Through this book I learned just how sadistic of a reader I really am. ...Maybe it was because the opening started with a touch of gore that I had myself fixed for a Dead Space-like adventure where someone is rescued from a horror scene lost in space. After the initial start, it slowed down quite a bit and I started to worry that nothing was going to happen. But it did pick up. Once the character torture began I got progressively more and more interested. The author is really good at dealing with character injuries, emotional turmoil, near-death situations, medical torture... Gawd, why am I such a bad person?? I suppose the gap was for development that was required for other scenes, but the strengths was in the action. 
 I'll also admit that I did not entirely buy the main couple's relationship right away either, though they did grow on me. I always have a bit of trouble with "love at first sight" stories - they have to try so much harder to sell it. Isaac and Turk got comfortable with each other too quickly to warrant certain intimate conversations, like: would you ask a stranger if they ever smile? It was too soon to make that claim and it is such a forward thing to say, ya know? They fell in love before the reader even got to know them. BUT as I did get to know them, I began to support them too. They had a charm and the way they communicate was fun to read. I can't help but wonder how much stronger I'd feel about them if they were drawn together more naturally..? Hard to say. 
 While this hit on a few cliches (like how love endangers their partner, having a nickname that means beloved in another language, having soul mates be the excuse to draw them together) it also hit on themes I'm super weak to (like trauma, experimenting on people, learning about developed alien cultures, etc). So everything sort of balanced out in the end.