Ruvane is a spacer who transports cargo for a living. He is one of the best, because of his speed, honesty, and willingness to work with those who are a bit on the unsavory side. On one of his runs he transports cargo for the alien Skirit. As a reward for his speedy delivery he gets to spend the night with Etarin, one of Skrit’s eunuch slaves. Etarin is like no one that Ruvane has every met and quickly gets under his skin. So much so that Ruvane continues to take jobs from the lizard-like alien in order to be with Etarin. They vow to be together even if Ruvane has to steal Etarin from his owner.

Ruvane is an interesting character; he is honest, almost to a fault, until the temptation of Etarin is thrown in his path. From very disparate backgrounds the two still manage to find common ground and love. While the story was well written I felt that it was, at times, too short to truly convey the depth of emotion that would make a man risk everything for love. Etarin is a eunuch and at times it felt like he was still a child in mind as well as body. This presented me with a few qualms. Often he was almost too boy like and that disturbed me, especially when it came to the sensual scenes. Etarin, as a born slave, has no other frame of reference for the emotions that are being thrown at him and I didn’t feel the connection between the two that would have made this a great story.

Reviewed by: Hayley