Herz des Imperiums

What I liked most about the book was the action scenes which were very well written as well as the world building and mystery plot. It was a very well plotted novel, the only issues I had were with the characters.
Initially it was pretty difficult to get past Jainan's personality and inner dialogue. He's obviously a product of 5 years of emotional and possibly even sexual abuse but over 300 pages of him jumping at each little thing or totally shutting down was frustrating. He shows no initiative to speak about his issues; he is very meek and nervous, but instead of voicing concerns or fighting for himself, he just shuts down. Nearly everything we learn about his past as the reader is from Kiem finding out from 3rd parties or guessing so not totally reliable. I personally have a hard time with empathy so instead of making the character more realistic and making me sympathize with him, I quickly got to the point that I wanted to tell him to go to therapy or get over it. Many of his issues, besides the physical from Taam which aren't known to the reader after 100s of pages in, seemed to stem simply from misunderstanding or assumptions or simply a lack of confidence on Jainan's part and that's really what made it so hard to understand.
I did start to like him more in the latter half of the book when his abuses weren't a big mystery and he started to get more comfortable around and with Kiem, plus his interactions with the other characters.
Kiem himself is a lot more straightforward and he was immensely patient and accommodating to Jainan with little to no feedback. When they finally do show intimacy, it seems almost like a Stockholm Syndrome reaction than genuine attraction and was pretty unexpected at that point.

Overall, a good study in world building and interesting scifi tech, but not really a book I'd recommend unless you have a very empathetic personality.

CW: past domestic violence

I still remember how excited I was when I first saw the cover and premise of this book and couldn't wait to get to it. Now that I'm done, I can just say that I have a wide smile due to how much I enjoyed it.

When someone says that a book reads like fanfiction, I find that to be a compliment because fanfics have been the ones that have gotten me through the year from hell. The writing in this book does resemble that, being very easy to read and accessible. It's a space opera but the world building isn't too complicated, the author giving us just enough information to understand the political intrigue. There are unexpected twists and betrayals and lots of political maneuvering that makes it a very interesting read that'll keep you engaged. We have some very beloved fanfic tropes like arranged marriage, only a single bed, the unlikely couple getting stranded and bonding over it and also lots of miscommunication and yearning because of it. And one of the most fascinating parts of this world is how normalizingly queer it is - gender is chosen by every individual and they can present themselves as whatever they want using symbols on their person, and relationships between any genders are just part of life. It's just so lovely to read more stories like this where homophobia and gender binaries don't exist.

But the strength of this book is definitely the characters. Kiem is kind of an insignificant Royal who is thrust into an arranged marriage in a very short notice while Jainan, who is from a vassal kingdom doesn't have much choice either. While Kiem is kind, charming and capable of talking himself into and out of any situation despite being not at all political savvy, Jainan is more reserved, thoughtful, slightly anxious and thinks many times before even uttering a word. They are definitely opposites, which means the attraction is inevitable. While there was a lot of communication between them for a while which made me quite tense about what was gonna happen, it was also so lovely to see them slowly become reliant on each other and then able to talk about their feelings. I was literally sobbing with happiness seeing them get together and then work with each other to figure out all the mysteries. The ending was particularly very amusing and I was full of joy seeing the proceedings play out.

Even the side characters are quite interesting and each has their own arc. I especially loved Kiem's assistant Bel who was a total badass with an interesting backstory and was such a supportive figure throughout the mystery solving. The Auditor and Agent Rakal also turned out to be fascinating despite me doubting their motivations. Gairad was a sweet addition while the Emperor was kinda subtly funny. But it was Taam, Jainan's dead husband who felt like a constant presence despite not being alive and the author did such a great job creating and solving all the entanglements.

To conclude, I'm so happy that I got to read such a cute and lovely romance early on in the year. This is such an easy read in the space opera genre but the author balances the love story, the politics and the murder mystery perfectly - making this a very memorable book. It made me giddy and emotional and I couldn't have asked for anything more. I highly recommend this one, especially if you like queer worlds and sweet romances.

1. This is more a SciFi with a side of romance. And not more romance, less SciFi as it has been advertised on every freaking social media! The romance is not overpowering. It's there but there's a lot more stuff going on too.
   
   2. Stop describing every gay book as RWRB! What part of this was like RWRB? Literally nothing was like that. I've now read two books that were described as RWRB that could not be far from it (and were much better).
   
   Okay now onto the likes:
   
   * Kiem was an immediate favorite. Loved how he interacted with people and how he was aghast on hearing all the crap Jainan went through.
   
