Ok this is exactly the book we needed after the aptly named Callie’s Catastrophe. S’bren’s very large mistake is addressed and discussed and he is immediately repentant, unlike M’tok— and if I have one beef with this story is that M’tok clearly STILL hasn’t learned his lesson and is completely confident in his decision to kidnap and drug Callie and Penny. Fuck that guy. He needs some serious comeuppance and I don’t think it’ll ever happen.

Penny is great. I read some reviews here complaining about her self-image, but it all read as very real to me, especially as someone of a certain size AND as someone who had similar relationships with guys in the past. She’s much more of a romantic, than I’ll ever be— and I would have jumped S’bren way sooner— but a lot of her story tracks for me.

Finally some serious exploring here! I love Penny and S’bren hitting up the Ancestor’s Cave especially here, I would be ALL OVER that damn ship. And while Mardok’s care package was a little disappointing, I still love our dude getting much-needed screen time.