Book Review: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Posted on March 22, 2022 11 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Tor Books (March 15, 2022)
Length: 272 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
John Scalzi is at his best when he’s not taking himself too seriously, and books like The Kaiju Preservation Society are the proof. He stated as much in his author’s afterword that he wrote this novel as an escape, a way to let loose and take a break from the crappiness of what’s happening in the world, and the results are something we can all be thankful for.
The story follows Jamie Gray, an ambitious go-getter who has all kinds of great ideas for the online food ordering and delivery service company he works for, and he just can’t wait to share them all during his six-month performance review. Too bad Jamie’s boss has no interest in hearing them, however, and our hapless protagonist ends up losing his job right as the world enters the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As luck would have it though, he soon reconnects with his old friend Tom Stevens who presents him with a new opportunity: a chance to work with an “animal rights organization” called KPS as a laborer in the field, with duties to include some heavy lifting and large wildlife care. Nothing too complicated, even if the job description is suspiciously vague. Still, desperate for anything that will help pay the bills, Jamie signs on, and the next thing he knows, he’s jetting off with his new team to Greenland where they’re told they’ll be doing fieldwork for the next little while.
But soon after they arrive, Jamie realizes why Tom had been so tight-lipped. As it turns out, KPS actually stands for a top-secret organization called the Kaiju Preservation Society, and though their location might be Greenland, in fact they have traveled to an alternate Earth. Here, giant creatures similar to those featured in Japanese fantasy and sci-fi monster movies called kaiju get to roam freely, and it is KPS’s mission to not only study them but also to keep them breaking through the barrier between worlds into our Earth. Because obviously, that would be very, very bad.
In describing the process of writing The Kaiju Preservation Society, Scalzi likened the book to a pop song, and that pop songs are sometimes what we all need. Amen to that! Everyone has that favorite catchy song they like to put on, a guilty pleasure to turn to when life is getting you down and you need something to cheer you up and lighten the mood. Well, what we have here is pretty much the literary equivalent.
Putting myself in that frame of mind, it was super easy to just kick back and enjoy myself. The story was also popcorny and fun, and as long as you’re aware of that going in, chances are high you’ll have a pretty damn good time as well. The prose is pure Scalzi when he’s not trying too hard to be all deep and meaningful; unlike some of his more recent projects, there is no whiff of pretention here, just his quirky sense of humor coming through in all its snarky glory. Hey, nothing wrong with some easy, breezy entertainment once in a while! Sure, this might feel liked fluff, but it’s also refreshingly earnest and completely satisfying.
That said, I don’t want to give anyone the impression that the story was all superficial, because we have some superb characterization and great world-building ideas here too. In fact, if I have one criticism, it might be that the book was frontloaded was too much setup, with the explanations and descriptions bordering on info-dumping. There’s a lot to take in, and not much attempt on the author’s part to spread all those details out or present it with any kind of panache. Also, ironically enough, for a book that’s all about kaiju, time spent with actual kaiju was in rather short supply, and I would have really liked to see more action involving these giant monsters.
At the end of the day though, John Scalzi clearly wanted to write a particular kind of story, and he definitely achieved that goal, ultimately delivering his most entertaining novel in years. It certainly put me in mind of the atmosphere and mood of another one of my favorite books of his, Old Man’s War, whose humor and accessibility I’ve always credited for igniting my interest in the science fiction and fantasy genres way back when I read it. With The Kaiju Preservation Society, I felt all those vibes as well, making this one a must-read for any fan of the author.
Audiobook Review: Sea Storm by Andrew Mayne
Posted on March 20, 2022 7 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Series: Book 3 of Underwater Investigation Unit
Publisher: Brilliance Audio (March 29, 2022)
Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrator: Susannah Jones
Sea Storm is the third book of the Underwater Investigation Unit series by Andrew Mayne which begins with a distress call from a cruise ship sinking off the coast of Fort Lauderdale. As part of a designated marine law enforcement task force, protagonist Sloan McPherson and her colleague Scott Hughs find themselves lending aid to the massive rescue effort to get all the passengers into lifeboats as quickly as possible, but then reports come that several crew members are still trapped below decks and are unable to escape. With the integrity of the ship’s hull compromised, time is quickly running out, but luckily the UIU are well equipped to handle the situation.
