Claimings, Tails, and Other Alien Artifacts by Lyn Gala

Liam loves his life as a linguist and trader on the Rownt homeworld, but he has ignored his heart and sexual needs for years. He won't risk letting anyone come too close because he won't risk letting anyone see his deeply submissive nature. For him, submission comes with pain. Life burned that lesson into his soul from a young age. This fear keeps him from noticing that the Rownt trader Ondry cares for him.

Ondry may not understand humans, but he recognizes a wounded soul, and his need to protect Liam is quickly outpacing his common sense. They may have laws, culture, and incompatible genitalia in their way, but Ondry knows that he can find a way to overcome all that if he can just overcome the ghosts of Liam's past. Only then can he take possession of a man he has grown to love.

I am beside myself with how much I enjoyed Claimings, Tails, and Other Alien Artifacts. Having read Ms. Gala’s Turbulence series, I jumped at the chance to read this book and I am so glad that I did. She has, without a doubt, secured a spot on my list of must-read authors for sci-fi romance and erotica.

This is the first book of the Claimings series and it introduces us to the inhabitants of Rownt. Liam is a human linguist and trader for the human military. He has been in his post as a trader on Rownt for five years and has been very successful at it – and we learn later in the book, more successful than even he realized. But an unpleasant past and the emotional baggage he has because of it means that he does not qualify for an officer position due to his psych scores. While Liam is not interested in an officer position, he is interested in maintaining his post on Rownt. He feels that he has done well in building his reputation as a trader among the Rownt people and has made a difference. Unfortunately his new commander appears to have a God complex and seems hell-bent on throwing away all of the progress Liam has made in the past five year along with Liam.

Ondry is a Rownt trader who has cultivated a trading relationship with Liam. Because the book is told from Liam’s perspective, the reader must draw conclusions about Ondry’s motivations from his behavior, and Ms. Gala’s writing style makes this rather easy. At least I felt like I had an understanding for what Ondry was doing and why LOOOOONG before Liam did. Rather than making the story predictable, this actually made witnessing Liam’s understanding of what a “palteia” was that much more enjoyable. I loved watching Liam settle into the palteia and chilta relationship with Ondry – it was unbelievably emotionally satisfying for me to see Liam metaphorically shrug off the pains of his adolescence and the human judgments associated with his sexual identity. He was not only accepted by Ondry and the Rownt, he found that it actually made him a coveted being among their people. Claimings, Tails, and Other Alien Artifacts is a beautiful story of acceptance that is presented in an intriguing sci-fi setting with a few steamy m/m scenes for a bit of icing on the cake. Ms. Gala has definitely got the series off to a great start and I cannot wait to read Assimilation, Love, and Other Human Oddities to see how Liam and Ondry’s relationship progresses. 

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