Review by WestIndie001 -- The Bonding by Imogen Keeper

[WestIndie001]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Bonding" by Imogen Keeper.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Wild sex and well-thought-out sci-fi.

Nissa, the queen-designate of the Trianni, must escape the destruction of her planet. Off-worlders have taken over, killing by the thousands and enslaving her people. To seek help in the nearby solar system, she boards a preservation pod with 99 others and is launched into space. The pod is later discovered by Tam, a warrior of the Tribe Argentus. Due to a biological attack, his planet suffers from lack of women. So, when Tam sees Nissa naked within the pod, he becomes insanely aroused.

Nissa suffers from a life-threatening sickness, the blue-tinge, an extreme case of hypothermia caused by prolonged cryo freeze. Tam must save her life with his “serum” (if that’s what you wanna call it). Yes, only his “serum” can save her (wink, wink). Tam must perform the Bonding, insert his cells into her through…screwing of course. Through their bodily fluids exchange, they’ll know each other’s heart and soul, share memories, thoughts, emotions. Tam is reluctant to perform the Bonding at first, feeling it would violate Nissa and take away her individual freedom, but it means saving her life.

After many pages of screwing and serum blasting, I began to worry that this book was just sleaze and smut and full of mindless screwing. Don’t get me wrong, the sex scenes were hot—amazing descriptions—you could feel the dirtiness to it. Reading certain paragraphs made my skin feel sticky. Not sure if that’s a good thing. But as the story progresses, Imogen Keeper begins to build the world and delve more into Nissa and Tam and the effects of their Bonding. To sum up the Bond, it’s like forcibly becoming soulmates, where you become dependent on your bond mate for your wellbeing, and to an extent, your survival. I thought the concept was original.

Throughout the story, I could feel the lightheartedness of the author, the tidbits of silliness as though Tam and Nissa weren’t taking themselves seriously as book characters. Read some of the sex scenes and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Those two characters don’t have much complexity, but they do have enough charm to please the reader. Nissa, gentle and determined, and Tam, “hard and brutal” yet caring and chivalrous. The world seemed well-thought-out, descriptions of the planets and its peoples were vividly described, as you get a good sense of the hard, militaristic Argentus and the colorfully feminine Triannon. Red hair, pink hair, orange hair, Keeper had a way of making you believe it. The writing does suffer from a few run-on sentences, and I found two minor errors around 50% and 60% on the mobi version.

I gave this 3 out of 4 stars. I’d recommend this to sci-fi fans—sweaty, nasty sex scenes as something extra. I couldn’t give 4 stars, as The Bonding is considered romance, but I didn’t feel much romance or didn’t feel what Nissa and Tam’s supposed love was based on—other than the Bonding. Tam is extremely protective and possessive of Nissa (again, females are rare in his world), while she just seems to need his serum or she’ll become ill. I didn’t really feel their connection until the last third of the book, when what they had for each other was tested. Overall, The Bonding brings a good amount of drama, sex, imagination, and superb storytelling. A memorable read.

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The Bonding
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[Manang Muyang]

That was indeed a very interesting review. However, I tend to shy away from erotic and steamy scenes so this book may not be my cup of tea.