What’s more troubling though, is how the cruise ship came to be disabled in the first place. The damage appears to have been caused by an explosion, and authorities are quick to point the finger at a notorious ecoterrorism group, especially when more ships across the country are coming under threat. However, Sloan isn’t so sure the answer is that simple, and goes on an investigative dive on her own before the evidence can be swept away by the area’s turbulent storms. When she makes a startling discovery on the ocean floor, Sloan’s determination to get to the truth will put her in the crosshairs of some powerful individuals who will stop at nothing to eliminate obstacles standing in their way.
I am a big fan of Andrew Mayne’s work and have enjoyed every book I’ve read by him, but I’ll be honest, I didn’t love Sea Storm. It’s probably the weakest of the Underwater Investigation Unit books thus far, though that is most likely down to personal taste. For example, the previous book Black Coral was more to my liking, focusing on solving cold cases or catching serial killers. In contrast, here we have a story with greater emphasis on internal politics and UIU’s constant struggle to keep others from shutting them down, and I just don’t find the topic as interesting. In addition to that, I was slightly disappointed we didn’t get as much of the “underwater investigation” angle in this one.
On the plus side though, we got a lot more character development as Sea Storm explores Sloan McPherson’s relationships with the people closest to her, including her family members and colleagues. Sloan still maintains a close friendship with her ex, and their daughter Jackie is playing a bigger role in the series as she matures, going on dives with her parents and helping her mom with the investigation. The story also features greater involvement from Scott as he and Sloan are getting a better feel for each other’s working styles, and their boss George Solar gets major points from me as well for his tireless fight to establish legitimacy for the UIU.
Another interesting development is the way Mayne has begun gradually bringing the different worlds of his multiple series together. Recently, readers were treated to a team-up between Jessica Blackwood and The Naturalist’s Theo Cray in Mastermind, and it was confirmed in Sea Storm that the Underwater Investigation Unit books also take place in the same “universe.” So who knows, maybe one day we’ll see a collaboration involving Sloan as well.
Bottom line, I’m still interested in continuing the Underwater Investigation Unit series and I hope there will be plenty more books to come, especially if Susannah Jones will continue to narrate the audio editions, because she’s awesome and a great voice for Sloan. But all in all, I would also love for the stories to go back to focus more on the police procedural element and, of course, more diving!
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of The Girl Beneath the Sea (Book 1)
Review of Black Coral (Book 2)
Bookshelf Roundup: 03/19/22: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
Posted on March 19, 2022 11 Comments
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every weekend which fills the role of several blog memes, like Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? where I summarize what I’ve finished reading in the last week and what I’m planning to read soon. Mostly it also serves as a recap post, so sometimes I’ll throw in stuff like reading challenge progress reports, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts or announcements.
Received for Review
Work has been picking up so my reading time has been going down, but hopefully this will give me some time to catch up reviews. My thanks to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received, and be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages for more details and full descriptions!
Huge thanks to the amazing team at Tor.com publishing for this gorgeous review copy of All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie as well as an ARC of A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers, the follow-up to A Psalm for the Wild-Built.
Thank you also to kind folks at Wunderkind PR and 47North for an ARC of The Peacekeeper by B.L. Blanchard, which was new to me. Description says it’s a murder mystery featuring an Ojibwe detective set in an alternate never-colonized North America, which sounds totally awesome.
With thanks also to Subterranean Press for a review copy of Among Strangers by Robert Silverberg. This book isn’t up on Goodreads nor on the publisher’s own website yet, so I don’t know much about it, but according to the blurb this is an omnibus collecting four of the author’s stories that explore the strange, the alien, and the unexplored (that cover certainly matches that description).
