A writer by avocation, Robin has a renaissance interest in many areas. A bit of a gypsy, Robin has called a few places home and has traveled widely. A love of the outdoors, animals in general and experimenting with world cuisines, Robin and partner share their home with a menagerie of pets and guests, although sometimes it is difficult to discern who is whom.
This is an interesting near-future sci-fi that's kind of hard to classify. The sci-fi is a bit sloppy* so you have to take a lot of the premise as granted just to even start. Which would have been easier if so much of it wasn't simple authorial say-so. Still, once the premise is granted, the story kicks into a fascinating character story about Sapphire being ripped out of her life plans to serve an alien need.
Sapphire doesn't take well to being told what to do and with whom. She doesn't pass up any opportunity to point out the moral evil that amounts to slavery, actively shaming her captors and everyone associated with them. This could easily have become tedious or one-note but Roseau is very, very good with characters. So the bad guys aren't simply bad guys so much as they are doing their best with the situation thrust upon them by the premise. Still, I loved Sapphire's clear-eyed frustration and seeing her work out her own moral compass in the corrupt environment she found herself in was outstanding. The moral calculus in this story is extremely good.
I'm still not sure what to make of Jasmine as sometimes ally, sometimes foil to the relationship development between Bronze and Sapphire. Her ambiguities were great as a moral rock for Sapphire to stumble against and argue with; so I'm fine with her role in the story despite my uncertainty how to take her. I ended up liking her more than I expected, despite all her meddling.
I am a bit disappointed for how little we get to know of Bronze's inner workings. She's fairly one-note in her desire for Sapphire and willingness to take extreme steps to win her affections. If my suspicion below turns out, this will make a lot more sense. If not, then I look forward to having her more on-screen in the next book.
This is 4½ stars, mostly losing points for how much we have to take as premise. I'm rounding up for the strength of the character interactions, interesting moral calculus, and Sapphire's development arc. Very strong story and I look forward to the next.
Spoilery speculations about some things I hope to find out in the next story:
A note about Chaste: Sapphire is where she is completely against her will. So any sex that might happen would be a form of rape and that's explicitly not on the alien radar. Coercive life disruption and functional slavery, sure, but forced sex isn't on the table. It's an oddly specific premise the backstory is giving us. This being the case, however, there's no sex in this story, though there's some comfort cuddling and cheek kissing. So I consider this pretty chaste.
* Sloppy sci-fi: Roseau does that thing that was popular in the 70s where you give the wise aliens all your beliefs about humans. Environmental speculations become certainties and every favored scare becomes oh-so-real and definitely proven. This is nowhere more absurd than with the "overpopulation" claim. The aliens fixed the oceans, gave us clean energy and abundant food production. So doesn't that pretty much kill dead all the pressures overpopulation is said to bring with it? Also, artificially limiting female reproduction to two children max is a timebomb that will detonate in half a century. Peacetime replacement birthrate is 2.1. Most of the industrialized world is below that rate and only avoids depopulation pains through immigration. I don't know the numbers, but I suspect that a hard per-woman two-child limit would push the birthrate to around 1 given current life choice patterns. That timebomb is practically nuclear.
And I will note, with complete snark, that the alien certainty that we had only five years before disaster is seven years old at this point (based on this book's publication date). Note to authors: never predict anything that close. It ages your book poorly as deadlines pass with the Earth rolling merrily along.
All of which doesn't really matter except insofar as it prevents hard sci-fi nerds from engaging with an excellent character story they might otherwise enjoy. Hard sci-fi nerds are particularly good at granting stories their initial premise so that could be more limiting than Roseau intended.
I really liked this book at the beginning. Sapphire Fletcher must submit to a "routine" examination by the aliens who recently have come to earth and saved us from our self destruction. Sapphire exhibits and openness to the variances amongst the federation of alien species. Such affinity attracts the matchmaking organization within the alien hierarchy - ever on the search for appropriate mates for homesick extra-terrestrials.
I was intrigued and pulled right along at the beginning of the story as Sapphire is held in an alien prison and monitored by interested suitors. The pairings are determined through a series of challenges between the alien and the potential human mate. These challenges became a bit tedious as there was a lot written about some arcane point system which I didn't understand and, for the most part, seemed utterly random. While Sapphire continually railed against a system that led to her abduction, all the aliens that she encounters are fairly noble. Any sense of peril was bled out by about halfway through the novel and it seemed that the story path would lead precisely to the point one would expect.
