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Hellgate #1
HELLGATE: The Rabelais Alliance
In a place where space and time collide, the future of mankind will be decided ... the new masterwork of science fiction from the award-winning author of DEATHÕS HEAD and THE DECEIVERS. RABELAIS leads off a new series so massive, describing it here is impossible. We invite you to join us at Mel Keegan OnLine, where you can view the whole brochure and read large segments of each book ... fall in love with HELLGATE, then click some buttons!
372 pages, Paperback
First published August 15, 2008
3 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Mel Keegan
52 books71 followersA self-confessed science fiction and fantasy devotee, Keegan is known for novels across a wide range of subjects, from the historical to the future action-adventure. Mel lives in South Australia with an eccentric family and a variety of pets.
Every Mel Keegan book is strong on gay or bisexual heroes (also, often, on gay villains), and some of these heroes are the most delicious in fiction: Jarrat and Stone from the NARC series, Bill Ryan and Jim Hale from The Deceivers, Neil Travers and Curtis Marin from Hellgate, and many more unforgettable characters. Because Mel's books feature the same sex relationships, the partnership at the core of each book is integral: this is the relationship driving the story, and it can be very powerful indeed.
Every Mel Keegan book is strong on gay or bisexual heroes (also, often, on gay villains), and some of these heroes are the most delicious in fiction: Jarrat and Stone from the NARC series, Bill Ryan and Jim Hale from The Deceivers, Neil Travers and Curtis Marin from Hellgate, and many more unforgettable characters. Because Mel's books feature the same sex relationships, the partnership at the core of each book is integral: this is the relationship driving the story, and it can be very powerful indeed.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 5, 2013
What is not to like about Mel Keegan?
I know that's pretty fanboy of me--but Mel was one of the first gay authors I ever read (Death's Head and Fortunes of War) where you didn't want to go out and kill yourself after reading their story. So I'm biased...
And yet here again, Mel presents an intriguing sci/fi story with well-drawn gay characters that develop a strong, loving relationship that supports and influences their actions. It's all about their relationship without being all about their relationship. Curious, no?
With a diverse cast of humans and aliens, The Rabelais Alliance, as well as the Hellgate series, places the human colonies of the Deep Sky square in the sights of a dangerous and mysterious alien race...
As with any of Mel's stories, highly recommended...
I know that's pretty fanboy of me--but Mel was one of the first gay authors I ever read (Death's Head and Fortunes of War) where you didn't want to go out and kill yourself after reading their story. So I'm biased...
And yet here again, Mel presents an intriguing sci/fi story with well-drawn gay characters that develop a strong, loving relationship that supports and influences their actions. It's all about their relationship without being all about their relationship. Curious, no?
With a diverse cast of humans and aliens, The Rabelais Alliance, as well as the Hellgate series, places the human colonies of the Deep Sky square in the sights of a dangerous and mysterious alien race...
As with any of Mel's stories, highly recommended...
June 8, 2014
Rating: 3.5 stars
Centuries into the future, mankind have become a presence in the universe. They have colonized onto many planets beyond the solar system. Colonization of the home worlds were just the beginning as the definition of humanity has blurred with many innovations to this era of genetic engineering, faster-than light communication, and space flight that has allowed humans to reach further into the unknown. The Hellgate series begins with The Rabelais Alliance, taking place in a sector of the universe dubbed the Deep Sky and its colonies. The area of space occupied by the Deep Sky colonies consists of The Drift, AKA Hellgate. I think Mel Keegan explains it better than I can:
“The Drift was a tremendously unstable area of space. Directly to galactic east was Nova 2631C. The super-dense pulsar remnant was still active, still emitting energetically after thirteen years, a powerful source of x-rays and positrons on the fringe of the subspace transmission bands. To galactic north was Naiobe, a modest black hole, gradually ingesting 2631C’s immense halo of gasses. The accretion disk generated a barrage of broad-spectrum emissions, and Naiobe’s eccentric orbit produced perpetual, unpredictable gravity tides which eddied around the area of 2631C and the massive ‘supergiant’ stars which had been its sisters.”
Basically, Hellgate is an area where space is easily manipulated. Where a ship can appear at one point in space, and appear in a different area the next second due to random wormholes formed by a blackhole. It’s also an area where random gravity wells can form, and unsuspecting carrier ships could easily disappear in a wormhole, and appear in many pieces elsewhere.
