Captive of the Stars by Ellen Russell

From Goodreads:

Taken captive by a rival planet, Carina finds herself caught in the middle of an interplanetary war. Her captor, a fierce Varusian soldier, is as infuriating as he is charming. With dangers on board the enemy ship and little hope for escape, Carina struggles to make her way in a foreign culture.

Ram is used to handling himself on and off the battlefield, so he doesn’t anticipate having much trouble overseeing a lone, Seuturan woman. But coming face to face with the enemy makes him start to question his loyalty. What started out as a mission motivated by revenge has turned into something a lot more complicated.

They come to realize the stakes are even higher than they could have imagined, but find what’s most at risk are their hearts.

A clean, sci-fi adventure romance with some violence and mild profanity. 

My Take:

I have mixed feelings about this one. Perhaps it's because I went in expecting more of a science fiction story (which is there) with a little romance (which is there), but by the end of the story, the only questions answered are the romance ones. Let's jump in and break it down. I'll do my best to avoid spoilers, but no promises on this one. 

First, the world building is really good. We have two alien races that are related somehow (we just never learn that history) and have not had a lot of interaction in the past but are now facing a war with each other. The Varusians come off as the wealthier, smarter, has all the toys, older sibling compared to the Seuturans. We get a good look at their ship and military setup while also learning a little about what their home life is like. What little we see about the Seuturan lifestyle isn't going to sell many vacation packages.

Ram is a Varusian warrior on a raid to Seuturan. The goal is to take captives and demand talks begin between their two peoples. They want a wrong that has been done to them fixed, as much as it can be. Mostly an acknowledgment, apology, and what else is never really clear. We're told that the Varusians are also trying to show a better, kinder way of dealing with the enemy during this mission. During this raid, he gets a glimpse of Carina and is impressed with her grit and fire as she breaks away and runs. So, he has to chase her.

At this point, I don't believe he had any romantic designs on her. He simply connected to the fact she wasn't a lemming that sat and waited to be loaded up. I can appreciate that. Carina continues to show spunk for most of the book, but she has some really screwed-up thought patterns. She has this blind faith in her world government and their ability (and desire) to save her and the other hostages.

In an effort to avoid spoilers, a lot of stuff happens. Carina and Ram become friends of sorts. They enjoy a camaraderie they didn't expect but they never do anything romantic. Ram does question why he wants to make her happy and keep her safe. Carina often thinks she will miss Ram when she goes home to her arranged marriage to get a larger apartment. The things Carina thinks will happen don't, other things do, they are separated for a time and then reunited for a happily ever after. Romance is complete.

The end and the science fiction side is where I have so many mixed feelings. While this was a good story, nothing is resolved. None of the questions were answered. Did the Seuturans do what the Varusians said they did? I have no idea how they could have. They looked like a completely backward, hole-in-the-wall planet compared to the other one. There are MAJOR secrets going on somewhere. But no one questions any of this. Everyone just accepts what happened and moves on like no big deal. That doesn't feel realistic to me.

Maybe this is meant to be the beginning of a series? However, I feel something should have come out in this first book to give a clue about what direction we're moving. But I have no idea if this is a series or stand-alone.

I received an early-reader copy of this book for an honest review. For the most part, I really enjoyed the world-building and story. I'm looking forward to reading the final version to see what changes were made in the final edits. Perhaps some of my questions were addressed.

I give Captive of the Stars 3.75 stars rounded to a 4 and a CLEAN rating.

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