I love J.C. Owens. I think there has only been one book before this that I really had issues with. I don't remember the exact details of the problem but I am pretty sure it was because I felt one MC didn't treat the other fairly but no one in the book, not even the MC being treated unfairly, blinked an eye at it. Well this one is a bit the same.
Satarin knows his "god" is crazy. All his people know their "god" is crazy. They all know that he has killed some of them in his rage. Yet they still seek out his chosen...who they all pretty much hate. Of course, it has been bunches and bunches and bunches (600?) years since their spaceship crashed on this planet and Kei's soul escaped to be reborn...and mature, which apparently he couldn't do while trapped on the space ship and connected to the god.
But let's back up a moment. The story starts with Mikon...and appears to be a fantasy story. Yep, the spaceship was a bit of a surprise to me too, Mikon. Mikon is a good guy, cares about his family, cares about others, tries to keep them safe. Does his best for Satarin and some of his people that have been captured and chained.
Then Satarin and co get free, kill a bunch of people and kidnap Mikon and his younger brother so they can take them to the spaceship and force them into a test of whether they are the chosen or not.
Oh look, it turns out that Mikon is the reincarnation of Kei (the despised, petulant little brat lover of the freaking insane god). Satarin kind of likes Mikon and Mikon kind of likes Satarin.
Satarin, however, is the something or other for his god, basically the god no longer has a body, which is how he became a god and controls the ship, etc, and so when he wants to have sex with Kei, and now Mikon, he uses Satarin's body.
So let's stop and boil that down. Satarin KNOWS his god is insane and not really good for his people any more. He KNOWS what it is like to be raped, as the god (sorry, forgot his name) took over his body to have sex with Kei and expected Satarin to cater to Kei's sexual whim's even when the god didn't control his body. He knows that Mikon is different from Kei. He knows Mikon doesn't want to have sex with the god.
And yet he still gives over his body to the god and has sex with Mikon...and despite Owens writing that Mikon orgasms, it is still rape, folks. And Satarin repeatedly does this, even as he is falling in love with Mikon.
He is willing to sacrifice Mikon's body, heart, and soul to his god, for the sake of his people.
You know, that god that has killed them in his crazy and doesn't appear able to get uncrazy.
Six hundred years and Satarin couldn't figure anything else out.
Satarin is supposed to be the hero, but I see no honor here. Are things great for his people, not necessarily, but they aren't as bad as being kidnapped, held against your will, and raped by a crazy god wearing the body of the man you are (stupidly) falling in love with. So no, I can't see this as being a trade off of sacrificing the one for the many.
Six hundred years (maybe I am wrong about the time *shrug*) and you couldn't give up on going back to space? You couldn't have actually made a home and a life for yourself where you were? You held onto this out of control insane being and then stole an innocent person (two actually) away from all he knew, all he loved, to be shoved into a life of slavery to a mad god.
And I kind of felt sorry for Kei. He was basically chained to this "god" and his soul wasn't allowed to mature, just kept the same, over and over for who knows how long. How was he supposed to grow? How was he supposed to know right from wrong? And it left me wondering, was Kei the way he was out of defense? Was the "god" already going crazy, or was it just selfishness on his part that wouldn't let Kei grow and mature?
And Kei and Mikon are the same soul...but Kei is hated and Mikon is loved. If there were nothing good in Kei, then there would be nothing good in Mikon. Kei became Mikon after his soul escaped, so that says to me that it was the "god" and Satarin, and all his people that were more to blame for how Kei was.
Meh. *waves hand around* Anyhow, I just couldn't get over Satarin condoning the rape of Mikon, repeatedly, so his people could go back to their old ways. Satarin was selfish, his people were selfish, their god was selfish. And I was pissed at Mikon for not giving Satarin some hard truths, for not even thinking that Satarin should ask for forigiveness. And I was pissed at everyone for hating Kei, who had been taken as a young man and made The Chosen and no one seemed to think anything of what that must have done to him to make him the way he was.