Alright, let's see if we can find out what the character limit on this thing is. Also, long story short, I love this story!

The worldbuilding in this story is incredible, not only for its depth but for how fluid it is as well. In particular, that opening to chapter 1 with Joey and Kurt gave us so much information and background into the history and tone of relations between humans and Zetans, but at the same time it came off as such a natural and entertaining conversation that it didn't feel like an information dump at all. This story is filled with conversations and narrative parts that accomplish this as well, but I was struck right away with how quickly I felt familiar with this world and without ever feeling like backstory was being shoved down my throat.

I also really like the philosophical question lingering in the background of the story: How should society weigh the accountability of one's actions? Throughout the story, Nea is blamed for all of the chaos that happens following her actions in Clearwater, but is that really the case?

Was it Nea taking of Kurt and Joey that made the mutinous weapon's officer take over her ship and try to capture the humans on their sister ship? Or made the human who tried to kill Kira hate Zetans? Or even motivate the Zetan arms dealer to sell out her own people for a quick Earth buck? For that matter, wouldn't it be fair to say that all of those people's actions were darker and more destructive than Nea's when looked at individually?

I like how this is addressed late in the story. Nea blames herself solely for the coup attempt and everything else that happened because of Clearwater, but Kurt (and later the empress) points out that the tension between the two races has been boiling over for 45 years and that she was just a spark and that something like this was always going to happen at some point. Both Kurt and Tetra make it clear that she's not blameless, as she did do something terrible, but you can't hold her responsible for decades of xenophobia and hatred or the actions of everyone else who acted after her, right?

I don't know, I'm just really intrigued with the way we judge individual actions when compared to the grand scheme of things, as well as at what point does demanding accountability turn into scapegoating.

I actually read some of the other reviews for this and saw that some people felt as though the story could have spent more time on "mean Nea." I can see where they're coming from, but I have to respectfully disagree. Yeah, it might have made the redemption arc a bit sweeter (it's kind of like the old heel pro wrestler philosophy: the more you hate me know, the more you'll love me when I turn), but, having the hindsight that comes from reading the whole story, I don't think that would have meshed well with the Nea we see later in the story, who comes off as much more benevolent, brave, and a natural leader who can convince even the most bigoted Zetans in the galaxy to work with humans that have every reason to distrust them.

I mean, Nea isn't even really that mean to Kurt, outside of the kidnapping itself. She tries to intimidate him at first, but the thought of actually hurting him makes her feel like shit. Kurt seems to pick up on this, as he even seems to have doubts that she'll make good on her threat to hurt Joey by the second time she makes it. Once she finds out he's attracted to her, she almost immediately decides to go with a little less Vic Vinegar and a little more Hugh Honey in her approach to "taming" him.

I'd even argue that chapter 1 Nea isn't even that mean in her approach to humans. She's ignorant, sure, but even when that ignorance is filled with misguided Zeta Forever propaganda, she's still making excuses in her head to treat her future pet human well. She talks about how he'll need to be a good example for the rest of the humans once the Zetans start taking them again (what, was she going to take her pet human on tour or something?). She also rationalizes taking a human by thinking that her human enclosure is a place that humans would be lucky to live in.

While she's making these excuses, she never seems to get excited at the prospect of the "taming' process itself; instead, it seems more like a necessary evil to her, an unpleasantness that she wants to get out of the way. That's certainly a far cry from the Zeta Forever partygoers, who seem to enjoy tormenting humans and aren't the least bit worried about the "example" their pets (or jewelry and apparel, rather) are setting for other humans.

I guess my long-winded point is that Nea was never actually a very mean person to begin with. On a subconscious level, she's almost the same person at the beginning of the story as she is at the end, but that ignorance, decades of bigotry from both races, and Zeta Forever propaganda are keeping that inner goodness from getting out, if that makes makes sense.

I have to admit, I was a bit concerned early on that the shifting of perspective between so many characters would hurt the pacing of the story. It really didn't, though. Ultimately, getting so many different viewpoints from so many different "levels" of this world made the story more immersive. Also, the fact that so much effort was clearly put into each of the characters and their respective arcs kept each one interesting, with each couple having their own unique relationship to dive into and their own unique problems to solve.

The dynamic between Kurt and Nea as "enemies to lovers" works so well because the same traits that makes them enemies also makes them attracted to one another. Nea is desperate to prove her worldview correct and "break" Kurt, but the whole reason she chose him was his unbreakable defiance and determination. Kurt, on the other hand, hates that Zetan sense of superiority but discovers that he's turned on by that same smugness. Once Nea realizes her view on humans is wrong and Kurt accepts his feeling for her, the conflicting feelings those traits were creating are no longer conflicting, and all that's left is their attraction to each other. This was really well done.

