Category Archives: Book Reviews

The Night House – Book Review

Title: The Night House
Author: J.C. McKenzie
Beware of spoilers.

Book cover for The Night House, image from the internet.

The Night House is the first book I have read by author J.C. McKenzie. From the synopsis of other books by this author, I am going to say The Night House is a bit different. First, this is a stand alone book. Which I quite like. Second, I found the Night House felt similar to Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series. Maybe it was the blade wielding white-blond assassin characters found in both stories. Survivors of great tragedy that killed their families, these two strong, snarky women would become a force to be reckoned with as they uncover dark plots in black magic tainted castles. Obviously there are many differences between these two characters. Their stories are not the same, but there was a general presentation of plot and character that was reminiscent of the other.

In The Night House, Taya is camping with her best friends when the apocalypse sweeps through as a blue wave of destruction. It opens a portal to another reality where medieval- esq raiders originate. They have come to our Earth for resources, including slaves. Taya, trained in a variety of martial arts by her father, is a survivor of the first death wave. But surviving on the West Coast of Canada as winter settles in is not easy. Captured, Taya is hauled through the magical portal by Lord Thane and forced to choose how her survival will look going forward. Spoilers, she chooses the path of a warrior in Thane’s personal army. Besides, Thane has offered Taya a chance at revenge, and that is something she is not willing to pass up.

There are lots of things I liked about this story. I liked the pure fantasy of magic and super fighting skills. Though their methods for problem solving are rather primitive – stab with pointy objects. I like the Canadian setting. It is understated, but present. And since most modern fantasies I come across take place in the US, it is a nice change. Though, really, there is not much that is distinctly Canadian other than some place names.

The Arkavian’s are a mix of medieval knights and vikings on steroids. And as each one is described as massive, I can only assume they are actually on steroids. Their world is simplistic and not well developed. But they are fine for moving the plot along.

The first few chapters of the book dealing with Taya’s survival after the portal opens is interesting. I like the way the author discusses some of the challenges faced in this post-apocalyptic world; finding food, shelter and other survivors. Not a lot of time is spent on this, as Taya is then captured and dragged through the magic portal. Not much time is spent developing Arkavia either. A lot of short hands are used so the reader feels they have a good enough idea of how things are going for Taya.

I did like the character dialogue. I think the author was rather good at conveying information through dialogue and building interest with the characters this way. While there were areas of the story I would have liked to see explored a bit more, I do appreciate the pace of the story. It moved, and at points time jumped. This was used in an effective manner, so I didn’t feel like I missed a great deal. Besides, in real life time does have a way of slipping past so we don’t realize that days, weeks or even months have gone by.

Overall I enjoyed this book, which looks different in tone than McKenzie’s other novels; 4.5 stars out of 5.

Sentinels of the Galaxy – Series Review

Leave a reply

The series is Sentinels of the Galaxy by Maria V. Snyder. There are currently two books: Navigating the Stars & Chasing the Shadows. Beware of spoilers in the following reflection.

Maria V Snyder’s Sentinels of the Galaxy series currently has two books. The third is not out until November, but it is already on my reading list. So, short review – I like this series.

The first book, Navigating the Stars, follows Lyra Daniels as she is forced to move across the Milky Way Galaxy to a new planet because of her parents’ research. Her parents are expert archaeologists studying terracotta warriors found on different planets. Lyra is nearly 18 Actual Years old and she definitely acts like a teenager. She spends time getting into trouble on the advanced data-communications-navigations system, the Q-net. But there are troubles ahead when looters come and attack the dig site. Lyra is drawn into danger. The book ends with Lyra’s death and her subsequent resurrection as Ara Lawrence.

Book cover for Navigating the Stars; book one in the Sentinels of the Galaxy series by Maria V. Snyder. Image from the internet.

The second book, Chasing the Shadows, continues to follow the first person narrative style of Ara Lawrence (aka Lyra Daniels). To hide the fact she isn’t permanently dead (only flatlined for a few seconds), Ara became a security officer for the dig site. Using her rapidly growing worming skills (future based hacking), Ara needs to track down the bad guys who not only looted the dig site, but destroyed many terracotta warriors and released the alien shadow-blobs. These hostile life forms (HoLFs) are deadly and growing in intelligence.

