Honor Among Thieves

“We’re–I don’t know. Rogues.”
“I don’t have any idea how to be a rogue.”
“First rule: more belts. Second rule: no more rules.”

YES: Characters, writing, sentient alien spaceships with a hidden agenda.
BIG NO: Human-spaceship sexual tension.

The characters and writing in Honor Among Thieves were sooo good. I loved Zara and her realistic struggles with anger and acting out, and her remorse for the grief she’d caused her mother growing up. I liked her interactions with Beatriz. The idea of sentient alien spaceships with a hidden agenda is super cool.

I deducted two stars purely for the squick factor of the (I can barely type this, just imagine me grimacing) awkward sensuous connection between Zara and her ship, Nadim. Like, he’s a whale-shaped alien spaceship, and he’s sending warm heat through her nethers. I cannot get past that point.

Here is Zara feeling feelings for her ship:

The blush intensified, and suddenly it was hard to breath. My fingers flexed on the wall, and then I felt the pulse of his life force. I went lightheaded, because it seemed like I was drinking Nadim through my skin cells.

That’s a big nope for me. There is no sexual intercourse, but there is attraction and arousal…and a sequel. I’m not opposed to love between humans and sentient ships in general. In fact I would consider myself well read in the subgenre. I spent happy hours with Anne McCaffrey’s Brains and Brawn series (Helva! Le sigh) but those ships had an actual human grafted into them. I also enjoyed Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders. In my memory, those ships loved their humans in a familial way, not in a sexual way.

Other than the awkward alien sexual tension, I liked it!