To me, Telma and Joey seem to represent the average human and Zetan mentalities about the opposite race. At the start, Joey's scared that all Zetans are obsessed with shrinking and stomping humans, while Telma views humans merely as tools. Of course, Joey had never seen a Zetan before, and Telma's experiences with humans was probably mostly limited to the human guards at the palace. Once they saw each other, it didn't take long for them to mesh and forget about those preconceived notions. Their relationship was a lot of fun to read, even with most of their smut happening when they were either at their natural sizes or the same size.

Adam and Kira were interesting because their relationship had already begun before the story started. Seeing Kira appreciate human culture and even poke fun at her own once or twice was endearing, and that familiar chemistry between them made them a good team, both in the propagand-err, I mean the Cultural Office and in the bedroom. Their perspective also gave us an idea of how society at large was reacting to the story's developments. They were a pretty cute couple, too.

Craig, Tayla, and Liana's arc gave us a deeper insight into Zetan culture. Tayla was a fun character, although maybe as ignorant as Nea but choosing to love humans rather than hate them. She's also got just a bit of that bratty princess mentality to her but just enough to be cute rather than annoying or mean. That she eventually took the time to learn a bit about Craig's culture shows just how much she cares about him. And seeing this arc from Craig's perspective really drives home the differences between the two cultures when it comes to relationships. By the end, it seems as though they've found a nice unspoken compromise, as I kind of got the vibe that the three of them would stick as a trio of sorts, rather than have Craig handed off to 49 other Zetan women. Craig seems to have a strong bond with Liana as well, so I think this works really well.

Finally, we have Jolene and her pet Zetans. I really liked how the space cowgirl with a height complex refused to let anyone on her ship be taller than her. This is a great metaphor for a character who clearly hates the thought of being looked down upon. I think that's also part of the reason why the Zetans don't like being at their normal heights: They don't want to look down on Jolene physically because they look up to her. Also, it makes sense to me that Zetan subs would like being small, given their culture's love of shrink rays, and that those subs would be members of the Human Appreciation Society, so the Zetans choosing to be pets isn't quite as far fetched as it might seem at first. I also like that Amra took a second to "break character" and let Jolene know that they weren't just a bunch of ignorant fools who got duped into being slaves and that they were really with her because they wanted to be. It was really touching. Even Jolene almost cried.

The cephelos were great villains. Intriguing and mysterious, but definitely evil. In particular, I like how much their perspective of the Zetan/human dynamic differed from the Zetan perspective. Zetans obviously generally believe they're superior and that the humans are tools. From the first time we're introduced to the squids and they called the Zetans the "green food species," I thought that they kind of saw that relationship as inverted, with the humans being their rivals and the Zetans being tools that humans were using. When the ancient cephelo talked about using Kurt's own weapon (Nea) against him and mocked the idea that humans saw the Zetans as their equals, I thought, "That's the thing! That's the thing I was thinking!" I just found it interesting that the "gods" of the galaxy could see things so differently from the "mortal" Zetan and human perspectives.

There's so much more I could say about this story, but I think I've said enough. Overall, this is my favorite of your stories that I've read so far, and I was happy to see that you might revisit this world one day. You've left a lot of interesting plot threads waiting to be pulled for sure.

Another fun story. It reminded me of the Titan Empire universe in some ways (technologically superior alien species with mixed/evolving views on humanity, a faction of said aliens causing major internal problems, an alien threat that seems unknowable, humans proving their worth and equality by playing a pivotal role in fighting against that threat.) They were both influenced by Star Trek, among other things, so it makes sense there would be some similar themes. 

Author's Response:

I've never read the Titan Empire stories, they're on my to-do list lol. This one has a lot of influences like I said in the epilogue, glad you liked it.

I have greatly enjoyed your stories. The first I read was Landlady. I didn't read this whole story yet, but chapters 10 and 12 are particularly fun. I'd have liked a bit more description to really get the size of Jolene to the tinies though (and the fun she has). Would you consider doing more stories with growth instead of shrinking. Or growth and shrinking. And maybe some violence and destruction? Though I wouldn't say no to a Landlady sequel with an actual evil witch as the villain or the elves invading.

I really liked the story. My only complaint is that I kind of wished there was more time before Nea started to change her view on humans as it seemed kind of abrupt (which I think I mentioned) and so there could be more time of Nea dominating and playing with Kurt as I really like GTS femdom.

Yes, I still have some questions left over like what connection did humanity have with the Cephalos? And what did the Old Cephlo mean when it said it missed humanity?

Also, what year does the story take place in? and what year did the Zetans invade earth and when did the Cephalos invade forcing the Zetas to need humanity? I've been wondering that, I don't remember reading any dates.

As for going back to something silly and smutty, any chance of that being Welcome to Hell? I've been wanting to see more of that story.

Excellent ending! Love how things wrapped up nicely, but were also left open ended enough to make room for future content.

And speaking of future content, definitely excited for those One Year Lease one shots you’ve been hinting at. So much potential for back stories and/or follow ups with different characters

Noice.