I was given the honor of doing an ARC review for my friend’s debut novel; Remnant’s Bond, Book One of the Darklight Chronicles. Remnant is a dreamy space-opera with some haunting world building that sets the stage for a spicy revenge plot. Porn with plot, indeed. The plot also goes beyond ‘justifying’ the erotic elements, and actually delves a lot into fate and will power. From clones, genetic experiments and mind controls powers, Remnant offers readers the chance to not just find which member of the harem is the sexiest but what it even means to be an individual. While there is no shortage of romance and sexual engagements in the book, Remnant also sports fascinating worldbuilding.
Remnant really leans into the majesty, and terror of open-space. There’s plenty of beauty to be found, but Myles never forgets how difficult life in deep space actually would be. Resources are rare and people have had to get creative to stay alive. Creative, being the more polite way to describe war crimes. Despite all the fun of the story, though, Remnant is cut with a thick line of tension. From the very beginning, Isha, our main character, is put in an impossible situation. Born to a matriarchal society, she becomes the War Mother in a moment of great tragedy and forced to set grief aside to go on a classic revenge quest. She sets out immediately to avenge her people, and rescue those who remain, but along the way she has to come to terms with her growing powers and what they mean for her relationships.
Yes, relationships, plural! The turn to a reverse harem was exciting and quite well done, and given Isha’s background as a matriarch she doesn’t play around with her desires. She knows what she wants, what she stands for and how she intends to get those things. Which does get her into trouble but that is just part of the fun!.
Remnant is well-written and very creative. The first book in the series, it promises not just more sexy fun in the future, but expansions on the dark society that Isha has been forced into. I am so excited to see where this series goes in the future, and all I can say is; Long Live the War Mother.
Before moving into the spoilers area quick reminder that Remnant’s Bond is available HERE! To learn more about this lovely author you can find her website HERE!
Finally, if you’re looking for more info before checking the book out, you can check out reviews on GoodReads and TheStoryGraph.
Now; some tags for the book before we dive in deeper:
TAGS: Dubious consent, good boy service sub, S&M, tentacled alien, age gap, non-consensual voyeurism, will it fit?, feminine rage, porn w/ plot.
TROPES: Found family, forced proximity, grumpyFMC/ALIENsunshine, revenge, mean girl, and the setup for truly hateful enemies-to-lovers.
Okay, everyone else is gone, it’s time for spoilers.
Remnant’s Bond has a beautiful cast of ensemble characters that keep things moving and interesting. Let’s start with our main character, Isha. Future Clan mother to the Huula people, we begin the story on what is the eve of her coronation. Kind of. You see, the Huula are a matriarchal society, living in a grotto underground on a planet plagued by toxic winds. But, the passing of her mother’s leadership to Isha involves a… consummation ritual of sorts. Isha is very much not impressed with the idea of anyone bearing witness to her and her husband in an intimate situation. But Enzo, her husband, does his best to assure her that all will be well.
And then the ship arrives. I don’t know how else to describe what comes next other than tragedy. Refusing to hide while her people fight, Isha witnesses the death of several of her beloved family and in a moment of pure rage comes into her powers. Becoming; The War Mother. Not through a ritual of intimacy with her husband, but out of heartbroken rage as she witnesses his death at the hands of the intruders. This one moment sets off the entire story, as she’s then captured by the intruders; a force of clones from an organization called SaeFed.
In fact, one of her captors is a clone called Azure who looks exactly like her dead husband Enzo. Azure is absolutely my favorite character in the book, and his arc is the beginning of Remnant’s ability to get us to question what free thought really is. You see, the clones all have an internal programming that makes them deathly loyal to SaeFed. This programming is even something that other groups outside SaeFed are aware of, and fear, as the clones are dangerous. There is seemingly no way to break that programming, but Myles is a great writer. And in some of the first scenes we get with Azure, before he’s ever effected by Isha’s abilities, he is questioning SaeFed. He’s keeping it to himself for protection, but there is this little hint that somehow, something beyond his programming is bleeding through.
When he does meet Isha, though, woo boy! Her abilities break his programming and Azure decides to jump ship and save this woman he’s never met! After the sacrifice of some other clones, Isha and Azure escape the SaeFed station, but are separated from the other Huula people. They launch into space in a tiny cargo pod, and are at the whims of any passing ships. Hoping they’ll be picked up and saved instead of killed and the cargo taken. It’s in the cargo pod that we first get some spice and the beginnings of Isha and Azure’s relationship.
And this is where Remnant excels, questions of willpower and individuality aren’t just themes; they are tied to the plot and the romance. Isha has a great deal of power over others, and that does give her a higher level of responsibility to ensure she’s not taking advantage of others. Isha is, mostly, a good person. She has her own set of morals. But Azure is a clone belonging to an organization that devastated her people, killed her husband, he was her captor. But despite his small whims of dissent, he couldn’t act on them. How much of what happened is his fault? How much of his decision to help Isha is his will, and not just her powers compelling him. These are all questions explored in the character dynamics that Myles lays out expertly through the narrative.
