Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
Captain Archer Pfeil’s current assignment has been nothing but one long string of disasters. As if being dumped right before Christmas wasn’t enough, the mounting misfortunes indicate he’ll be out of a job by the end of his mission.
But it’s difficult to salvage the assignment with Ambassador Ilin a’dlen Jhex around, pushing all Archer’s buttons. He struggles to keep his distance from the out-of-bounds ambassador, but Jhex has other plans in mind….
A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2015 Advent Calendar package “Sleigh Ride”
I always like to see what the unusual holiday short story has to offer so Jessica Payseur’s Mission Mistletoe seemed to fit the bill. But unfortunately I think the author was trying a little too hard and crammed her story full of too many elements that took away from the holiday cheer and overloaded it with cumbersome world building that didn’t always make sense or feel necessary in a Christmas short.
Poor Captain Archer Pfeil. His mission seems doomed with everything going wrong, from fuel to food source. On board is an important ambassador who is evaluating the humans now pushing into their territory in the galaxy. Payseur tells us that Ambassador Ilin a’dlen Jhex looks similar to a bat (ears, fur) but dresses like someone out of 1001 Arabian Tales. He has an unusual type of society with multiple sex partners plus he likes to sculpt. So many holes in this character..we get too much or not enough depending on the information. There is no real logic to the buildup of the species of the ambassador which is part of the problem if you want the reader to feel a connection to him.
If you look closer at the world building, more questions appear. Why would a crew who loves its captain lie to him for a alien they don’t know anything about? Think about the trust that breaks. Under that shaky surface just lies more questions. The characters and circumstances just don’t produce any heat, or substantial logistical groundwork needed for the reader to engage their feelings about the characters or relationship. Thank goodness, Payseur doesn’t go for any instant love here, that would have been disastrous.
As it is, if you aren’t a scifi fan, if you don’t look too deeply or ask any questions of the world building, then this is a sort of pleasant little space romance.
Cover art by Bree Archer is nice but a little jarring, doesn’t come together as a composition, exactly like the story itself.
Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | 
Book Details:
Kindle Edition, 49 pages
Published November 30th 2015
ASINB018RRVVH8
edition languageEnglish
seriesSleigh Ride – 2015 Advent Calenda
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 