I read the first book a few weeks back (maybe a couple of months) and I don’t remember all the details very well. But I feel like I actually prefer book two to the first book. Which is very unusual. As for why I liked Chasing the Shadows better, I think it had more explanation. There was more science, more aliens and generally more explanation of the plot. The first book was more about Lyra/Ara and setting up the world. But the second book was more about explaining the world, about finding answers. And these were interesting answers. I suppose in many ways the second book was more fantasy than the first book.

The author’s take on space travel was interesting. It is generally not my favourite way of dealing with the space travel, but it ranks high for most thoughtful. In this world, there exists a Crinkle Machine, that connects two distant points in space. For this reason ships (and their passengers) are able to travel great distances in the blink of an eye – but with constraints. They are traveling into the future. So while it may not seem like very long inside the Crinkle Process, the rest of their friends and relatives are aging. And actually, Snyder did a good job selling this feature. It was rather sad when you thought about it. But people continued to travel and to age differently than those left on planets.

It does raise some questions, like why those people from Earth manage to maintain the same sorts of outlooks. But for the people on the outer reaches of explored space, it is an interesting problem.

Book cover for Chasing the Shadows; book two in the Sentinels of the Galaxy series by Maria V. Snyder. Image from the internet.

One of the aspects that I don’t love is the teenager-ness of the main character. While, Lyra/Ara is well written and reasonably believable. I find that I am at a point in my personal life when I really don’t want to read about teenagers. They are a strange mix of child (classified as someone adults readily ignore and who sees adults as one dimensional beings) and adult (classified as someone who can be trained in combat). Teenagers are hormonal, with epicly dramatic relationships. And while Snyder does a pretty good job of balancing out Lyra/Ara with her parents being present, it is still one of my least favourite aspects of the books.

Still, these books are well written. They have an interesting take on space, travel and aliens. The characters are complex, detailed and well crafted. And the story is interesting. Rating of 5 out of 5 stars (or 4.5 if I am feeling stingy). Good stories, definitely recommend. And truthfully I am excited for the next book.

Wayfarer’s Keep – Book Review

Leave a reply

Today we are going to look briefly at Wayfarer’s Keep by T.A. White. Note: there will be some spoilers in the following passages, including a briefly discussion about the final boss.

Wayfarer’s Keep is the third book in The Broken Lands series. It stars Pathfinder Shae and Warlord Fallen as they descended upon the stronghold of the Pathfinders.

Book covers for the first three books in the series from the internet.

First a confession: while I have read the first two books in the series, it was not recently. My memory for details is not the very best. So this review is based on what I remember with a focus on my impressions of this story.

It was clearly a book in a series. It actually felt like the third book in a trilogy, there was a sense of completion with its final battle. Though it was not a very firm conclusion, leaving plenty of room for the big bad guy to return. Or related minions to harass the people of this world.

The Broken Lands are a strange place. There are the Highlands, the Lowlands, the Outlands and the Mists. Things are a strange mix left over technology from some great cataclysm and monsters. There are lots of monsters making the world a very hostile place for humans. This book takes the already ferocious creatures and adds the new mythicals – intelligent ferocious creatures. It kind of feels like a comic book where the heroes have leveled up, so their foes must also level up otherwise there wouldn’t be any tension.

The story is composed of a lot of battles. There seems to be a lot of fighting in these stories. And with a Warlord for our second main character, the fighting is heroic and glorious. Which is fine. It is not the smart solution to the problem, but reading about heroes fighting their foes to win the day is a very solid story arch.

It is interesting how magical the advanced old technology is described. It is also interesting some of the imagery chosen by the author. Large, cannon like guns are described as flowers that open up before sending their projectiles.

Book cover for Wayfarer’s Keep from the internet.

