Alpha Alpha Males

I've just finished reading a sci-fi book by one of my favourite authors. Great story, great world-building, great idea, great heroine, total PRICK of a hero - if you can call him that.

Until he turned up, I was enjoying this book. Three things wrong with the guy: Aggression, Possession, Obsession, the three things that, when overdone, make this guy a really good baddie.

From the moment this guy sees our heroine, he wants to possess her, must, in fact have her and sets about to achieve just that. He bullies her friends, is suspicious of any male looking in her direction and when they both save the colony from attack, he traps her into having sex with him. And he's not gentle in taking her virginity. Then, he starts dictating terms and what she's gonna do with her life, how he will see to their future by shutting down the project she has worked long and hard for.

Like any smart female, she tells him to take a hike. Of course, everything is downhill from there. Not only does he take steps so she loses her job, but gets her exiled from her family, friends and community. For a species that is close, exile is the worst possible punishment. When she is absolutely at the lowest, he says he can get it all back for her, but only if she 'marries' him. GAH!!!

At the end of the book, they are together, but I can tell you, this guy has no redeeming features. Not one: he even hesitated to save her when she is in mortal peril; it's her cousin who saves her. There is nothing about him to empathise with. There are hints, but they are not explored.

In another book, another series, same author, we have a similar hero. The difference is that this hero had a shitty upbringing. His past is explained. In the above book, it is not.

I was surprised by a number of reviews of this book, all of whom said how wonderfully alpha this guy was. No woman in their right mind would ever accept such behaviour. Not in this century. It might have been okay during the hey day of Mills and Boons' greek era - 1960s - where the young woman was kept in a lock room in a luxurious house until she came to her senses and realised her love for the evil, manipulative bastard (of course, he only kept her locked up because he wanted her to love him, like he did her) - insert back of hand to forehead here - but not today.

The disappointment is that his behaviour is seen to be acceptable, and it may well be, but only if we get an explanation, a reason, or better yet, signs that he is not beyond redemption.