Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon—Book 1 Review

I found myself scrolling through TikTok last Sunday night and I found myself ensnared by the BookTok community. Another round of Ruby Dixon book recommendations hit my For You Page without warning, and of course, the title Ice Planet Barbarians was frequently thrown my way.

Now, I read this infamous book back in 2021 when I first heard of the series and of Ruby Dixon. It was probably the weirdest story that I read that year. It was 12 AM when I started it and close to 2 AM when I finished it. When I woke up later that morning, everything I had read seemed like a fever dream. I hardly remembered the story itself, but I did remember a couple of important details: the snow, the color blue, and the humming symbiont.

I am no stranger to weird, but Dixon’s work is my introduction to the so-called monster-f_cking side of the literary world. And all I have to say is that it is the most entertained that I have been in a while.

This year is the year that I am rereading books that I have not thought about in a long time. Because BookTok has been relentlessly reminding me that Dixon’s books exist, I decided that I will start my rereading journey with Ice Planet Barbarians. And here I am, sharing this journey with you.

About the Book

Ice Planet Barbarians (2015)

Author: Ruby Dixon
Genre(s): Action, Drama, Erotica, Romance
Trigger(s): Coercion, Rape

Summary

You’d think being abducted by aliens would be the worst thing that could happen to me. And you’d be wrong. Because now, the aliens are having ship trouble, and they’ve left their cargo of human women—including me—on an ice planet.

And the only native inhabitant I’ve met? He’s big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me…

From Goodreads.com

Review

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I give this book 3 out of 5 stars: ⭐⭐⭐

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon caters to people who would want to be catered to—worshipped even—by their partners. Of course, it is hard to overlook the monster-f_ucking thing. And to be honest, the premise of the book and the series is not going to appeal to all readers. The main character’s (Georgie) love interest falls in love with a tall blue alien male with horns and unbelievable appendages. His name is Vektal and he is more than in love with Georgie. The guy craves Georgie’s company and his love for her often reads like an excuse for his sexual approach. Theirs is a tale of lust and otherworldly sensations… literally.

The Plot

Dixon’s book is quite short. I was able to finish reading it in about an hour after starting it. It is an easy read and I do not mean that because of its length. The story is quite simple: a group of women are kidnapped by aliens; the spaceship they are in crash lands on a different planet that is inhabited by dangerous creatures and a humanoid species; the women have no way to get back home and have no choice but to surrender to the mercy of the harsh environment and the aliens that welcome them.

I think that the plot of the story is interesting. The idea of being abducted by grotesque humanoid creatures and be subjected to their torture is scary. However, Dixon focuses on the women’s eventual romantic interest in the blue alien males, the Sa-khui, that save them.

The Writing

The more interesting development of the story has to be Dixon’s world-building. Although the story is propelled by the erotic content, Dixon put more thought behind the creatures that reside on the ice planet. In the first book of the IPB series, not much can be said about the layout of the planet. But it is apparent that Dixon did make an attempt to expand on this new world.

I should also mention that Dixon was mindful of other things, such as the language barriers between the two species. Having devices that translate things into English is straight forward, but Dixon takes it a step further by adding technology that somehow transmits different languages in the minds of her characters. This is very much sci-fi-like, though Dixon does not elaborate on the technology. And while the characters learn each other’s language, they still struggle with pronunciation. It is a clever detail.

The More Controversial Stuff

The beginning of the book is riddled with traumatic events for the women. Their abduction is just the tip of the iceberg. The women are raped and abused in other ways by the aliens that have taken them. I appreciate Dixon’s lack of description in those scenes; however, the implications are more than enough to be upsetting. Readers who are interested in reading Dixon’s series should be aware of the darker content in the book. It is surprising, given that the most prominent theme of the book is sex.

On a relating note, the strangest thing about the romantic development in just the first book is the complex dynamic that the women develop with their alien saviors. Vektal makes it known that the women cannot leave the planet and that they cannot survive without them. In other words, the women are stuck with the Sa-khui tribe. Georgie uses this to her advantage, however, and manipulates Vektal into doing things for her in exchange for sex, though Vektal eagerly complies.

Sex is mostly consensual; however, it is hard to not see the big picture. Things happen without the women’s approval sometimes, including the implantation of the so-called khui, or symbiont, that enables newcomers to live on the planet. The symbiont is also responsible for the characters’ sexual attraction to each other. Vektal’s khui  reacts to Georgie before hers is implanted at all, and when she finally gets one, the pair are all over each other with a turn of a page. In other words, the khui  makes the characters’ hyper-sexual. Dixon implies that the pair truly love one another; however, the symbiont literally manipulates the hosts’ bodies to react to one another. It is completely reasonable to doubt that Georgie and Vektal are truly in love, or if their khuis have made them believe that since they make the characters’ bodies respond to one another.

There is a fine line between consent and coercion, and the characters walk on that line. The contradictions between their declarations of love and their symbionts’ reactions to potential partners are apparent. It is easy to get wrapped up on the smut and ‘sweet nothings’ that the characters say to each other, but overthinking readers like me might find it difficult to ignore the creepiness of it all. Bodily autonomy is almost nonexistent in Dixon’s icy world.

The Characters

Dixon impressed me with her headstrong characters. Georgie is clever and assertive as a leader to the other women. She is also very comfortable in her own body, which is a nice change from the typical insecure female protagonist readers might see in other erotic stories. Vektal is similar to Georgie; he is also assertive, but his lust for Georgie makes him persistent and somewhat clingy. 

There is not much to say about the other characters that are introduced in this book because their roles are surprisingly small. Like I said before, the first book of the series deals with the budding romance between Georgie and Vektal.

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In all, Ice Planet Barbarians is an entertaining short book. The contents of the book are sometimes ridiculous enough to make someone laugh. However, I would recommend this book to readers who are interested in dipping their toes in the so-called monster-f_cking side of the literary world.