Genre: Romance, Sci-Fi
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Lucy
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About The Book
Stationmaster and exiled aristocrat Albert St. John Rembrandt—Bertie to his friends—is in love with someone he’s always believed he can’t have, and finding out the hard way that some Tolari are as poisonous as their planet is only the beginning of his troubles. A ship has gone missing. His station is in crisis, and Bertie must somehow recover his health and manage the disaster while trying to decide whether to accept genetic modification in order to be with the man he loves.
And no Rembrandt has ever taken a gen mod.
The Review
This is the second book in the series, and I had not read the previous book, so it was a little like going on a date with your new crush and hanging with their childhood friends: you thoroughly enjoyed yourself and had a great time, but missed out on some of those old stories and inside jokes. This book can be read as a standalone, but if you take the time to read the previous book, you’ll get more of the nuances that are missed from jumping in on the second book. I definitely plan to read the previous story, Farryn’s War.
You might as well just cue up everything by Christie Meierz and put those books on your TBR list, because once you’ve finished this story, you’ll want to read the author’s entire backlist.
Rembrandt’s Station is everything you’d want in a space opera. There are alien cultures that are beautifully described, with the little differences from Earth human culture that make them so intriguing. Of course there is conflict and action, risk and reward. There are references to violence, rape, murder, and war, but most of that happens off page. The on-page descriptions are about as violent as the average bar-fight.
There is definitely romance wound throughout the tale. Bertie and the Monoral have been in love for several years, each without recognizing it in the other. Though Bertie was exiled from his neo-Regency culture and disowned by his family, he can’t quite shake the restrictions of his aristocratic upbringing or see the damage it did to his self-worth. For his part, the Monoral believes that Bertie does not reciprocate and is prepared to pine for an unrequited love. Of course, this is a space opera, so once they get past their hang-ups, the realities of biological differences in their species leaves Bertie with some difficult choices.
The story is thoroughly engaging. It was fast-paced, with lots of action and enough intrigue and angst to make it enjoyable. There are layers to this story, with various friendships, romances, alliances, and scoundrels galore. This was one of those books where I didn’t know whether I wanted to rush through to see how it ended or slow it down and savor every little bit. For the record, I consumed this story very, very quickly.
Rembrandt’s Station was my first Christie Meierz story, but I’m sincerely looking forward to exploring her complete backlist and watching for future books.
The Reviewer
I’m an avid reader who loves pretty much all genres except math textbooks. As a kid, my parents exposed me to everything from fairies, hobbits, and dragons to the biographies of interesting people around the world, interspersed with poetry, plays, and music. Into adulthood, I spent a lot of years with my nose buried in various textbooks. Now, I read whatever grabs my fancy.