Neil Travers is Master Sargeant of the super-carrier ship named the Intrepid, which has spent three years at The Drift. His relationship with the very privateers (think space pirates) he’s charged with hunting in The Drift will be his connection with Curtis Marin, an assassin from a secret organization with an agenda.
First and foremost, Hellgate is not your typical M/M science fiction romance. Think of it as science fiction with main gay characters, and where focus is on the plot and not necessarily the romantic relationship between Neil and Curtis. I think the quote above regarding The Drift is a great example of the “type” of science fiction readers will be getting themselves into. Mel Keegan doesn’t skimp on the details in the construction of this universe (note how I avoid the term “world building.” It wouldn’t be quite accurate, as this is beyond just a single world – he’s giving us a whole universe!). Hellgate flourishes, yet also suffers, from the amount of detail and information that is provided in this alternative universe where humans have reached the stars. There is a lot of information to absorb. If you are one to hate details, then Hellgate may not be the book for you as you’ll drown in all the info-dumping.
It also becomes evident that this book (being the first in a series) is a setup for things to come. Sure, there’s some action here and there, but the pace felt very slow in the grand scheme of things. Our main characters don’t even meet until about a third of a way into the book, which is quite substantial considering the size of this novel. However, the details of this universe is so engrossing that even I could appreciate the attention to everything from the current political turmoil between the home worlds and the Deep Sky colonies to the history of human colonization supplied by the author.
At first, there seems to be all these different conflicts in the story: the brink of revolution between the home worlds and the Deep Sky colonies, the forced conscription of all seventeen year-old teenagers to serve five year terms in Fleet, the secret organization of Dendra Shemiji, and the alien threat of the Zunshu. I was worried the book was going to tackle more problems than it can handle, but Mel Keegan is a masterful storyteller. By the end of book one, I was very impressed with the way he’s able to make all these different conflicts weave into one encompassing plot.
Asides from the slow pacing, the only other big issue I had is with characterizations. Don’t get me wrong, The Rabelais Alliance has a wonderful cast of characters. Unfortunately, it felt like Travers and Curtis were the least interesting of the bunch, and at times felt a bit indistinct from one another.
So overall, I recommend The Rabelais Alliance for the plot-driven science fiction enthusiasts who’s not afraid to be swimming in a sea of detail required to create an engrossing universe. While the pacing is slow and the main characters weren’t as engaging as I hoped, the story managed grab hold of my curiosity. There is excellent universe building, but my inner romantic was disappointed as the focus isn’t on the relationship. Those looking for a science fiction romance novel may want to look elsewhere.
Note: you can download a 10% sample from the author’s webpage at http://www.dream-craft.com/melkeegan/.... That is pretty significant for a 185,000 word novel! And plus, there’s illustrations of the cast of characters there as well!
Centuries into the future, mankind have become a presence in the universe. They have colonized onto many planets beyond the solar system. Colonization of the home worlds were just the beginning as the definition of humanity has blurred with many innovations to this era of genetic engineering, faster-than light communication, and space flight that has allowed humans to reach further into the unknown. The Hellgate series begins with The Rabelais Alliance, taking place in a sector of the universe dubbed the Deep Sky and its colonies. The area of space occupied by the Deep Sky colonies consists of The Drift, AKA Hellgate. I think Mel Keegan explains it better than I can:
“The Drift was a tremendously unstable area of space. Directly to galactic east was Nova 2631C. The super-dense pulsar remnant was still active, still emitting energetically after thirteen years, a powerful source of x-rays and positrons on the fringe of the subspace transmission bands. To galactic north was Naiobe, a modest black hole, gradually ingesting 2631C’s immense halo of gasses. The accretion disk generated a barrage of broad-spectrum emissions, and Naiobe’s eccentric orbit produced perpetual, unpredictable gravity tides which eddied around the area of 2631C and the massive ‘supergiant’ stars which had been its sisters.”
Basically, Hellgate is an area where space is easily manipulated. Where a ship can appear at one point in space, and appear in a different area the next second due to random wormholes formed by a blackhole. It’s also an area where random gravity wells can form, and unsuspecting carrier ships could easily disappear in a wormhole, and appear in many pieces elsewhere.
Neil Travers is Master Sargeant of the super-carrier ship named the Intrepid, which has spent three years at The Drift. His relationship with the very privateers (think space pirates) he’s charged with hunting in The Drift will be his connection with Curtis Marin, an assassin from a secret organization with an agenda.