Treachery is one of the issues faced by our leads. Who to trust? How to earn the trust of others? The intrigue was okay, but not very subtle. Again, these characters are more blunt instruments that beat the problem to death. While this may not have been the intent of the author, the characters did not actually express any subtlety in their actions. Though, I suppose there was a moment of misdirection. And I did like that the author final addressed Shea’s mysterious past connection to the Broken lands. Even if I was left feeling slightly disappointed there wasn’t more to her much alluded to journey.

The plot as I reflect on it, became a fetch quest into the Badlands – that no one is supposed to enter. Here our heroine faces the Darkness. I don’t remember if it had a name, but it was the Heart of Evil that taints the land and manipulates the minds of the weak. And like every other Heart of Evil Darkness, it cannot truly be killed. Only weakened and chained and left to await the next hapless idiot who tries to free it.

The book was fine. It was probably as good as the others in the series, but I don’t remember them very well to make a confident comparison. It is not my favourite series by this author, but it does have some interesting elements with its post-apocalypse society filled with deadly things to kill. The focus on epic battles was fine, just not my favourite. The final sequence of facing the great old evil was not unexpected and I would probably have liked something less predictable.

For this one, I am going with 3.5 out of 5 stars. If you liked the first two, then I am sure you will like this too.

Fractured Stars – Book Review

Leave a reply

It is summer and that means I have time to read! Welcome to my book review. Today we will look at Fractured Stars by Lindsay Buroker. Note: there may be spoilers, but they are pretty mild I think.

Fractured Stars follows McCall Richter and Arjun “Dash” Deshmukh. McCall finds things, criminals, missing shipments, that sort of thing. She is not really a bounty hunter, as she will call the law enforcement to collect any of the bad guys she does find. But she is successful, owns her own ship and has two big secrets. First, she helped to liberate an android – it is not stealing if the android didn’t want to stay with its previous owner. Second, she is autistic – high functioning, but definitely struggles with people. There is surgery in this futuristic world that would correct McCall’s autism, but she doesn’t want to have it done. Especially after living her whole life this way.

The book cover for Fractured Stars from the internet.

Dash is a weak Starseer, a former bounty hunter and currently a spy for the Alliance. Working as a deputy with a cyborg sheriff, Dash recognizes McCall from his earlier life as a bounty hunter. He knows she is good at her work and that she has scooped a bounty from him on more than one occasion. He is also enough of a Starseer to realize that McCall is hiding secrets.

Their adventure is set before the events of Lindsay Buroker’s Fallen Empire series. Set in a future of teraformed planets with high tech cyborgs and magic starseers, this is a fun space opera adventure. The empire has not fallen, but it is not loved either. And the Alliance is growing. While McCall and Dash have different goals, they do work together to escape a prison, recover a ship and hide their secrets for the people around them – as best they can.

Lindsay Buroker has a great world set in space. It is rich, complex and full of stories. This book is both very different from and very similar to her Fallen Empire series. They are both set in the same world and both feature strong female characters owning their own ships. These are people who want to live between the stars, not bound to one single planet. Romance does happen. Does that mean the characters are any less strong? No, I really don’t think it does.

Further strength comes in different ways. Yes, both Alisa (from Fallen Empire) and McCall are problem solvers. But where Alisa will dive head first into a fight or sweet-talking another, McCall will take a different approach. For McCall people are more of a problem.

This short story prequel tells the story of how McCall acquired her four-legged companion, Junkyard. It is a cute story and really shows off how the character thinks and looks at the world.

One of the setting aspects I really like is the conflict between the Empire and Alliance. Buroker does a really good job discussing the benefits and drawbacks of both systems of governance over her series. I really like that the Empire, while generally described as the bad guys also has its strong, well-reasoned supporters.

Fractured stars is a romance adventure – a space opera. It is well written with thoughtful and engaging characters. It is a great book. And I am deeply torn. I love that it is currently a stand-alone. However, I also really want to read more about McCall and Dash.

5 stars out of 5 – it was a really good read.

Happy Canada Day!

