Francamente sono rimasta sorpresa da questo romanzo. L'avevo scelto proprio perché pensavo fosse bruttarello: avendo letto un libro che mi era piaciuto molto, temevo di snobbarne uno buono. Della serie "se devo schifarmi, che sia per un buon motivo". Tra i consigli di Goodreads, quindi, mi sono imbattuta in An Uncommon Whore, che sembrava rispondere ai requisiti: oltre al titolo orrendo, ha una copertina inguardabile e una trama che prometteva tanti salti nel letto e poca sostanza.

In effetti, anche l'inizio sembrava darmi ragione: sembrava tutto molto poco rimarchevole. La solita minestra in salsa fantascientifica (con incluso magnaccia rettiliforme). Abbiamo un prostituto che non è quello che sembra e un tipo, Griffin, che lo cerca in lungo e in largo per le galassie e che - guarda un po'! - se lo ritrova tra le gambe in ginocchio (immaginate a fare cosa). Ovviamente, nonostante il prostituto abbia il volto coperto, Griffin lo riconosce (tecnica inconfondibile, ragazzi).

Segue la liberazione e la fuga, ed è adesso che il romanzo cambia registro. Diventa molto più interessante, sia dal punto di vista del rapporto tra i due, sia per quanto riguarda l'ambiente nel quale si muovono. Viene fuori, infatti, che in passato le cose tra Griffin e Helios, l'ormai ex-prostituto, non sono state facili, principalmente perché erano - e sono - due idioti orgogliosi. Ma adesso che hanno entrambi attraversato l'inferno e sanno cosa siano umiliazione, dolore e tradimento, non possono proprio nascondersi dietro al loro orgoglio.

In particolare, Helios, voce narrante del romanzo, con la sua decisa ragionevolezza piena di dignità mi ha messa al tappeto. La sua tranquilla determinazione nel far capire a Griffin che nel loro rapporto di attivo/passivo non c'è niente di umiliante, ma fa semplicemente parte del loro carattere e del loro modo di essere è meravigliosa.

I looked him in the eye. “I know the difference between sex and love. I know what it feels like to truly submit to another. And I know what humiliation is. I would never humiliate you, Griffin. I would never dominate you just for the sake of domination. I might be aggressive sometimes, as you are sometimes aggressive with me. And when you are, it's exciting and powerful and so amazing to feel you unleash all that strength. But sometimes I feel that way too.”

Griffin, dal canto suo, è bloccato da innumerevoli sensi di colpa e dai loro ruoli nella società. Ci vorrà tutto il fascino di Helios per farlo capitolare...

Il finale del libro poteva essere migliore – o comunque meno frettoloso. Ma immagino che la McBride si sia lasciata la parte politica e familiare per il secondo volume... ( )

Review for original version.

Re-read Apr/19

4 stars
I must have been in a good reading mood this weekend, because a lot of books that I re-read were given a higher rating.
I actually liked the world building and the characters this time around. Lio and Griffin felt as though they had something real, even though the story was very short.

3 stars
synopsis:
pasha is a sex slave and one night, is paid for for the night by a mercenary. pasha has no memory of who he used to be, but he still plans on escaping. when the mercenary takes him for the night, it turns out that they knew each other and that, during a war that drove them off their planet, pasha, known as helios, was kidnapped. he is also now the king of his people. lio and griffin escape and get the memory chip nullified in lio's brain. then they head to their new home planet to return lio to his people.

what i liked: the premise. i liked that the connection was there even before pasha knew who griffin was. i liked that griffin knew who pasha was before he saw his face. i liked that pasha's memories didn't return immediately, and that, underneath it all, he still had the leadership abilities.

what i didn't like: the story felt half finished. ( )

‘An Uncommon Whore’ is a really interesting book, and just like there is nothing “common” about Pasha the slave who makes his master a living by being a whore, there is not much “common” about this story. It's set in the far future on various planets and a few space stations, but the focus isn't on the technology, it's on people struggling with power, politics, and relationships. They just happen to live in the future.

Pasha has been a slave for years. At least that is all he remembers. And yet, a voice deep down inside him tells him he is meant to be somewhere else, even to be someone else. His current master isn’t overly cruel, and Pasha is sort of grateful for that. But when they walk into the most dangerous bar on the desert plant Warlan and Pasha spots a man who looks like a pirate, Pasha knows there is more to the rogue than meets the eye. He very cleverly engineers a meeting, and his life changes forever.

Captain Griffin Hawke may look like a pirate, but he is a former royal guard with a mission. His people were betrayed and their planet overrun by aliens, and Griffin has been working tirelessly not only to help the refugees build a new home, but to find their lost king. When he realizes Pasha the whore is that man, he does everything in his power to get him off Warlan, have the slave chip that kept wiping his memory removed, and return him to his rightful place on the throne. Griffin knows he risks losing the man he loves to his position for the second time, but he is honorable enough to deal with that risk and do what he thinks is right, no matter the personal cost to him.

The story that follows is one of enduring love, a fight to return the king’s memories, and a need for both men to figure out how to relate to each other under these circumstances. As the details unravel it becomes clear they have never before managed to do so, but after their individual suffering, each in their own way, and the five-year-long separation, many things have changed. Realizing that and making things work are still two very different things, and I was fascinated by every step they took.

If you like science fiction and space opera that focus on people and their struggles more than technological or alien dangers, if two hot men who are deeply in love but have no idea how to make a relationship work sound interesting, and if you’re looking for a read that is very dark in places, yet carries a message of love and hope, then you will probably enjoy this novel. I’m glad there are another two volumes to read (so far). ( )

very good, am interested in more by this author! ( )

An Uncommon Whore by Belinda McBride dares to be different with its unusual approach to the already underrepresented subgenre of space opera within m/m romance. The story comes to us through the first-person viewpoint of an amnesia victim who aspires only to escape slavery, but learns that he has a far loftier destiny than he might have imagined. This fills him with a mixture of trepidation, pride, and determination as he tries to live up to his responsibilities and make the most of his second chance with a lost lover from his previous life.

Science fiction isn’t a genre that we readers often see in m/m romance, and space opera is even rarer, though it’s undeniably fun with its mix of straightforward adventure, galactic locations, and strange aliens all presented with casual understatement as everyday occurrences – think Star Wars, the 1977 movie, for a perfect definition of space opera. Add to this the nonconformist decision to tell the space opera in first-person narrative, which opens the way for much wry humor, and An Uncommon Whore stands out as a good story that takes the path less traveled in every respect. It also features some intensely erotic, detailed sex scenes.

The story opens with Helios who is a prostitute on a rugged mining planet. He has no memory of his past and aspires only to convince his next client to help him escape the reptile who owns him and provide passage off-planet. In the first scene, he spots a brawny space-pirate type who looks promising and contrives to attract the man’s attention. The pirate Griffin buys him for the night and explains that he has been searching for Helios, who is really the long lost leader of their exiled people. Years ago, the two of them had been lovers. Now they must escape from the mining planet and travel to a space station where they will attempt a risky business transaction to raise much-needed funds for their people. Opposing them are covert enemies amongst their allies and Helios’s own mind, controlled by a slave-chip in his brain, which has already changed him greatly from the warrior that he once was. It all adds up to an exciting story that may feel slightly anti-climactic, but apparently, there is a sequel on the way.

Val for AReCafe ( )