A review by cerianh
Corvak's Challenge by Ruby Dixon

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

At the start of this series, which is a spin-off of the Ice Planet Barbarian series, a bunch of stasis tubes filled with human and alien clones were left on Not-Hoth (our alien planet). Two of those stasis tubes were empty when our Not-Hoth residents found them - the occupants were Corvak and Aidy. 

Corvak is an alien splice which means he’s genetically made up of a bunch of stuff and was created in a lab to become a gladiator. All he knows is the knowledge implanted in him about being a gladiator so when his stasis tube opens, he immediately think this is a gladiatorial contest and that the pretty human female is his prize to protect. Corvak is a delightful blend of protective and capable, mixed with complete cluelessness. He’s doing what he thinks is best to protect himself and Aidy, but he really doesn’t know much about relationships with other people and I enjoyed seeing him learn from Aidy. He was a sweetheart and actually listened to Aidy. Even if his plan to use his new metlak (think semi-intelligent stinky snow yetis) devotees to form an army was always destined to backfire. 

Aidy wakes up from her stasis to find an alien man insisting she come with him to survive. She only has fuzzy memories of her life but she knows she’s not meant to be on a freezing alien planet caught up in a messed up game (or so they think). I appreciated that Aidy was pragmatic and level-headed in what was a pretty wild scenario.

If you’ve read an IPB book then you know the deal with this. The parasite they need to survive the harsh conditions of the planet makes them ‘resonate’ to their ideal mate, making them super horny so they mate and reproduce. Of course, Aidy and Corvak don’t realise that’s what’s happening to them. Things get hot and heavy pretty quickly but what follows is a really sweet romance. They become a team and I loved seeing them lean on each other for support. 

This book is just a good time - I could just turn off my whirring brain and lose myself in another tale from Not-Hoth.