Secrets Bound by Sand – Book Review

Leave a reply

I feel like I have been sharing only the good books I have read of late – mostly because I have only been sharing the good books I have read of late. There have been other books. Some that don’t deserve mention and others that I have nothing interesting to write about because they were not so bad as to be comment worthy (or they are later books in a series I have already talked about).

Book Cover for Secrets Bound by Sand – book 4 in the Dragon Ridden series.

However, today I am going to discuss Secrets Bound by Sand by T. A. White. This is also found in a series. Secrets Bound by Sand is book four in the Dragon-Ridden series by T. A. White. And after thinking about it for a couple of days I would give the book a 2 out of 5 stars. Which is low I know. First, I want to say that I like this series, especially book one – Dragon Ridden. Second, it is possible the author could salvage the series, so even though this book is ranked low, I would still likely try a fifth book if one was written.

The important question becomes, why such a low rating if I like the series? Well, I didn’t like this book is the short answer.

Book Cover of the third book in the Dragon Ridden series.

The book spent too much time with the main character, Tate, internally monologuing. Not only was much of the book internal thoughts, but they were rather boring thoughts of would she or wouldn’t she hook up with Ryu. It was a dumb point to try and create tension around, because T. A. White has spent the previous three books setting up this relationship. It was hardly a surprise. And the multiple monologues about Tate feeling anxiety about trusting Ryu seemed more forced. They have already been through some intense situations. Trust has already been built – or as much as was going to be built before these two hooked up. All this indecision seemed pointless and meandering. But this was not the biggest complaint I have for the book.

Book cover of the second book in the Dragon Ridden series.

My key criticism stems from the big reveal at the end of the story. In a pre-recorded message from a former friend, Tate finally learns … some of her background. Finally, this is what we, the audience, have been waiting. This is what the previous three books have teased. This is also where things start to come apart, because now we are faced with some significant inconsistencies.

So, in book four, we learn that Tate was betrayed into becoming a sleeper. Meaning, through a betrayal of those she held as friends, Tate was forced/coerced into a thousand year (or more) cryogenic sleep. Only, this does not seem to mesh with the flashback in book one, where Tate, enters the room with the put-you-to-sleep tube when she goes to rescue a dragon. A dragon that she holds in her arms and becomes a tattoo by the time she awakens a couple thousand years later. Unless Ilith was also in her own body, this seems highly inconsistent with what we know of the dragon-ridden. Besides, the whole going-to-sleep-thing supposedly happened because the building Tate was in was attacked.

Book cover for the first book in the Dragon Ridden series.

And then we learn that Tate has been genetically manipulated – while she remained in her stasis-sleep in an isolated area of the world. This manipulation supposedly has made her into the ultimate weapon. I am already struggling with the level of magic in a world that is supposed to be explained through advanced science. For me, there are just too many things that don’t seem to add up. And that was extremely disappointing. However, to be fair, there are some ways the author could explain these discrepancies. So, maybe this series can be saved. But I a little worried things are starting to roll sideways and I am not a fan.

So in summary, while I enjoyed the first three books in the series I found Secrets Bound by Sand to be a rambling mess with an unsatisfactory conclusion. The blend of magic and science-tech is leaning too far to the magic and the science-tech is making far less sense than I would like to see.

The Benighted – Book Review

Leave a reply

The Benighted by A. M. Dunnewin is already six years old and the sequel, which is promised in the subtitle “The Benighted Saga – Book 1” has yet to be released. Needless to say, I will only be reviewing the first book in this series.

Book cover for The Benighted, book 1 in the Benighted Saga – image from the internet.

The Benighted is about the Royal Princess of Correnth, Skylar Mandolyn. As we learn in the opening chapter, Skylar has been imprisoned. The story is told through a series of flashbacks covering the events that have lead to her current abuse and torture. Memories of her family, court ladies and of course her personal knight, are interspersed with the dark, cold cell, the beatings and pressure to sign a mysterious document.

I really appreciated the out of order telling of Skylar’s life from her brother’s death, meeting Sir Harlin Brien (her personal guard), through the estrangement with her father, the mecanations of the evil court advisor Cross Lutherus, to Skylar eventually being locked in the prison tower. I think the tension that was woven through this tail of reflection would have been lost if everything had been presented chronologically.

