Deep Merge: An Interstellar Romance by Linda North

Deep Merge: An Interstellar Romance Reviews

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  Pin

  After finishing the re-read of this revised and expanded second edition I changed my rating from four to four and a half stars rounded up. This is a lovely book, full of feeling and worth reading.
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  AnnMaree Of Oz

  Kindle unlimited. This was apparently released before but has been expanded on by the author in this newer updated version.
  
  I thoroughly enjoyed this super emotional SciFi tale.
  
  So it basically deals with an alien geneticist whose lady mate dies while on an expedition to earth. Kaesah needs to get back to her (all female) Homeworld but needs a mate to do this.
  Toni is human and has recently lost her own female partner. So both women are emotionally vulnerable.
  
  There's a special way in which two beings 'deep merge' allowing them to travel across space, I admit I didn't fully understand it but it's SciFi! So I went with it...
  
  Ultimately the two form a deep psychic and empathetic bond that links them. But love is there too, as well as understanding of what each has gone through with their loss.
  
  Once the emotional components come into play it gets sickly sweet and lovingly adorable, and I was totally on board and there for it! It's all very lovey-dovey, deep declarations, waxing poetic. So if you're not into that I can see how it might annoy, but I'm a sap for all that romantic crap!!!
  
  There's great adventure, SciFi and learning about Kaesah's world and its differences and similarities to earth. I found it really entertaining and would recommend!
  
  There's a glossary of terms in the back, I'd recommend skimming first! But I never felt it was too difficult to understand.
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  Loek Krancher

  Hers, mine, ours. Brilliant, awesome and I love it.
  
  In the beginning I wondered, why I have bought this book. But the farther in the story the more I enjoyed it. This is my first book in this genre and definitely not my last. Thanks to the good writing by Linda North. The story is well crafted and the relationship is very well developed. Two different worlds that match very well with each other, in honor and in love, in merge we are one. I highly recommend this book to everyone.
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  Ameliah Faith

  Ms North does it again!!!
  Linda North is one of my very favorite authors and has revamped and re-released her space alien/human action drama for your enjoyment. This is a beautifully written love story set on Earth, space and the all-female planet, NaQwin. It is very info heavy at first with lots of new alien terms to learn but that’s necessary for the story and it does settle down before long. Ms. North allows us to enter the minds of two women who are so very different and yet so very much alike. We witness their pain and loss, their fears and mistrust only to be rewarded with their joy, love and happiness. Both Toni and Kaesah are a beautiful couple and watching them get to know each other and fall in love is a treat! This version varies from the first with more descriptions of the settings, the story line, the character development are all different as well. The ending is also completely redone and so precious it made me cry. This book has stayed with me and just like the first one, I will be reading it again and again!
  
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  Pastordeborah Harshman

  This one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time.
  
  Me North' s ability to create unique characters is unparalleled. The characters are so well developed that as a reader I began to identify with the struggles each faced.
  
  Each character's struggle with their own beliefs while making decisions that will ultimately affect to very different worlds and cultures.
  
  This author is gifted with the heart of a storyteller and has gifted us with a beautiful story of self sacrifice and finding love by giving their hearts to each other.
  
  I highly recommend this book and this author! She is on my must read list!
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  Miss KittyKat

  A good mix of romance and scific. This was well written. The two characters were 3 dimensional and distinct with their own voice. Toni and Kaesha were a cute couple. Toni wasn’t thrilled to be abducted by an alien but goes along to what is happening except for some personal beliefs. Kaesha was serious but had a lighter side. Kaesha didn’t understand Toni’s teasing and adages and many of them she took literally and that made for LOL moments. Kasha lives by a code of honor and this is put to the test and strains Toni’s trust in her. I liked the descriptions of the all female society and planet. The ending made me smile. The scific was understandable and original.
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  Ameliah

  Linda North is one of my very favorite authors. I have read her Wind and Dreams five times and I have only has it for two months. I had hoped Deep Merge would measure up, it did! This is a beautifully written love story set on Earth, space and a foreign planet. Ms. North allows us to enter the minds of two women who are so very different and yet so very much alike. We witness their pain and loss, their fears and mistrust only to be rewarded with their joy, love and happiness. This book too has stayed with me and I will be reading it again and again!
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  Annette Mori

