This is not just one of the most imaginative, mind-expanding, and thought-provoking science fiction stories I have ever read, but also a very unusual ménage involving three partners. One human, one alien with acidic skin the human can’t touch, and one plant. Yes, you read that right. One of the three – partners – is a plant! I guess the title sort of hints at it, but I found it difficult to imagine how it would work. But with a generous helping of creativity, the author has managed to convince me that yes, a situation like this is not outside the realm of the possible. If you have trouble imagining us finding alien life at all, this is not the book for you. If you’re ready to open up to some pretty amazing ideas, then go for it. You have to read this to believe it.

Kazuo is a young human of Japanese descent, about to finish his education as an intergalactic trader, and the son of a powerful industrialist. He has had a crush on an equally powerful alien CEO, Aethos, for many years, and when he returns to the man’s estate for a party, he is drawn not to the people trying to get on Aethos’s good side, but to the alien’s extraterrestrial greenhouses. He ends up with the same plant that had “marked” him years ago during a school trip to see alien plants. Only this time the plant makes some advances that are clearly sexual in nature, and Kazuo panics.

What follows is one eye-opening revelation after the other, beginning with the fact that the plant is sentient and has chosen Kazuo as its mate. He is the only one it can mate with, and if he doesn’t, the plant will die. It makes Kazuo think – as it did me. A sentient plant is difficult to imagine for us, but the author manages to describe it and its behaviors, its way of communicating in such a way that I was beginning to see how it’s possible. The revelations don’t stop there, and I was more fascinated with each new twist and turn about the plant and its life cycle, what Aethos had been planning, and how Kazuo was dealing with everything thrown at him.

If you like thought-provoking science fiction, if you are ready to consider alien life in a very unusual form, and if you’re looking for an entertaining, insightful, and plain mind-boggling read, then you will probably enjoy this free novella. I think it’s amazing. ( )