Homeplanet

by Kail Muse

Centuries ago Earth was declared a dead planet and humanity was left with a cluster of space stations called the Human Colonies. Now a power shortage could lose them their home all over again. Desperate not to let that happen, they turn to the kyni for help.

One of the most powerful species in the known universe, the kyni are the only ones with both the power and the ability to fuel the Human Colonies. Though Calder has never heard anything good about them, he accepts a job as a bodyguard, determined to guarantee his brother will have a home. If he has to work for terrifying, heartless aliens to do that, so be it.

But when the kyni arrive, they're nothing at all what anyone expects...

Genres: Aliens, Science Fiction, M M Romance

163 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 20, 2018

About the author

An aussie who wants to write the books he wished he had growing up.

Instagram @kailsMusings

Reviews

[Cathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free ARC from Netgalley.

I was excited about this and thought the cover was cool. Sadly, I couldn't finish or even make it halfway.

My problem was the confusing genders and the grammar that went with them. While imaginative, the execution made me confused and irritated me to the point.I gave up. A term glossary at the beginning may have prepared me for the mess ahead.

[Felipe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly kind of regret spending the money on this one. It started out interesting enough, but never got... well, real, I suppose. Interactions all seemed superficial, we were told more than shown a lot of the emotional development, and I feel like the aliens went both really-cool-far (four genders! awesome!) and yet not far enough (so... in basically every sense besides having political marriages not be romantically binding, these super-alien aliens are basically interchangeable with humans when it comes to romantic attachments and the enactment thereof? and what do these four genders mean in terms of socialization and expectation? how does one choose a gender? how do they interact? what is required for reproduction? just... SOMETHING beyond surface level please!). I just... kept expecting something more deep, more developed. Something worth being invested in.

A+ for ideas, but a D for development and execution, sadly.

(I admit I may be being harsher than usual due to reading this after an absolutely superb book, after which most anything would be a disappointment, but...)

[TwistedRose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book, though there wasn't enough relationship details. It reads more YA to me. I have to say that I was confused until 1/3 of the way through. One character is Kyni, an alien race with 4 genders, and since they are alien they have completely different pronouns for each gender. Very confusing. I do think it would be less confusing if the author had added a glossary or explanation for the alien words in the book. I replaced all the py, pyr, pys with he, him, his in my head through most of the story till reading the words there didn't bother me anymore.

[L Cam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodness this book. I love the idea of alien romance because there's too little of it. This being the first in a series it was reaally confusing. I loved the detail, but the author tried to explain the world and the gender pronouns all at the same time and it was really too much to keep up with while trying to enjoy the relationship between the characters.

I feel like the author has a really good eye for fantasy, but the detail for MM needs to be ramped up more. It didn't read like any other M/M it read more like a teen story a bit. It's pretty much 3/4ths of the way through the book before Esh and Calder get to revealing their feelings and the way it unfolded was kinda an adorable awkward trainwreck.

Calder is recipromantic (which is a new type of romantic attraction to me not sure if that's a thing or not), which means he doesn't feel romantic feelings towards someone unless the other person feels it first. That alone makes no sense.

Then you get Calder and Esh blushing and stuttering and mumbling like teenagers, which is endearing, but it is just...really not for a book that is supposed to be more M/M. The writing and plot were good, but the execution and the characters didn't really sync up for me.

[Sherry F · Rating 3 out of 5]

A glossary at the beginning and some editing would be helpful.

The end seemed rushed to me not a bad read. Pricey at $5.99, though.

[Anne Marie Heller Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gender bender

I really liked the ND whose species has 4genders. The story was enjoyable, even if the bad guy was easy to spot!

[Kristīne Vītola]

Gray-ace character