  Love the revised version of Deep Merge...even better the second time around. This sci-fi story had amazing world building with a fabulous romance embedded. Who wouldn’t love a world of all women!
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  Velvet Lounger

  Deep Merge takes us from a very familiar view of earth, seen through the eyes of an alien race, to a world in which there are only women, lesbianism the norm, and diversity within that accepted. While the plot is one of a moral dilemma about how far you will go to save your people, the unifying theme is grief. Both women have lost their life partners, both are in mourning, both put aside that pain to try and work together, and in so doing, find a commonality or purpose and understanding.
  
  It is an imaginative plot, clever idea and interesting juxtaposition. Ms North makes good use of the alternate cultures to highlight how one, which has accepted and enjoys diversity within itself, still suffers from xenophobia, while the other is prejudiced and narrow minded, struggling internally with homophobia and bigotry.
  
  The characters are solid, well developed and multi-layered. As well as Kaesah and Toni we get to meet a range of women as they travel to Kaesah’s home planet. Ms North is adept at drawing a character from a few moments of observation or a conversation. She does an excellent job of showing a range of personalities and attitudes without ever being heavy handed in her portrayals.
  
  Linda North biogOn the other hand she draws sparkling and vivid descriptions of the new world, transporting us to vibrant scenes that would be the joy of a set designer. We get to feel the excitement of the new visitor and the joy of the returning traveler through their view of the world and it transports us with them.
  
  As well as an interesting science fiction tale this is a well drawn romance, slow and gentle, these women fall in love against their own will and inclination, showing how even a xenophobe can fall in love when respect comes first. They suffer very ‘human’ insecurities; their emotions are ones we can all empathize with.
  
  Well written and crafted this was an enjoyable read and I will certainly be looking out for more books from this author.
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  P. Industry

  I truly have mixed feels about this book; on the one hand, it's a cute and uncluttered story about lesbians in space. On the other it's almost unbearably preachy. So there's a real pickle.
  
  Toni is a stock-standard ordinary lesbian who gets kidnapped by a space alien from an all-female tribe. Said space alien - Kaesah - is not all bad; she's just in a bind after her wife died of Space Plague (which humans might have the key to curing). Since it takes two genetically compatible 'people' to fly the spaceship, Toni takes the proverbial one for the team and eventually agrees to effectively marry Keasah so the rest of the space aliens can be warned about the various threats to both humanity and themselves. Keasah and Toni promptly fall in love, and spend the rest of the book saying mushy things to each other. This both adorable and horrible - mostly 'horrible', because I was seriously worried I was going to acquire diabetes.
  
  So the pros: Linda North has a good imagination, and a talent for world-building. This is a story that is sweeping in scope. Her aliens have a clear and alternative culture. The weird marriage angle could so easily have come off as rapey but doesn't (phew!) - I think this is a true achievement. There is light bondage that truthfully feels a lot like it's not bondage at all. Both main characters are sympathetic and kinda fun.
  
  The cons are a little more problematic: the aliens are unbearably superior. They're like folks on a commune, except turbocharged; at various points the reader is patronized about the advantages of vegetarianism and organic food, how bad humanity is at environmentalism, the falseness of religion, and various other liberal things. I am all for liberal things, but after 75% of the book I was feeling like aggressively eating a triple-beef McDonald's hamburger while firing enormous shotguns from the seat of a John Deere tractor for the glory of Jesus. Seriously, the book is just charming enough to overcome the lecture, but it was also right on the bleeding edge.
  
  The author has also chosen to pepper the text with random made-up words. Why would anyone choose to do this? If you're going to translate, then translate fully; only don't translate when it's a whole phrase and you're going to fully translate it right after. If that route was good enough for Tolkien, it's good enough for everyone else. My god, there were *so many* ludicrous made up words in "Deep Merge", and they all mixed together until I just Englished them to keep them apart. The Aliens or "NaQwins" promptly became the NyQuil. The word "dishonourable" was rendered something similar to bu chyi, which immediately became "Bok Choy": this never carried the gravitas the author clearly wished to imbue it with. It was all a little much. Sometimes words were introduced with dizzying speed, and cultural aspects were explained via a massive and disjointed background dump.
  