It also keeps some of the surprises, those important dangling threads needed for any sequels, nicely hidden until the end of the book. The reader can than look back over the course of events leading to our protagonist being locked up and start to understand some of the rational used to come to this point.

The other aspect that I liked was the level of technology. The world is not deeply discussed in the book. Really, it sits there as a backdrop, more obscured, as Skylar is focussed on her personal grief than the welfare of the Kingdom. Established early on, Skylar’s brother was heir to the throne before his death. And many of her first revealed memories circle around the sense of loss she feels because of her brother’s absence.

Book cover for The Illusory, book 2 in the Benighted Saga – image from the internet.

While sword wielding knights exist in this world – as is epitomized by Sir Brien’s summoning to court to become Skylar’s personal guard – they also have guns! And steamships. So, the feel of the world is not medieval, though not actually modern either. There is electricity and firearms. There are large metal boats in the harbour and by the end of the novel this is the promise of a threat from a more advanced enemy. However, shortswords are still heavily used in the book. And guns are accepted to be in constant danger of exploding (if not well cared for).

The caste of named characters is also small. Again, we meet Skylar as she is grieving (and locked up). Her thoughts focus on those incidents most relevant to her current imprisoned situation so there is not a lot of names to learn in the story. I suppose in many ways it is more of a character study with its very tight focus on our heroine.

While we learn the actual time of the book spans only a few days, the memories span months. Time is easily distorted in this format.

Overall, I thought it was an interesting read and I would give this book a solid 4 (maybe even a 4.5) out of 5 stars. That said, I have a difficult time imagining how the series can continue forward. Yes, there is a world you could explore. But the real draw of this book was that personal story of a deeply wounded character fighting for sanity in a time when her life was descending into madness. The same format would not work a second time. So the story will have to move in a completely different direction, but to what success? I suppose the only way to know would be to read the sequel – if it ever releases.

An Ancient Peace – Book Review

Leave a reply

Yes, I realize that my reading list is far from recent.

I have read many of Tanya Huff’s fantasy novels, but this was my first of her science fiction. An Ancient Peace by Tanya Huff is the first novel in the Peacekeeper Trilogy.

My first impressions of this book was that it was dense. It felt like pretty heavy reading, as I was dumped into a complex science fiction world filled with multiple alien races, a crew with deep relationships and a general feeling of history. It wasn’t until I reached the end of the book and looked it up I discovered this is the second series starring the same main character: Gunnery Sargent Torin Kerr. Good news, I have lots more reading to look forward to. Bad news, it makes the start of the book rather challenging to get into.

While I still feel a little like I am missing something, it helped that most of the narrative focused around Torin. Grounded by the Gunnery Sargent, I was able to navigate the rest of the book. I found the story compelling enough I want to read the sequels. I like the strength of the main protagonist; Torin is a strong and respected individual. She is legendary within the military circles of the Corps. While Torin certainly kicks butt throughout the book, she also has an attitude and force of personality that make for a very strong character.

The technology and science fiction elements were interesting, particularly the concept of an evil, manipulative organic plastic. There are multiple alien races. They are not variations on humans either. In fact, some of the races are very different indeed, with at least one being described like a group of sentient giant spiders. More than different appearances the races have different common characteristics. This is often reflected in the dialogue. Huff uses different speech patterns and occasionally an invented phrase to help convey this information. For me the most interesting was the use of zi and zer as unique pronouns for one particular race.

The rest of the crew, a mix of different species and skills, was also interesting. There are five others in Torin’s current crew; three of them are also ex-military while two are civilians. I found Torin’s distinction between military personal and civilian personal interesting. She certainly has a sense that those who have been to war are expected to deal with violence, while civilians should be protected. This really helps to forward some of the conversation about the horror of war.

There are a lot of poignant moments, scenes that discuss the impact of war, discuss racism and deal with preconceptions. It is a strongly written science fiction story, not a light read, but certainly a good one. Easily worth a rating of 5/5 stars.

