Genre: Science Fiction, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: Ace, Gay, Pan, Trans
Reviewer: Scott
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About The Book
Can you leave your heart on the other side of the galaxy?
When Wouter, a down-to-earth dyslexic caretaker, accidentally activates a travel disc sent by his late brother, he finds himself whisked away to a distant planet. Desperate to go home and reassure his grieving mother he’s alive, he’s instead stuck struggling to fill his brother’s shoes to keep the amphibian bani from freezing to death.
Nif, a bani healer, clings to human music as a lifeline to memories of joy and a world beyond grief after losing his mate. Intrigued by the culture behind the songs he cherishes, he volunteers for Wouter’s support team—even as many of his kin distrust the humans, fearing exploitation of their fuel production.
Their first meeting is one of necessity—a human in need and a bani ready to mend. As they navigate mistranslations, killer plants, and space pirates, a deeper connection blossoms between them. Each shared moment and conquered challenge draws them closer to an inevitable farewell. Will Wouter leave his heart or his home?
In this slow-burn ace romance, discover a low-angst intergalactic adventure where true connection transcends stars and species.
The Review
Wouter Heiland is not your typical action hero. For one thing, he’s dyslexic. Severely dyslexic. For another, he’s a socially awkward of guy, content to work as a super for an apartment building, where he rarely has to interact with stragners for an extended period of time.
And third, he’s just lost his brother, Ruben, in an auto accident, and is grieving even as he cleans out Ruben’s apartment. Then the unexpected happens – he surprises a burglar, receives a package from his dead brother, and discovers a travel disc that transports him from Earth into the middle of a swamp on an alien planet.
Nif is one of the bani, a frog-like alien species that communicates with clucks and colors that flash across their bodies to convey emotions. He’s summoned to heal an alien that has appeared in the bani camp unexpectedly.
The bani, whose male and female bodies produce substances that when mixed can create a powerful rocket fuel, suffered an explosion that cost them several of their kin and destroyed their traditional route to their winter home. Wouter’s brother Ruben, working for the Alliance, was supposed to help them find a new path, with the help of Ruben’s partner, Jack.
Now Wouter is stuck on the hot and sticky bani homeworld with Jack and the adorable aliens, forced to help them find their way – a role he feels totally unprepared for. As the two humans set out to guide the bani to their safe place, foul weather, translation issues, and space pirates will all conspire to throw them off track. Through it all, Nif and Wouter grow closer, drawn to each other in a way that defies their differences.
This is a fascinating story, a sci-fi tale at heart with an ace romance subplot between kindred spirits who are literally from two different worlds. Wouter and Nif find an unexpected kinship and forge a bond that neither one expects, a love that’s no less real and valid for its lack of a sexual consummation. Which is the point.
I loved the bani, the way this alien race expresses themselves through color that lends the story an additional level of meaning. As bani and human start to figure each other out, it’s also a joy to see the humans though these aliens’ eyes. Humans who live in “boxes” and travel in other boxes, who rub some kind of sticky substance on their bodies and clothing, and who have many different kinds of smiles and hand squeezes, each one conveying a different emotion.
I also loved the side characters – especially Sop, a bani who is non-binary, and Jack, who has secrets of his own (and whom I suspect was actually in a relationship with Ruben before the story began). Jack’s story will be the subject of the next book, so we’ll see if I am right.
Arden’s worldbuilding is first rate, immersing us in bani culture and the alien world they live in, filled with intelligent walking plants, edible (to the bani) algae, and “wilds” – undomesticated creatures who may be smarter than they seem.
The story moves briskly, carried along as much by its emotional subplot as by the action as the bani migrate through forests and mountains to their winter home. And the ending, although I guessed it before I got there, was perfect and sweet.
I’m thrilled that Arden has once again tried their hand at sci-fi (having written Aliens, Smith and Jones, set on Earth, before). I adored their Forester fantasy books. How Six Saved the Frogs is a fantastic science fiction adventure with a well-thought-out alien race that will keep you turning pages until you reach the end.
The Reviewer
Scott is the founder of Queer Sci Fi, and a fantasy and sci fi writer in his own right, with more than 30 published short stories, novellas and novels to his credit, including two trilogies.