And in the digital haul, with thanks to Penguin Audio for listening copies of Curfew by Jayne Cowie as well as The Impossible Us by Sarah Lotz.
Reviews
The Resting Place by Camilla Sten (4 of 5 stars)
Crowbones by Anne Bishop (4 of 5 stars)
What I’ve Been Reading
Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? I hope you found something interesting for a future read!
Friday Face-Off: Colorful
Posted on March 18, 2022 11 Comments
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
“Somewhere over the rainbow”
~ a COLORFUL cover
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
When I saw the prompt for this week, my mind immediately went to this book!
From left to right:
Redhook (2019) – Subterranean Press (2021) – Croatian Edition (2021)
Bulgarian Edition (2020) – German Edition (2021) – French Edition (2021)
Winner:
Hands down, my favorite is the Redhook edition. It’s just so beeeautiful!
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
Waiting on Wednesday 03/16/22
Posted on March 16, 2022 7 Comments
Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that first originated at Breaking the Spine but has since linked up with “Can’t Wait Wednesday” at Wishful Endings now that the original creator is unable to host it anymore. Either way, this fun feature is a chance to showcase the upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Mogsy’s Pick
The Voyage of the Forgotten by Nick Martell (November 1, 2022 by Gallery/Saga Press)
I’ve had an excellent time with this series so far, and as book two was even better than book one, with luck maybe this third one will continue the trend and be the best one of all? Regardless, I can’t wait to see how the trilogy will conclude.
“In this twistingly beautiful and epically thrilling conclusion to the fantasy trilogy The Legacy of the Mercenary King, Michael, the infamous Kingkiller, and Serena, the Hollow Queen, race against the odds to have the future they’ve worked so hard to protect…or risk bringing about the end of the world.
Michael Kingman has discovered his destiny, but the distance to what he wants, namely a life with Serena, the queen of Hollow kingdom, is as wide as the world, and just as cruel.
Meanwhile, Dark, the realm’s most fearsome mercenary, Michael’s sometime mentor, and son of his nemesis, Angelo, is trying to keep Michael in line, for his own purposes as he too has a hidden agenda. Michael comes to realize that he is outclassed by powers that have been working for centuries to bring about a fresh end to the world filled with those he loves. But when has merely being overpowered ever stopped Michael from getting what he wants?
To prevent what may bring about the end times Michael must gather his remaining allies and push himself to achieve the impossible because the alternative is worse than he can imagine: it’s not just the beginning of the end of the world, it’s being alone and forgotten.
In this epic conclusion, The Voyage of the Forgotten brilliantly wraps up the stories fans have fallen in love with as the characters struggle against odds that seem impossible to overcome.”
Book Review: The Resting Place by Camilla Sten
Posted on March 15, 2022 12 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Resting Place by Camilla Sten
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Horror, Suspense
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Minotaur Books (March 29, 2022)
Length: 336 pages
Author Information: Website
I first discovered Camilla Sten last year with The Lost Village and enjoyed it enough that I immediately pounced on the chance to read The Resting Place when I was offered a review copy. And wow, I liked it even better! What a twisted and atmospheric mind trip it was.
Our story follows Eleanor, a young woman who suffers from prosopagnosia, a rare disorder commonly known as “face blindness” which causes the inability to recognize faces. Whether she is interacting with someone she’s meeting for the first time or a loved one that she’s known for years, her brain prevents her from registering their facial features. Unfortunately, this meant Eleanor was unable to recognize her grandmother Vivianne’s killer after accidentally walking in on the murder as it was happening. She even came face to face with them as they were escaping the scene of the brutal crime—but it was no use. Eleanor was unable to give the police anything useful, or even tell them if the killer might be someone she knew.
