Review - Human Omega: Married to the Barbarian Prince by Eileen Glass

Carter and the warriors have successfully taken the mining ship used by the insect invaders. They can’t leave it where it is or the insects will eventually break through their defenses. Carter isn’t a pilot, but he has to figure out how to move the ship and teach his friends how to work everything else. More importantly, Carter needs some place safe for him to have the baby he’s expecting. Even then, there’s the big question of whether the space marine will be accepted by his mates’ society, even if he is producing a rare child.

The Pykh series concludes with this epic installment that ties up most of the story lines. Naturally, you really have to read the books in their published order to have a clue about all the things going on in this lengthy final volume. The “action” in this story is less about surviving fights with the insects and more about the complex social and political culture that Carter, and also Pykh, suddenly find themselves immersed in.

The story continues to revolve around earthman Carter and his two alien mates Siel and Pykh. Although we’ve gotten to know Siel and Carter quite well through these books, Pykh has always been a bit of a mystery. The big cat-like alien was captured and enslaved by the insects as a very young pup. Pykh has no memories of his family or his people. We’ve learned a lot about Pykh’s culture through Siel’s tutelage of the former slave. The revelation of exactly who Pykh is forms the key turning point in the story.

In additional to his two mates, there’s are large group of others around Carter that form his “found family” on the planet he was bought to by the insects. The point of view switches with each chapter, and many parts of the story are related by other members of the extended family. While Carter’s story has a happy-for-now ending, you can see the possibilities for further adventures on this alien planet in the stories each of these other characters have to tell, and the author implies more stories may be coming.

“Human Omega: Married to the Barbarian Prince” is only available from Amazon (commissionable link).