I stumbled across this author and duology recently and am absolutely thrilled with the discovery.
The Witch Roads is the first book in Kate Elliott’s completed epic fantasy adventure duology and it’s incredible.
Stretching across multiple continents, with a universe of diverse cultures and characters, the author focuses her narrative upon a world where the political ruling system and mythology mirrors ancient Chinese culture, so there’s a framework for the tightly packed royal infighting and conflict that’s important to the story.
Elen, her background, that of her nephew and deceased sister are slow to be revealed here. And actually a huge part of Elen’s character is never fully explained at all by the author.
That’s part of this novel I feel are frustrating. There’s gaps in the book that remain unexplained and then, for things I think are wonderful, there’s elements that, like cthe nephew having a voice in deciding what gender to be, is a very interesting part of the story. And it’s just a thread that weaves into his role here as his part and journey develops.
Elliott has a great cast of characters whose relationships with each other develop and deepen as they journey forward, including one of my favorite characters, a certain “haunt”.
This does end with a cliffhanger. But the second book is available and it picks up immediately after the end of this one. Grab both novels up at the same time and read seamlessly right to the end of the series like I did.
So satisfying. Except for the fact I now want a third book.
Highly recommended and I’m now looking into this author’s other work.
Book 1 in the Witch Roads duology, the latest epic novel by fan favorite Kate Elliott.
Status is hereditary, class is bestowed, trust must be earned.
When an arrogant prince (and his equally arrogant entourage) gets stuck in Orledder Halt as part of brutal political intrigue, competent and sunny deputy courier Elen—once a child slave meant to shield noblemen from the poisonous Pall—is assigned to guide him through the hills to reach his destination.
When she warns him not to enter the haunted Spires, the prince doesn’t heed her advice, and the man who emerges from the towers isn’t the same man who entered.
The journey that follows is fraught with danger. Can a group taught to ignore and despise the lower classes survive with a mere deputy courier as their guide?
I’d seen these books and series advertised on FB and other media sites and thought I’d check them out as they were in my wheelhouse for the types of books I enjoy reading.
But Unleashed (Sydney Rye Mysteries Book 1) by Emily Kimelman turned out to be disappointing, and I’m not going forward with the series.
Even though it’s written in 2011, that’s not the issue here. It’s with a character that, while currently being pushed as a feminist journey is not actually about that at all.
The character of Sydney Rye (not her real name) could be any gender, because the story is about a person who has made horrible choices and continues to make them. She is in an abusive relationship, quits but goes back to him because she can’t stop, no will power. She acts, gets drunk , has regrets , continues her knee jerk behavior, reactively just goes making more impulsive ,thoughtless emotional decisions. A wrecking ball has a better plan than she does. Quits her job, signs on for an another job with no experience or research into it. Gets an enormous dog from the shelter, one that exhibits certain aggressive behaviors, and still does nothing about training.
In fact, the dog, Blue, which is also a big aspect of the character and series is also one of the worst. Adopted by the main character with no thought of to the dog, she gets it out of total impulse. Not a single thought goes into this story about training, vet care, what happens to Blue when she’s off dog walking or whatever she’s doing related to the murders.
Unfortunately, Blue is the author’s answer when Sidney needs a big dog to walk when being threatened.Then Blue is narratively “put away” until the next time he’s pulled out for the same type of purpose. He’s not layered in as a real dog character or factor here. He’s just a “scary dog” element. As in “When did you get a scary dog?”
Sydney herself is equally unbelievable, one note character. In her 30’s, she’d be more understandable as if the author had written her as a former substance abuser or someone with mental health issues. But as crafted , she is just an empty-headed person who flows along with life. As enormous events happen to people near her and eventually to people she cares for, she decides to investigate. Which she does as she does everything else, poorly. She asks questions about the victims from people who have questionable backgrounds or relationships with the victims. She’s surprised at being threatened by both police and the bad guys.
