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It took me a while to get around to reading Nexus Alpha: Unbroken but after reading Katie’s review I knew that I had to give it a shot. It turns out that nobody else knew how to recommend this one to me, because I’d been given a completely different impression that didn’t convey just how fun and just how hot this whole book is.

It might be a surprise that I feel so positively about Nexus Alpha given my review of WARHOUND, but despite sharing a number of surface-level similarities the two could not be more different in execution. I want to be clear that I do not think either of these approaches is necessarily better than the other, just that one of them worked significantly better for me. The biggest difference is in characterization. Epoc and Antimony are wonderfully realized, something that helps elevate their relationship beyond a kink dynamic into something special. Nexus Alpha is incredibly hot, don’t get me wrong, but there was never a moment where the sex felt like it was taking precedent over the narrative, an issue I’ve had with other “mechsploitation” stories. Nexus Alpha explores many of the same concepts as these stories from a completely different angle, one that maintains the inherent eroticism of piloting a mech and the sexual dynamic between pilot and handler without sacrificing their humanity. It’s really some good shit.

Nexus Alpha is incredibly fast paced, and while the book stays remarkably engaging as it bounces from idea to idea I would have loved some more time to flesh things out. It’s a minor issue, though, because the pacing really plays to the book’s strengths. Bambust’s writing is incredibly engaging (and—I feel obligated to mention—hot) to the point that I felt enraptured by parts of the story that would have otherwise done nothing for me (i.e. the petplay.) More than anything, I just wish there was more, which is always a great sign for part one in a trilogy.

All of the character writing here is absolutely top notch. Ela does a great job blending character development and deeper conversations into otherwise incredibly horny scenes, something that helps flesh out the side cast—particularly Diana and Devah—despite their limited screentime.

It’s been a while since I picked up a book and immediately fell in love with it, but Nexus Alpha: Unbroken delivered on everything I could have hoped for and then some. There are a lot of other stories that are kind of like this one, but there’s nothing quite like it. It took everything in me to hold off on starting part two until I could get myself together enough to write this review, and if that isn’t a sign that this one’s worth a read I don’t know what is.

WARHOUND Volume One is a bit of a disjointed mess. What's here is a four-part collection: Two short stories, a novella, and a novel. The increase in scope with each subsequent part is impressive, but the execution stumbles when trying to grow beyond the scope of the original story.

WARHOUND works great as a standalone short story. Rho's writing elevates what could have otherwise been a thinly-veiled excuse for smut into a fairly compelling narrative. Grasping the Weapon is a perfectly serviceable followup that delivers a satisfying ending but feels held back by the fact that Meetra is just a less compelling character than Sartha. Hunting Hound is where the cracks really start to show. Leinth feels incomplete—a trans girl in a world without men—and her inclusion feels a little forced. What's here is a 30,000 word diversion, one that services as solid smut without adding much to the overarching narrative beyond fleshing out Sartha's characterization. Nothing here is outright bad, but up to this point there hasn't been much in the way of an overarching narrative and things are starting to feel a little tired and repetitive.

Rescue Hound is the star of the show here, and manages to take the flimsy foundation established by the previous stories and turn it into a fairly compelling narrative. There's a lot of extra room to explore both Sartha and Kione's characters, and the shift in dynamics manages to keep things fresh. Unfortunately, it's marred by a second half that feels fairly forced, as Kione's desperation forces her to make dumber and dumber choices. I still enjoyed what was here, but I was waiting for the end long before I reached it because the narrative tension just was not there.

This is a collection of stories that works better when treated as an anthology rather than an overarching narrative, but the way that each story builds on the previous makes it hard to see each one as truly independent. There are a lot of clever ideas in here—and Rho's writing does a great job breaking down and exploring these characters—but WARHOUND Volume One is held back by its' foundation. There's certainly room to grow and expand from here—much of the awkwardness needed to stretch the backdrop for a short story into a fully developed setting has already been done—but the process to get there scarred my enjoyment of some otherwise fun stories.

Show Girl is a book with a lot of potential. I'm a huge fan of Alyson Greaves' later works, and much of what I love about them is present here. Greaves does a wonderful job fully realizing classic trans stories, accented with some of the best character writing I've ever seen. But where Alyson's other books transcend the stories that inspired them, Show Girl merely succeeds. Much of this is due to the constrained time frame: Alex has to go from a sad boy to a happy woman over the course of just one weekend, and this results in fairly jarring pacing as she speedruns through things that would normally span days if not weeks in just a few hours. Despite this awkwardness—there are a few contrived scenes in which way-too-knowledgable cis people handhold Alex through her transition—she's a perfectly fun lead for a story like this. But without any room to breathe, she and the other characters don't feel fully realized.

I don't want to sound too negative because what's here is still incredibly fun. The core premise is incredibly solid, Ben and Emily steal every single scene they're in, and Alex and James' relationship is engaging. But the pacing really drags this one down for me, from something that could have been truly special to a fun, but ultimately unremarkable story.

I was absolutely expecting this to be a fun read, but I wasn't expecting it to be so, so human. As someone who has personally struggled with impostor syndrome throughout my transition, Lily's struggles here were just so, so relatable (even if I wasn't that dense). Good trans representation is such an easy way to my heart, and reading through this book made me feel something good during a very rough moment.

Absolutely recommended, we don't get enough legitimately fun and heartwarming trans fiction, and I could not put this one down from the very first page.