I was really pulling for this novel to achieve the potential that I saw in it at the start. I felt it came up short. I think that there is a great story in here somewhere.
While there are hints at something kinky and erotic, there is nothing explicit here.
I read this novel as part of my free month of Kindle Unlimited. I am interested in seeing where the second novel in the series will take me and may proceed, but I'm not dying to go find out right away.
Perpetuates Paranoia Scaremongering… …so that we as a race can appropriately self-flagellate ourselves with existential guilt and excuse the dickery of space alien god-substitutes (because the need to abase ourselves before something ‘greater’ apparently transcends organised religion). Admittedly the latter pretension wears thin as the novel continues, but it’s hopelessly naïve position to begin with and that doesn’t stop everyone constantly making weak excuses for them.
Time for a non-sequitur. Sixty plus years ago the United States detonated more than twenty nuclear devices in the Marshall Islands, including atmospheric detonations. There have been health impacts upon islanders, of course. Environmental impacts too, although it doesn’t necessarily follow that other animals or plants are as vulnerable to radiation as we are. For one thing plants are hardy and most animals have a much shorter reproductive cycle and life span. The world has not ended. Nor are the Marshall Islands a desolate wasteland.
For that matter the United States detonated over a thousand nukes in Nevada including over a hundred airbursts. [Spoiler] The world hasn’t ended [/Spoiler].
For some reason the author thinks that minor amount of radioactive material and wastewater which escaped Fukushima is somehow a game changing disaster of epic proportions fit to end the world as we know it. Material which escaped into the _Pacific Ocean_ which covers half the world’s surface and averages four kilometres in depth. In other words, more or less the perfect place to mitigate the negative consequences by diluting said waste if it had to happen anywhere. Nor are most of the Pacific coastlines particularly densely populated in relative terms. Something like Fukushima in the English Channel, the Yellow Sea or the Mediterranean might be a legitimate disaster. This not so much.
I question whether most major oil spills probably have a bigger environmental impact.
The human impact? When in a few decades a hundred-or-so humans have (maybe) gotten around to dying as statistically predicted by a minuscule increase in the radioactivity of the Pacific will anyone even remember? To put things into perspective; the earthquake and tsunami which caused the “disaster” already killed something like 16,000 people outright. Making such a fuss over something so incidental which hasn’t even killed anyone when thousands of people are dead seems kind of disrespectful on the face of it.
Finally; Fact Check; An Astronomical Unit (Earth to the Sun) is 8 light-minutes, not 4.
Overall, I liked this book. The tone is maybe a bit dissonant. At times this reads like a children’s cartoon about a happy serial killer going on picnics with his victims while all the killing happens off-screen (admittedly overstating the level of dissonance a bit there), but maybe the discordant tone is not so bad a thing. A much darker tone with greater emphasis placed on the psychological manipulation and exploitation (on an individual and societal level) would no doubt have been depressing. And I might not have finished.
Collected was kind of gritty. Probably not your typical alien abduction romance. It was willing to confront, if not head on, the awkward moral questions it poses when most romances in my experience tend to gloss over such things.
I became quite uncomfortable reading this book. Sapphire, along with many others, is kidnapped by the supposedly good Aliens and is being offered as a slave to help pay for the help they are giving Earth. The Aliens then start the conditioning process to ensure she submits willingly to a life of sexual abuse.
I think what really annoys me about the story is the way the author contrives to try to make it appear that the abuse is necessary and the abusers are really doing it all for the victims own good. The abusers are shown as being sympathetic and concerned with her welfare but are really manipulating Sapphire into accepting her captivity. In the end the manipulations work. The author wants you to believe that it is all done for Sapphires own good and that requiring her consent isn’t important because the ‘ends justify the means’.
I read Robin Roseau’s books because I love the ‘Fox’ stories, but in a few of the author's books it's not about the heroine overcoming her problems, it's about accepting the abuse eg ‘Familiar’. These are the books that trouble me.
I know there is a second book in this series and it could be that I am being too critical, as in this book Sapphire may turn the tables on the Aliens and not become an accepting victim.
Aliens, kidnapping, lying . Who cares? Every character in this book is disgusting. The storyline is beyond hope. This book almost sickened me. I will avoid all books by this author at all times. Thank God it was free and I did not pay for this piece of garbage. As for the writer.... get help. You need it. Don't pout when you put your work out there for a review. This book was quite possibly, no it was the worst I have ever read. If I could have given it minus zero stars I would have. Books this stupid should come with a warning.. read at your own risk. The risk being complete humiliation of women. This writer has to be a man. No woman would humiliate other women this way. As the writer quoted over and over in this (book)? "You Suck".
