First off I really enjoyed the overall premise. It is full of the whole ideology of a sexually suppressed society of women - whom basically go crazy at the sign of cock. For me I found that hilariously enjoyable, but there were some points where it got a bit odd to me. If you aren't someone who's into that, then just know that this book isn't for you - for me I liked that premise.
The other thing is that this is not a standalone, it ends on a bit of an odd part - but the author added in an excerpt to the next which...was good but - just forewarning.
Steam is there - it does have some kinks, it's not bdsm - or even mild in my opinion, it's just a choking kink. And the FL is clearly into it and has asked for it. I'd rate the steam pretty medium...maybe medium high?
Instalust is between the two leads (and the other guy) - but I would say in the romance department it's lacking. I don't think that's a minus, however the relationshp is clearly stemmed there. And honestly based on how Thuliak has treated Eve after her care in his ship...he just has a different type of "love" to her. It's not him being an alphahole at all...but... I'm very confused with how the name of Eve is done.
This sort of goes into why I'm not putting it into a full 5 which is
- Confusion/inconsistency with what Airlock Eve's name...is supposed to be
- Leads sometimes has some weird character moments
- Lore isn't fully explored, so it does make it a bit hard to follow with the world of Eden itself - and how it's survived. There's enough for me to guess as a reader, but then at times...confused since it's not explained too. Excuse could be that it's just for the future books though.
The society of women basically have their names all the same - but are categorized by their job. In this case our female lead's name is "Airlock" Eve.
I'm out of touch with what Airlock Eve feels about this name, since it sounds like she doesn't like being called "Airlock" and wants to be called Eve. She's even asked Thuliak to not call her that - but he continues on to call her Airlock. All the chapters are named in her POV as Airlock too, so as a reader I felt that was a growing tension - which made sense - of Airlock Eve to Thuliak.
There's been a slight running joke of calling her Breeder Eve too, but that sort of got canned. (Thankfully)
Now near the end the other guy calls her Eve, and Thuliak has also apparently called her Eve publicly without Airlock Eve being aware? And it sounds like that was a plus on the other guy's end since she thanked him for calling her Eve, unlike Thuliak who did not.
So as a reader near the end I'm thinking that the next book would be her being called...Eve??? But the sneak peak excerpt confused me...AND since that's just a prelude to the next book, I cannot use that as a part of affecting my review. However I'm super confused regardless at the end of Book 1, on this naming stance.
For the second guy Tschenkar - there's not too much for me to have an opinion on him...besides the fact that I'm still just confused that Thuliak choose him as second. In the earlier part of the book he offers that to Tschenkar...but I'm still just really confused how it got to that point with them being rivals. I understand the respect, but it's not clear to me at all still. On top of that I felt that it's a bit ...unfair to Airlock Eve, since although it's been told to her that she'll have another --- there's no real explanation from Thuliak about it much.
Thuliak does have some moments where he's super understanding and respectful, but at times also very mandhandling and such (to a further extreme)
ANYWAYS Tschenkar doesn't have much and shows up near the end in terms of being with Airlock Eve - but they don't get it on.
I enjoyed how long this book was, but again there's SO much lore and I'd love to read more. I'm definitely curious to pick up the next books, since even though I listed the parts that I wasn't the happiest with --- I enjoyed this book for at least what it was. It's a fun lighthearted read that I liked.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.