  So those were real problems.
  
  I dunno; this is a real hit-and-miss kind of book for me. The spaceships and their propulsion system was kind of a neat idea; the characters were cool (when they weren't attempting to save the world through judging everyone), and the romance was sort of sweet. The plot was inoffensive enough. It was just the unbelievably annoying nature of the finger-wagging, and the aggravating made-up words that got my goat.
  
  I gave it three stars; sometimes my fingers hover over the buttons that would give the book two. Sometimes they hover over the buttons that would give the book four. I'm afraid I can't be any clearer than that.
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  Sarah

  I really enjoyed the premise of this book: human abducted by alien to help her get back home with important information regarding the future of both races. Of course it's much deeper than that. The author's invention of deep merge and how it is used for space travel is awesome. That effect of being linked with someone in a telepathic nature intrigues me. I loved the romantic development between the two characters. It took time and some emotional searching on both women's parts due to their past issues. I'm hoping that there is a second novel. Whereas the book wraps up nicely, there us definitely room for a sequel. If this is what happens when one is abducted by aliens, "Beam me up, Scotty!"
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  amare_novellus

  I love sci fi, and so reading this was a no brainier. I went in with high expectations and was not disappointed.
  Linda North has written an amazing book, i loved kaesah and Toni and how they evolved throughout.
  Its a must read for all space and romance lovers.
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  Dide

  This intergalactic love story is about two aliens on earth seeking some answers. To go back a human had to be abducted and in the course of the journey back love somehow blooms.
  
  Nice story with some appreciated prose and a number of mushy ones. The major thing that unfortunately didn't end this story for me with more appreciation is the summation that the migrated humans were the ones with "lighter skin tones" despite the earlier mentions of the varying shades of skin tone.
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  Musa

  It's a very beautifully written story about two people from a different galaxy, both suffering from a deep loss (of their partners) and found the way to love and be together again. I think deep merge is actually a very good name for the book as well as being the symbolism of the love Toni and Kaesah has for each other. I was totally immersed in the book and the alien world, the language flows despite there's quite a bit of space language in there. This is among one of my most favourite sci-fi book of this year. Highly recommended
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  MissAlice 2U

  This writer built a world that I would love to see. It wasn't overly sappy, it wasn't too wordy, it wasn't smut from start to finish... it was a beautiful love story after loss. A journey to healing between two women and a poignant merging of their lives, their souls. I loved the glimpse into their future and would be thrilled to read another book should this become a series👀 I highly recommend this book if your heart wants to feel that warm sensation that only true love can bring- even if just experiencing it through words for a short time.
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  DR

  It's sci-fi so I dispel my belief. There's a planet population of women only and the big-eyed hairless aliens from Roswell NM are the bad guys. One species, NaQwi, doesn't interfere and the other, Phlurx, has nefarious ties to powerful in various governments. The NaQwi are trying to find a cure for a life-threatening disease and this is where the story begins. Two NaQwi have been on earth doing genetic research on Earth's female population and tragedy necessitates Kaesah 'acquire' a human female to get back home. Toni is that human and their space journey is the heart of the story. It's an interesting read.
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  Miss KittyKat

  A good mix of romance and scific. This was well written. The two characters were 3 dimensional and distinct with their own voice. Toni and Kaesha were a cute couple. Toni wasn’t thrilled to be abducted by an alien but goes along to what is happening except for some personal beliefs. Kaesha was serious but had a lighter side. Kaesha didn’t understand Toni’s teasing and adages and many of them she took literally and that made for LOL moments. Kasha lives by a code of honor and this is put to the test and strains Toni’s trust in her. I liked the descriptions of the all female society and planet. The ending made me smile. The scific was understandable and original.
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  Nikki Angel