Is the reader? No, no we’re not. We’re starting to root for the other side.
She has no decision making process and leaves everyone around her in danger. Which to no one’s surprise ends badly for her friend and family.
I didn’t like her, the entire layout of the situation and the ending is just not satisfying or interesting.
Blue should have shook his head and found himself another owner and a way out of the series.
The first time I realized how weird it was for a guy to tell me to smile, I was working behind an incredibly busy bar. We had patrons pressed up against the wood, all wanting drinks.
There was a male bartender working with me. Neither of us were smiling because we were concentrating on getting drinks out, making change, grabbing our tips off the bar before someone snagged them. You know, being bartenders.
And this stranger, this f***ing a**hole, told me to smile. I was opening a beer, and I looked over at him confused. I didn’t understand why this man was telling me what to do with my face.
This was back in the early 2000s before YouTube, Tiktok, Instagram, or a collective discussion about how f***ed up it is to tell women to adjust their facial expression to your personal preference.
I just moved on—I was busy. Obviously, I let that guy wait for a drink…wait until the male bartender took pity on him to be more exact. I thought he was a jerk, but I didn’t realize nearly every woman has a story of when a man told her to smile.
I recognized it was a putdown, a not-so-subtle swipe at me. A correction, if you will. I wasn’t being pretty enough, pleasing enough, woman enough for him, so he tried to put me in my place—to tell me how to present myself for his viewing pleasure.
My boss would follow me home in his car every night from that job. He’d wait for me to get in my front door. He didn’t do that for the male bartenders.
At the time, I was writing the first Sydney Rye Mystery and the sense that men were out to get me—physically and mentally—went into that book. It carries through the entire series.
I’m not the only woman who’s noticed this phenomenon. 😂 In the Barbie movie, when she and Ken come into the real world, they both see people noticing them. Barbie immediately clocks the violence in the air—the way men looking at her is edged with danger.
It was SO relatable to me.
Being a woman means you live in a shadow of danger, and when I wrote Sydney Rye I wanted her to be the thing that went bump in the night. I wanted to write a woman who was deadly.
I didn’t want to flip the script and have her telling men to smile, but I wanted it to be really f***ing dangerous for a man to suggest Sydney adjust anything for his personal preference.
I pulled it off, by the way. If a man told Sydney Rye to smile, she would f*** him up.
And also, for the record, I’m at a point in my life, where I would too.
Want to see a woman scare the crap out of men while also being a flawed, messed up human like the rest of us? Start my Sydney Rye Mysteries today.
Sydney Rye and her dog, Blue, exact justice with a vengeance. The dog doesn’t die, but the bad guys do.
Ebony Gate (Phoenix Hoard #1) by Julie Vee and Ken Bebelle is one more recent discovery where it’s a combination of both great new book and great new writers. Win and winner. And finished series! Be still my heart! I hit the reader’s trifecta!
Yes, I’m absolutely thrilled with this book. It was another 3am finish and I had to stop myself from getting the second and immediately diving back into this incredible universe and character.
Set in contemporary San Francisco, the main character is Emiko Soong, oldest child of the magical Soong Clan, a dragon people who fled the destruction of their world to the human realm. One of eight powerful magical families, each with their own abilities and agendas, Emiko has removed herself to San Francisco after a long, bloody history with her family as their assassin.
Of course her past, her family, and clan politics dictate that she is soon pulled back into the magical family life and world she’s trying to escape.
I couldn’t put it down. Emiko’s past is bleak, filled with memories that invade narrative with bodies and vague scenes of her parents and blood. That her parents haven’t been totally honest about Emiko’s past or talent is clear throughout the story. And it’s a thread that will not be revealed here.
She’s a haunted, martial arts master, The Butcher of Peking, who now lives in San Francisco, remaining apart because of her past experiences and her secret life as a dragon clan.
