Reuel Shatar, the handsome Governor of Pyrali and its three moons, is noble to his galactic core and duty bound to produce the next ruler of the Alliance. His choice is to blackmail a beautiful dissident into his mating chamber or have the House of Shatar fall into disgrace. Christa Kirklan is as stubborn as her Earthling heritage and as unpredictable as a cosmic storm. Faced with exile to a frigid asteroid for her treasonous dialogue, or marriage to the man who represents everything she hates, Christa reluctantly chooses marriage. She finds a way to voice her discontentment with the empire's prejudice and archaic social culture by fulfilling Reuel's desire and putting an Earthling on the future throne of the galaxy.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SF and romance,
By
This review is from: The Alliance (Paperback)
I've never understood some of these romances where the conflict between the man and woman is so artificial as to be laughable. Stories where the woman is a spoiled brat who heaps abuse on the man, or where the man is so dominating that one expects him to club the little woman and drag her by the hair back to his cave just make me wonder why anyone would want to get into a relationship with that kind of toxic person.
The conflict in "The Alliance" developed from a situation that "felt" real, and the characters were not mindlessly combative with each other, but acted consistently throughout, even as they were growing and developing within the constraints of the story. Even though Reuel starts out thinking he can thoughtlessly dominate the women in his life, he soon begins to realize that domination isn't necessarily emotionally fulfilling. (Hey! He has human emotions! Imagine that!) Christa is a strong female character in that she logically sees that she must compromise in a situation she can't change, and realizes that not only is the hero an admirable man in many ways, but also that haranguing the hero only makes him more resistant to change. (Personally, when someone starts shouting at me and telling me I'm wrong, I tend to dig in my heels!) My favorite moment in the book is when Christa tells Reuel that she is bored, and he is honestly surprised that the mere fact of being his wife isn't fulfilling her. Frankly, I, too, would like to be pampered and have people wait on me hand and foot for a while, just as a change of pace, but I can see that it would certainly get boring after a short time, particularly if you are used to thinking and doing. Although I really enjoy SF romance, many authors are good at either the SF part or the Romance part, but not both. Romance writers tend to have strange concepts about what SF is. Weird words describing things and awkward descriptions of "alien" things tend to jar me out of the world of the story and make it difficult to grok the romance. SF writers who try to write romance tend to write an SF story, then, when their editor tells them to add romantic interest, they add a relationship that reads as the afterthought that it is. I like to have both a good SF story and a good romance. I know it can be done, because a few authors have managed to do it. In this sense, "The Alliance" is among the few that smoothly combine both elements. (The only correction I'd make is to call people from Earth "Terrans" - "Earthling" sounds so 1950-ish!) Finally, I really like the title - "The Alliance" is the name of the federation in which the story takes place, but it can also mean "The Alliance" between two people for the benefit of others. Very sophisticated.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
not as good as True Blood,
This review is from: The Alliance (Paperback)
A bit hackneyed in the woman railing against her "fate" with very little give on the part of the male with sex overcoming all impediments and forced exposure leading to love. Towards the end a more "meeting of equals" does occur but it took too long to get there, in my opinion (two-thirds of the book). The story line is the relationship. Regardless, it was interesting for its depiction of the larger society. Not as interesting as True Blood where the characters are depicted on a more equal footing with plot and characters equally prevalent and each moves the other along.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An intensive and intelligent futuristic romance,
By
This review is from: The Alliance (Paperback)
Due to an infection, Lord Reuel Shatar, governor of the planet Pyrali, cannot have children with a woman of his own species. As a result, he feels duti-bound to find a woman from another race, even though he doesn't feel too comfortable with the idea of having to deal with a woman who is likely to be a lot less submissive and pliant than the women he's used to. Christa Kirklan belongs to the descendants of an earthling colony ship that crash-landed on Pyrali. They were allowed to stay and settle, but centuries later, they still don't have the same rights as the other races that are members of the Aliance. When Christa holds a passionate speech to the ruling council and is arrested, Lord Reuel's advisor has her checked and presents his findings: Genetically she's a perfect match for Reuel. So despite some misgivings, Lord Reuel decides to "do his duty" and marry the fiery earthling - whether she wants to or not! He blackmails her with a choice between banishment to a frigid asteroid and marriage to him. She agrees, not just because of the blackmail but because she thinks that as the wife of the most powerful man on the planet she can help her people. Both feel attracted to each other almost from the start, but their different cultures and expectations lead to clashes. Will the two headstrong people overcome their differences and learn to admit their feelings for each other?
Just as "Whispers in the stars", this novel is another great futuristic romance in which Waddell develops characters with great depth, an interesting society and a lot of erotic tension. I definitely enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who's not so much looking for sci-fi action, but a lot of atmosphere, and who wants to really be taken to another culture and the conflicts that arise between people that come from very different backgrounds and have to work at overcoming their differences in order to find happiness and love. A great book, one of the best in the genre.
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