The Ophelia Prophecy

Futuristic romance author Fisher (Ghost Planet) wraps this venture’s tangled plot around red-hot erotic encounters. For decades, humans have huddled in Sanctuary, deep in the Utah desert, to keep safe from the Manti, bioengineered insect/human hybrids who nearly wiped out pure humans with a targeted virus. Plucky young human archivist Asha and smouldering Manti hero Paxton meet on the border of Sanctuary. There are gaps in Asha’s memory, but she knows she’s desperately seeking her vanished father. Pax is the son of the human-hating Manti leader, which makes it hard for him to admit his lust for Asha. These complications don’t stop them from embarking on a complicated mating dance, as alliances between human and Manti subgroups continually shift. Despite pedestrian dialogue and paper-thin characters, Fisher makes a solid case for responsible bioengineering research and creates colorful settings from boggy Ireland to Manti-and-Moorish Granada. (Apr.)