This series came to my attention after DNFing about 17 books in a row, and it’s been such a pleasure to read it. In a nut shell, this is an ongoing series of the Mars Needs Women trope. It can be a bit wordy and repetitive in places, but there’s good world building and attention to not only each romantic couple, but the overarching story as well. As it progresses, events become more connected than previously thought and much more nefarious.
I never hear about this author and I can't fathom why. The series is well written and gives you that feeling in your chest when you empathize with a book's characters. It’s important to point out that I almost never read complete series. I pick and choose books from series depending on the individual tropes. Also, I hate cliffhangers. So, for me to be so invested in this is unique and special. Every single character has been dealt a really shi%$y hand. But they pick up the pieces, fit them together and find something genuinely joyful and healing. And Ms. Fox doesn’t drag the reader through the mud to do it. That’s a gift.
Premise:
This takes place in some unknown period of time in the future when capitalism has prevailed on Earth, resulting in one company that controls everything: Mercenia. People are born into a tier system. Those in the bottom tiers are treated as slaves, forbidden from having families and forced to live and work in conditions that result in a lifespan of about 40 years. We find along the way that women of any tier are considered not much more than brood mares. If you happen to notice anything analogous in our current world, I wouldn’t say that you’re wrong.
Mercenia announces the formation of a new colony off-planet and opens a lottery. Those who win are transported to Alpha Colony, comprise the workforce, and then given a small holding. It’s Freedom in the eyes of the bottom tier folks. On their way to Alpha Colony, this shipment of sla…workers crash lands onto the wrong planet, where the humans find a primitive planet, inhabited by several very small tribes of aliens.
These aliens used to flourish until a disease ran through the population, killing all the children/women and nearly all of the elders. (Note: it would be very easy to roll your eyes at this point, and utter, “how convenient”. But nothing in this series happens without reason or cause.) This leaves several decimated tribes of males knowing full well that they are the last generation and have no future.
Once the humans come into close proximity, fated mates meet each other in a dream world where they can communicate verbally despite language barriers in a shared landscape. That's one of the more interesting concepts I've seen in a book.
While dark subjects are definitely discussed and focal to some of the relationship development, the books themselves are not dark. Neither are they humorous or lighthearted.
🌸Spice level: Explicit but not the entire focus.
🌸Consent is always important between mates.
🌸Each book is around 200 pages.
🌸The aliens are sufficiently humanesque to not squick some people out.
🌸Pairings through the last installment of this box set (Surrender) are all M/F. However, it has been established that homosexual and polyamorous relationships are not taboo in their culture and have happened in the past.
🌸1st person, dual POV, present tense
🌸TW: On page violence, threatened SA, death of non-primary characters. Off-page SA, food insecurity, DV/abuse, forced pregnancy/surrogacy.
Stranded - #1:
3.5⭐
Male: Gregar, the chief of his tribe
Female: Liv, the by-default leader of the humans. Tough as nails and pissed off.
We’re introduced to the basic premise of the book. Liv has no idea that the dreamscape is real and thinks she just has a great imagination.
Saved - #2:
4⭐
Male: Anghar the cinnamon roll
Female: Ellie, the by-default hunter/gatherer for the humans. Tough and having absolutely NOTHING to do with Anghar and this dreamscape BS.
We’re introduced to another tribe that has lost its way. They are willing to take what they want and kill to get it.
Scorched - #3:
3.5⭐
Male: Vantos the Grumpy
Female: Rachel the Self-Deprecating
Rachel and Vantos develop feelings for each other outside of a fated mating while she nurses him back to health from a serious injury. Neither feels good enough for the other and both know that any day now, either could be claimed by someone else in the dreamscape. Angst level 4!
Seduced #4:
3.5⭐
Male: Shemza the soft spoken, level headed healer
Female: Lorna who was nearly fatally injured in the crash
Shemza nurses the human back to health while she dreads joining the dreamscape with anyone. She doesn’t want them to know who she really is.
Silenced #5:
5⭐
Male: Endzoh the quiet introvert who watches everything from the fringes of the tribe.
Female: Carrie who is nearly mute, ostensibly from her previous trauma living under Mercenia’s thumb.
Her best work of the series so far. Heartfelt and sweet with a little sour and what a cliffhanger! These are the two loner introverts who are always looking uncomfortable in public. Of course they belong together. They quiet each other's minds and mend each other's wounds. And...excuse me; I have to go finish crying.
Seized #6:
4⭐
Male: Dazzik the tortured exile. As he’s not been privy to the knowledge of the humans’ arrival, when he meets a strange woman in his dreams, he’s convinced they’re just vivid dreams. After all, she’s not the only person he’s been hallucinating for years.
Female: Sam the eager, who disappeared on a mission to convince another tribe to join Gregar’s tribe. She disappeared several books ago, so this installment was eagerly awaited.
I loved sweet Sam. And I cried over Dazzik and his sordid tale. He'd been living in his own personal hell for years, yet still managed to keep his humanity, for lack of a better word.
Surrender #7:
4⭐
Male: Calran from Darran’s tribe
Female: Grace the barely trained healer because Mercenia even controls the dissemination of knowledge.
This is the reason women read romance. Characters like Calran. He’s known his entire life that he was destined to die alone. But when he’s miraculously given a mate, she’s terrified of intimacy because she was kept as a brood mare by some upper tier a-hole who called her “defective”. I choose to think he was shooting blanks. So there. YOU’RE the defective one, SIMON! But, I digress. So, what does Calran tell her? If all the intimacy she can ever manage is just standing by his side, he’ll take it and be grateful.