Dark Class (Class 5, #5) by Michelle Diener – Review

Tags

5 stars, AI ship, alien abduction, aliens, Book Review, human interaction with aliens, romance, scifi, scifi romance, spaceships

Review of Dark Class

Book 5 in the Class 5 series stays true to form.  An ordinary woman from earth, going up against the bad guys of the galaxy with an AI and an attractive, sympathetic, elf-like alien to help her. 

Like her predecessors, Ellie has no extraordinary military, physics or astronaut training.  So, when she wakes up, alone, at a strange moon station she is way out of her league.  Make that way out of her solar system. 

Ellie puts the pieces together with the help of the disembodied voice.  The AI, Paxe, talks to her through communication systems and robots.  Paxe helps her survive and clues her in that the Grih may be her saviors.  When the Grih arrive, she thinks she is saved – but it is not going to be that easy. 

Renn, the Grih captain has been chasing a Tecran ship for weeks.  Lately, Tecrans have become the local villains, but are supposed to be surrendering and working on becoming better citizens.  But the Tecran captain knows that there is incriminating evidence at the moon base. 

Dark Class is a minute-by-minute, tense showdown between opposing sides with survival on the line for everybody.  The dangers of the moon, alien technology, and beings fighting for their lives makes this a page-turning action-packed story.  Fans of the Class 5 series will not want to miss this one.  But reading entire series is not necessary.  Dark Class stands well on its own.  Also, a new kind of AI is introduced….maybe leading to more stories.  That would be awesome.

Thanks to the author who provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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About Dark Matters by Michelle Diener

Waking up alone . . . Ellie Masters comes out of a coma to find herself the only inhabitant of an eerily empty moon station. She’s not on Earth any more, she’s not even in the right solar system. So when someone reaches out to her, tells her he’s her friend, she’s happy to believe it. The alternative is to be stuck alone with an enemy.

The hunt of his career . . . Grih Battle Center captain, Renn Sorvihn, has been chasing a rogue Tecran ship for over a month, convinced its captain is simply trying to delay his inevitable surrender and punishment. But when Renn follows the Tecran ship into an uncharted sector, and realises the Tecran have been working their way to a secret moon base for weeks, he suddenly understands things are most definitely not as they seem.

Caught in the crossfire . . . When the Tecran arrive, with the Grih hot on their heels, Ellie finds herself the catalyst for heightened danger to everyone. The Tecran see her as evidence of their military’s crimes, the Grih see her as a massive diplomatic complication, and her presence brings the whole confrontation up several thousand notches.

But Ellie isn’t alone, and her new friend has ways to help her. Time to outclass them all . . .

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King of Pain (Interstellar Rescue, #5) by Donna S. Frelick – Review

Tags

5 stars, aliens, Donna S. Frelick, favorite series, paranormal, romance, scifi, scifi romance, series

Review of King of Pain

The Thrane and Hinarr are enemies barely co-existing on the same planet.  Lael Saphora is one of the shape-shifting Hinarr who has been charged as a slaver in a setup.  Trevyn Dar is Thrane and a member of the anti-slavery Interstellar Rescue squad.   Circumstances have forced them together, running from evil, power-hungry Thrane.  One thing about this story is that it is really easy to separate the good and the bad.   

To survive, the enemies must trust each other, playing to their individual strengths.  Trevyn is injured, so during their trek through the cold, blizzardy wilderness Lael is the physically strong one, shifting to her snow cat form to keep them fed and safe.  Trevyn is able to use his ability to mindlink to his brother to get help from the outside.   

While Lael and Trevyn are on the run, hostilities between the Hinarr and Thrane are heating up.  Clearing Lael’s name and staying out of the hands of the Thrane are minor challenges compared to the Thrane threat to the Hinarr and their way of life. 

The multi-threaded plot is further complicated by Interstellar Rescue Council troubles.  Here, characters from previous books in the series can be found attempting to right wrongs.  

King of Pain is proof that this series is an evolving story.  The arena, which started on earth in Unchained Memory has expanded to space and to other worlds.  This latest installment even focuses on non-human characters and adds a traditionally paranormal element.  The expanding series continues to get better, continues to keep me reading.

King of Pain combines interstellar and planetary politics, intense, complex characters and the inevitable romance that adds heart to the story.  This is Sci-Fi Romance at its best!  

Thanks to the author for providing a copy of her book in exchange for my honest review.

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About King of Pain

One planet, two worlds. And only Fate could unite them.

Trevyn Dar was once a Hunter of Thrane, feared throughout the galaxy as the son of the Butcher of Four Systems. But he clawed his way free of that bloody legacy to find his true path, as captain of a ship serving the anti-slavery goals of the Interstellar Council of Abolition and Rescue.

Lael Saphora is Hinarr, shapeshifter, sharing her skin with a snow cat Companion, but, like all her people, hunted, and oppressed because she lacks the telepathic skills of the genetic Thranes of her home planet. Since she witnessed the brutal death of her father as a child, Lael has been fighting for her people. She leads the Uprising against the iron grip of the Thrane Ruling Houses.

When Trevyn receives unusual orders from Rescue to seize a ship smuggling weapons for slavers, he discovers the darkly compelling Lael at the helm—no slaver, but a political prisoner, whose extradition to Thrane means torture and death. His journey to uncover what’s behind her false arrest takes him back to a home planet he had hoped to never see again, reveals an ugly conspiracy at the heart of Rescue, and rips open old wounds. But Trevyn and Lael share a common past, and only love can heal two hearts broken by an ancient pain.

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King of Pain (Interstellar Rescue, #5) by Donna S. Frelick – Feature

Tags

aliens, Donna S. Frelick, feature, romance, scifi, series

Introducing the next installment in the Interstellar Rescue series. I’ve been a fan since book 1 and I am currently reading this new one. At roughly 1/3 through the book, I am going to predict King of Pain will be one of my favorite SciFi’s of the year. I’ll be reviewing soon!

About King of Pain by Donna S. Frelick

One planet, two worlds. And only Fate could unite them. 

Trevyn Dar was once a Hunter of Thrane, feared throughout the galaxy as the son of the Butcher of Four Systems. But he clawed his way free of that bloody legacy to find his true path, as captain of a ship serving the anti-slavery goals of the Interstellar Council of Abolition and Rescue. 

Lael Saphora is Hinarr, shapeshifter, sharing her skin with a snow cat Companion, but, like all her people, hunted, and oppressed because she lacks the telepathic skills of the genetic Thranes of her home planet. Since she witnessed the brutal death of her father as a child, Lael has been fighting for her people. She leads the Uprising against the iron grip of the Thrane Ruling Houses. 

When Trevyn receives unusual orders from Rescue to seize a ship smuggling weapons for slavers, he discovers the darkly compelling Lael at the helm—no slaver, but a political prisoner, whose extradition to Thrane means torture and death. His journey to uncover what’s behind her false arrest takes him back to a home planet he had hoped to never see again, reveals an ugly conspiracy at the heart of Rescue, and rips open old wounds. But Trevyn and Lael share a common past, and only love can heal two hearts broken by an ancient pain.

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