In the wake of Vivianne’s death, however, our protagonist discovers her grandmother had left something behind for her, a sprawling estate nestled in the Swedish woods called Solhöga. Arriving there with her boyfriend Sebastian, Eleanor meets up with her aunt Veronika as well as the lawyer handling Vivianne’s will. In truth though, Eleanor has come to Solhöga for another reason. She wants to know where her grandmother grew up, hoping the old mansion would reveal its secrets and explain how Vivianne became the cold, hard woman who raised her. And, just maybe, it may even answer the question of why she was murdered.
The Resting Place was a slow-moving mystery, though that is merely an observation, not really a criticism. In fact, I tend to enjoy such stories, where the suspense gradually builds, and at times even veers off into horror territory. Part of the reason for the pacing can be explained by the novel’s structure, which splits into two timelines with chapters alternating between past and present. The present timeline follows Eleanor, while the one in the past takes place in the mid-sixties, told through the eyes of a young Polish girl named Annushka. Eleanor first learns of the enigmatic young woman’s existence when she chances upon an old diary while exploring the house. The entries within reveal that Annushka was a servant girl at Solhöga, and that even in her youth, Vivianne was a cruel mistress.
Chapter by chapter, the author peels back the layers concealing the truth behind the estate’s history, which was filled with grief, pain, and tragedy. Piece by piece, the puzzle slowly comes together to form a clearer picture, and Eleanor starts to gain a better understanding of why her grandmother might have wanted to keep this part of her past hidden from everyone. The mystery aspect of the story was done well, and like I’d alluded to before, sometimes the tensions would be cranked so high that they bordered on creepy and disturbing.
My only regret was not seeing prosopagnosia play a larger role in the story. This might sound strange, considering the opening scene with Vivianne’s murder and the fact that the whole mystery rested on Eleanor’s inability to recognize the killer. But other than serving its purpose for this one critical plot point, our protagonist’s condition was practically a non-issue, and she certainly didn’t feel convincing as a character who had suffered from it her entire life, at least not to me. To a lesser extent, I was also side-eyeing the ending, which felt a bit out of left field. But because the twist was so good, not to mention that some suspension of disbelief is to be expected for this genre, I didn’t let that bother me too much.
All in all, I was riveted by The Resting Place with its innumerable secrets and shiver-inducing moments. Stories set in creaky old houses are a perpetual favorite of mine, filled with dark corners and hidden nooks in which to hide, and Camilla Sten certainly took full advantage of the setting, creating an unforgettable atmospheric and suspenseful experience.
Audiobook Review: Crowbones by Anne Bishop
Posted on March 14, 2022 7 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: The World of the Others
Publisher: Penguin Audio (March 8, 2022)
Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
Author Information: Website
Narrator: Alexandra Harris
The long awaited Crowbones brings us back to the village of Sproing and I could barely contain my excitement to be reading The Others again! Plus, we’re just in time for Trickster Night, this world’s version of Halloween…what could possibly go wrong?
This year, innkeeper Vicki DiVine is hosting a gathering at The Jumble, and everyone is having a great time until one of the human guests thought it would be a great trick to show up dressed up as Crowbones, the bogeyman of the Crowgard. Unfortunately, no one is amused, and that much is clear the next day when the prankster turns up dead. Still, in a world where humans often live at the mercy of the much stronger Others, something like that isn’t typically an unusual occurrence—except a second body was also found, this time that of a young Crowgard member.
Surely, the deaths couldn’t be a coincidence, and soon the village is abuzz with word that a killer is on the loose. This affront displeases the Elders, who manipulate the elements to block off all roads in and out of Sproing, trapping all those within. The Jumble thus becomes a temporary home to all those stranded as police chief Grimshaw hunkers down to try and solve the case with the help of Vicki and Ilya Sanguinati, the town’s resident vampire lawyer. Time is quickly running out, however, as the elementals become increasingly agitated, and rumors abound that the real Crowbones has come a-calling to wreak havoc and teach wayward Crowgard a lesson.
