Christie Meierz

This episode of Christie Meierz's stories set in Tolari space stars Bertie - otherwise known as Albert St. John Rembrandt, Lord Whitdon.

After being disowned by his family for not following their orders and marrying the British Crown Prince, Bertie has been making his way in alien space. Given that he is a financial genius and lawyer, he has managed to land on his feet with the Tolari. Besides running their space station, he has fallen in love with one of their rulers.

But the path to true love is running anything but smoothly. First of all, he almost dies after his first intimate moments with the Monral when he learns that not only is the environment on Tolar toxic to humans but so are some of the people. Bertie suffers from nerve damage that the Tolari can't cure despite their advanced technology and medical knowledge. His only choice is to take the blessing and be genetically modified which has all sorts of upsides including a longer lifespan. But there are downsides too.

Bertie has spent his life trying to gain the approval of his distant father. Nothing he could do has been good enough, but taking a gen mod would be the last straw. No Rembrandt has ever been genetically modified.

Meanwhile, a couple of Johnsons have arrived on Tolar under false pretenses. They want to convince their sister Laura to return home with them. The Johnson family is a bitter rival to the Rembrandts, but their hospital ship might be a way to cure Bertie without the need for genetic modifications. However, double dealing is in the works which leads to a lost ship and a kerfluffle of galactic proportions.

This was engaging space opera. It's only fault in my opinion was that it has a cliffhanger ending. Some issues are resolved but an equal, or perhaps, larger number of the plot threads were left unanswered.… (mais)

After being exiled from Tolari Space after an attempted coup, Farryn is building a new life and empire of his own in human space. But when the bond-mate he believes betrayed him comes to look for him, he needs to save her from Earth's Central Command in the person of Adeline Russell.

Sharana is a scholar and empath and makes a perfect tool for Adeline who wants to capture Farryn and learn all of the Tolari secrets.

This was a fast-paced story. However, just a trigger warning, Adeline isn't at all opposed to torture to reach her goals. There are lots of examples of Sharana being tortured throughout the story.

I enjoyed the worldbuilding in this story. The Tolari are interesting people with lots of interesting abilities including the ability to disappear. I liked the romance between Farryn and Sharana which really had to go through difficulties before things worked out.

Fans of space opera will enjoy this story.… (mais)

While the Monral plots to seize control and open Tolar to human trade - with the major advantages going to him, Laura Howard is adjusting to life on an alien planet. She has found love with the Paran and rediscovered her abilities as an artist, but she misses her family back in human space.

Then she has an accident and loses her memories of all the time she's spent on Tolar and forgotten her bond with the Paran. While dealing with her memory loss, she revisits all her insecurities including that her father convinced her that she wasn't smart enough to suit him. She becomes convinced that no one could love her as she was. That everyone wanted her to be someone else before she could be worthy of love.

She is also dealing with a very strong empathy that almost overwhelms her senses. However, she is getting an assist in dealing with her problems from the Jorann, who is the ancient mother of all the Tolari.

Her struggles are happening at the same time that the Monral is using more and more dirty tricks in his quest to gain control of the planet. One of his plots has taken him so far beyond what is acceptable that his bond mate Sharana has left him and has even traveled to the Jorann to ask that the bonding be removed.

This story moved the emphasis from the romances to the political arena and deals with a culture very reluctantly opening itself up to a galaxy that it had previously abandoned.… (mais)