Accelerating Universe and Apparent Brightness – two books by Nicola Claire – Review

Tags

4 stars, 5 stars, AI ship, Book Review, Nicola Claire, scifi, scifi romance, series

About Accelerating Universe

“This is how we’d traverse the stars; limping and crippled, the last survivors of a dying solar system.”

Fleeing from a past that almost killed her and a present that promises she’ll only burn, pay-for-passage passenger Ana Kereama boards the Sector Two lead vessel Pavo with only survival in mind.

What she finds is a reason to live, and it has nothing to do with New Earth.

Teaming up with the sexy and commanding Captain John Jameson to protect those on board their ship, Ana fights not only for her vessel’s survival but the intelligent being emerging within its gel coated walls.

Love and trust are born amongst the stars and plasma fire, but is it possible for a captain to be involved with a second lieutenant?

And can any of them hope to survive the treacherous voyage unscathed?

When humanity reaches for the stars in a race for survival, only the most daring amongst them will succeed.

********************

Review of Accelerating Universe

5 Stars

The Sector Fleet is a 4-book series about each of the 4 lead vessels that are taking the remnants of Earth’s population to their new home. When I read the blurb for Accelerating Universe about the Sector 2 lead vessel, I knew I would have to read it.

First, I always appreciate an interesting ship AI. Pavo (also the ship name), was hit by a solar flare just as it left Earth and seems to be malfunctioning. Or evolving. The AI latches onto passenger Ana Kareama as the human who might understand him (or it, but it seems like a him).

Ana’s past experience as a medic and soldier somehow brings her to Captain John Jameson’s attention. They will need to team up to figure out how to deal with Pavo, the conniving civilian government and the dangers of the unknown. They also get to team up romantically.

The title of each chapter is a line of dialogue that will be spoken (you get to guess at how that line will come up) and each chapter is also headed with the name of the characters who has the POV, a device I have always favored.

Accelerating Universe is a fast-paced with adventure, intrigue, romance and a little humor thrown in. If you enjoy scifi romance, you might want to check this one out.

About Apparent Brightness

“Please do not be alarmed. This is for your own protection.”

Working as the Chief Engineer onboard the ESAS Chariot out of Europe, Commander Camille Rey expected her position to be somewhat challenging on occasion.

She did not expect to be fighting for her and her fellow crewmen’s lives immediately after take-off.

Teaming up with the very proper, and very English Captain Noah Vaughan to combat a desperate saboteur onboard their vessel, Camille discovers that not all the malfunctions the Chariot is experiencing are human-related.

Secrets and desires are exposed amongst the stars and plasma fire, but can the captain and the chief overcome their cultural differences?

And can any of them hope to survive the treacherous voyage to New Earth unscathed?

When humanity reaches for the stars in a race for survival, only the most daring amongst them will succeed.

********************

Review of Apparent Brightness

4 stars

The Sector Fleet is a 4-book series about each of the 4 lead vessels that are taking the remnants of Earth’s population to their new home. After enjoying book 1, Accelerating Universe, I decided to give book 2 a try.

In Apparent Brightness, the first thing you find out is that the Sector 1 lead vessel, Pavo, was destroyed in a solar flare as the sector vessels left earth. Chariot, captained by Noah Vaughan, is now the lead vessel. Chariot’s Chief Engineer Camille Rey is the first to discover the odd message “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” that seems to appear out of nowhere. It is accompanied by system failures and Camille quickly becomes the detective that follows the clues left by the mysterious message sender.

Having read the first book, I was pretty sure there was an AI involved, and I don’t think it is much of a spoiler to confirm that. This AI seems very child-like and unpredictable. The captain and the engineer team up to figure out the AI and the system failures all the while fighting their attraction to each other. Okay, they don’t fight it that much.

The AI and characters from book 1 in also make an appearance in book 2, nicely tying the two books together. Like book 1, Apparent Brightness succeeds as both sci fi and romance. I found the two books similar enough that I don’t plan to read the any more in the series. That is just me though. I think many will look at this book and continue with the series. It does seem destined to tell a great story.

