Venomous and his kind are androgynous until the moment that their sex emerges in response to a mate. When Lumen is dropped into the pit, Venomous’ stem is called forward. The fact that he has four limbs was never forgotten. Venomous regularly flicks out his tongue to taste emotions. The care put into building Venomous’ culture was memorable.

Her filaments were unlike any he’d felt, not fur and not bristles.Īliens he’d come into contact with in the mines called the filaments hair. The brown membrane that covered her was not so deviant from the tawny umber of his anima though his under hide was paler, more similar to the membranes on her palms and the soles of her feet. Venomous had not hoped for a beauty but at least a strong and sturdy mate but Lumen was puny and ugly. She had a rounded tongue and she was soft all over.

Her limbs were gangly and she had a “horribly inflexible spine”. She lacked any piercings of gold on her body. On the plus side, his lips are humanoid and he had pectorals and a chest worthy of Men’s Health.įrom Venomous’ point of view, Lumen is just as ugly and worse, she’s weak and frail.

His body is pierced with gold, medallions and knotted thread and his exterior is covered with serpentine scales. He has a forked tongue and ropey type braids erupting from his skull looking a bit like textured dreadlocks. He has a six limbs–four arms and two legs. Venomous One wins much to Lumen’s dismay for he is the stranger of the aliens. The slave traders decide to throw Lumen into the pit to be captured by one of the gladiators to keep the gladiators from attempting to escape for another moontide. The strongest of the aliens are put into a ring to fight for the slave traders amusement. She is deemed ugly and worthless by the aliens and they failed to sell her in auction after auction. Lumen is captured on earth by an alien slave trader and brought to a planet where aliens of all stripes have been captured and put to work mining precious ore. While I was reading the book, some of the tropes were familiar but overall it felt like a story I hadn’t read before. I didn’t find it super erotic (there’s a polyamorous element to it which may be why it’s referred to as an erotic romance) and I didn’t find it as epic as Last Hour of Gann but it is memorable due to the very good world building. I can’t remember who recommended this to me but it was sold as a sort of erotic Last Hour of Gann. Jane B- Reviews aliens / Lizards / Science-Fiction-Romance 2 Comments FebruREVIEW: Venomous by Penelope Fletcher