Icarus, Burning

by aladyinbooks

“I could devour you,” Samiel says gently, and Jay can feel the heat of his words sinking into his translator. “Won't you let me, pretty human? I'd make it ever so good for you.” His voice is intimate, filthy, that of a lover; of a predator that has caught its prey.

Or:

Wing Commander Jason Lane is doing his best. He's got a political coup to stop; a peace treaty to negotiate; half a planet out to kill him and, oh yes, Samiel.

Always, Samiel.

Genres: M M Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy, LGBT, Fan Fiction, Romance

678 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[trice (semi ia) · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS IS SO CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED. after a year, between hundreds of books, i still remember their names. samiel tremark. jason lane. kate hird. they are simply so unforgettable, it is fucking insane. the political plots, the incredible worldbuilding. a selfish, determined, beautiful romance.

i'm not even lying when i say the writing is literal poetry:

He feels drunk on the sound of Samiel; on the way his voice throbs, low, in the room. There is possessive intent there; a beautiful cacophony of desire that makes Jay pant, open and desperate into the still air of the room.

"Say you'll let me keep you," he says again. His voice a hushed, beautiful thing that winds its way into Jay's mind, his soul, and burns even as it soothes.

The warm tan of Samiel's skin, the sharp cut of his hip bones, the swoop of his collarbones - all these are poetry. But where art is too pretty to touch, too neat, here Jay can smear desperate fingers down the line of Samiel's breastbone.

Samiel is intent, watching him, and the soft, terrible part of Jay that is responding to it, to the low hum of mine simmering in Samiel's eyes and the wicked curve of his lips.

it's so fricking gorgeous and i love the characters so much; genuinely one of the best pieces of work i've ever read and will ever read. it deserves so many more kudos ugh. it's free on ao3, the most worthy sacrifice my eyes have ever, ever made, honestly.

(edit: typo)

[Evelyn Bella (there WILL be spoilers) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a long (LONG) tale of one MC being Team I would sacrifice myself to save you and the other being Team I would sacrifice everything and everyone so you don't have to. So, so worth it.

Not a perfect rating because (while it works once), the merry go round of the two main MCs having repeated issues because one just won't TALK to the other gets old.

I could feel Samiel's frustration. Look, how many times do I have to tell you that I'm a grown man who doesn't need saving?

I've not seen an MC with a savior complex this big. I love Jason as much as the next Samiel but the main character syndrome is HEAVYYYYYYYY with him. Yeeish.

This would have been half the length if Jay got his head out of his ass quicker but noooooo. There's such a thing as going so far past self-sacrifice that it veers into patronizing.

[Katharina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the worldbuilding <3. I still cant fathom that this is for free on AO3. It should be a book i can put on my shelve ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Mir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nov 6/23 Update: Upgraded to 5 stars because I cannot stop thinking about this.

4.5 Stars

FOR FREE?! Woooowwww. This was so damn good! I only wish that Samiel and Jay had more time together - I felt like they were apart for too much of the book. Honestly, other than that it was just fantastic. Highly recommend.

[Valery Vasquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

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I don’t have the WORDS to describe how much I love this story, this universe, these characters! Wow. For not one second did I have a clue where this story was going (though I’m happy to say I was able to guess 2 of the big reveals) and I’m so glad for that. To be able to experience this journey and be shocked, angry, sad, happy and to feel all the emotions I could. This story is so intricately written and all these characters have reasons and motivations and complications that just make sense and it all works together to end up on this beautiful story. We have an intense but really loving main romance, flawed but lovable characters, MVP side characters (really main characters who am I kidding) (Hird and Vennedred literally are the best), great action, well written political intrigue, a shocking mystery like this has EVERYTHING YOU COULD EVER WANT TO READ. I could gush on and on but instead imma go read the next in this series. Thank you so much author for writing this, this was amazing.

[Mies · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing, the worldbuiding, the characters, even the side characters were so good. The only thing that I didn't like was that everything relationshipwise between Jay and Samiel happened in the first 30/40% of the book. The rest explores the souldbond between the two. This was to be slowburn, it was not. I expected more courting/flirting but instead it went straight to fucking.