  I did enjoy the book once I got into it. However, I thought it would have been easier to get into if it came with a glossary of terms. I may be new to science fiction, having only watched it, and read a couple books, but initially I had to think about the context of the new word in the sentence, and since it's not a word in the dictionary the instant Kindle dictionary was of no help. That being said, I did enjoy the characters and the story once I was about 1/3 of the way in. I would be interested in reading another book by this author as I do think she crafts a good story.
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  Norma Chapple

  Grab this one
  
  Linda North you are a brilliant author I have read the three books you have written in three days. Each book had a different theme. and you nailed them,I was a little hesitant about this book before I started it ,but you got me again! you. have a natural way of telling a story can't wait for your next book. Don't miss reading this author. Norm
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  Nolly Frances Sepulveda

  A definite winner
  
  I found this to be a wonderful and delightful story. There was adventure, humor and love. The characters of Keasah and Toni complemented each other with their wit, their laughter and their love. I hope there will be more to come for these two women and their homes.
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  Amy

  If you enjoy sci-fi stories and new worlds, this is a must read. Toni is just a big kid and will make you laugh out loud.
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  Cee Jelly

  Deep Merge is a story about two women from different species, Kaesah and Toni, forced to work together to save their worlds. On their journey, they developed a romance and explored each other's cultures.
  
  This book is more like one section of a story than the actual story. Linda North sets up really interesting ideas, creating a great opportunity for a solid sci-fi story, but does not make use of them. Almost all of the book is the romance, with only mentioning of plot and some world-building. There is nothing exciting in this book, no real fights, no real stakes, no real conflicts. The lack of plot is baffling since the idea is right there. But Linda never takes us to the serious, action side.
  
  Credit where credit is due, I do like the characters and their chemistry. Toni is a dork and Kaesah is a cutie when she opens up. Their interactions are pleasant enough to make me giggle most of the time. But still I can't ignore the flaws, which is personal conflicts being solved so easily and suddenly. Kaesah's xenophobism is acknowledged, but never brought up face to face between her and Toni. And the final conflict, which is Toni and Kaesah fussing over whether Toni will return to Earth or not, is barely a conflict at all, considering how obvious the solution is.
  
  Between the romance's conflicts being glossed over and the plot mostly nonexistent, I feel like the book is drawn out and boring even though the characters are likable. Most of the time I just wished their ship is blown up or something. The potential of a grand story is omitted to save space for the romance, a decision I don't understand at all. How can a romance formed through standing together in hardship of wars, alien schemes and planet invasions be anything less preferable than your run-of-mill spaceship romance?
  
  All in all, the characters are nice and lovely, the romance is a bit clunky, the plot is almost nonexistent. This book could have been a great sci-fi, but it missed the chance and chose the easy path. Even though I do enjoy the romance, I can not regard Deep Merge as anything more than a mediocrity and a big chunk of wasted potentials.
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  Ameliah Faith

  Ms North does it again!!!
  Linda North is one of my very favorite authors. I have read her Wind and Dreams five times and I have only has it for two months. I had hoped Deep Merge would measure up, it did! This is a beautifully written love story set on Earth, space and a foreign planet. Ms. North allows us to enter the minds of two women who are so very different and yet so very much alike. We witness their pain and loss, their fears and mistrust only to be rewarded with their joy, love and happiness. This book too has stayed with me and I will be reading it again and again!
  
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  J H

  A mission to save two races from different worlds that leads to love
  
  If you are a fan of the show Ancient Aliens, you will read the same, or similar information about ET races in the beginning of the book. I enjoy the show, so that was definitely appealing for me. There is great detail in describing Kaesah's ship, how things function, and all that Toni learns on the trip back to Kaesah's galaxy. Their symbiotic relationship helps them both recover after significant losses, leading to something unexpected.
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  Linda

  This excellent story quenches every sci-fi lovers' thirst. The alien world, back story, and especially ship are described in glorious detail and breathe life into imaginations and love blooms in hearts. I also feel the need to check out my dna, just in case. I definitely recommend this quick moving story.