First and foremost, Hellgate is not your typical M/M science fiction romance. Think of it as science fiction with main gay characters, and where focus is on the plot and not necessarily the romantic relationship between Neil and Curtis. I think the quote above regarding The Drift is a great example of the “type” of science fiction readers will be getting themselves into. Mel Keegan doesn’t skimp on the details in the construction of this universe (note how I avoid the term “world building.” It wouldn’t be quite accurate, as this is beyond just a single world – he’s giving us a whole universe!). Hellgate flourishes, yet also suffers, from the amount of detail and information that is provided in this alternative universe where humans have reached the stars. There is a lot of information to absorb. If you are one to hate details, then Hellgate may not be the book for you as you’ll drown in all the info-dumping.
It also becomes evident that this book (being the first in a series) is a setup for things to come. Sure, there’s some action here and there, but the pace felt very slow in the grand scheme of things. Our main characters don’t even meet until about a third of a way into the book, which is quite substantial considering the size of this novel. However, the details of this universe is so engrossing that even I could appreciate the attention to everything from the current political turmoil between the home worlds and the Deep Sky colonies to the history of human colonization supplied by the author.
At first, there seems to be all these different conflicts in the story: the brink of revolution between the home worlds and the Deep Sky colonies, the forced conscription of all seventeen year-old teenagers to serve five year terms in Fleet, the secret organization of Dendra Shemiji, and the alien threat of the Zunshu. I was worried the book was going to tackle more problems than it can handle, but Mel Keegan is a masterful storyteller. By the end of book one, I was very impressed with the way he’s able to make all these different conflicts weave into one encompassing plot.
Asides from the slow pacing, the only other big issue I had is with characterizations. Don’t get me wrong, The Rabelais Alliance has a wonderful cast of characters. Unfortunately, it felt like Travers and Curtis were the least interesting of the bunch, and at times felt a bit indistinct from one another.
So overall, I recommend The Rabelais Alliance for the plot-driven science fiction enthusiasts who’s not afraid to be swimming in a sea of detail required to create an engrossing universe. While the pacing is slow and the main characters weren’t as engaging as I hoped, the story managed grab hold of my curiosity. There is excellent universe building, but my inner romantic was disappointed as the focus isn’t on the relationship. Those looking for a science fiction romance novel may want to look elsewhere.
Note: you can download a 10% sample from the author’s webpage at http://www.dream-craft.com/melkeegan/.... That is pretty significant for a 185,000 word novel! And plus, there’s illustrations of the cast of characters there as well!
December 9, 2013
Edited after second reading (December, 2013):
I decided to detract a star from my original rating. This doesn't mean that the book is bad in any way. The situation in the world of Hellgate is so complex that it needs extensive world-building for the reader to understand what is happening. And the world-building is great but can be exhausting.
The story is set two centuries after the events in the NARC series. The human world has expended further into space and the colonies we know from NARC are now old - Middle Sky colonies. The new colonies - The Deep Sky - lie in the vicinity of Hellgate, the unstable area around black hole that influences the surrounding space, gravity, time. Archeological discovery of a much more developed civilization which was obliterated by even more advanced and terrible enemy is discovered in the Deep Sky and prompted the Terran Confederation to heavily tax the colonies and conscript all the citizens - male and female - at the age of 17 for five years of mandatory military service. They are building the super-carriers hoping that a massive fleet would be able to defend the humans. But, the colonies don't know the real reasons for conscription and they became resentful of distant Earth. They want autonomy and they are ready to fight for their independence.
Our two protagonists - Marin and Travers - come together in the middle of this complex situation. One is an assassin, member of a secret society started by the survivors among Resalq, the obliterated alien specie, who have integrated into human society. The other is a Sergeant aboard the carrier that patrols the Hellgate.
The novel follows several plot lines and when they converge, the reader must shudder with the enormity of the task in front of the characters. It's exciting and it's scary and I'm certain the future books would be even more so. The action should also be quicker, now that the world-building is out of the way.
Original review (June, 2012):
Almost, but not quite 4 stars.
Like in the case of NARC, Keegan's other SF series, the first book in Hellgate series is a set-up piece: it introduces you to all the major players, political situation, the approaching threat from the unknown, alien species. Therefore, sometimes the story and the characters get buried under the weight of all information. Still, I liked the idea of Dendra Shemiji, Resalq, Zunshu and rebelling colonies. As always, Keegan's world is incredibly detailed and logical. Admittedly, I wasn't as enamored with Marin and Travers as I was by Jarrat and Stone, but it's early days - there are four more sequels after this one and the final book should be published this year.