I think interesting aspects of her life, the lower families, those outside of the clan’s protective influence that she’s become friends with, but the delicate relationships that are always present within the “invisible social structures“ that must be adhered to, that’s all perfectly defined by the authors. That balance of power and cultural strictures of both Asian and their Dragon magic is wonderfully crafted and laid out.
That scene alone in the library is everything.
Emiko’s mother, who is absent physically but whose impact is enormous here, is a character I can’t wait to meet. It’s because of her that Emiko’s presence is required by a shinigami. Absolutely terrifying and fascinating aspect of the story.
There’s a mission to save the City, herself and much more. It’s exciting, action packed and thrilling.
My only issue with it was that the Sentinel aspect took longer than I thought it should. That felt too drawn out.
Now onto the next book and some new exciting characters (like parents to meet) and locations.
Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle’s Ebony Gate is a female John Wick story with dragon magic set in contemporary San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Emiko Soong belongs to one of the eight premier magical families of the world. But Emiko never needed any magic. Because she is the Blade of the Soong Clan. Or was. Until she’s drenched in blood in the middle of a market in China, surrounded by bodies and the scent of blood and human waste as a lethal perfume.
The Butcher of Beijing now lives a quiet life in San Francisco, importing antiques. But when a shinigami, a god of death itself, calls in a family blood debt, Emiko must recover the Ebony Gate that holds back the hungry ghosts of the Yomi underworld. Or forfeit her soul as the anchor.
What’s a retired assassin to do but save the City by the Bay from an army of the dead?
I’m a fan of this author so I immediately picked up Twice Bitten, the beginning of S.E. Babin’s Fangs and Fur series. A paranormal tale about a hedge witch who gets mixed up with the politics of the vampire/werewolf conference by way of a traumatic encounter is off to a good start here.
Babin is excellent at establishing a complex plot that will keep expanding into ever greater detail and often wilder realms and storylines. I can definitely see this happening with Fangs and Fur and the main group of characters Babin is starting out with.
Hint. Thankfully, this author can take the main female character on quite the twisted path with regard to her final romantic partner, so just know it might not be one of the top two atm.
First there’s Alex, a hedge witch working as a barista with a black market apothecary business on the side. She’s an orphan with a “missing” mother and a father of unknown origin.
Alex becomes the object of an obsessive vampire, Beckett, and ends up in the middle of a mysterious species turf battle between vampire and wolf shifter. That brings in the next major characters and conflicts.
Alric, the Vampire Prime and Silas is the Wolf King, both working on an inter species conference. Until a traumatic event with Alex upsets everything.
I’m not a fan of Alric. He’s got major non consent issues, and frankly red flags plastered around him everywhere. And smacks heavily of another MMC in another series I despised.
Silas is running a close second.
Like Leo the chauffeur/bodyguard for Alric. He’s got great potential going forward.
And Babin, if she’s going to be as consistent as she has in her previous series, will make this an elaborate and exciting journey for Alex, magically and romantically.
So I’m not going to assume who it might be from the characters at the first story.
Very entertaining and a great start to this series.
I was bitten by a vampire AND a werewolf. Now everyone wants a piece of me.
I never wanted to be a powerful witch. I’m happiest pulling espresso shots at the Three Beans café and keeping my magic secret.
But trouble is brewing…
When a turf war between vampires and shifters erupts outside the café, I get caught between the irresistibly charming Vampire Prime and the ruggedly handsome Shifter King. As these two apex predators blindly tear into each other, I am bitten, clawed, and left for dead.
My magic flares just in time to save my life, but there are… side effects. Suddenly, I find myself staring at customers’ necks. And feeling suspiciously twitchy before the full moon.
It’s impossible but… am I transforming into a vampire and a werewolf?
The Vampire Prime finds me immediately. Captivated by my scent, he tempts me with danger and luxury. The Shifter King is equally obsessed, and determined to claim me for his pack.