This author likes themes of women being unjustly taken and put into the most extremely unfair situations. Don’t believe me? Read “Seer,” The Madison Wolves series, “Familiar,” “Kitty Cat,” “Amazon” series, “Blood Slave,” and etc. Just like in those books the protagonist will also get on your nerves being prey and whiny most of the time. I say that because they will continue to beat you over the head with their victimization but still seek affection and attention from the person victimizing them. It’s either move on or forgive them already.
Now, that is not to say the stories are not wonderful and wonderfully told. The imagination that this author has is crazy beyond belief the worlds in which she creates. She is brilliant and pure genius. I’m sure she has a complex mind to come up with these stories. This one hits close to home because of the way we treat one another and our ONLY home planet. We don’t get another one if we keep working really hard to destroy it and make it uninhabitable for the wealthiest to remain wealthy at all costs.
I really liked the characters of Jasmine, Sapphire, Moirai, Bronze and the world in which they find themselves. I was so worried this would be one of those “V” situations where they say they come in peace, but it is actually a hostile takeover. I do wish there was ET out there to come and save us from ourselves. That’s not quite true. They’re just. A few handful’s of people causing the major damage to our planet. The rest of can’t do much about it as long as we let money/government officials rule and run the world. I don’t want a hostile takeover but enough to stop any further process of detriment.
Sapphire finds herself having to pay the price that government officials and the morbidly wealthy have put us in, while they escape unscathed. But I am sure that no intelligent ET being would want them in the first place.
Sapphire fought this process to the end. I don’t blame her. Stockholm Syndrome is real and seeking aid from those that oppress you is hard. But being social beings, it has to come from somewhere. She has to survive. I hope she does. I want her to be with Bronze, but I also would want to make that choice. It is hard to get past being forced.
I did skim some parts. The author also loves games of all sorts and strategizing. I bite easily when it is game after game. The rules, the rationale and yah da yah da yah.
I do like this series so far. It’s not my favorite. My favorites are some of the ones I mentioned above. But the series does intrigue me greatly. Man vs the universe…I’m in.
A wonderful and thought through story about extra terrestrials saving us from ourselves and asking a high price in return. Of course there are others 'out there' warring against our protectors who are far from home. So why not chose a mate from the planet down below? The character, Sapphire Fletcher, is a whiny self-absorbed American female that is well written for this story. The ETs, Jasmine & Moirai, are an understanding representation of the federation of ETs but there's hints of how tenuous that bond is. A story that tackles the intimacies between two different species; there's humor, sadness, fear, and friendship.
I loved this. It is so well written. It made me wish that it could come true😊 . Although I don't want to create spoilers but given the state of the world and who is in charge it would be great if someone e out there could help those that wish for a better world . A world where compassion and empathy were more valued than money and power. Thanks Robin I can't wait to read the rest 😊
What a whirlwind of a story. You get Sapphire who is collected, shown and told what is going on. Boy my curiosity went crazy with this story. I got hooked and now I'm on o the next book called Taken. I can understand both sides. Yes, I being vague. Want to know; read Collected.
Great story, a bit odd but it moved along well. I look forward to the next book and hope it reads a bit better because this one had spelling errors and nonsensical sentences in some places. It needs a better proof reader. Otherwise, all was good! Thanks Robin.
I love a good sci-fi book and this collection is really good. It may not be everyone's cup a tea as the humans start off being forced into an odd courtship ritual with the aliens. But it does get really good as it moves through the different books.
I have enjoyed this fun action pack story that showed the different of the way life can be between to very different ways of life and how they can overcome.
I really enjoyed this book. It is a tale that is telegraphing who bronze really is. Spoiler Alert!!! Bronze is a certain tiger. Shhhhh... However this book is the most complete book I have read by this author and I look forward to the next book. My only complaint is this author has done this story before in the Amazon series. Formulas can be boring.
Overall I loved the concept of this book. I have read plenty of alien stories, but none quite told like this. I loved the buildup of Bronze and Sapphire's relationship and if I didn't know it was a lesbian romance I wouldn't have been disappointed the way I found out. Again I enjoyed the book and the only thing I wished for were less descriptions.
I'm enjoying this and you can feel the emotion of Sapphire and you are right there with her. I think Jasmine character is a love/hate you have with her and Bronze I hope she gets the outcome she truly wants.