The Custard Protocol – Book Review

Leave a reply

Continuing my review of series…

The Custard Protocol by Gail Carriger includes three novels: Prudence, Imprudence, and Competent. These stories continue in the steampunk world that starred Alexia Tarabotti as a preternatural in Victorian London. Only this time we are following Alexia’s daughter, Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama. Rue is taking her best friend Primrose and Prim’s twin brother, Percy along with Quesnel in her dirigible as she causes havoc around the world.

The books are filled with Gail Carriger’s characteristic quirky writing style. There is an abundance of dirigible hijinks, werewolves, vampires and cleverly colourful characters. Carriger has an engaging, highly entertaining writing style. Her cast of characters are well conceived, colourfully described and largely diverse. These are great books, which I thoroughly enjoyed – once I got in them.

My biggest difficulty was the transition at the start of the series. It reads very strongly as a continuation of an earlier story. And this makes it a little difficult to engage, especially if you are new to the world. I struggled as Alexia Tarrabotti was the first of Carriger’s characters I met and knew. Not unreasonably, Rue has a different relationship with her mother and so Alexia is written differently than when I was reading the Parasol Protectorate. It took a while for me to warm to Rue. In fact I think I enjoyed the third book more, though not the cover. Competence featured the twins, Primrose and Percy, instead of Prudence. As such it featured less of the metanatural form-stealing and more the skills of those who were raised by a vampire queen. I didn’t mind the constant comments on the silliness of Ivy’s choice in hats.

That said, I think Carriger handled the diversity of gay, lesbian and transgendered individuals more openly and beautifully in this series than in her earlier work. While her manner of writing might be what first drew me to her work, Carriger’s diverse and honest characters are certainly what keeps one reading.

I might have thought the brightly coloured covers seemed to target a younger audience, I would still place the main audience closer to adult than younger teen.

Overall: these are excellently written books whose author has a fun, distinctive voice. 4.5/5 stars.

*********

Just realized that there is in fact a fourth book in the series that focuses on Percy in Japan – Reticence. I suppose this means this is not a complete series review. However, it will have to do for now as Reticence doesn’t release until August 6th.

Highland Magic – Book Review

Leave a reply

It is finally summer and my goal is to read – at least for the first couple of weeks.

The Highland Magic Series by Helen Harper includes all four books: Gifted Thief, Honour Bound, Veiled Threat and Last Wish. The series stars Integrity Taylor Adair a thief reluctantly pulled back into the politics of the Sidhe courts. Over the course of the four books Integrity is going to have to learn the truth about her parents, the motivations of the Fomori across the veil and her own inner strength.

Highland Magic is an urban fantasy set in the highlands of Scotland. This northern section of Scotland has been separated from the lowlands by a magical barrier originally designed to separate the Sidhe clans from the barbarous Fomori. While Sidhe might claim to be the honourable group, their racist, bickering, manipulative and violent actions really call into question who the true demons are.

Joining Integrity on her journey are her adopted father (human) and close friends (merman, pixie, and wizard). Oh, and then there is Ben, the jinni of the letter opener whose wishes all come with unwanted consequences. The motley crew makes for some entertaining hijinks and discussions of what family means – is it blood or those you choose to be around?

The distinctly Scottish setting is filled with obvious landmarks – Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Obin. At least these are the names of places that jumped out at me. The collection of magical creatures felt more Scottish than American, with a greater emphasis on the Sidhe, Trolls, Pixies and several species I am not familiar with. There were no vampires or werewolves in this story.

But the thing I liked most about this series was Integrity’s perspective on violence – she is a pacifists. This is not an excuse for our heroine to be a damsel in distress. Integrity is very much the type of character to charge, well sneak, forward to get things done. She does question her own non-violence policy throughout the series but in the end she is able to find a way around the various problems in a non-violent manner. I like that we are given a strong female lead whose strength does not rely on her ability to fist punch the problem into submission.

