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chelsea_jack's review
4.0
It's been a while since I read something that was intended as erotic romance or erotica. I'd call Torn the former--the sex scenes are important, and the sexual relationship between Torn and Larona is a significant component of the story, but there's more story to it than simple sexual gratification.
I was really into the set-up for this story. Torn is definitely science fiction, set in a future world wherein female criminals can be redirected to a breeding program intended to create a subspecies of perfect soldiers. These guys are big, heavily muscled, aggressive, dominant, loyal, and have a heightened sense of smell. They're frightening as a group, and impressive one-on-one. They're also some kind of crazy experiment involving predator DNA--I just let the details of this roll over me. Sometimes it's easiest to accept things as presented in fiction, and not question too much.
The idea of these women being presented to the soldiers (Master Troopers) for the breeding program was a bit... difficult. But moving beyond that, I liked the idea of these predatory men finding the right woman for them, and becoming fixated on them. The idea of this biological 'clicking' worked for me in the context of this universe. I also liked the set-up on Terra Alpha, a world that was Earth-like, with additional dangers. There's lots of space for additional stories to be told--certainly a few others have already been published in the series' original language...
So Torn was originally published in German, and is now available as an English translation. There are a few issues with the translation, or at least, I had a few issues. There are definitely some typos and/or wrong words in places that would have looked fine to a spell checker, but obviously aren't what was intended. It's not egregious, but it was noticeable, so there's more than just a handful.
I also found a couple spots where the story seemed to get hung up on what was convenient rather than logical. In one case, Torn is supposed to meet his friend at a bar, leaving Larona to go swimming. Instead of follow through on his plan, Torn comes home to talk things through with Larona, catching her at a vulnerable moment. It was an awkward bit of stage business.
I had one more issue with the book, and that was Torn's pet name for Larona. He called her doll or baby doll quite a bit, and it kind of squicked me out. I can be good with aggressive, alpha males in the right context, but the pet name just... made me ick.
Overall, Torn was a quick read, with some good sex scenes, and an extreme Alpha male, but more than that, it's also science fiction, with an intriguing premise and a world that begs to be explored further.
Bottom line:
Torn isn't going to be the right erotic romance for everybody, something author Alexa Kim acknowledges in her letter to the reader (which appears after the text of the book--thank you Amazon for wanting as little front matter as possible so samples of books are of the book and not the 'extras'). If you're not put off by extremely Alpha men, who are aggressive and very driven by their hormones, you might enjoy this quick read!
3.5 stars
For fans of erotic romance, science fiction, Alpha males.
Received in exchange for an honest review
I was really into the set-up for this story. Torn is definitely science fiction, set in a future world wherein female criminals can be redirected to a breeding program intended to create a subspecies of perfect soldiers. These guys are big, heavily muscled, aggressive, dominant, loyal, and have a heightened sense of smell. They're frightening as a group, and impressive one-on-one. They're also some kind of crazy experiment involving predator DNA--I just let the details of this roll over me. Sometimes it's easiest to accept things as presented in fiction, and not question too much.
The idea of these women being presented to the soldiers (Master Troopers) for the breeding program was a bit... difficult. But moving beyond that, I liked the idea of these predatory men finding the right woman for them, and becoming fixated on them. The idea of this biological 'clicking' worked for me in the context of this universe. I also liked the set-up on Terra Alpha, a world that was Earth-like, with additional dangers. There's lots of space for additional stories to be told--certainly a few others have already been published in the series' original language...
So Torn was originally published in German, and is now available as an English translation. There are a few issues with the translation, or at least, I had a few issues. There are definitely some typos and/or wrong words in places that would have looked fine to a spell checker, but obviously aren't what was intended. It's not egregious, but it was noticeable, so there's more than just a handful.
I also found a couple spots where the story seemed to get hung up on what was convenient rather than logical. In one case, Torn is supposed to meet his friend at a bar, leaving Larona to go swimming. Instead of follow through on his plan, Torn comes home to talk things through with Larona, catching her at a vulnerable moment. It was an awkward bit of stage business.
I had one more issue with the book, and that was Torn's pet name for Larona. He called her doll or baby doll quite a bit, and it kind of squicked me out. I can be good with aggressive, alpha males in the right context, but the pet name just... made me ick.
Overall, Torn was a quick read, with some good sex scenes, and an extreme Alpha male, but more than that, it's also science fiction, with an intriguing premise and a world that begs to be explored further.
Bottom line:
Torn isn't going to be the right erotic romance for everybody, something author Alexa Kim acknowledges in her letter to the reader (which appears after the text of the book--thank you Amazon for wanting as little front matter as possible so samples of books are of the book and not the 'extras'). If you're not put off by extremely Alpha men, who are aggressive and very driven by their hormones, you might enjoy this quick read!
3.5 stars
For fans of erotic romance, science fiction, Alpha males.
