Alien 'n' Outlaw

By: KC Burn

Narrated by: Chad Maxwell

Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

R'kos, son of the Ankylos Emperor, is expected to settle down. But he's much more attracted to human males than to his own species. Eager to explore his forbidden longings, he steals a ship and heads to Elora Ki to see if he can find the right human guy.

Darien robs the corrupt to give to those in need, but now he needs a ride off Elora Ki, stat. Pursued by drug lords, he accepts help from the amorous stranger who calls himself Ricky. As they fly together along Darien's route, their friendship quickly turns into passion.

But when Ricky is injured, Darien must contact the embassy to get his alien lover the medical care he needs. As Darien finds himself accused of kidnapping, and Ricky fears his family's disappointment, can the two protect their growing relationship? Or are their differences just too great?

©2012 KC Burn (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Alien & human fall in love, complications ensue

We met R'kos in the previous book. He smells gay sex on the human negotiator. It stirs him up to the point that after returning to his home planet, he steals a ship and heads back to Elora Ki to satisfy his desire and experience human gay sex. R'kos is a son of the Ankylos Emporer, the enemy of the Aliance. He meets Darien in a bar and saves him from the bad guys. Darien is not an upstanding citizen, but kind of a Robin Hood, who robs the corrupt to give to those in need. Pursued by drug lords, he accepts help from the amorous alien R'kos who he then calls Ricky. Sex with an alien is very interesting and unusual. They both love it and fall for each other, but don't really express themselves.

A terrible accident occurs and both are injured. The story heats up and things get worse than complicated as you can imagine with a diplomatic disaster that involves royalty. Just when you think everything will work out, it goes awry. With much angst everything resolves to a cross between HFN and HEA. Some of their relationship issues have to do with their vastly different alien cultures so I can understand why they each didn't act like adults.

I hope the author writes another sequel.

This is really 3.5 stars for me

I enjoyed this M/M story a great deal. Both characters were sexy and likable. The 'alien' wasn't just a person with a different color skin, but a different concept of living that I found interesting and would have trouble with it myself.It's prob better if you don't read the synopsis since it's not a lot more story than that, but it is well told, steamy and sweet. I recommend and am off to see what else KC Burn has written.

Sci-fi romance between human and alien

This is the second book of a series, so we have some recurring characters from the first book, but they don’t come in until later, but this book, just like the first, is complete in itself – no need to have read the first book.

I’m not sure if there was really what I would call a plot – it reads kind of like a story of “How I met my husband”, but told in 3rd person with the perspective alternating back and forth between each of the main characters. It has similar emotional themes to the first book: needing to feel protected, safe and loved, just causes and righteous justice.

Unlike the first book, this is really sci-fi – no escaping it. While the first book could have taken place without aliens, this one is all about the interaction between human culture and an alien culture. And I appreciated the author going into some detail about the alien culture. For a short book, one could expect very little development or thought invested in the “what and why” of the aliens and their culture, but the story here goes into that a bit. And there was a point in the story where I thought we were at the end of the story, but then something else happens that needs to be resolved. I liked that I didn’t see that coming.

Dialog is decent, not particularly rich or elaborate, but it works, feels appropriate. Audiobook readers be advised: the narrator’s voice is pleasant, but lacking in emotion and variety. A worthwhile story, nevertheless. I’m interested to see what happens in the third book.

Sci Fi 'true romance'

You know. I have to say that I actually enjoyed this story. I was pleasantly surprised. I don't typically read a lot of Sci Fi, but lately, I've been on a mini kick. I enjoyed the many 'life' scenes parallel to current modern day human issues. This story is worth your time.

R'kos is a prince who's family is quite large, and at the center is a triad marriage-- which is typical of his alien race. The triads consist of two men and a woman. Thing is, R'kos is being stirred towards a marriage similar to his parents. But, it's a life he doesn't want. He is only attracted to men, and wants to choose his own path. He finds adventure with 'bad boy' Darien. He's had a rough life and steals out of necessity. He's stolen from the wrong bad guy, and he's on the run. R'kos comes along for the ride. They develop a deep connection, but are unable to fully communicate their needs and wants, and of course, fears which leads to dyer consequences. There were some scenes that sent a wild feeling of anticipation and pent up intensity up through my spine.

I'm a sucker for romance, and this was a pretty fun romance. Its a fun fast read. Enjoy.

Great worldbuilding, flat narration

What a monotone performance. It was hard to really listen to the story, which had plenty of big emotional moments, when read in that tone. Pity.
Story was veering wildly between plot and MxM porn. Author is great at worldbuilding. I bet this story feels better when I read it on paper.

Loved this

This was a great story with likable characters and an interesting world. I read the first book quite a while ago so I forgot most of it, so I’d say you could read this as a stand-alone and still enjoy it. I also liked the narration. The quality of the voice has a unique raspy quality that made me hope this narrator does older men romances.

Even better than the first book in the series.

I had to start this right away after listening to book one and I liked this story even better. The narrator changed and I usually find it a bit disconcerting when that happens in the middle of a series but these books easily standalone so it didn't bother me.

I think I should say that this audiobook was released in 2012 and the idea of what constitutes a good audio performance has changed quite a bit. So, considering that, I think the performance of this story was really quite good. Unless Chad Maxwell narrates under another name, this is the only audiobook he has on Audible.

This book has a lot going for it – a person of royal lineage who doesn't want to follow tradition, a space pirate who's really more like Robin Hood, and a sexual relationship of convenience that turns into so much more.

This story has some seriously hot scenes; I thought my headset might go up in flames. 😊 I loved how the Ankylos culture was so different and how disconcerting it was for Darien when the people showed no modesty and it caused him to blush and be uncomfortable.

Through the writing and the narration, I felt the connection between Darien and Ricky and how much they came to care for each other. I was quite disappointed to learn that book three isn't available as an audiobook. Fortunately, I have a copy of the eBook!

Awesome

I've listened to both book 1 and 2 now and found them thoroughly enjoyable. I don't usually go for sci fi, but these are funny, romantic, entertaining, and sexy. The HEA is not bad either! Narration on both books is top notch as well. The voice and inflections used are spot on. I hope the series keeps going.

A nice sci-fi romp

Would you listen to Alien 'n' Outlaw again? Why?

I think I would prefer to read the book over listening to the audiobook. The narrator seemed to me to be an amateur.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Alien 'n' Outlaw?

When R'kos was injured and Darien realized he loved him.

What does Chad Maxwell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Over all he is a mediocre narrator and I would not look forward to another story performed by him. It was difficult to differentiate between Darien's and R'kos' voices, and his narrative is monotone.

If you could take any character from Alien 'n' Outlaw out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Really?

Any additional comments?

Summary: A great little romp through human thief Darien's sector of the galaxy with his big, sexy, 6'5 alien companion R'kos, son of the Ankylos Emperor. Nice, tight sci-fi story, smexy sex, a bit of sweetness and angst...what's not to like. The narrator, in addition to his monotone narrative, made it nearly impossible to distinguish Darien from R'kos, and mispronounced a few words. The recording was obviously not edited as evidenced by repeated lines. Regardless, this didn't didn't push me out of the story. I still recommend the audiobook.

Good book but so sweet, no structure of characters an events

Recommend for first time mm romance readers... but if we knew more regarding back stories of all supporting events