   * Jainan needs all the hugs in the world.
   
   * Thank God Taam was already dead or I would've killed him myself. The Tau Field part was agonizing.
   
   * Bel and Gairad were good side characters who got a personality.
   
   * Kiem and Jainan together were amazing! Loved them. I also liked how we got to know stuff about them gradually rather than all at once.
   
   * The flybug crash part was a fanfic

This was the January 2021 Illumicrate box. I had heard some interesting buzz so I was curious to see what it was like. Unfortunately, it ultimately did not quite work for me. The basic premise has you following the political marriage the son of the emperor of a small planetary conglomerate. This has been done to try and secure the blessing of a larger galactic power, to recognise the Empire as being fully formed and willing, and thus protect it against other more powerful conglomerates in the Galaxy. I can see where the references to A Memory Called Empire come in - there are some similar vibes to the political intrigue, and I did really enjoy this aspect of it. The idea of being a smaller power within a connected galaxy is an intriguing one and the political machinations of the various sects within the power were well realised.

Where this book fell flat to me was on the other central pillar of its story telling, and that is the romance side. Essentially this is a romance story with Sci-Fi politics on the side. I am not a big romance fan, and this book has not changed my mind on this. The idiotic emotional chasing around that the too main leads do is just frustrating and detracts hugely from the interesting political stuff that had been set up. I can see how this might work for people who like romance, but for me it just became annoying.

Highly recommended! I am second guessing my ratings on most of the books I read recently because this one was sooooooo good!! I want to give it more starsssss ✨

I do have a strong SFF bias though. The world building was excellent. It felt established and complex. I also kind of have a thing for bureaucracy. It creates a good structure to work around or work through/against. I want to see more in this universe. Space worlds like this give so many options for more stories. I'm jealous and want to write about other planets too.

A very well-written and, in the end, enjoyable story that is also one of the most stressful books I've read in a long time. The first third of the story is basically Anxiety 101. This perfectly captures the mind of someone who cannot escape the confines of their head and experiences. Although this book hinges on frustrating mis-communication, this does, at least, makes the eventual release that much more cathartic.

When Imperial Prince Taam dies unexpectedly, his widower Jainan is rushed into an arranged marriage with Taam's cousin, Kiem, to keep the treaty between the Iskat Empire and the planet Thean. However, Jainan isn't sure that Taam's death was an accident, and with Kiem's help, starts investigating into the crash. As their feelings for each other start to grow, they must also deal with preventing interplanetary war and keeping their treaty intact, while also keeping their lives.

I loved loved loved this book. The romance was so fun and heartfelt, and was my main draw to the book. I was gushing constantly while listening to it. The plot was interesting, although a little complex. The politics were a little hard for me to follow. This is probably partially because I was more interested in the character relationships. However, I was able to follow along enough to stay interested and entertained. The last portion of the book I was hanging onto the edge of my seat while the plot spiraled out of control, and I loved every second. This book was very well thought out and the most delicious of slow burns. I recommend this to everyone. (Please check the TW first.)

TW: past domestic abuse, interrogation, mental torture, murder, rape

Another fun book that I really enjoyed reading although some of the things about the world and the politics stuff I didn't care to understand, since it was too much for my poor brain. Some things in this book did bother me but the main thing is just that it didn't explain or show much of the character development in detail.. i also feel like this book is more about the plot than the characters, so that's fine but that would make some things hm a bit of an issue. the fact that Jainan is just coming out of an abusive relationship and enters an arranged marriage right after - well, he recovered rather quick from that? But like I understand that was not the main focus (or is it?) but it makes the abuse and all the trauma from such an abusive relationship like a plot device.. not sure if I'm really okay with that..

This was one that once I started it, I didn't want to stop. Unfortunately, dumb things like work or showering got in the way. Lame.

Anyway, I loved it. It's very palace intrigue-y and political so if that's your jam like me, you should definitely check it out. There's a lot of heart too with Kiem and Jainan's friendship and then romance. Two very good boys!

Sci-fi with a side of romance. Jainan's husband Taam dies in an accident, and so he is quickly married off to Taam's cousin Kiem to maintain the treaty between their two planets. Turns out it's not an accident and a murder-mystery ensues.

There's a bunch of space politics, although Jainan and Kiem are both super bad at politics and just go around revealing all their findings to anyone important (including the Emperor) which kind of seems like political suicide and/or very dangerous.

Regardless it's refreshing to be able to read a romance novel that's not completely trashy, especially in sci-fi (is it just me or is romance is more common in fantasy?) so this was a pleasant read.