal.com]

brava :P non so perché ma nella seconda novella della serie è segnalata la presenza di male pregnancy ma non nella prima. A me non spiace affatto ma immagino che per chi ha questo tabù sia stata una spiacevole scoperta.

Ho visto il tag e mi sono procurata anche Space Opera e seguito. Sono piuttosto curiosa di leggerli.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Stephanie Burke a me piace molto, peccato che scriva solo novelle. Ha una serie anche con Loose Id, 3 libri due etero ed uno gay, sempre con Uomini Gatto e Umani. Quello gay non è per niente male, Shadow Dancer. Mi è piaciuto un po' meno la storia di Demoni, 'Til it Bleeds, con Changeling Press, un po' troppo violenta, però, devo dire, era almeno originale. Elisa