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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
The character interactions are both the meat and the tasty dressing of this science fiction / fantasy series. There's a fine collection of engaging people of many species here, such that I don't mind that they are mostly animal-folk and space elves. This second in the series does lack a real ending though, which makes me mark it down a little.
Could be a bit spoilery, beware.
Kickass heroine falls in love with one of Tolkien's elves, rescues and follows him home, when he needs some help after horrible things happen to him during a kidnapping (tentative non-con warning in a very non-graphic way).
No, not really. But in stretches it felt a bit like that. Although my elf looks a bit more Benedict Cumberbatch than Orlando Bloom.
Actually, despite this being Sci-Fi, it does have more of a classic fantasy feel to it than anything else, being mostly set "dirtside" on a planet with a feudal society and low technology level.
You definitely should read Earthrise first, before delving into this. It will make the team dynamics of our intrepid crew more plausible and enjoyable. They don't get as much time on the page as in the first book. Here the story mostly revolves around Hirianthial, life and politics on the Eldritch planet and then around Reese. The UST between those two amps up some more and I really hope it will get resolved in the third book of this trilogy, otherwise I will pull my hair out. The really, really bad guys finally show their face in this installment as well and I am biting my nails to find out what happens next.
Great adventure yarn, great characters, good plot. It has been a while since an author sucked me into her world this hard and fast. Great stuff, M.C.A. Hogarth, keep going!
Kickass heroine falls in love with one of Tolkien's elves, rescues and follows him home, when he needs some help after horrible things happen to him during a kidnapping (tentative non-con warning in a very non-graphic way).
No, not really. But in stretches it felt a bit like that. Although my elf looks a bit more Benedict Cumberbatch than Orlando Bloom.
Actually, despite this being Sci-Fi, it does have more of a classic fantasy feel to it than anything else, being mostly set "dirtside" on a planet with a feudal society and low technology level.
You definitely should read Earthrise first, before delving into this. It will make the team dynamics of our intrepid crew more plausible and enjoyable. They don't get as much time on the page as in the first book. Here the story mostly revolves around Hirianthial, life and politics on the Eldritch planet and then around Reese. The UST between those two amps up some more and I really hope it will get resolved in the third book of this trilogy, otherwise I will pull my hair out. The really, really bad guys finally show their face in this installment as well and I am biting my nails to find out what happens next.
Great adventure yarn, great characters, good plot. It has been a while since an author sucked me into her world this hard and fast. Great stuff, M.C.A. Hogarth, keep going!
This is just my kind of book. I like the characters, I like that there's always something happening, and I like the world-building.
Captain Reese and her crew keep getting in to trouble, with Hirianthial being the worst trouble magnet of them all. Some trouble quite triggering akaa cruel rapist gets his hands on Hirianthial and though there's no 'graphic' rape the scene of Hirianthial's captivity is a strong one. This time around the plot is clearer, compared to the first book. There's a clear threat/goal for the characters and less flying around avoiding threats. Not that the last book's plot was bad, in my opinion, but it's nice to see it shift focus now that the characters have been introduced and developed.
There are a lot of 'open secrets' explored in this book as well. We as readers have gotten a bit of a closer look at the Eldritch life through Hirianthial's POV, and the rest you can extrapolate from comments made by other characters. But that's not a bad thing. Instead, the strong foreshadowing of what the Eldritch are and how they live makes the reveal all the more enjoyable and believable - you as a reader get your suspicions confirmed (and sometimes also denied) and you get to see the characters reacting to the facts.
And hah, I thought that this trilogy had to be part of an already established universe, and I was right! It just wasn't that clear in the first book. Now the lack of thorough descriptions of the alien species makes more sense. The list describing them at the end of the book was also very helpful. Basically, everything suddenly makes much more sense about this universe.
The only thing that felt a little out of place to me was the time implied to have past during the first book. While reading the first book in this trilogy I didn't get the impression that a year was passing. So while I love how close the crew has grown and how much Reese and Hirianthial have developed as characters it felt like I was missing a book between this one and the first.
That said, I can't wait to read the conclusion to this series! Very excited to pick up the next book!
Captain Reese and her crew keep getting in to trouble, with Hirianthial being the worst trouble magnet of them all. Some trouble quite triggering aka
There are a lot of 'open secrets' explored in this book as well. We as readers have gotten a bit of a closer look at the Eldritch life through Hirianthial's POV, and the rest you can extrapolate from comments made by other characters. But that's not a bad thing. Instead, the strong foreshadowing of what the Eldritch are and how they live makes the reveal all the more enjoyable and believable - you as a reader get your suspicions confirmed (and sometimes also denied) and you get to see the characters reacting to the facts.
And hah, I thought that this trilogy had to be part of an already established universe, and I was right! It just wasn't that clear in the first book. Now the lack of thorough descriptions of the alien species makes more sense. The list describing them at the end of the book was also very helpful. Basically, everything suddenly makes much more sense about this universe.
The only thing that felt a little out of place to me was the time implied to have past during the first book. While reading the first book in this trilogy I didn't get the impression that a year was passing. So while I love how close the crew has grown and how much Reese and Hirianthial have developed as characters it felt like I was missing a book between this one and the first.
That said, I can't wait to read the conclusion to this series! Very excited to pick up the next book!
I'm really enjoying this story, in spite of it taking most of the first book to get used to the narrator. Also, while I didn't like the MC much at all in the first book I found that she grew quite well and dialed the bitchy mood way back in this installment.
I'm going to jump right into the third.
I'm going to jump right into the third.
Not going to lie. I didn't expect a space opera series to end up focusing so much on horses. I'm not complaining. I like horses.
After trying to open up a new trade route, Reese and the crew fall into the hands of slavers again. Hirianthial, the Eldritch crew member fights back. He realizes that his psychic powers are getting more powerful. In fact, the only person he's ever heard of with these powers went insane and killed a lot of people on the Eldritch planet.
The Eldritch have kept the planet closed off forever. Bringing a crew of non-Eldritch in is going to be a problem.
The slow romance between Reese and Hirianthial continues. I enjoyed the idea of Reese trying to build a relationship based on what she read in romance books. She gets a bit annoyed when he doesn't act like the heroes she reads about.
This is a very different book than the first one. There are a lot more politics than space travel. I love the diverse crew, especially Alacazam. He's an alien that looks like a fuzzy basketball. He communicates through thoughts and helps cheer everyone else.
Warning - there is an attempted rape scene This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story
After trying to open up a new trade route, Reese and the crew fall into the hands of slavers again. Hirianthial, the Eldritch crew member fights back. He realizes that his psychic powers are getting more powerful. In fact, the only person he's ever heard of with these powers went insane and killed a lot of people on the Eldritch planet.
The Eldritch have kept the planet closed off forever. Bringing a crew of non-Eldritch in is going to be a problem.
The slow romance between Reese and Hirianthial continues. I enjoyed the idea of Reese trying to build a relationship based on what she read in romance books. She gets a bit annoyed when he doesn't act like the heroes she reads about.
This is a very different book than the first one. There are a lot more politics than space travel. I love the diverse crew, especially Alacazam. He's an alien that looks like a fuzzy basketball. He communicates through thoughts and helps cheer everyone else.
Warning - there is an attempted rape scene This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story