it was a little bit interesting, but si-fi is not my cup of tea... or coffee, whatever have you.
The Space Opera part was a little wierd.
But a little bit enjoyable even though, but i think that some others will like it more than me.

Normally a huge fan of this genre, but not this book. DNF at about 30%. Needed more world building at the very least.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

I'm sorry to say that this book didn't work for me at all. I skim-read most of it. This is due to several things:

A) Not enough world-building. Military space vessel, espionage, dancing companies, hermaphrodites? I need more context. Who are the different players? How are the different people politically connected? Confusion.
B) Story and characters confusing, not enough for me.
C) Trigger warnings galore. Rape, bondage, forced Piercings, abortion, forced drug consume, drug abuse. This one dude sort of rapes and pierces one of the hermaphrodites against his will, calls him "bitch" even though he's not a woman, and that's okay???? W. T. F.

Especially C was one reason why I chose to skim-read the rest of it. I liked the Sci-Fi setting, I liked the queer characters even though I disliked how the hermaphrodites were sexually exploited and othered by others (don't like the message this sends).

Anybody else had problems with this book or is it just me?

2 Stars

This is an interesting blend of sci-fi space opera and mystery. I was really interested in the alien species and the different cultures presented but the plot didn't grab me from the start like a mystery should which I guess is a matter of personal preference. I really appreciate the effort put in to include a gender and sexually diverse cast of characters, but I was a bit put off by the terminology used to describe the non-binary alien species and some of the dub-con content that never really got addressed. All in all, the story was okay, the world is interesting but I think it would be better if the second book was updated a little bit more for modern sensibilities.

I tried to give this book a chance, I really did. But I figured it won't work for me. I liked the characters, thought they were well-written but I didn't like the plot at all. I guess i don't fit well with plot-driven books.

*Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars
Kinda weird and a bit confusing, yet still an exciting mystery scifi thriller.

Content warnings include: Rape and a wide variety of other unconsensual acts (drugging, piercing, bondage, I'm probably forgetting a lot of others) and it's all kind of brushed off??, murder, lots of drug use, abduction, unplanned pregnancy, abortion, homophobia, racism, abuse of military rank, extremely dysfunctional/abusive/toxic relationship(s), organised crime; mentions of child abuse, loss of parents, torture through burning.

The blurb feels like it was written by someone who only read a vague summary of the book.
For one there were far more protagonists than just Eulio, a dancer, and Beny (he is barely ever called Orosin), a composer who went to a intergalactic military academy, the later of who gets drafted to find a spy under the cover of accompanying his lover on his dance company tour.
There is also Triani, another star dancer with an abundance of dysfuncional habits; Arriad, a teenaged assistant in the dance company who gets sucked into Triani's stardom; and Tyler Rodriguez, the only human protagonist, who is first officer on the military spaceship the dance company tours on and no quite happy with how the captain runs the ship.

The world-building was sufficient for the plot but I wished there had been more of it. The exact cultures and political alliances and so on of and between the different alien species weren't elaborated or introduced in depth, and not really plot relevant. It was a bit of a disappointment - the book would have worked out just fine had everyone been human.

Equally irrelevant to the plot or pretty much anything was the fact that Merculians as a species are hermaphrodites, which here seems to mean that they all have both (human) male and female gonads and sexual characteristics. They are all adressed using he/him pronouns - in passing it's mentioned that this is for ease of translation in the common language and that Merculians themselves have trouble keeping he/she/it apart and don't see themselves as/aren't male (or female), but it honestly just felt super lazy. Singular they is literally right there. Another disappointment, because I love reading about non-human-gender conforming alien species, but it wasn't explored at all.

The writing wasn't always clear and frequently quite confusing. Some of the dialogue felt stilted and often didn't seem to fit together.
I wouldn't say there were too many plot holes, but I also often couldn't figure out how single actions, scenes and characters' decision added up to what was happening or why things were done.
Still, it was quite exciting and I found myself wanting to find out what happens next, even if I didn't always like how things developed.

One of the main things that bothered me was how the substantial amount of abusive behaviour in this book was simply brushed off and remained without consequences. Some of these actions were done by protagonists, and while it wasn't really repeated there was also a serious lack of character development or reflection.

I think this is a rerelease of an already published novel, and in my opinion it could do with another round of editing/rewriting in some parts, just to make things work out more smootly.
In the end it was still an entertaining read.

I thought the world building was very well done. I liked all of the different races that were described, especially because each one felt unique. I also really liked the relationship between Eulio and Ben.

The Danger Dance (Merculians #1) by Caro Soles: This book was a tough one for me. I love the genres of science fiction and fantasy. This one didn't really fit the bill for me. Perhaps I'm not part of the intended audience.

I liked the fact that there was a mixture of alien races involved in the plot. The Merculians were quite an interesting race although I found their self-proclaimed label of "hermaphrodite" difficult to read and feel as though the author should have used "intersex". The use of an outdated term was jarring when I was trying to read as though this book was set in the future. The overuse of endearments like "Baby" and "Sweetie" also pulled me out of a science fiction world of the future.

There are a lot of characters in this book, and they use different variations of their names. It took me a while to get the hang of which character was which and that slowed me down a little. There was a fair amount of intrigue going on aboard the ship. The first officer was one of the most interesting characters and I enjoyed the way Soles wrote about the crew and their interactions.

There are a lot of situations in this book which may be triggering for some readers and I feel that the author should have trigger warnings listed. Amongst other potential triggers: use of outdated language for intersex people, homophobia, coercion, sexual harassment, attempted sexual assault, bigotry, bullying, physical violence, non-consensual sexual encounters, people being drugged against their will and/or knowledge.

Sadly, not a series I would continue reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crossroad Press for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed most of this book as it is very character-driven and that is my thing but I didn't think it was amazing in any way ; I particularly didn't think the writing was anything special.

What I really enjoyed were all the different species and especially the Merculians as they are hermaphrodite. I was a bit surprised by how many (sometimes pretty graphic) sex scenes were in this book but I didn't hate them either.

I did not like the ending of this book as there wasn't much conclusion (I get that there's a sequel but still). Though I liked the plot in some way, it felt a little bit all over the place.

To end a good note, I liked that it was set on a space ship.