[Jaseryx · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even tho this didn't quite gel together, I was pretty invested once the political machinations really got going. The reveals were like a good telenovela and felt really juicy, even though there were usually clumsy attempts at foreshadowing in the chapters before the reveals. The romance dialogue was always missing something, I think she tried the technique where they never finish their sentences and it allows both parties to assume differently from one another but we never really pulled it off because we didn't have strong enough characterization for Samiel. I struggled with how simple Samiel's character came across and I really wished this was dual POV. When he finally pulled off the rescue near the end of the book, I was seriously cheering for him finally having some sort of agency. Speaking of the end of the book, I was extremely pissed at the self sacrificing that Jay did, all based on hearsay and assumptions. I get feeling backed into a corner, but even being in a gilded cage gives you a chance to get out of it if you are together, while his choice literally cut Samiel out of the picture entirely. The solution that Samiel came up with still ended up with him having zero chance of a relationship with his father, and basically neutered these two previously very powerful characters into some sort of retirement in hiding that used none of their skills and disregarded their fundamental characters as established. It left a very bad taste in my mouth. Overall, I think this had promise. The political intrigue was interesting and complex, yet we still had to be told the answers most of the time, kind of like a Sherlock Holmes story. There was a lot of waiting anxiously which can be unpleasant to read. I liked the concept of the fated mates/soul bond, but I had issues with how that almost never really allowed Samiel to be more than a side character in the relationship. Also, the fact that they were sirens was used almost not at all, their powers honestly may as well have not existed since it served almost no purpose except for some admittedly florid description of how nice Samiel sounded to Jay. Overall, this could definitely use a big refinement edit, since it is too long and needed more foreshadowing to not give the telenovela feel. I personally needed more character establishment, probably from the Catta and Mas-Hain days, for me to believe them in the present day. That and how disappointing I found the ending has knocked this down to 3.5 stars for me, most because I'm mad about the lost potential here.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent mix of sci-fi, politics, and romance. Also, sirens and soul bonds.

Plot (Story / Pacing / Ending): 4/5
Characters (Characters / Development): 4/5
Writing (Prose / Dialogue / Style): 5/5
Other (Enjoyment / Read Pace / Worldbuilding / Etc): 5/5

[stargazing_is_gay · Rating 4 out of 5]

DNF, stopped at 45%. Samiel and Jay didn't work for me as a couple, although I love their personalities. The political stuff wasn't enough to keep me reading, unfortunately. I'm hoping someday I'll finish the book.

[penny storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up bc this one I KNOW I’ll be thinking about and can’t wait to read the side stories and 2nd in the series.

[Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most incredible books I've ever read - I'd highly encourage you to read this on the AO3 site where it is published.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

[Nephamor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this on Ao3 and I'm here to say that if I was able to buy this book I would.

[Marlobo ♥ epilogues · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[a · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Valentine]

Usually wouldn't log AO3 stories here but this is a full-length original work. I just love political machinations in space :')

[Eviseek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one, 8/10

[cupid! · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Good plot

[Kirstine Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

ETA: According to the MM Romance Books sub on Reddit, there are mutual spinoffs. Remember to look them up next time around!

It's hard to believe that this brilliant space opera about Jason and Samiel is a free story from AO3. Thank you, aladyinbooks!

Jason Lane is a human, a pilot, fighter and diplomat. Samiel Tremark is a siren, an elite fighter and bodyguard to his queen. Their two races have been at war for many years, and we meet them for the first time during a diplomatic mission where four humans and four sirens are supposed to live together and learn from one another. The mission goes to shit, and from there we follow the two guys over several years as their feelings wax and wane, and things go boom around them - both literally and figuratively.

[Tana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. Listen, this novel has no business being this good given that it is available FOR FREE on AO3 and was written on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Would it benefit from professional editing? Yes, HOWEVER it's still miles ahead of some of the works I've read in the past few years that ARE professionally edited. Icarus, Burning is a space opera with action and intrigue. I found myself again reading a story built around a trope that doesn't do much for me (fated mates), but the schemes, fights, and tension kept me coming back. What a fun read!

[বোন রোদ · Rating 4 out of 5]

8.8/10

It did pretty much everything it tried to do, amazingly. Political intrigue? Yes. Romance? Yes. Worldbuilding? Yes.

It's just such a fantastically well-rounded book. Read it. It's free. And it's better than almost every other paid book I've ever read.

[erraticdemon]

This was an original fic but it was super long so I want it to count towards my Goodreads books