🍷🍷🍷.5 #Review of Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon
Crystal's Thoughts
I don't read too many sci-fi/alien romance books, but for some reason this one caught my eye. Ice Planet Barbarians turned out to be a fun, but some times dark, story that was both intriguing and titillating.

Ice Planet Barbarians is the tale of a group of young, human women who have been kidnapped in their sleep by extraterrestrials who plan to sell them across the galaxy. (Human trafficking with aliens.) Georgie Carruthers awakes to find herself packed like cattle in a filthy cargo hold with grotesque creatures looking over her. She soon learns that any sign of disobedience is quickly punished in the most horrific of ways. Trigger warning: Rape. Unwilling to die at the hands of her captors or be sold into slavery, Georgie bands together with her fellow captives to overtake the ship. Unfortunately, as soon as they do the ship crash lands on an ice planet with little hope of survival. Designated the leader of their small group, Georgie, sets off with what little supplies they have to find help. It's not too long before Georgie finds help in a big blue barbarian who takes her on the ride of her life...in more ways than one!

A fellow Floridian, a big blue male who's sole aspiration in life is to please his mate in any and every way possible, and a strange ice planet wrought with perils, what's not to like?! Ice Planet Barbarians was new and different. I enjoyed the author's writing style and world building, I could practically feel the frost on the tips of my eyelashes while reading. Readers are submerged into the action from the first page. There were definitely some bleak moments, a bit gory, a few sad. They were balanced well with humor and romance though. The book also jumps right into the sex before any feelings develop. However, it worked and was pretty dang hawt. Georgie and Vektal were a fun main couple. I liked how they teased each other, got to know one another, and came to care for the other. No one can fault Vektal for his dedication to Georgie either. Vektal is probably one of the sweetest heroes I have read. Can we get a "How to Husband" guide with a special Vektal chapter in it? Haha. Their chemistry was electrifying but it did turn into a whole lot more than that as the book progressed. I also liked Georgie's attitude throughout her ordeal. She was spunky and determined, her adaptability and growth as a character was also great to read.

I would have liked to delve a bit further into the backstory of Vektal's people, expanding on their origins more, as well as what kind of life Georgie was taken from back on earth. For the most part the plot moved at a qood clip, but occasional it slowed down with some redundancies. All is all though, I enjoyed the story. It was full of danger, suspense, sex, love, and adventure. I am looking forward to reading more about the surviving human women, as well as Vektal's tribe. Berkley Books is republishing this previous independently published series, so if you've already read the Ice Planet Barbarians series from Ruby Dixon the only difference is a bit of a clean up to the story as well as an additional epilogue in novella format at the end.

* I received an eARC/e-galley of this book via Netgalley. All opinions in this review are my own.

This review is for the SPECIAL EDITION of the book Ice Planet Barbarians This was my first foray into a more sexually centered romance book and it was nicely done. Just a quick heads up for those that are sensitve to abuse content there is a rape scene in chapter 1 that does not involve the main character or the main love interest. At the end of the book there is an author's note stating that she was going to remove that scene from the special edition so the inclusion of that in chapter 1 may be a misprint of the eGalley version and it will indeed be removed before it is printed and released at the end of November.

The main love interest in this book the whole time was nothing but loving, sweet, and caring for the main character. The only problems arise from cultural understanding and language barrier and the male love interest tries his best to respect the leads' wants and desires. I was pleasantly surprised how kind the male lover was the entire time and how boundaries were always respected. This was a really sweet love story that happens to have lots of sexy times. I am going to track down the rest in this series and read them as well. I highly recommend this book to those that like romance and erotica especially to those that want a very kind and likely lover. That said, this book is for 18+.

Ice Planet Barbarians was the first sci-romance I've ever read. I really enjoyed it, so much so I ended it up reading pretty much the entire series afterwards. Ruby Dixon does a wonderful job with the idea of consent despite a language barrier. There wad never moment where I felt off about reading smutty alien romance, and I think she deserves all the success she has earned the last year!

I would love a graphic novel!

