Barbarian Lover (Ice Planet Barbarians #3) by Ruby Dixon
So. We’re obsessed. This series is all we are talking about or reading in Book club. I get the hype now.
Book 3 is about unresonating couple Aehako and Kira. Kira was one of the first humans abducted from Earth and the alien abductors implanted in her ear a large translator. Stranded on an icy planet and taken in by the resident tribe, Kira is just starting to relax when she hears through her translator that the women’s captors have come back looking for them. She hatches a fool-hardy plan to rid this planet of her captors once and for all, and of course, Aehako isn’t far behind, because for him, even without resonance, Kira is his mate.
These potato chip books are excellent escapism and yet full of discussable content. Here are some topics we’ve chatted about:
What time period are they in? Book 3 finally gives a more solid clue.
Spurs? Are we pro or VERY pro?
What about women with IUDs or who are sterile?
Are these poor humans just free bleeding?
How fast can someone read all 22 books? Why are some titles audiobooks and some aren’t?
Do you find the audiobook narrator’s accent for Aehako to be offensive?
Honestly, these are quintessentially guilty pleasure books. Enjoy all they have to offer and enjoy THOROUGHLY. -Ford
I was looking forward to this pairing since we got a glimpse of Aehako in Book #2. There is a super fun sibling-pranks relationship that gets set up between him and Liz. She convinces Aehako that human women love getting a replica of the man’s “equipment” as a courting gift. This was such a fun and ridiculous setup that I could not wait to get to Book #3.
Unfortunately, this book doesn’t really have much in terms of the banter between Aehako and anyone else, except for Kira, his mate-by-choice. They stubbornly defy the khuil and fall in love with each other even though they are not resonating.
The Barbarian Alien books are pure fun and looking too deeply into them gets you into the murky waters of dubious consent and women as property. This book is not different, it’s fun and sexy, there is even an action sequence. There is also a lack of clarity as to why she chooses to drag him through the frozen tundra to a healer instead of using the robotic machine that just healed her to work on him. And the cringiest last couple of lines a book has ever delivered.
As they snuggle up in their HEA nest, he cradles her belly declaring it his and only his. Some may think that gesture cute, but I found myself screaming and gaging on behave of this woman being turned into a literal object to be owned.
Oh how I wish women, even in Blue Alien Smut, could be treated as fully-fledged autonomous beings. -Sky
