Liquid Silver Books, $5.75, ISBN 978-1-59578-482-7
Sci-fi Romance, 2008
Kim Knox’s Unity is a potentially interesting story trying so hard to become an erotic ménage à trois story that much of the fun elements of the story is diluted as a result. Oh well, as long as some people are happy reading this story, I suppose.
I’m not even going to try to make sense of the premise. Alena Petrova Dubov is the Imperial Princess of a place called Radin. Radin needs an Empress, but to become that Empress, Alena must get her dormant genes activated by her “strength-givers” through the act of sex. Don’t ask. Maybe those guys have magic sperm that instantly triggers inactive genes or something. At any rate, one of these guys is her friend Sacha Ivanovich Volkov, and she has no problems with him. She has problems with the other guy chosen to poke it into her – Flight-Captain Vadim Caethes Borodin from the enemy clan.
The story could be interesting if Ms Knox has explored the trust issues that these characters have, but alas, pretty much three-quarter of the story is set in the bedroom. The characters come off as pretty decent types with adequate brainpower and sense of humor, but they spend so much time naked and joined here and there that they may as well be cardboard figures.
Unity, as I’ve said, could have been an interesting story, but the focus is on the sex. Anything potentially interesting in the premise is downplayed to conform to the standard “heroine must have sex for the greater good and finds pleasure in the process” storyline. Needless to say, I’m rather disappointed by the story as a result.
