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Universal Chemistry
In the aftermath of the First Contact Skirmishes, all Tom wants is to practice law and forget about aliens. Instead, he gets Iilo, an alien who comes to his office with a shoebox and a mystery.
Iilo, smart and determined, persuades Tom to help figure out why Iilo's people have gone missing—by way of promising to reveal something Tom doesn't know about himself.
Iilo, smart and determined, persuades Tom to help figure out why Iilo's people have gone missing—by way of promising to reveal something Tom doesn't know about himself.
221 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 12, 2018
2 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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November 19, 2018Please don't label a book as "MM" if one of the main characters is decidedly intersex. That's literally not MM, not even if you define it liberally as "Man/Man" and not "Male/Male." Some more correct labels include "Male/Alien-without-sex" (MAWS) or "Male/Intersex-alien" (MIA) or just "Male/Intersex" (MI).
September 7, 2022
I loved the overall story. The world felt really inviting and I looked forward to joining it every time I picked up the book. I felt the characters were lovable and unique though it did feel like Tom and Iilo were too similar. Their ideals and personality were so alike, which was great for the love story, but I would have liked to see more cultural differences between the humans and the I'na. The I'na were matriarchal, which was great to see, but other than that they felt like humans instead of aliens. I would have liked to have seen more misunderstandings, struggles with the language, and differences in core values between the humans and the I'na.The only I'na that I really felt like "oh this is an interaction between a human and an alien" was Letic. I loved Letic. The alien race was creative and the interpersonal relationships were all SO beautiful. I felt so much warmth from the strong friendships. The twist of "the bad guy" was a little predictable but had some good action. It's imaginative, it's queer, it's enjoyable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 19, 2018
A very heartwarming LGBT tale. The characters in this book are personable, and I found myself worrying about the characters and the situation they were in when I wasn't reading the book. Universal Chemistry is enigmatic and paints a beautiful picture.
This is a very good first book from a talented author, I cannot wait to continue following Li Hill's work for years to come.
This is a very good first book from a talented author, I cannot wait to continue following Li Hill's work for years to come.
February 7, 2019
bsolutely loooooooved this book!! The concept was fabulous, the story was well developed and the writing was exceptionally good! Absolutely recommend to anyone who likes action, adventure, character growth and a dash of romance 🖤🖤
September 22, 2018
This is a very sweet sci-fi romance that hits all the right notes.
It has an interesting world, an earth not that far into our future, with extinct polar bears and tiny ice caps and all of our human frailties and human disregard for our own planet - it paints an Earth that is still full of all our modern conveniences, but there is one slight difference... Aliens.
They came to Earth, and end up in a situation not unlike the massive films District 13 and the amazing novel by R. Lee Smith, Cottonwood, with travel restrictions and lots and lots of xenophobia.
You'd think this would paint a bleak picture, but it doesn't. It remains full of love and hope for our essential selves, and champions inclusivity and being the best soul, be it human or alien, that you can be.
All of this, in a relatively short little novel. It also throws in a sinister plot involving kidnapped aliens and a ptsd ridden veteran-turned-lawyer who fights his fears of the aliens by trying to solve this mystery, and falling in love along the way.
Lots of boxes are ticked - lgbt and intersex aliens, inclusivity, a number of PoC characters and some heartfelt and truly hot lovemaking.
What's not to like?!
There are a few editing issues - a number of typos, such as has or as instead of was, but they do not detract from the story.
My criticism would come in the form of one) the length! I wanted this to be muuuch longer so I could better enjoy it - I'm a sucker for slow burns! But that's only a gripe as I prefer giant chunky books.
Having a short novel means it felt a little rushed (and seemed to take place over the course of a few weeks rather than months that I would have preferred), and sometimes the pacing of the love story also felt very fast.
But these are not deal breakers, and I sat and happily devoured this book and would buy it (or more like it from the author) for sure.
Recommended to sci-fi fans that love romance, especially queer sci-fi fans that love alien/human pairings.
It has an interesting world, an earth not that far into our future, with extinct polar bears and tiny ice caps and all of our human frailties and human disregard for our own planet - it paints an Earth that is still full of all our modern conveniences, but there is one slight difference... Aliens.
They came to Earth, and end up in a situation not unlike the massive films District 13 and the amazing novel by R. Lee Smith, Cottonwood, with travel restrictions and lots and lots of xenophobia.
You'd think this would paint a bleak picture, but it doesn't. It remains full of love and hope for our essential selves, and champions inclusivity and being the best soul, be it human or alien, that you can be.
All of this, in a relatively short little novel. It also throws in a sinister plot involving kidnapped aliens and a ptsd ridden veteran-turned-lawyer who fights his fears of the aliens by trying to solve this mystery, and falling in love along the way.
Lots of boxes are ticked - lgbt and intersex aliens, inclusivity, a number of PoC characters and some heartfelt and truly hot lovemaking.
What's not to like?!
There are a few editing issues - a number of typos, such as has or as instead of was, but they do not detract from the story.
My criticism would come in the form of one) the length! I wanted this to be muuuch longer so I could better enjoy it - I'm a sucker for slow burns! But that's only a gripe as I prefer giant chunky books.
Having a short novel means it felt a little rushed (and seemed to take place over the course of a few weeks rather than months that I would have preferred), and sometimes the pacing of the love story also felt very fast.
But these are not deal breakers, and I sat and happily devoured this book and would buy it (or more like it from the author) for sure.
Recommended to sci-fi fans that love romance, especially queer sci-fi fans that love alien/human pairings.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews