This was a great Sci-Fi adventure story, realistic as far as those things can go, and it merged many elements to a harmonic whole: the underdog premise, loyalty conflict, alien creatures, shapeshifting, military, pirates, spies, advanced technology and ancient warrior's code of honor, all without info-dump and nicely woven into the narrative. Most of all, though, this was a beautiful enemies-to-lovers story and yes, a romance too, though the latter took a backseat to the main message that this story transports. This story was more, much more than the sum of its (notably entertaining and enjoyable) parts. To quote one character, it is about becoming yourself. Not even about being accepted as your own person, but just the liberty to BE. After all, this is about an alien race of shapeshifters who could be anything, male or female, human or alien, by own choice and independently of what others perceived. And I think this was what the story was about, and what touched me so deeply about it. It rang with a deep longing, with a yearning for freedom that exceeded physical, anatomical and even genetical bondaries. It was what Kyle was after, only realizing the fact once he got to know those few who possessed it.