What follows is a delectable mystery, a nice change of pace from the previous books! I do enjoy how this spinoff series allows Bishop some flexibility to explore other stories in the world of The Others, and even do some skipping around if she so chooses. Crowbones is more of a follow-up to Lake Silence, with Wild Country being seen as a kind of mini detour in between. As a result, it took a bit of resettling to familiarize myself with Sproing and its residents again, but the author thankfully provides plenty of references and reminders to make the task easier. That said, I still believe it would be helpful, if not a must, to have read Lake Silence first before tackling this one.
Needless to say, I had fun catching up with the characters. The alternating POVs gave us a deeper look into their lives as well as their relationships with each other, showing us how all these different dynamics have evolved and grown. I feel Anne Bishop has outdone herself again, with Crowbones being one of the stronger, more entertaining books of the Others. At times, the story reads like a compulsive whodunit, yet also features all the world-building elements that makes this series so irresistible.
There was also never a dull moment in the plot, with things really ramping up when the Elders closed off the town, plunging our characters into uncertainty and isolation. Not to mention, the Elders could be brutal in their retribution. With the volatility of the Others, you never had a clue what might happen next, and while you could be confident some of the characters were safe, there were others who weren’t so lucky. With so many visitors in town for the recent holiday, there was certainly no shortage of potential suspects—or victims. Detective Grimshaw really stole the show in this one, calling the shots on the investigation and gathering all the clues to put the pieces together.
Bottom line, fans of the series will not be disappointed with Crowbones. It feels at once familiar and fresh, combining older elements from the earlier books (like the human vs. Others conflict) with newer ones like different themes or styles of storytelling. Anne Bishop has proven that there’s a lot more to the world of The Others to explore, and I can’t wait to discover all of it.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Written in Red (Book 1)
Review of Murder of Crows (Book 2)
Review of Vision in Silver (Book 3)
Review of Marked in Flesh (Book 4)
Review of Etched in Bone (Book 5)
Review of Lake Silence (Book 6)
Review of Wild Country (Book 7)
Bookshelf Roundup: 03/12/22: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
Posted on March 12, 2022 12 Comments
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every weekend which fills the role of several blog memes, like Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? where I summarize what I’ve finished reading in the last week and what I’m planning to read soon. Mostly it also serves as a recap post, so sometimes I’ll throw in stuff like reading challenge progress reports, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts or announcements.
Received for Review
Right now I’m so behind on reviews it’s not funny! I’m still reading quite a bit, but I have five or six books that still need to be written up so maybe it’s a good thing that I have another light week in the mailbox/inbox to share today. My thanks to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received, and be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages for more details and full descriptions!
With thanks to Orbit Books for a finished copy of We Cry For Blood by Devin Madson, I’m looking forward to continuing this amazing series! And thank you also to Del Rey for sending along an ARC of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. If you’re aware of my love for this author, you’ll know how excited I am to read this one! And as always, much love to the incredible team at Subterranean Press who supplied me with an ARC of The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold. This is of course the next installment in the tales of Penric & Desdemona series, and at over 450 pages it’s the longest one yet and probably a novel in its own right.
Just one audiobook in the digital haul this week, but it’s a good one from an author I’ve been wanting to read for a long time. My thanks to Random House Audio for an ALC of Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel.
Reviews
Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik (4 of 5 stars)
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley (4 of 5 stars)
What I’ve Been Reading
Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? I hope you found something interesting for a future read!
Friday Face-Off: Recent Read
Posted on March 11, 2022 7 Comments
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
“The most recent book you’ve read that has covers to compare”
~ a cover of a RECENT READ
The Resting Place by Camilla Sten
This was a book I just finished, and since the Swedish original was pubbed two years ago, I was able to find a handful of covers to compare as more translated editions are coming out. Let’s take a look at them now:
From left to right:
Minotaur Books (2022) – Swedish Edition (2020)
German Edition (2022) – Danish Edition (2020)
Winner:
All the different art styles and design approaches made it a tough choice this week, but I’m going to have to go with the German edition. It might have drawn my eye because it’s the lightest cover there, but I also like the “sketch” effect and the ominous vibe it brings to the house’s facade. As far as I know, the cut-off text at the top is also intentional, as I’ve seen the author’s other books from this publisher done in the same way. It just further adds to the sensation that something is off-kilter and wrong.
