This first installment in the Beyond series has the spirit of a futuristic cult comic-book, but the body of phlegmatic smut-ery. It's a triumph of sex over content, but it's a curious triumph with its MFF, MFFM teasing. The construction of this dystopian world has so much potential with Eden councilmen vs Sector bad boys, the pre-Flare references, the pro-fertility farms, stuff you get to hear about but never really understand or be a part of. And despite the high attention to danger and adventure, the easily disarmed bomb and few stray bullets just don't quite measure up to their promise of conflict. That leaves the romantic plot, which is flawed by a profusion of narrators, who incorporate far too many relationship conflicts and rob the time you could've spent getting to know the main H/h. It doesn't reach the level of great sci-fi romance to which it clearly aspires because it has too many characters doing too many boring things--and doing each other for reasons other than love or friendship. Still, it's a unique and skillfully written read, and the world was engaging enough to have me looking out for book 2.