Received in exchange for an honest review
deannasworld's review
4.0
Alexa Kim has written a futuristic tale with primal alpha males and fascinating world building, bringing us genetic engineering and life manipulation.
Wow! I was not expecting to enjoy this story as much as I do, but I did. I was concerned I would not enjoy the book as much and have issues with the German to English translation. Nothing to worry about there. The translation, while not flawless, is excellent. There are a few points in the text where it could have been translated / edited a little better, but overall nothing to be concerned about or to throw the reader out of the story while reading.
I don't even know where to begin to point out all the things I loved about this story. On the surface it's a simple tale of genetically engineered males finding their mates, but beyond that, there is a society of men bred for war, who have never known anything else other than the life they have been given, while being controlled by rules, confined to certain parts of the planet and manipulated for a larger, greedier organization bent on creating the super soldier. These men are bred, live and breathe the rules they are given to live within until a single female comes along and tells them life is different on the home planet, where there are choices, where people are given free will and they can live how they please, love who they please and be with them as long as they please. This brings about a sea change in these men, triggered by the love of one Master Trooper for his captive girl of the moment, who has been award to him as a prize for good behavior and performance but turns out to be so much more.
Torn is your super soldier, bred and trained for war, with super everything. He's bigger than most men, stronger, faster, more lethal. He's also a dominant, controlling alpha male and I love that in a hero. He's basic and primal. He takes what he wants, he conquers and dominates, but with Larona at least, he is able to curb some of his baser, more primitive instincts to help her trust him and develop feelings for him. I love that he's possessive and protective and even gets jealous over an old boyfriend who is so far out of his reach to pulverize when Larona shares her past with him and he feels the need to right the wrongs wrought upon her. But if I had to point to one thing which blew me away about this story, it would be how incredibly alpha Torn is.
Larona starts off utterly terrified of Torn. I'm surprised by the degree of her terror, which seems somewhat out of proportion to the situation to the extent that she attempts suicide. As she gets to know Torn, her fear is replaced by desire. This is a romance after all. She's your typical submissive heroine. I won't call her weak but she's certainly very helpless in these circumstances, from being sentenced to life on a penal colony of Mars (that gets diverted to Terra Alpha) to being given to Torn and then being taken away from him again. She has very few choices left to her and very little way of protecting herself, very much a damsel in distress who needs rescuing. Fortunately, Torn is up to the task.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and I am looking forward to Crow's story in book 2 coming soon. I saw on Ms Kim's Facebook page that it's currently being translated.
Wow! I was not expecting to enjoy this story as much as I do, but I did. I was concerned I would not enjoy the book as much and have issues with the German to English translation. Nothing to worry about there. The translation, while not flawless, is excellent. There are a few points in the text where it could have been translated / edited a little better, but overall nothing to be concerned about or to throw the reader out of the story while reading.
I don't even know where to begin to point out all the things I loved about this story. On the surface it's a simple tale of genetically engineered males finding their mates, but beyond that, there is a society of men bred for war, who have never known anything else other than the life they have been given, while being controlled by rules, confined to certain parts of the planet and manipulated for a larger, greedier organization bent on creating the super soldier. These men are bred, live and breathe the rules they are given to live within until a single female comes along and tells them life is different on the home planet, where there are choices, where people are given free will and they can live how they please, love who they please and be with them as long as they please. This brings about a sea change in these men, triggered by the love of one Master Trooper for his captive girl of the moment, who has been award to him as a prize for good behavior and performance but turns out to be so much more.
Torn is your super soldier, bred and trained for war, with super everything. He's bigger than most men, stronger, faster, more lethal. He's also a dominant, controlling alpha male and I love that in a hero. He's basic and primal. He takes what he wants, he conquers and dominates, but with Larona at least, he is able to curb some of his baser, more primitive instincts to help her trust him and develop feelings for him. I love that he's possessive and protective and even gets jealous over an old boyfriend who is so far out of his reach to pulverize when Larona shares her past with him and he feels the need to right the wrongs wrought upon her. But if I had to point to one thing which blew me away about this story, it would be how incredibly alpha Torn is.
Larona starts off utterly terrified of Torn. I'm surprised by the degree of her terror, which seems somewhat out of proportion to the situation to the extent that she attempts suicide. As she gets to know Torn, her fear is replaced by desire. This is a romance after all. She's your typical submissive heroine. I won't call her weak but she's certainly very helpless in these circumstances, from being sentenced to life on a penal colony of Mars (that gets diverted to Terra Alpha) to being given to Torn and then being taken away from him again. She has very few choices left to her and very little way of protecting herself, very much a damsel in distress who needs rescuing. Fortunately, Torn is up to the task.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and I am looking forward to Crow's story in book 2 coming soon. I saw on Ms Kim's Facebook page that it's currently being translated.
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