The book will not be for everyone - this is a pure SF and you have to be a fan to fully appreciate it. But, still, I recommend it. ^^
I decided to detract a star from my original rating. This doesn't mean that the book is bad in any way. The situation in the world of Hellgate is so complex that it needs extensive world-building for the reader to understand what is happening. And the world-building is great but can be exhausting.
The story is set two centuries after the events in the NARC series. The human world has expended further into space and the colonies we know from NARC are now old - Middle Sky colonies. The new colonies - The Deep Sky - lie in the vicinity of Hellgate, the unstable area around black hole that influences the surrounding space, gravity, time. Archeological discovery of a much more developed civilization which was obliterated by even more advanced and terrible enemy is discovered in the Deep Sky and prompted the Terran Confederation to heavily tax the colonies and conscript all the citizens - male and female - at the age of 17 for five years of mandatory military service. They are building the super-carriers hoping that a massive fleet would be able to defend the humans. But, the colonies don't know the real reasons for conscription and they became resentful of distant Earth. They want autonomy and they are ready to fight for their independence.
Our two protagonists - Marin and Travers - come together in the middle of this complex situation. One is an assassin, member of a secret society started by the survivors among Resalq, the obliterated alien specie, who have integrated into human society. The other is a Sergeant aboard the carrier that patrols the Hellgate.
The novel follows several plot lines and when they converge, the reader must shudder with the enormity of the task in front of the characters. It's exciting and it's scary and I'm certain the future books would be even more so. The action should also be quicker, now that the world-building is out of the way.
Original review (June, 2012):
Almost, but not quite 4 stars.
Like in the case of NARC, Keegan's other SF series, the first book in Hellgate series is a set-up piece: it introduces you to all the major players, political situation, the approaching threat from the unknown, alien species. Therefore, sometimes the story and the characters get buried under the weight of all information. Still, I liked the idea of Dendra Shemiji, Resalq, Zunshu and rebelling colonies. As always, Keegan's world is incredibly detailed and logical. Admittedly, I wasn't as enamored with Marin and Travers as I was by Jarrat and Stone, but it's early days - there are four more sequels after this one and the final book should be published this year.
The book will not be for everyone - this is a pure SF and you have to be a fan to fully appreciate it. But, still, I recommend it. ^^
April 20, 2010
One of the few books I was unable to put down. The story is fast-paced, the characters are well drawn and likeable, gripping plot and great world-building. It takes a bit to get into the specifics of the technology but the author takes time to walk the reader through, explaining in growing detail the economy and politics involved. There are several plots going on, a lot of suspense and action combined with a very believable couple.
This is no gay romance, it's a science fiction with two male characters that are lovers. In the world of Mel Keegan's Hellgate, gender is neither issue nor easy to determine with lots of shades of grey in between.
A worth read, it leaves the reader satisfied with the ending but also very willing to go for the next installment, Deep Sky
This is no gay romance, it's a science fiction with two male characters that are lovers. In the world of Mel Keegan's Hellgate, gender is neither issue nor easy to determine with lots of shades of grey in between.
A worth read, it leaves the reader satisfied with the ending but also very willing to go for the next installment, Deep Sky
May 2, 2012
2.5 This had the bones of a good story ... interesting background, likeable characters, nice developing relationship ... but the good stuff comes close to being lost in the deluge of details that are dumped in large, indigestible chunks. So it ended up being paradoxically both engaging and tedious. I ended up skimming, and am still interested in knowing what happens next while reluctant to commit myself to following the story further.
May 5, 2014
Seriously one of the best scifi Books I read in a long long time.
People who search for m/m Erotic and some scifi are wrong with this Book. But if you want to read about an absolutly amazing scifi World with a big mysterous villain , lots of other books (six all in all if I am right) and yeah two amazing Mainchars who are gay (but the Story is not all about there Relationship which is refreshing) should read it!
I will now start with the Second Part.
People who search for m/m Erotic and some scifi are wrong with this Book. But if you want to read about an absolutly amazing scifi World with a big mysterous villain , lots of other books (six all in all if I am right) and yeah two amazing Mainchars who are gay (but the Story is not all about there Relationship which is refreshing) should read it!
I will now start with the Second Part.
June 19, 2012
My full review can be read on my blog.