********************

Links

Add The Sector Fleet books to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase The Sector Fleet books:

Advertisements

Jewel of the Sea (The Kraken, #2) by Tiffany Roberts – Review

Tags

4 stars, scifi romance, series, Tiffany Roberts

About Jewel of the Sea

HER INSPIRATION AND HER PASSION…

Three months ago, Aymee had no idea the kraken — half-human sea dwellers — even existed. Now, the violet eyes of the kraken Arkon haunt her imagination, and she longs to know his touch. But word of his people has spread beyond The Watch, and Aymee’s attraction to Arkon may endanger the safety of human and kraken alike. To protect him, can she bring herself to forsake him? Is her desire for Arkon worth putting both their worlds at risk?

HIS MUSE AND HIS JEWEL…

Arkon has spent his life in the pursuit of knowledge. Then he met Aymee and found a new quest: to make her his. She inspires him, draws him in, dominates his thoughts. When he finally builds the courage to approach her, she’s everything he imagined and more. But a group of murderous humans are hunting the kraken, and continued contact with Aymee may destroy them both. Now that he’s tasted her sweetness, he can’t give her up…but can he risk his world and his people to satisfy his need for her?

********************

Review of Jewl of the Sea

With a name like “The Kraken” it is hard not to be intrigued by this scifi romance series. The futuristic setting is a colony on a planet that is not Earth. It is the home of both humans, whose ancestors came from Earth, and the kraken, a human-cephalopod genetic combination created by humans to mine a power source. Eventually, the kraken rebelled and the two species have lived apart for many, many years.

Of course, things cannot continue this way. It is when the species connect that these stories begin to get really interesting. Both sides distrust each other – with good reason. But that does not stop the artists from both species from making an instant connection when they first meet. This first meeting between Aymee and Arkon actually happened in book one of the series, but you don’t need to read it first to keep up with Aymee and Arkon and their tumultuous relationship that should be doomed. Human hunters are looking for the kraken. The kraken hate all humans. It does not look good for this couple. A confrontation between the couple and some of the hunters will set off a series of events that will bring Aymee and Arkon together, but they will need to stay hidden.

Jewel of the Sea is a fun read with few surprises. The odd combination of species is the attraction for me. Overcoming the many challenges that humans and kraken bring on themselves keep the story fresh and interesting. And I really liked these characters. Perhaps there is a wannabe artist in me that I hope will enable me to look at the world with an open mind like Aymee and Arkon do.

The author provided a copy of this book so that I could bring you this honest review.

********************

Links

Add Jewel of the Sea to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase Jewel of the Sea:

Valos of Sonhadra, Book VII and Book IX by Tiffany Roberts and Regine Abel – Two Reviews

Tags

4 stars, Book Review, Regine Abel, sci fi romance, series, Tiffany Roberts

About Undying

BRINGER OF DEATH…
Orishok is the last of his kind — a valo shaped by the Creators to embody death. He’s stood vigil over his people for centuries, watching them fade away, one by one succumbing to the entropic energies they hold inside. With his slightest touch unwillingly bringing death to all living things, he has remained isolated in his people’s city, his heart as empty as the buildings around him…until a pale, slight female arrives and shakes the foundations of his world.

GIVER OF LIFE…
Quinn Dalton lost everything when she was convicted of murder — her sister, her niece, her budding career — but it isn’t until she’s transferred to an interstellar penitentiary that she realizes her very life is no longer her own. Her existence aboard the Concord is a nightmare, broken only when the station is torn through a wormhole and crash lands on an alien world. After waking up alone and bloodied, but somehow unharmed, she seeks shelter in an abandoned city — where she discovers an ancient, wondrous mystery. Can she survive alongside a being whose touch means death?
Warning: This book contains foul language, explicit sexual content, and violence and is intended for mature readers only.

*******************

Review of Undying
Review by Riley
4 Stars

I loved that the human, Quinn, meets something extremely alien. Not just Orishok, but also the planet and the city. Orishok meets something just as alien to him when Quinn appears. Language, food, singing, sleeping, even emotion. When Orishok and Quinn first meet, they have nothing in common. But each has a reason to make the attempt to get to understand and know each other. There are serious moments and moments of humor. The developing relationship was tender and hopeful and heartwarming.

Very near the end of the story, Quinn and Orishok will meet some bad guys. The story needed more conflict, so I appreciate that it was in there, but it seem a bit contrived because it was not part of the entire story. Such is often an issue with a shorter novel.

Amazon says there are 180 pages in Undying. I don’t believe it.  The e-book read like 80 pages, I absorbed it so fast! I guess I am saying that this book was easy to get into and hard to put down.

Undying is part of the Valos of Sonhadra series which is a shared collaboration of nine scifi and fantasy romance authors. If you want more after Undying, know that they can be enjoyed in any order and happily ever afters abound.