Agency is a major theme in the book. Whether it’s Isha using her powers over others, SaeFed’s programming of clones that is later revealed to be so strong that free society outside SaeFed views the clones as nothing more than mindless slaves, Agency is a major part of the narrative. In a erotic story as it is, it’s refreshing to see Myles deeply explore these themes outside of the kink-space. It’s not just brushed over, it really does hurt Isha to think that she forced Azure into something without his consent and their open and honest conversations lay the groundwork for a health, consensual relationship to come.
Which is great, because this is a harem and the character of Kaeo and his relationship with Isha and Azure are some of my favorite sections. The two are saved by Kaeo, a former genetic experiment who killed the clones who created him. Which does start his relationship with Azure off on the wrong foot, but Kaeo is literally a personified green flag and he comes around to our puppy-dog of a clone.
Flying the former research vessel Darklight, Kaeo is basically a space pirate working for THE pirate king. There’s an interesting theme nature v. nuture with Kaeo here. He was made to be a weapon, but he’s anything but. He’s one of the sweetest people in the book itself. He even comes to care about Azure, a clone, someone he could rightfully distrust, but he even comes to his defense because he comes to trust him. In part because of Isha’s, sometimes naive, care for other’s and he knows that she would be devastated if anything happened to him.
Which is not the case for our pirate king: Brace. I would rather be in the woods alone with SaeFed Clones than Brace. At least, as of Book One. This guy is such a hypocrite. He doesn’t trust Isha or Azure because, again, clone stuff. But he goes as far as lying to Kaeo and hijacking the Darklight’s onboard AI (the good kind, not the ChatGPT kind) NAAILS. If I had to pick a second favorite character, it would be NAAILS. The single POV chapter NAAILS gets is the best example of AI character depictions I’ve ever seen. You can really get a feel for how a computer would see the world; in code! Which again, is another excellent moment where Myles explores agency and the sense of self. If a clone can break his programming, why can’t an AI re-write theirs?
But there’s this rising tension through the chapter as NAAILS becomes more desperate to try and save Isha and Azure after the Darklight finally regains control after Brace betrays them. It’s so amazing I cannot even begin to explain how much I loved it. Despite all the well-written erotica in the book, I love that Remnant said; no we’re talking consent and agency here.
NAAILS and Brace holds up a mirror to the audience to remind how dangerous Isha’s abilities can be. NAAILS was used by Brace to betray Isha, nearly leading to her and Azure’s death, and he was given no choice in the matter. In a way, this mirrors how Isha used Azure to escape SaeFed at the risk of his own life. While Azure had always felt a little off about his company, what if he hadn’t? What if he didn’t appreciate being forced to betray the only life he’d ever known, putting him on the run with someone with little knowledge of the world and then beaten by a space pirate for being a clone. Azure, like Kaeo, had no choice in what his birth was like, what he was made for. And he had no choice in leaving it. What if she picked the wrong clone?
Isha isn’t a morally perfect character, and I love that. While she does have conversations with Azure, and he does assure her he has never been happier, what about the other clones? I have so much anticipation for a sequel to see if the following Isha is building ever becomes resentful of her forcefully pulling them out of the dark.
In a way, it reminds me of Plato’s allegory of the cave. What if instead of walking out of the cave, you were forced out? Would you believe what you were seeing? Would you resent being made to see it? Isha and Brace are foils of one another. They both use others for their own gain, and have good reasons for what they do. Isha wants to save her people, and Brace wants to save his. Both are noble goals, but we only hate Brace because we know the people he uses, but Isha is using clones whose only known feature is they all look the same. It puts the reader in an interesting position of examining things beyond ‘Hot Girl and her Harem of Delicious Men’.
Remnant’s Bond does not skimp at all on the worldbuilding and character themes. It leaves so much on the table for development in the coming books. I won’t go into much further detail of the plot itself, but let’s just say the ending of the book leaves so many questions begging to be answered. And boy does it BEG. As much as I’m talking up the plot itself, the porn side of that plot is extremely well-written. Each character has their own, ahem, assets. Looking at you Kaeo.
I was so happy to get to the end of the book and not just be looking forward to the continuing story but questioning things, theorizing, fantasizing. Sometimes I get to the end of a series book and have to wait, but when I’m left with these long threads to tug on, it just gets me excited to keep reading.
Overall, I highly recommend Remnant’s Bond for anyone with a love for science fiction, and in the mood for a gripping tale full to the brim with being filled to the brim.
Until next time, good writing!