December 5, 2012
I must be enjoying it, I just spent 30.00 on the next three sequels, on kindle, pricey for old ebooks I hope Keegan gets most of it.
June 22, 2014
4.5 stars
August 6, 2018
The HELLGATE series is so immense, one hardly knows where to begin. First, I need to assure doubters, it IS finished. The final segment -- a sixth volume that is, in fact, two books under one cover -- came out for Christmas, 2013, so if anyone is growling at you that it's not finished, tell them they're dead wrong and show them this:
This whole series runs well over a million words. As I began, it's so immense one hardly knows were to begin to talk about it. However, Keegan recently managed to feed the camel through the eye of the needle with the "series pitch" on one of the file servers used to disseminate the work, so I'm going to let him take the wheel here and save myself the headache:
In a desperate bid to counter the threat of a shadowy enemy, Earth’s distant government taxes its colonies to build the brutal DeepSky Fleet and conscripts colonial youth to man it. But this tinder ignites the Colonial War of the 2660s -- while the unknowable threat from ‘the stormy side of the sky’ beyond Hellgate proves appallingly real. A father’s quest for justice for his murdered son takes Curtis Marin back into Fleet, where he encounters Neil Travers and the rogue crew of Richard Vaurien’s salvage vessel Wastrel. They stand at the pivot point of both the Colonial War and the conflict against the unknown, unknowable Zunshu ... in a place where time and space collide, the future of mankind will be decided.
...and that is the tip of an iceberg the size of the state of Western Australia. Sink your teeth into it, and be prepared to have your mind thoroughly blown. It's as if Greg Bear, Tom Clancy and James Cameron co-created a beyond-monstrous SF saga and then -- to make it perfect for the likes of self! -- hung the central romantic threads on a gay couple, Neil Travers and Curtis Marin. In over a million words there's more than enough space for several romantic threads, however, and Keegan manages to ravel them into delicious Gordian knots. There's also Richard Vaurien, Mark Sherrat, Mick Vidal, Tonio Teniko, all bound up in a personal scenario so complex, it actually (!) comes close to real life.
The technology is, as I said, mind blowing. But it builds from bite-sized beginnings, in RABELAIS, till you can grasp what's going on when you get to Flashpoint (#5) --
--where you're sucked into the world of "transspace," which is literally indescribable.
Now, admittedly, I'm an SF-nut, and a big fan of gay-SF since I discovered the "gay-books-genre" well over 20 years ago now. Confession: I've been lusting after Jarrat and Stone since about three days after DEATH'S HEAD arrived in my mailbox. Keegan's SF is pretty close to 'Aricia's Ideal.' But...
When I got my fangs into the first HELLGATE opus I was *still* surprised. Don't know what I'd been expecting; for some reason I'd imagined something along the lines of a space-fantasy, maybe a Star Wars kind of set-up, possibly because so much of this story is set on humongous spacecraft. Instead, what I read was ultra-realistic from page one onward, and each of these series segments is a big book in its own right. They're packed into a small space, which minimizes shipping costs on paperbacks: for folks on a budget, this helps -- though of course ebooks answer the question once and for all.
The whole HELLGATE saga has the 'flavor' of an epic, from the git-go, so I was in hog heaven with realistic SF, *and* vast adventure, *and* gay relationships.
Does the book have a downside? Lord knows, I'm not one to criticize a Keegan novel. The only things I found to "criticize" re: HELLGATE #1 THE RABELAIS ALLIANCE are absolutely unavoidable: it's huge, the story is complex. The novel is awesome but you absolutely, positively must stay wide awake, read the whole thing. Keegan does not repeat himself. If you skip pages or read while falling asleep, you'll miss the details, you can 'lose the plot' and end up backtracking. Not Keegan's fault there. (The same could be said of Greg Bear's books, which I also love. EON is one of my all-time favorite SF novels.)
In the early days of the HELLGATE series (which was published between 2002 and 2013), critics carped that some volumes suffered from "middle part syndrome," meaning the saga had worked up a full head of steam but (!) was not yet finished. Well, for years now that criticism has been void.
And one or two readers may be looking for hot, steamy scenes simply because the romantic threads running through the series are same sex. If you're looking for erotica, look elsewhere. There are juicy scenes, and many of them, but this series does not revolve around the romance, and isn't a framework for sexual adventures. Be aware: read HELLGATE because you get a blast out of hard SF and like your romances same-gender. I've read RABELAIS half a dozen times across the years and always get lost in its world.
