r/ReverseHarem • u/assiraN • 22h ago
Reverse Harem - Rave Code Vessel: Best RH I've read in awhile
Just finished {Code Vessel by Leann Belle} a sci-fi, lightly Mulan-inspired, RH romance. The world-building was good, the MMCs were actual people with their own goals and insecurities, and there is quite an in-depth exploration of the moral complexities of war and the reasons for wanting to be a soldier for a government you don't necessarily support. Definitely isn't a pro military/pro war book.
Just to warn those with this particular trigger, the government has a forced breeding programme dressed up as a 'Matchmaking service' where women have to be married and trying to get pregnant by 22. Our heroine is escaping this pressure which kicks off the main plot
TL;DR plot: heroine's injured brother is drafted for war, she takes his place to get out of a forced breeding programme, to save him (who never wanted to be a soldier) and a bit because she wants to be a hero. She goes to a military academy disguised as a man and meets the MMCs who are fellow students. It is the first in a series and ends on a sort-of cliffhanger
Too Long plot: The main character is Fianna, a 21 year old medical student who desperately doesn't want to be forced into marriage. Her only family is her older brother Vann, who is also training to be a medic and resents the pressure to join the army, quote from him
"having to murder soldiers from the other side who are no more evil than you are, who have just as many people to go home to, and think their mission is just as noble"
Vann was a great example of a complex character. He hates war, doesn't want to die or kill for a government he resents so think Fianna has it easier, this makes him dismissive of her fears of the forced marriage. I found him annoying but could empathise with his position too
Fianna, desperately doesn't want to get married and be forced to have children, she wants to be a soldier to be a hero who saves people (a bit for her own glory too imo). After an attack on their station, Vann ends up in a coma and gets drafted so Fianna takes his place and fakes her death, solving three problems at once, no more war for Vann, no more marriage for her and a chance for her to be a hero.
I love how they did the disguise in this book, she has a bracelet that can alter how she looks but not how her body feels, so there is still a real risk of people finding out but you don't spend the whole book thinking the MMCs are idiots for not seeing she's a woman
Fianna travels to the military academy where she meets the MMCs, all third-year students. We have Breaker, her assigned mentor, Elio, her room-mate and Sebastien, her eventual squad captain. The MMCs all have distinct personalities, their own point-of-view, their own goals and a pro for me, there isn't the "dumb-one" (sorry himbo lovers).
Predictably, the heroine is really good at fighting but what makes it well thought out is she's terrible at the normal strength based exercises but is good at controlling the Shinkas (basically giants mecha-suits) where it doesn't matter how strong your body is, just your mind.
The majority of the book is her training and interacting with the MMCs, then stuff happens ... but I'll leave it at that to not spoil anything