Cover is awesome, book not so much. Ice Planet Barbarians is about a group of women who are abducted by aliens but find themselves dropped off on a strange, cold planet along the way. One woman, Georgie, goes out into this new planet to look for help and finds a 7-foot blue alien. In this alien world, there are very few females and the males instantly know who their soulmates are. So in a crazy turn of events, Georgie is this alien’s soulmates. A lot of alien sex and a weird conclusion. Read it but don’t anticipate an earth shattering read.

I first learned about alien romance years ago when everyone in romancelandia was talking about the Ice Planet Barbarians series. I remember thinking "Why would people read this?" I finally started reading this strange subgenre of romance last year and I've been hooked ever since. Note: I've put a trigger warning at the bottom of my review.

The concept here is familiar — human women get kidnapped by aliens, but these are not the aliens who will be their mates. These are...green and evil aliens. You know, like the emoji 👽 The ship where the women are kept captive crash land on a planet and these evil aliens leave them stranded. This planet is ice cold and there is a small population of blue aliens with horns that live here. One of the girls, Georgie, ventures out in the cold to find help and that is when she meets Vektal, who immediately knows that she's his mate.

Contrary to the other alien romances I've read, the aliens here are not technologically advanced. This planet is still in the stone age period, which shocked me. I didn't see that coming. I had automatically assumed the barbarians would be technologically advanced, just like evil green aliens that had kidnapped the women. Moreover, unlike other alien romances, the barbarians here don't immediately learn the humans' language. So there's a huge language barrier between Vektal and Georgie that needs to be overcome. Honestly, Ruby Dixon did a marvelous job writing the romance and the world building is strong. It's amazing how Vektal and Georgie manage to communicate with each other even though they speak different languages. It's also interesting how in this case, the humans are the aliens, not the barbarians. I also really liked the backstory of the barbarians. And honestly? The possibilities are endless! I'm so excited to see where this series goes!

There are a lot of layers to this scifi romance. The storyline itself is super interesting. The ending was a bit rushed, but the romance was satisfying. Now that they are finally safe and secure, I wonder how the human ladies will adapt to living in what is basically the stone age. I can't wait to read more!! I already downloaded book 2 LOL oops.

TW: rape and sexual assault (not between the hero and heroine)

Ummmmm I love love loved this book and this series has been so highly addictive! I’m so excited by the new cover and hope all of these books get a glow up!

I'm addicted to the story, the characters and the unbelievable description of the blue warrior like aliens. I must say I do love the new covers and will be picking up a physical copy before it sells out.

I wanted to try out this read since I had been seeing it for a couple years on booktube and now all over book tok. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, going in I didn't have a clue but was worried about the page count. I have to say it was a solid 3. 5 star read for me. I enjoyed the story, and how the pace of it was, even with all love scenes, and I mean there are a ton, to a point that it started to take away from the story. It reminds me a lot of Stargate SG-1 which to this day is still one of my favorite shows.

This was an interesting read! Not quite what I was expecting but I had to read because of Bookstagram. While the concept was interesting, there were parts that had me questioning Georgie sanity, but she made the best of her situation.

It is full of steam and not for the faint of heart. I’ll probably be reading the next in the series.

Also, I LOVE the new covers!!

After hearing so many amazing things about this book, I was wanting to give it a shot. The sci/fi element is outside of my reading comfort zone, especially when it comes to alien/human relationships. While I managed to read the whole book, it was a struggle. Not saying that the writing isn't well done or that the story itself is terrible, it's just not my cup of tea.

Yes, it's the sexy blue alien book that TikTok is crazy about! As per usual, I don't find the first-person POV to be remotely sexy and I don't like the fated mates trope, BUT I can fully understand the narrative appeal of this series. I've read too many romances lately where the bar was practically on the floor and the hero just barely manages to clear it. Yes! This woman deserves an alien husband who loves her at first sight and whose sole desire is to make sure she's happy and satisfied! She isn't happy living with his family in the literal only society he's ever known? Okay, he'll give up his position as chief and leave his entire world behind, that's fine, she gets what she wants! (He doesn't actually end up having to do that, but he was fully willing, and that's the important part.)

