REVIEW: Alien Bonds (book) by Carmen Webster Buxton

Alien Bonds is sci-fi romance. I bought my copy new (although I also have an e-book copy that I think was gifted to me by the author).

Review:

Industrial chemist Dina Bellaire has only just recently moved to the planet Wankanreo for her new job, and is still trying settle in when she attends a party and finds her entire life changed in one moment. Kuaron Du, a famous Wakanrean singer, is initially angry when he meets her, thinking that her presence has initiated glashunrah, a false, one-sided "fated mate"-ish bond that is the reason why Wankanreans are wary of humans and have instituted a "no touching" rule for all humans on the planet. When he realizes that their bond is real, shahgunrah rather than glashunrah, he leaves the party with Dina and the two of them go back to his place, where they proceed to have lots of (off-page) sex.

By the time Dina is able to think again, she confused and bewildered, although still drawn to Kuaron. She refuses to believe that they're actually bonded the way Kuaron says they are, and is determined to go to work. Unfortunately, that's not really possible this early during the formation of their bond. Wakanrean culture and laws have procedures in place that allow newly bonded couples to take as much time off as necessary, but the fact that Dina is human complicates things. Another issue is that Kuaron's father is Wakanreo's planetary administrator.

Normally a sci-fi romance book with this setup would be one big excuse for multiple explicit on-page sex scenes. In this case, all the sex is off-page, and the focus is entirely on the cultural aspects and impact, and Dina's efforts to find a place for herself on Wakanreo.

Although I'd call this sci-fi romance, it'd probably be best to go into this more as science fiction than as romance. I don't say that because of the off-page sex scenes, but rather because there was something weirdly unromantic (or emotionally distant?) about Dina and Kuaron's relationship. It wasn't that they were a bad fit for each other - right from the start, they worked hard to respect and understand each other. They just didn't have a whole lot of nice, emotional, romantic moments. Most of the ones I can think of were fairly low-key - Kuaron setting up a birthday party for Dina despite the fact that Wakanreans don't really celebrate birthdays, the one song that Kuaron sang, Kuaron's reaction whenever Dina was feeling unwell, etc.

Especially during the first half, this book was heavy on dialogue focused on defining Wakanrean words. I wish that had been worked in more smoothly. I much preferred it when Dina and Kuaron were finally going places and doing things. As Dina interacted more with Wakanreans, she got to learn more about the effects that shahgunrah had on individuals - not everyone was happy with who they ended up with, and there could be a lot of tension. There were some things that were touched on, but not fully addressed (at least here - but maybe in the next book?), such as the potential impact of research into the specifics of how shahgunrah works. On the one hand, it could have far-reaching and possibly negative effects on Wakanrean society and how it works. On the other hand, it could be a lifeline to Wakanreans who are bonded to individuals they can't stand.

All in all, this was an interesting take on the "fated mates" trope, even if the emotional aspects of Dina and Kuaron's relationship weren't as strong as I'd have liked. For some reason, Kuaron had better emotional (not romantic, but emotional) moments with Jared, one of the book's few other humans, than with Dina. Possibly because they'd been friends for so long before the book began?

Extras:

Includes a glossary of Wakanrean words.