Review by Poledra -- The Bonding by Imogen Keeper
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Poledra
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- Latest Review: "The Bonding" by Imogen Keeper
Review by Poledra -- The Bonding by Imogen Keeper
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Bonding" by Imogen Keeper.]
2 out of 4 stars
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The hero of The Bonding by Imogen Keeper is Tam, a member of a warrior race that had been ravaged by a biological attack that left the people of his planet on the brink of extinction. He and his people are so overwhelmingly virile their semen is used as a medication.
The heroine, Nissa, is a dainty princess who struggles to balance matters of the mind and matters of the heart. Their first encounter propels the first half of the plot arc and Nissa's internal conflict. Nissa's entire character is dependent on men, whether it be Tam or her father, and their expectations and demands of her.
Nissa is rescued from certain death by Tam, which fosters a new relationship on the two as they return to Tam's home. The story spends a great deal of time with the characters as they wait for the bureaucracy of his people to decide what to do with Nissa and the problems she brings with her. It's not until chapter seven that we start to see any friction in the new couple's relationship and chapter nine is when any story action starts and the second plot arc begins.
The point of view is third person limited, but it's shallow. We are given some of the characters' thoughts and feelings but nothing really of depth until two-thirds into the novel. There's a bit of telling rather than showing with regards to their feelings, especially in the first arc.
The characters had some development, Nissa more than Tam, in that she made decisions for herself by the end rather than just following along with what she was told. Tam rarely changed throughout the work, which left him feeling flat. I think the lack of story surrounding the characters falling in love contributes to this flatness. If we saw Tam and Nissa share more personal stories instead of just knowing because of the Bond, he might have felt more alive.
We're given tidbits of information about each of our main character's respective pasts, but only the barest highlights. Since The Bonding's main focus is on the relationship between Tam and Nissa, we aren't given very much in the way of subplots. Only the hinting at Tam's best friend Ajax and the relationship we start to see develop with Feola. We're left with a whetted appetite for their story which is the focus of the next book in the series. Aside from only this next relationship, there really isn't enough overarching world-building to make me want to read the next book. There's the opposing warrior race, the Vestige, that are the background bad guys, but there's no real external conflict to engage me into continuing to read the series.
This may be because the story is romance rather than adventure, but I'd argue that one could technically have both and still have a gripping story. I think there was an echo of adventure throughout the story because there was quite a lot of blood, both actual and dreamt, for a typical romance.
There was a lot of prominent sex in this story, which I enjoyed. Though again, atypical of traditional romance, there wasn't much use of flowery euphemisms here. The sex was part of the plot but at the same time, during the slower first arc, the plot felt set aside just so we could read about the characters having sex again. There wasn't much variety in the sex either and at one point I had to stop and reread a sentence regarding the way they positioned themselves as it didn't seem physically possible.
The Bonding did paint very vibrant worlds with the color red being front and center throughout. I'm not sure if it was with the intention of trying to allude to the passion of the characters or the blood-thirsty quality of Tam's people.
As a consequence of the plot points, the book felt intensely patriarchal. The women were very objectified and sexualized and all of them fit into a particular niche of 'this is where women belong,' even though Nissa was supposed to be a woman in a place of power. It's possible she wasn't as sexualized in her past and it was more to do with the new society of Tam's that she was thrust into, but the small amount of power she wields in his society is solely sexual. This theme is also created with the use of sexual assault as a plot device. Though I was pleased that the assault had some ramifications in Nissa's behavior, I don't think the reasoning given in the book for her behavior was typical of assault victims, nevermind the fact that she didn't emotionally deal with her part in escalating the situation.
There were some quirks with the language. There were made up words which I felt were fine for a science fiction setting, but there were English words written backwards in italics that had me questioning the author's intention. Were these things that they wanted readers to notice or did they have trouble creating words and just wanted to use something that vaguely hinted at what the object was. Why not just used the regular word? Do laser guns, coffee, and vodka not exist? It also had me stopping at any other italicized word and checking to see if that too, was an English word backwards. It took me out of the story. I'd say either make up words whole cloth or if there is a perfectly serviceable English word for what you're intending, then use it.
Another thing that bothered me was the fact that through the book, women and men both were referred to as females and males. It made the characters feel a bit detached like they didn't feel like they were a part of their own species, even though the race of each character was heavily emphasized and a driving factor throughout the story.
There were several places where dialogue ran together. Either a new line break was needed or there was a lack of dialogue tag. With some conversations, I just had to continue on when I couldn't figure out who said what. There would be a line of dialogue and on the same line, action attributed to the opposite character. Aside from this, there was one typo where a space was missing between words.
Overall, I give The Bonding 2 out of 4 stars. I enjoyed the story, such as it was, but I think a stronger heroine and supporting female characters might have tempered the overly male-dominated culture. I felt like the entire book might have been dropped into a vat of testosterone. There wasn't much lead up to the sex scenes which made them lack titillation and the hero could have been more dynamic.
