Review Tuesday moved to Thursday: Crystal Clear Truth by Kayelle Allen - #ReviewTuesday #ScienceFiction #Romance

 

Crystal Clear Truth by Kayelle Allen

Amazon, 2022

Shohn Lexius is a Kin warrior – and an exile. Embittered by the tragic and unjust death of her brother on her female-led home planet of Felidae, she now works as chief security office for Luc St. Cyr on Tarth. Her intelligence, perceptiveness, courage and loyalty have made her invaluable to her employer. Only Shohn knows that loyalty is a lie, that her true mission will force her to betray him.

Joe Townsend is a scientist. Like his father, he’s an expert on the fascinating but deadly firestorms associated with the precious crystals that power space flight. After his father is killed, Joe uncovers evidence suggesting that the parents who raised him had deceived him about his biological heritage. Armed with nothing but a photograph of his birth mother, he hires Shohn’s organization, IdBot, to help him uncover the mystery woman’s identity and details. He soon finds he needs Shohn’s expertise more than he realized, as mysterious forces work to block his quest for the truth.

I first encountered Shohn in A Stolen Heart, the first book in Kayelle Allen’s Antonello Brothers series, in which she’s an important secondary character. I was delighted when I learned that she had been featured in a book of her own.

My relationship to Ms. Allen’s science fiction saga of the Sempervians is a bit equivocal. I find the Kin endlessly fascinating. (My personal ailurophilic tendencies may have something to do with this!) The author has done a brilliant job creating their unique biology, their culture, their language and their modes of interaction. Crystal Clear Truth highlights this triumph of imagination. Despite her years on Tarth, Shohn is both truly alien and thoroughly believable. Meanwhile her romantic connection with Joe (which is developed in a slow, thoughtful and utterly delicious manner) depends strongly on his familiarity, understanding and respect for her culture. I appreciated his sensitivity, which made their relationship much more plausible.

I’m far less interested in St. Cyr, Pietas and the Empress. I’m really not sure why; it may be that near-absolute power removes so many limitations that there’s no challenge. Or it may be that I get frustrated when these immortals behave like petulant teenagers.

In any case, Crystal Clear Truth focuses almost exclusively on Shohn and Joe, so I found it highly enjoyable. Joe is a beta male, comfortable yielding power to a dominant female like Shohn. At the same time, he’s brave and competent, not to mention brilliant. My kind of guy, in short!

The search for Joe’s mother provides a framing conflict that allows Shohn and Joe to grow closer and learn to trust each other. That conflict ultimate gets resolved a bit too quickly and easily for my tastes, with a surprising outcome that I shan’t reveal here. But I’ll admit I was far more focused on the burgeoning romance, including Shohn’s resistance to her feelings, than on the question of Joe’s parentage.

For the many devoted fans of Ms. Allen’s series, this book will be yet another treasured chapter in the epic she has spent decades creating. I’m a more casual reader of her work, having dipped my toe here and there into her world. I think that of the four or five books I’ve read, Crystal Clear Truth was my favorite.