With quick, witty writing and a distinctly Scottish setting I really enjoyed this atypical urban fantasy. I thought it was another successful series by Helen Harper – who also wrote The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Magic series (and many other things I haven’t yet read).

A solid 4.5 stars out of 5!

Rules of Redemption – Book Review

Leave a reply

Title: Rules of Redemption

Series: The Firebird Chronicles

Author: TA White

I really liked this book. So much so, that I finished reading it once and two days later started re-reading the entire book again. More importantly, I my second read-through was intentionally slower. I was reading for all the little details I missed I hurried through my first read too caught up in the action and adventure of the story to be bothered with the little things.

As far as I can tell, speed reading is just a means of skimming through pages. I am not terrible at scanning and following stories as so many of them follow very familiar and predictable paths. And generally, I still get enough enjoyment out of my material to not feel the need of changing. But every so often a story resonates with me. Those are the ones that I want to read a second (or third or …) time. And this was one of those stories.

Book cover for Rules of Redemption by TA White. Image from the internet.

Rules of Redemption is a space-fantasy. There are lots of starships, space bases, aliens, laser weapons and intergalactic wars. There are also alien-wizards, who could be more advanced or just magical. As has been stated before: advanced tech is indistinguishable from magic.

Kira is a fantastically strong and perfectly flawed lead character. Once she lead one of humanity’s most effect military groups in fighting the dastardly Tsavitee aileen race bent on universal domination and destruction. Nicknamed Pheonix, Kira was a powerful fighter and leader until she abandoned that life for the quiet solitude of a salvager. But of course fate will not leave such an interesting character alone. Docked at a space station for repairs, Kira will draw unwanted attention for both the human military leaders and visiting Tuann ambassadors. This will lead to some uncomfortable truths about her own origins as Kira is swept away to a home she doesn’t remember and family she doesn’t want. Though the feeling is mutual, as her family is reluctant to welcome her back into the fold.

With plenty of action, future tech and alien creatures it is a fun read. There is also some interesting characters with deep histories and just a hint of romance to keep me properly engaged. So much is learned in this first book of the series, but there are also many unanswered questions. Such that I wish I had a bookclub with whom I could discuss this book.

Note: incase it needs to be stated, spoilers will follow

Some things that drew my attention: Odin, the experimental base, the source of the Tsavitee and Greydon.

Who is Odin? Is he (or she – it doesn’t specify, but for now I will use male pronouns) really the genius out to help Kira or does he have another motive? Could odin be a Tsavitee in hiding? Could Odin be part of the human political network, the consortium? Have we met this character going by another name? Because if that is the cause I could make a guess at who it really is. Does the author even know who Odin is? There are so many questions, mostly stemming from the fact that Odin knows both that Kira is on that space station and she is being followed. Sure he could have hacked the stations cameras, but he could also have been present on the station. My gut feeling though, is that Odin is going to be the cause of betrayal in the next book. Either he will directly betray Kira, or cause Kira to do something that has her betraying her new friends/family.

Despite my second read through, I cannot remember if the location of the evil research facility that held Kira when she was growing up was in human space or not. It is mentioned that the scientists working at the facility were Tsavitee, does this explain how she knows the language? But were humans also present? Because that would only spike the tensions between Tuann and humanity. Did anyone else escape from the centre?

Where do the Tsavitee come from? It is discussed that they look very different, but are genetically similar. Did they create themselves or were they created by someone else? Is there a greater link between the Tsavitee and say the Tuann than anyone realizes? And why would they keep a human hostage for over a decade?

Greydon, the Emperor’s Face, is from the House Roake. Is he also a primus? Because he doesn’t shift, but certainly acts like he would be strong enough to do so. And exactly does Kira fit into that House? Though I am guessing that her father was the previous Overlord, so she is likely going to be tested for that potential. This I think is where the second book will pick up. But will Kira take responsibility for a House when she has a personal mission to infiltrate and free those captured by the Tsavitee?

There are so many exciting and unanswered questions with brings me to the biggest complaint. Why do I have to wait so long for the sequel?

Final Rating: 5/5 stars