Barons of Oartheca

Barons of Oartheca is an ambitious genre-blending space adventure, the second book in James Siewert's Oarthecan Star Saga, and the merest taste of it will compel you to seek out the first book with haste.

It launches into action at lightspeed with a vicious alien assault and kidnapping of the first main character: Toar, one of the bear-like humanoid race of Oarthecans who will fascinate readers on this journey. Toar's main goal is protecting and rescuing the titular Barons, the physically weaker breeding-class members of this all-male race, from the dominating Pryok'tel and other extraterrestrial hazards. Meanwhile, Rowland Hale, human rogue space captain and cybernetic hacker, risks interstellar warfare as he leads his crew on his own perilous mission to rescue Toar, the man-bear he loves against all odds.

I was continually entranced by the well-thought-out complexities of Oarthecan society, a mammalian eusocial race with a rich culture guided by its biology, history, and spirituality, and how these factors interacted with the impossible romance between Rowland and Toar. I loved the intelligent design that went into crafting every species, technology, and character to create a believable, living universe. The detailed and cohesive science fiction elements are balanced so well with the honest, heartfelt, and hot M/M xeno-romance that the book is utterly unique. Both sides of this genre mashup are treated with utter seriousness without ever losing sight of the fun, joy, and hope inherent in each. James Siewert's Barons of Oartheca is a smart solarpunk explicit romance; it's a deep alien ethnographic study wrapped in a rollicking space adventure; it's a shining example of authentic and hopeful sci-fi for open-minded modern readers.

Barons of Oartheca is a work of fiction in the adventure, science fiction, and LGBTQ+ subgenres, and forms the second installment of the Oarthecan Star Saga. It is intended for mature readers owing to explicit sexual content and was penned by author James Siewert. In this romantic space adventure with plenty of thrills and heat, we find our central couple Rowland Hale and Toar Grithrawrscion torn apart by duties that take them to different parts of the galaxy. Burning to reunite with one another, these two intrepid figures must battle external forces and their own inner turmoil in order to find each other, and find happiness once again.

I’m a huge fan of LGBTQ+ fiction, especially when it tackles a genre where there isn’t usually much representation, and author James Siewert has certainly breathed new life into science fiction with this superb and spicy work. Toar and Rowland were realistically portrayed characters, and I loved seeing their relationship grow and shift as it was put to the test by the many unexpected and thrilling twists of the plot. I also really enjoyed the smoothness of the dialogue, which felt appropriately cinematic in the big ‘wow’ moments of the story but was also sensitive and empathetic during the more intimate and quieter emotional scenes. Overall, I would certainly recommend Barons of Oartheca to fans of the series so far, and James Siewert as a fantastic M/M romance and adventure author for readers seeking something original, exciting, and representative in the science fiction genre.