Knight of a Trillion Stars
A novel by Dara Joy

A handsome hero.
A headstrong heroine.
A dangerous journey.
A love that was meant to be.

Words that could be taken off the back of any dime-store romance novel. Sadly, they are also a fairly accurate description of a new sub-genre of romance novels, the "futuristic romance." These books seem to be designed to target a new demographic: the romance-starved genre chick. I suppose it's only natural that as we age and move into a different phase of our lives, the billion-dollar romance industry should try to tap into the increasing desire of some of us for home, family, husband. Still, the concept makes me queasy.

Knight of a Trillion Stars was my first foray into this murky realm, and it is depressing. Our heroine, the red-haired (of course) Deanna, is a reasonable facsimile of a genre fan. Down-to-earth and practical most of the time, she looks forward to an annual sci-fi con taking place in San Francisco. She has saved her pennies all year for this trip, and not even the appearance in her living room of a tall blonde hunk of alien will stop her from attending. She travels to San Francisco with this anachronism for a roommate and enjoys the stir he causes at the convention. After all, what better place for an alien to hide than with all the sci-fi geeks, right? Riiiiight.

Things (plot, characterization) take a left turn from reality when Deanna's blond visitor, Lorgin ta'al Krue, decides that he is destined to be Deanna's guardian and the guide to his realm, not to mention her husband. He whisks her to his planet, and there proceeds to take control of her life in a spectacular fashion. Deanna is not innocent in this, of course; typically, when she has an objection she voices it without doing anything to back it up.

As Lorgin and Deanna travel from planet to planet, picking up an old seer, Lorgin's brother, and the son of the Bad Guy along the way, they fight off deadly attacks from various races of beings, and have sex in interesting positions. They eventually face down the Bad Guy, the one who is tearing holes in the space/time continuum in his efforts to change the past and save his love. Of course he's mad, quite mad, and I don't think I'll ruin the suspense if I tell you that he is soundly defeated, leading to a happy ending (which is such a surprise, seeing as how this is a romance novel).

I was really disappointed in Deanna's character arc: from strong, realistic genre-loving woman to soppy, love-ruled sex maniac. Not that there's anything wrong with being either love-ruled or a sex maniac! But it is frustrating to see a character that started out well descend to the dregs of the romance novel stock-character barrel.

And as for Lorgin... let's start with the fact that my newly X-Men-obsessed brain kept trying to make his name be Logan. And while Lorgin has plenty of Logan's characteristics -- arrogance, brute strength, a willingness to step on people's toes to achieve his ends -- he lacks any of Logan's sensitivity, grace, or ability to sacrifice for another's well being. When he holds Deanna in his realm without any explanation and without any honesty about his true motives, he shows that he truly doesn't care about her wants or needs. He abducts her, manipulates her, seduces her, and bends her to his will; all this because he thinks it is necessary for his "quest."

And she lets him. This is the facet of the novel that irritates me the most. When Lorgin seduces Deanna in order to keep her mind off returning home, she lets him. She lets her hormones do her thinking and succumbs with barely a whimper (actually more of a moan, but you know what I mean.) And although I'm hardly a qualified spokesperson for keeping your hormones under strict control, I am a vocal opponent of allowing manipulative actions to have no repercussions. He uses her body against her, and although she realizes it, she never makes him pay for it in any way. For me, this was the true sign that the novel had gone south. When added to the way Deanna is brushed to the side by the menfolk during the (anti-) climactic battle and never reasserts herself, I got the picture of a woman who had been strong but now was weak. This is an image we should aspire to?

My other quibbles with this book included the romance genre's trademark overuse of Italics and overblown dialogue. I mean, "Be apart from me no more, forever"? And this line is said at a critical moment during lovemaking to seal the deal!? I wanted it to be heart-melting, truly I did... but I all I could manage was heartburn and a slight snicker. Also of note were the frequent typographical errors -- does no one proofread these days?

Now, I have to be fair: the book did have its strong points, the most notable of which was the loving recreation of the sci-fi convention, which made excellent use of the alien amongst the "aliens." In addition, Lorgin's brother Rejar is a fascinating character. I was much more intrigued by him than by his big dumb ox of a brother. And yes, the sex scenes are hotter than they have any right to be, especially considering how I wanted to bash both Deanna and Lorgin over the head by the end of the book.

If this is the future of romantic sci-fi, I want no part of it. Women who spend their lives marking time until they get married; men who feel the weight of several worlds on their shoulders, yet refuse to share the burden with their womenfolk; plot holes you could drive a spacecraft through... in my opinion, these things don't make for a good read, no matter which genre you're reading.

Re-read Factor: Just the good bits -- there are a few.

Sequel Factor: They're already out there, lurking with intent on romance shelves. Including the story of intriguing brother, Rejar, which I would read if the Regency stray-cat storyline didn't sound so dumb.

Strong Chick Factor: Nil. The heroine melts into a pile of goo midway through the proceedings -- and she's the best of the bunch.

-- Jen Hopper

Knight of a Trillion Stars, published by Love Spell, is currently available in paperback.

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