About Warleader by Susan Grant
The outlaw has taunted her in a galactic game of cat and mouse for years, but she never caught him. Now they’re supposed to make peace AND serve together on the same starship?
Not so easy to do when your sworn enemy turns out to be the hottest piece you’ve ever seen.
Warleader Finn Rorkken doesn’t care how many medals Admiral Brit Bandar has. He’s going to show her what it’s like to be pursued and caught by a master. Intergalactic peace is on the line, and if she wants his obedience, she’ll have to pay his price…
Challenge accepted, Admiral.
Welcome to the Borderlands, where rules are meant to be broken…
Based on the retired title Moonstruck, Warleader is an enemies-to-lovers sci-fi romance that sweeps readers into a galaxy-spanning adventure with action, laughter, and a few tears. Read this award-winning story today!
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Review of Warleader
Here is what you need to know. In the aftermath of war, the Coalition, the Drakkon and Earth have formed the Triad Alliance. The diplomatic ship, Unity, is run by Admiral Brit Bandar and her second command, Drakkon Finn Rorken, a former Warleader. The crew is a combination of all three groups who work together to complete their mission. Wait, that’s a little bit of a lie. They don’t really work together all that well. Yet.
Clearly the admiral hates all Drakkon. There are early hints at some major Drakkon-induced trauma, but it won’t get explained until later in the book. So, right off, the heroine and the hero are on shaky ground. With a crew that also does not voluntarily get along, there are sure to be lots of loud and flashy fireworks on board Unity.
But right off, despite the admiral’s conviction that the only good Drakkon is a dead Drakkon, there is clearly some attraction to Finn. It’s a two-way attraction. Chemistry. What starts as a friendly competition in the gym will escalate to… well, use your imagination.
In the meantime, not everyone is happy the war is over and problems quickly put crew of Unity to work. Settlements are attacked by what appeared to be Drakkon based on the method of execution. Finn doesn’t believe it, but lack of evidence doesn’t help anyone’s version of the story. The conflicting opinions of the Coalition and Drakkon make for some good drama.
There was one aspect of the investigation of these troubles that really bothered me. During the investigation, there was an obvious group of offenders. There are events that happened that led me to believe this. But they weren’t treated any differently than the other survivors that were found along the way.
I’d have thrown that group in the brig. There is no reason they couldn’t find some way to escape and then go on to cause more havoc, because that is what bad guys do. But Brit and Finn really blew it. They made their name during wartime, and their first inclination is diplomacy? Not buying it.
A couple of things in Warleader are unexplained for me. 1) Why does Finn look so much like Brit’s late husband Seff that she has to do a double-take? 2) How did Earth hook up with this Triad Alliance? As near as I can tell, they were not part of the war.
Warleader takes place in the aftermath of war that was not confined to one world. Spread out as it was, on planets and in space, it will probably take a long time to convince everyone to embrace the peace. I see the possibility of several plots in the Borderlands series. I truly enjoyed Warleader and I look forward to seeing where this adventure leads.
The author provided a copy of her book in exchange for an honest review.
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Hi, Riley! I was really excited to see this review of Susan Grant’s new release! One question, though. I read (and enjoyed) Moonstruck when it came out. Is this just a re-release or has Susan reworked the story?
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It has been reworked. According to Susan’s newsletter that I got this morning, “It’s been updated and improved, and even has a new ending!” You might want to go ahead and read it again. The three-books series will be released over the next couple of months and that will be followed up with a prequel series.
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Reblogged this on Laurie A. Green.
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Great review, Riley. SO excited to see this one come out! I read Moonstruck a decade ago, and this story is based on the original book, but I love the many changes and the completely new ending. The enemies-to-lovers trope always has such great conflict. And I’m doubly excited that other books in the Borderlands series will be out on a rapid release schedule over the next couple of months, according to Susan Grant’s website. Yay!
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I am happy about that rapid release schedule too!
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The Borderlands is maybe my favourite of Susan’s series, and that’s saying a lot! I was so excited to see this rework! Can’t wait for more. One thing that hasn’t been explained completely, perhaps, is that this series actually is a follow-on to her Otherworldly Men series, and that explains Earth’s place in this alliance. I did note at least one place where a little background info was removed. The next book might explain that more.
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Thank you so much for the awesome review, Riley! K J is right, I removed some spoiler information regarding Earth’s entry into the Triad, but I do have Finn commenting on how the Goddess Queen married a man from Earth, and that was what you called “marrying up” lol, and how Earth came to be a shrine world. But more than that, I didn’t want to reveal how the Warlord was killed because that happens in Royal Recruit. But because I am an indie author and can do what I want, I may put the OtherWorldly Men prequel trilogy out sooner. (as soon as I clone myself HA). Also, I’m glad the part about the terrorists bothered you. A friend’s warrior fighter pilot husband was killed by a terrorist in Afghanistan, someone they’d trusted but who was not to be trusted. In fiction most times our heroes can figure out the bad guy, but in real life often they can’t. In Warleader, they didn’t, it was beyond their expectation bias, however, they’ll be much warier going forward, as we all are, as a society, with regards to terror. Thank you again for the review!
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PS–you asked why Finn bore a resemblance Seff. It’s because I’m truly horrible to my characters. 😉 I wanted to pile it on Brit. It was just one more thing shaking her up. Think about how uncomfortable it would be if someone you hated looked like someone you loved. Ugh. Right?
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Susan, Thanks for giving us all a little more insight.
It looks like there will be many Borderlands readers out there. Great comments today!
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Thanks, Riley (and Susan!) for clarifying. Certainly sounds like I need to beef up my SG collection with the new and improved version of this classic!
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