******
The Bonding
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2 out of 4 stars
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The hero of The Bonding by Imogen Keeper is Tam, a member of a warrior race that had been ravaged by a biological attack that left the people of his planet on the brink of extinction. He and his people are so overwhelmingly virile their semen is used as a medication.
The heroine, Nissa, is a dainty princess who struggles to balance matters of the mind and matters of the heart. Their first encounter propels the first half of the plot arc and Nissa's internal conflict. Nissa's entire character is dependent on men, whether it be Tam or her father, and their expectations and demands of her.
Nissa is rescued from certain death by Tam, which fosters a new relationship on the two as they return to Tam's home. The story spends a great deal of time with the characters as they wait for the bureaucracy of his people to decide what to do with Nissa and the problems she brings with her. It's not until chapter seven that we start to see any friction in the new couple's relationship and chapter nine is when any story action starts and the second plot arc begins.
The point of view is third person limited, but it's shallow. We are given some of the characters' thoughts and feelings but nothing really of depth until two-thirds into the novel. There's a bit of telling rather than showing with regards to their feelings, especially in the first arc.
The characters had some development, Nissa more than Tam, in that she made decisions for herself by the end rather than just following along with what she was told. Tam rarely changed throughout the work, which left him feeling flat. I think the lack of story surrounding the characters falling in love contributes to this flatness. If we saw Tam and Nissa share more personal stories instead of just knowing because of the Bond, he might have felt more alive.
We're given tidbits of information about each of our main character's respective pasts, but only the barest highlights. Since The Bonding's main focus is on the relationship between Tam and Nissa, we aren't given very much in the way of subplots. Only the hinting at Tam's best friend Ajax and the relationship we start to see develop with Feola. We're left with a whetted appetite for their story which is the focus of the next book in the series. Aside from only this next relationship, there really isn't enough overarching world-building to make me want to read the next book. There's the opposing warrior race, the Vestige, that are the background bad guys, but there's no real external conflict to engage me into continuing to read the series.
This may be because the story is romance rather than adventure, but I'd argue that one could technically have both and still have a gripping story. I think there was an echo of adventure throughout the story because there was quite a lot of blood, both actual and dreamt, for a typical romance.
There was a lot of prominent sex in this story, which I enjoyed. Though again, atypical of traditional romance, there wasn't much use of flowery euphemisms here. The sex was part of the plot but at the same time, during the slower first arc, the plot felt set aside just so we could read about the characters having sex again. There wasn't much variety in the sex either and at one point I had to stop and reread a sentence regarding the way they positioned themselves as it didn't seem physically possible.
The Bonding did paint very vibrant worlds with the color red being front and center throughout. I'm not sure if it was with the intention of trying to allude to the passion of the characters or the blood-thirsty quality of Tam's people.
As a consequence of the plot points, the book felt intensely patriarchal. The women were very objectified and sexualized and all of them fit into a particular niche of 'this is where women belong,' even though Nissa was supposed to be a woman in a place of power. It's possible she wasn't as sexualized in her past and it was more to do with the new society of Tam's that she was thrust into, but the small amount of power she wields in his society is solely sexual. This theme is also created with the use of sexual assault as a plot device. Though I was pleased that the assault had some ramifications in Nissa's behavior, I don't think the reasoning given in the book for her behavior was typical of assault victims, nevermind the fact that she didn't emotionally deal with her part in escalating the situation.
There were some quirks with the language. There were made up words which I felt were fine for a science fiction setting, but there were English words written backwards in italics that had me questioning the author's intention. Were these things that they wanted readers to notice or did they have trouble creating words and just wanted to use something that vaguely hinted at what the object was. Why not just used the regular word? Do laser guns, coffee, and vodka not exist? It also had me stopping at any other italicized word and checking to see if that too, was an English word backwards. It took me out of the story. I'd say either make up words whole cloth or if there is a perfectly serviceable English word for what you're intending, then use it.
Another thing that bothered me was the fact that through the book, women and men both were referred to as females and males. It made the characters feel a bit detached like they didn't feel like they were a part of their own species, even though the race of each character was heavily emphasized and a driving factor throughout the story.
There were several places where dialogue ran together. Either a new line break was needed or there was a lack of dialogue tag. With some conversations, I just had to continue on when I couldn't figure out who said what. There would be a line of dialogue and on the same line, action attributed to the opposite character. Aside from this, there was one typo where a space was missing between words.
Overall, I give The Bonding 2 out of 4 stars. I enjoyed the story, such as it was, but I think a stronger heroine and supporting female characters might have tempered the overly male-dominated culture. I felt like the entire book might have been dropped into a vat of testosterone. There wasn't much lead up to the sex scenes which made them lack titillation and the hero could have been more dynamic.
******
The Bonding
View: on Bookshelves
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Latest Review: "The Bonding" by Imogen Keeper
