Emily M’s Reviews > Carnival > Status Update

"He was not losing Michelangelo. Not with long-elusive dreams about to settle on his hand like butterflies...He almost didn't recognize the emotion. It was hope. And it was also hope settling into his gut with a painful chill. He'd forgotten what it was like having something to lose. But apparently he hadn't forgotten how much it hurt to lose it."

Aww...

Hmm. So, this isn't a romance, exactly (though I am very much rooting for Angelo and Vincent). But romance writers should take note, because you can't get a better answer to "Arrgh! Why don't they just TALK to each other??" than "Because the thing they aren't talking about is...treason."

Our boys discover why humans have historically always kept pets:

"Michelangelo looked up, his fingers moving in the sleeping animal's ruff, and gave Vincent a quizzical smile. The relaxed vulnerability around his eyes was more than Vincent could bear. He had to work for that, and nobody else got to see it, ever."

(The khir, presumably: "Aww, yeah. Right there...")

"There's only five of them" Shafaquat said. "Good odds," Pretoria said. She sounded as if she meant it...Pretoria's right hand arched over her weapon, a gunslinger pose..."Run," Pretoria said...Her grin over her shoulder was no more than a quick flash, but it silenced him...Lesa Pretoria had a reputation.

Oh, here we go! EB, you'd better not cut away from this...

Gosh, the layers of intrigue! I hope I'm keeping track properly.
At last count, there appear to be three characters plotting something that is in direct opposition to their official job...but I can't tell yet if they are in opposition to each other or accidentally on the same side.

"They had not been lied to. The men were gentle; when one leaned, moved, spoke, the other mirrored. She sensed it in the energy between them, their calm failure to react on any visceral level to her smile...These weren't quite like the gentle males of her acquaintance, though. They were wary, feral...Without women in a position to protect them, gentle males would find rough going..."
Hmm, well, 90% correct, Lesa!

Wow, New Amazonia is fascinating/i>! It is appropriately named, being both tropical and a matriarchy somewhat reminiscent of the one in the Le Guin story 'The Matter of Segri'. But - probably because men are more integrated into the society, even if subordinate - all the ladies are trained duelists (nice). Also: semi-sentient shapeshifting houses, and an alien race that isn't actually gone!

Ooh, intriguing start!
Poetic language, a planet called 'New Amazonia' with a mysterious energy source, "Governors" (possibly AIs?) unleashed by radical environmentalists that killed off most of Earth's northern hemisphere populations, and a pair of exes/forbidden lovers with evident chemistry and odd talents setting up to do some spy shit.
Yep, let's do this!