What do you think? Which one is your favorite?
Audiobook Review: Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik
Posted on March 10, 2022 11 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Romance
Series: Book 1 of Starlight’s Shadow
Publisher: HarperAudio (February 1, 2022)
Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrator: Frankie Corzo
I don’t often read romance, but when I do, Jessie Mihalik’s books are my go-to. I very much enjoyed her Consortium Rebellion trilogy. Sure, it was cheesy, but fun. Hunt The Stars looked like it would something in the same vein.
As it turned out, the story had the usual trappings of the genre, but the world and the characters were more fleshed out than expected. In it, we follow the crew of the Starlight’s Shadow, led by bounty hunter Tavi Zarola. Together, she and her crewmates Kee and Eli are veterans of the war between humans and an alien race called the Valoff, a conflict which ended in a tentative truce. After the fighting was over, each side established their own territories in space and agreed to maintain the peace by keeping to themselves.
So imagine Tavi’s surprise when she is contacted by General Torran, a notorious war leader of the Valoff. Even more bizarre is that he wants to hire her team to track down a family heirloom allegedly stolen by human thieves. It’s a dangerous job, and every one of Tavi’s instincts are screaming at her to turn it down. And yet, she also can’t ignore the fantastically large sum of money Torran is offering, or the fact that her ship is desperately in need of some upgrades that all those credits can buy. Thus ultimately, with much reluctance, she agrees to take his contact, but only after she extracts promises from the general that she and her crew would be protected as they travel through Valovian space to his home.
But Torran also has his own demands, one of them being that he and his own team be allowed to tag along on the Starlight’s Shadow to monitor Tavi’s progress. As you can imagine, the resulting dynamic of this arrangement began as awkward and tense, but the two groups eventually fall into a more comfortable camaraderie. As for Tavi, she is annoyed to find herself taking a liking to Torran. He may be her enemy, but underneath that handsome and stern exterior, she discovers that he is also a caring and fair-minded man. Knowing that these thoughts and feelings of hers can only lead to bad news, Tavi endeavors to complete her task as quickly as possible to avoid any temptations—which turns out to be easier said than done.
I know I can be critical when it comes to romance tropes, but to tell the truth, I generally don’t mind them as long as they’re done well—and they were, for the most part, in Hunt the Stars. For one, the novel’s entire premise is based around a love-to-hate relationship, and these have a tendency to move too fast and fall apart when rushed. Fortunately, Mihalik sensibly opted for a slowburn approach, which made Tavi and Torran’s romantic arc feel a lot more convincing and realistic. As our protagonist’s love interest, Torran was also far removed from the roguish, arrogant bad-boy meathead archetype which I so disliked about the male leads in the Consortium Rebellion series. Instead, he was humble and considerate, which was a huge plus. He and Tavi had fantastic chemistry.
Many romance authors also tend to focus too much on the relationship between the story’s main couple to the detriment of everything else, but I’m glad to report this was not the case here. In fact, we actually have very good side character development, like fully fleshed personalities and backstories for Tavi’s crew members, and their close bond was established early on, lending a familial vibe to the dynamic on the ship. World-building was also decent—not extensive, but there was enough to give the reader a sense of a living breathing universe where character action and motives can affect it.
I would be interested in exploring this series further becaue it appears the next book will switch tack to follow Kee and Varro, whose relationship was just starting to develop in Hunt the Stars. I believe the rest of the series will also follow this pattern of focusing on a different couple within the crew in each book, and I’m excited as this will give us a chance to know more about the other characters and to see more of the world.
Audiobook Comments: There are a handful of genres I actually prefer in audio format, and romance is definitely one of them. Hunt the Stars was an easy, breezy listen—exactly what I was looking for, and the narrator Frankie Corzo also delivered an impressive performance with her voicework.
The BiblioSanctum 