THE RABELAIS ALLIANCE begins the saga ending with Event Horizon, which is scoring five stars at Amazon, so I'm just going to echo that right here: Aricia's rating -- 5 out of 5 stars.
This whole series runs well over a million words. As I began, it's so immense one hardly knows were to begin to talk about it. However, Keegan recently managed to feed the camel through the eye of the needle with the "series pitch" on one of the file servers used to disseminate the work, so I'm going to let him take the wheel here and save myself the headache:
In a desperate bid to counter the threat of a shadowy enemy, Earth’s distant government taxes its colonies to build the brutal DeepSky Fleet and conscripts colonial youth to man it. But this tinder ignites the Colonial War of the 2660s -- while the unknowable threat from ‘the stormy side of the sky’ beyond Hellgate proves appallingly real. A father’s quest for justice for his murdered son takes Curtis Marin back into Fleet, where he encounters Neil Travers and the rogue crew of Richard Vaurien’s salvage vessel Wastrel. They stand at the pivot point of both the Colonial War and the conflict against the unknown, unknowable Zunshu ... in a place where time and space collide, the future of mankind will be decided.
...and that is the tip of an iceberg the size of the state of Western Australia. Sink your teeth into it, and be prepared to have your mind thoroughly blown. It's as if Greg Bear, Tom Clancy and James Cameron co-created a beyond-monstrous SF saga and then -- to make it perfect for the likes of self! -- hung the central romantic threads on a gay couple, Neil Travers and Curtis Marin. In over a million words there's more than enough space for several romantic threads, however, and Keegan manages to ravel them into delicious Gordian knots. There's also Richard Vaurien, Mark Sherrat, Mick Vidal, Tonio Teniko, all bound up in a personal scenario so complex, it actually (!) comes close to real life.
The technology is, as I said, mind blowing. But it builds from bite-sized beginnings, in RABELAIS, till you can grasp what's going on when you get to Flashpoint (#5) --
--where you're sucked into the world of "transspace," which is literally indescribable.
Now, admittedly, I'm an SF-nut, and a big fan of gay-SF since I discovered the "gay-books-genre" well over 20 years ago now. Confession: I've been lusting after Jarrat and Stone since about three days after DEATH'S HEAD arrived in my mailbox. Keegan's SF is pretty close to 'Aricia's Ideal.' But...
When I got my fangs into the first HELLGATE opus I was *still* surprised. Don't know what I'd been expecting; for some reason I'd imagined something along the lines of a space-fantasy, maybe a Star Wars kind of set-up, possibly because so much of this story is set on humongous spacecraft. Instead, what I read was ultra-realistic from page one onward, and each of these series segments is a big book in its own right. They're packed into a small space, which minimizes shipping costs on paperbacks: for folks on a budget, this helps -- though of course ebooks answer the question once and for all.
The whole HELLGATE saga has the 'flavor' of an epic, from the git-go, so I was in hog heaven with realistic SF, *and* vast adventure, *and* gay relationships.
Does the book have a downside? Lord knows, I'm not one to criticize a Keegan novel. The only things I found to "criticize" re: HELLGATE #1 THE RABELAIS ALLIANCE are absolutely unavoidable: it's huge, the story is complex. The novel is awesome but you absolutely, positively must stay wide awake, read the whole thing. Keegan does not repeat himself. If you skip pages or read while falling asleep, you'll miss the details, you can 'lose the plot' and end up backtracking. Not Keegan's fault there. (The same could be said of Greg Bear's books, which I also love. EON is one of my all-time favorite SF novels.)
In the early days of the HELLGATE series (which was published between 2002 and 2013), critics carped that some volumes suffered from "middle part syndrome," meaning the saga had worked up a full head of steam but (!) was not yet finished. Well, for years now that criticism has been void.
And one or two readers may be looking for hot, steamy scenes simply because the romantic threads running through the series are same sex. If you're looking for erotica, look elsewhere. There are juicy scenes, and many of them, but this series does not revolve around the romance, and isn't a framework for sexual adventures. Be aware: read HELLGATE because you get a blast out of hard SF and like your romances same-gender. I've read RABELAIS half a dozen times across the years and always get lost in its world.
THE RABELAIS ALLIANCE begins the saga ending with Event Horizon, which is scoring five stars at Amazon, so I'm just going to echo that right here: Aricia's rating -- 5 out of 5 stars.
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