About Unfrozen

When the penitentiary ship she’s incarcerated in gets sucked into an anomaly, Lydia barely survives the crash onto an alien planet. Only the sadistic experiments performed on her by the prison’s scientist allow her to survive this harsh and dangerous world. The future looks grim until she stumbles upon a magnificent city of ice and its most unusual inhabitant.

Kai is fascinated by the delicate stranger fallen from the stars with the power to bring his hibernating city back to life. She stirs emotions long forgotten by his frozen heartstone. Can she be the salvation of his people or will the trap set by the Creators bring about their collective doom?

Review of Unfrozen
Review by K J Van Houten
4 Stars

Unfrozen opens with our heroine, Lydia imprisoned and undergoing experimentation against her will. She has an unusual condition where her body produces great heat, and she can also withstand great heat, as well as extreme cold. The experiments have only made her inexplicable condition worse.

The prison ship Lydia is on crashes onto the surface of an unknown planet. Lydia escapes, uncertain if anyone else survives or not, determined to get as far from the crash site as she can. She stumbles upon an abandoned city – well, inhabited by the strange statues of tall, humanoid men, made of an unusual substance that seems both hard and soft to touch at the same time, and bearing gaping holes in their chests. As Lydia studies the statues closer, she realizes that the holes are uniform, more like an open slot than damage. With a start, she realizes the statues may be more than they seem. As Lydia explores more, she begins to feel that she is being watched. Exhaustion finally overcomes her, and she falls asleep on a bed of ice – think of the famous ice hotels in some colder parts of Earth, like Norway.

While Lydia sleeps, met meet our hero, Kai. At first he things Lydia is from the race his people call the Creators or the Strangers. He has been the one watching her as she explored the city, as he is the only of his people awake. He watches over her as she sleeps, and brings her food for when she awakens.

Lydia is startled to find Kai. They speak different languages and have trouble communicating at first. Fortunately, Kai is capable of learning languages quickly the more he hears of it, so they are soon able to exchange basic words and ideas.

As they spend more time together, learning each other’s language and behavior, a growing attraction develops between Lydia and Kai. Lydia learns the secret of Kai’s people – an interested race that seems to be a cross between a cyborg, a golem, and an ice elemental. The holes in their chests are where their heartstones belong. These are a part of them that allows them to feel emotion and a provide a desire to go on living. Most of Kai’s brethren are in hibernation as they have lost this desire for life, others have gone to the extreme and shut down permanently. The heartstones were taken out by the previous race of Creators/Strangers that left the planet a very long time ago. The heartstones are piled in particular locations, which cannot be reached because they are surrounded by lava pools and the extreme heat would kill Kai’s people if they tried to reach them. Lydia’s ability to withstand extreme heat give hope that they can be restored.

This book starts off a little confusing for me. Not sure if it’s because the story is written in first person POV and the character isn’t ‘introduced’ to us by name for quite a while into the story. Although fortunately, the chapters are labeled “Lydia” or “Kai” to let us know which POV we’re getting in each. I normally don’t have an issue with reading first person narratives, however, and it didn’t take me long to settle into the story, once I could put a name and description of the main characters in place.

I find this world very interesting. Lydia seems a little too good to be true with her abilities, but she’s a likeable heroine. Kai is fascinating because I can’t put a single description to what he is. I tend to think ‘ice elemental-golem’ in my mind, and I don’t think I’ve ever come across a hero which like this. The pacing of the story is not fast, and it seems that learning to communicate and uncovering the secret of the heartstones and what needs to be done to save Kai’s people takes up most of the action of the story. The attraction and eventually love between Lydia and Kai is cute, at times playful, at times tender, and eventually a bit steamy – how does an ice elemental-golem handle the heat of a woman like Lydia?

There are, naturally, more twists than I’ve given away in this review. Lydia and Kai do have more hardships to overcome than just their communication problems, after all. The more I read, the more I wanted to keep reading. While the ending of the book is satisfying, it does open the way for more stories in this series. There are some unanswered questions such as why was Lydia on the prison ship, and what about the friends she mentioned leaving behind when she escaped? I’m intrigued enough that I think it’s worth going back to read the previous stories as well as ones to come.

 

*******************

Links

Add Valos of Sonhadra  to your Goodreads shelf:

Purchase books in the Valos of Sonhadra series: