Placenta of Love

Placenta of Love by Spike Marlowe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


On Venus, the amusement park planet, robot pirate Captain Carl is granted free will and creates another life, an AI named Helen that he loves. When he tries to give Helen a living body made from a huge placenta, she runs amok and threatens to destroy the planet. Can Captain Carl stop her without killing the only being he's ever loved?

Sigh. It's that tired old story. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy and girl get back together. Only the boy is a sentient robot pirate in an amusement park. And the girl is a giant placenta with an AI for a brain and births smaller placentas. Okay, fine, it's not the same old story. What do you expect from a book written by a real life super heroine?

Placenta of Love is Bizarro love story. While on the surface you get a lot of Bizarro tropes like weird sex and dildos, underneath it's surprisingly sweet. Love conquers all, even the Robo-Pope and her Church of Transubstantial Birth Fear.

The writing is polished and I liked the way Spike started each chapter with a description of one of the park's attractions, like the Tunnel of Lust or the Driller.

I'm not really sure what else I can say without spoiling more of the plot than I already have. Jiji the Robo-cat was probably my favorite character. Spankies, anyone? I really liked it when Captain Carl stepped up and embraced his Robo-pirate nature.

If you like pirates, placentas, and popes, this is the book for you. Give Spike Marlowe a chance. I, for one, would like to see more from her.



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