Shadow Run (Kaitan Chronicles, book 1) by AdriAnne Strickland, Michael Miller
Edition Reviewed: Ebooik
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
Goodreads: Shadow Run (1)
Nev has just joined the crew of the starship Kaitan Heritage as the cargo loader. His captain, Qole, is the youngest-ever person to command her own ship, but she brooks no argument from her crew of orphans, fugitives, and con men. Nev can't resist her, even if her ship is an antique.
As for Nev, he's a prince, in hiding on the ship. He believes Qole holds the key to changing galactic civilization, and when her cooperation proves difficult to obtain, Nev resolves to get her to his home planet by any means necessary.
But before they know it, a rival royal family is after Qole too, and they're more interested in stealing her abilities than in keeping her alive.
Nev's mission to manipulate Qole becomes one to save her, and to survive, she'll have to trust her would-be kidnapper. He may be royalty, but Qole is discovering a deep reservoir of power--and stars have mercy on whoever tries to hurt her ship or her crew.
Review:
HER SHIP. HIS PLAN. THEIR SURVIVAL.
Those were the only words I knew from the cover and that this was supposed to be some kind of “Firefly” YA mash up. So . . . this book went the average route and I'm disappointed. Though now reading the official synopsis I see the argument for reading the synopsis for books one is excited about. That's always a tough call. Because sometimes you want to be totally surprised by the awesome excitement, hopefully originality, ahead of you.
That said I loved-loved-loved the cast of characters!!! Sure they're all kind of standard to a degree. The coolest character is Basra who is gender fluid and we're never given which sex he truly belongs to. What we do know is that Basra is a badass and since this is clearly the first book in a series (literally the Goodreads page was just updated to series) I need more details darn it!! It was so cruel that Basra wasn't given more page time. (Okay, he/she does have quite a bit, but I wanted more. Then there's Arjan, the poor brother of Qole who is really not given . . . much of anything. Poor guy. Muscle Eton. Computer hack extraordinaire Telu. Nev our handsome prince. Qole the awesome captain!
It's odd to think that despite the character development saving this standard sci-fi for me, the characters are stereotypical. Actually quite a few of the characters could have used more work.
At least Nev really worked as the Prince. Because he wasn't some brooding face that made the lead simper or lose her mind over his good looks. Though he is good looking. Instead he's hopeful and witty. Wow, role reversal! I enjoyed not having a broody male lead for once! Thank you. He stayed awesome even when faced with the reality of his families corruption. (Please, that's not any kind of spoiler.)
Cole is the broody one and a totally awesome Captain of Kaitan Heritage. She's broody and pretty cool. Huh, I just now realized that those are the key points. She's a nice lead. Though now I realize that I read Shadow Run for Nev and Barsa.
Well. This is awkward. Besides some fun humor and Nev and Barsa, oh and Telu's clever comments I didn't like too many other aspects of Shadow Run. I was disappointed by the predictable plot. The romance happened just like it "should". Really I wouldn't liken Shadow Run to Firefly even for the humor. Which I did really enjoy. In the end I probably will check out the next book for more Nev and definitely for more Barsa. Which would mean poor Arjan will—should—actually get some time to become developed and out from the role of Qole's brother.
In the end I will be checking out the next book for Nev, but truly Basra.
Sexual Content: There is a gender fluid character so there might be some homosexual relationship. Mild kissing and mild sexual humor. Really this book is pretty clean. There's some class/caste issues and human rights.
2/5 - It's rough, but there's still some hope.
| Previous book(s) in series: | ||
| Reviewed on BW: | Amazon: | Goodreads: |
| Shadow Run (1) Shadow Call (2) | Shadow Run (1) Shadow Call (2) | Shadow Run (1) Shadow Call (2) |
2 comments:
Post a Comment