Tags
5 stars, AI ship, arena combat, audiobook, Book Review, Eve Langlais, scifi romance, series, slave
Reviewed by KJ Van Houten
Review of Sinner
Note: Sinner is book 2 of the Space Gypsy Chronicles. Spoilers from Book 1, Pirate, will appear in this review. I highly recommend reading Pirate first, then continuing with book 2. Primarily because in Pirate we are introduced to characters that appear in Sinner and understanding their relationship is important.
Sinner begins with our hero waking up without any memory of who he is – not his past and not even his name. He is at Lac’uus, known as the Pit, where he quickly realizes he is a gladiator in service to Jakk’ohb A’Diabbloh, known as JD, a wealthy man who keeps his own secrets close. JD also knows secrets of who our hero is and of his past.
In order to win his freedom, our hero must defeat 100 opponents. As he begins his service in the arena, he chooses the name Oblivion for himself. Oblivion quickly rises in the ranks of the arena champions. As he wins, he is rewarded with his selection from a group of enslaved females of varying species kept by JD.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the planet, is an intelligent ship named Annabelle. She is berthed and housing a passenger, Emma, a human taken from Earth in Pirate, Book 1 of the Space Gypsy Chronicles. Emma has become anxious because her lover, and the captain of the Annabelle, Rafe, has been missing for a few days. He had left the ship to go on a mission that he did not tell her details about, but she didn’t expect him to be gone this long. Annabelle and Emma do not have a trusting relationship. After the ship refused to give her any information or help, Emma managed to disembark. She runs into JD, who, upon hearing that she is looking for Rafe, offers to help. Before long, Emma finds herself tricked into becoming one of the enslaved girls offered up as prize to the arena champion! Emma quickly recognizes Oblivion is Rafe! But he doesn’t remember her! And after winning his current fight, he chooses another!
The story continues with Oblivion/Rafe continuing to fight, consistently as champion, and continuing to not choose Emma. JD knowingly teases both of them, enjoying the interaction and growing stress/annoyance between the two of them. He finds himself developing his own rather warped fondness for Emma and makes a pass at her. Before this gets carried too far, however, an intruder invades JD’s palace. He is captured, and… At this point my favourite twist is revealed! This one I didn’t see coming, so huge kudos to the author for this! Dealing with this ‘twist’ takes our characters to the end of this story, which sets up for the next one.
I enjoyed Sinner better that Pirate. I thought Pirate was a little cheesier than my usual reads, and it took me a while to connect with the heroine. But after reading Sinner, I am eager for the third book in the series to be released. I purchased this one as both ebook and audiobook, and the narrator does a good job, at no point did I feel taken out of the story. I feel this is definitely a series to look forward to!
Links
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