What do a wayward mercenary and a vexed arcanist have in common? Neither of them signed up for this crap . . .
It's been fifteen years since the raknoth made a smoldering heap of Earth. But for some survivors, the problems are just getting started.
Jarek Slater is a sword-slinging nomad with a powerful exosuit and a mean vigilante streak—or was until his exosuit was stolen. He wants it back.
Rachel Cross is an energy-bending arcanist who wants nothing more than to find her brother and bring him home safely.
When their paths collide, Jarek and Rachel are reluctantly pulled into a race across the nuclear wasteland to reclaim his suit and save her brother. All that stands between them and their goals is a vicious alien warlord, some grating interpersonal tension, and a whole bunch of violent marauders. Oh, and a mysterious alien device that may bring on the second apocalypse.
Together, they might just be strong enough to pull it off. Assuming they don't kill each other first . . .
My Take:
The narrator was great. He really got into the characters, making it easy to feel their personalities and keep them separated.
Great story, full steam ahead action with good story elements woven through the fighting. I really enjoyed the post-apocalyptic feel with the “Tony Stark-like” Jarek’s quest to get his super suit back, the arcanist Rachel’s goal to just protect the last of her family, and the intrigue of the power struggle. And in the midst of it all, there is some love/hate flirting that makes things really fun. Jarek’s willful snarkiness keeps the desolation of it all at arms-length.
The author did note there would be language, and there is a lot of it. It is fitting for the type of story and situation, but if you don’t like reading or hearing a steady stream of heavy swearing, think twice about this one.
I give the story a solid 4, the narrator a 5, and it gets an R rating simply because of the f-bombs. There is no sex or even a kiss. Which, I think Rachel and Jarek could have snuck at least one in. Well, maybe not. It was one thing after another with the surviving bit.
1-5 scale and what it means:
1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad
2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing
3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive
3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love
4: Solid mind candy / worth reading
4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read
5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure
Movie Ratings in relation to my review:
Clean--Hallmark movies, some kissing, no nudity, no intimacy on or off "screen"
PG--Some innuendo but nothing kids don't hear every day, intimacy is all closed door
PG-13--some language (swear words not related to intimacy), more talk about intimacy, heavy petting, removal of clothing on screen, but intimacy is closed door.
PG-14—somewhere between PG-13 and R. Not erotica, but at least a paragraph of on-screen intimacy
R--swearing (F-bomb, on “screen” intimacy, sometimes feels like the whole story is about the intimacy and not the relationship or some other plot, but not always
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