Sex scenes aside, this is actually a really exciting scifi thriller as well. I don't know if there's a lot of folks looking for "scifi thriller" who are willing to overlook all the sex scenes with imaginative alien anatomy, but if that's you: you can skim the sex scenes and read for the plot, no problem. It won't be a long book but it'll still be fun!

The Berkley special edition of this book is almost 50% bonus content, just FYI. Between that and the cover (which I think is lovely) I think they're doing a good job of making sure it's worth paying for the book in paper when most people up till now have been reading it on Kindle Unlimited.

The hype is real. This is just pure nonsensical sexy fun and doesn't need to be anything more. I have a feeling we'll be seeing more reprints of this series in the future.

This book was so fun and sexy!! I’ve recommended it to my friend and we’re both marathoning the entire series together.

I was curious after watching one of Cait's videos on it. Uhm....no thank you. It's not my usual thing, but I was curious, alright? This isn't for me. This is for people who like After.

I hadn't heard about this book before I read it but now that I have I understand what the buzz is all about. I enjoyed this crazy tale of girls kidnapped from Earth by space slavers and ending up on a planet inhabited by big blue barbarians. Pure escapism and some realism (the savage way the slavers treat the captives) make this book hard to put down. Then when we meet the barbarians we're in for another surprise. If you like steamy paranormal romance, you'll like Ice Planet Barbarians.

Look, if you are looking for hard SF, this probably isn't the place to go. That said, if you want a fun erotic adventure with plenty of Star Wars references, sexy blue aliens whose bodies seem to be made to please human women, and an element of fated mates, you've come to the right place. Just know what you're getting into when you start reading and you won't be disappointed!

We had the opportunity to read the special edition published by Berkley It includes two follow-up novellas and we appreciated getting Georgie and Vektal's "full story." We were also pleased to read in the author's note that this edition removed a graphic rape scene. Plus that illustrated cover is super cute!

I thought this was going to be different than the original book, but it’s not. Still, I loved rereading it and am excited to get this version.

I liked this book quite a bit. The main characters were very likeable and I really liked how he listened to her. While he definitely went all caveman, he still took her thoughts and feelings into account. It was like a lot of other books in the series without some of the angst of the characters being super stubborn for no reason.

This was pretty much as advertised, for better or worse. A group of 22-year-old women (mostly American) have been abducted by hostile aliens and are on their way somewhere to be sold. The ship has trouble and the aliens leave their human cargo on a nearby ice planet until they can return for them. In the meantime, the women decide to escape and take their chances on the snowy planet. Our narrator, Georgie, goes to look for help and encounters a giant blue alien who seems very taken with her.

I read the new, special edition release of this book. There's an author's note at the end explaining that she made some small changes, including removing a description of sexual assault near the beginning. (Other reviewers mentioned this scene as being graphic and unnecessary to the plot, so I would recommend the special edition if you can find it.) It also included an epilogue and a novella about Georgie and Vektal, rounding out their love story.

There's some steamy content here, but also a mostly-non-consensual encounter stemming from a misunderstanding. It doesn't seem to bother Georgie, but some readers may be triggered.

The plot and writing are good, not great. There are some unbelievable coincidences that solve story problems. I was a little uncomfortable with how the primitive ("barbarian") native people on the planet were portrayed, although when we see things from Vektal's perspective, it's clear that his thinking is somewhat more sophisticated than Georgie sees him at first. Also they sound very much like the Na'vi from Avatar, minus the horses.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

Look, I don't know how to review this book, it is just a super hard book to review because this is unlike anything I have ever read.

Am I happy I jumped on this bandwagon? Yes
Am I going to read the next book in the series? Yep
Is this book full of ridiculousness? Yes, for sure
Did it bring me joy? Yeah, a lot actually

I think the author summed up the books best when she said ""Not every book has to be a Pulitzer-winning thinkpiece. I've always read escapist, happy fiction, so that's what I want to write, period."

And let's be honest, we could all use some escapist, happy fiction right now.