Grown Men
Runt is a small and scrappy terraformer toiling away on a corporately owned island. After seven years he'll own part of the place and be a stockholder. When a shipment of provisions drops onto Runt's island there's a big surprise hiding inside. Ox is a mysterious giant. Runt is left to find out why he's been sent a mute behemoth of a man instead of a clone wife. This book starts out strong. Damon Suede writes some amazing imagery. 3D movies and holovids, double suns in the sky, sweaty work in a muggy tropical paradise, itchy balls, clouds of pheremones and endless boners, and so much more. The beginning is also pretty tense, with Runt thinking that Ox was sent by the corporation to kill him. You see, Runt's behind in his work and pretty sure that Ox was sent to "retire" him.
All of this talk of corporate assassins had me chomping at the bit for some action. I read the words "Kill Kit" and I was all ready for the slice & dice.
Instead of action though, things slow way down in the middle of the book and it becomes a slow and gentle tale of how Ox and Runt form a friendship; how they become two halves of a whole. While I liked the characters and it was so sweet to watch them bond, I felt as if the beginning of the book had a completely different tone to it than the middle. The two parts of the story didn't really seem to gel. Still, I adore a sweet story, so the book didn't totally lose me.
All in all, I liked this book and will read the next installment.