I am caught between them once more—but this time it’s me that they’re fighting over. And since my new blood brings strange new powers, it won’t be long before I’m the most wanted prey in town…
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea, the first book in the cozy LGBT romance fantasy Tomes and Tea series by Rebecca Thorne, has an totally different feel than the excellent Moss’d N Space novel I just finished by this writer.
Slower paced, more to the journey of the couple and the establishment of their new shop than the other space adventure. But the relationship between the two characters, the dynamics and the way Thorne builds her community is just as excellent and thorough.
The women, each with their fears and strengths about their decision to leave and have a future together in Tawny, despite the ramifications, have relatable moments and credibility here. From talks about power imbalance to money, it’s a relationship between adults who want to make sure their relationship works.
Even with magic, dragons, bandits, and a psychopath of a queen behind them.
Reyna, the Queen’s Guard and Kianthe, the Mage of the Ages, fleeing to set up a tea and book shop in the cold hinterlands was a dream, until it became clear that Reyna needed to leave before she became a casualty of the Queen’s cruelty.
The town of Tawney, its citizens are beautifully drawn. They are soon become part of this couple’s found family and new life.
And there’s a mystery a foot that needs to be solved, and that’s will take investigating as well as a journey.
And dragons.
A slower delight and cozy fantasy mystery that I absolutely enjoyed.
In the tradition of Legends & Lattes, comes a cozy fantasy steeped in sapphic romance about one of the Queen’s private guards and a powerful mage who want to open a bookshop and live happily ever after…if only the world would let them.
All Reyna and Kianthe want is to open a bookshop that serves tea. Worn wooden floors, plants on every table, firelight drifting between the rafters… all complemented by love and good company. Thing is, Reyna works as one of the Queen’s private guards, and Kianthe is the most powerful mage in existence. Leaving their lives isn’t so easy.
But after an assassin takes Reyna hostage, she decides she’s thoroughly done risking her life for a self-centered queen. Meanwhile, Kianthe has been waiting for a chance to flee responsibility–all the better that her girlfriend is on board. Together, they settle in Tawney, a town nestled in the icy tundra near dragon country, and open the shop of their dreams.
What follows is a cozy tale of mishaps, mysteries, and a murderous queen throwing the realm’s biggest temper tantrum. In a story brimming with hurt/comfort and quiet fireside conversations, these two women will discover just what they mean to each other… and the world.
Moss’d in Space , the first book in the Moss’d in Space excellent science fiction adventure series is the first book I’ve read by Rebecca Thorne, and I’m absolutely thrilled I’ve found her.
I don’t even know where to begin to describe the amazing qualities of this book. It’s so fantastic and funny and uniquely crafted. And it’s a testament to the author’s ability to write great characters and relationships, including a sentient moss who is emotionally upset with abandonment issues, that the reader is absolutely engaged with the story.
I picked this up and read right through ‘til morning. Loving every single sentence, scenes, moments and character dynamics within it.
The first character we meet is Moss, a sentient life support system on an alien spaceship who has been abandoned for over 100 years in a human space station, neglected in the dark. The ancient odd looking spaceship is bought by Torian Razner, who’s on mission to save her sister’s life.
Torian is a wonderful character. Earnest, struggling with her sister’s critical illness, and her own life choices. She’s easily one of the most relatable characters in the series, vulnerable and emotionally open. Which is why her relationship with Moss is so strong and funny and true once they begin to trust each other.
In fact, all the systems are looking at evolving and having distinct personalities. Moss and his “conversations/interactions” with the other systems are blocked out and starts off each chapter. They turn into some of the fun and entertaining moments of the story, highlighting how Moss is changing along with its circumstances and new relationships as events evolve.
Aliens. All types of aliens. Humanoid and ones that definitely aren’t along human evolutionary paths. Another great factor here.
Is there a romantic relationship? Sort of. Torian and Amelia, a Captain of a galactic spaceship, have a history between them, a kiss and a “what if” moment before Torian left her service for buying her own ship. So this looks like a really slow burn cozy romance.
There’s plenty of other great characters, diverse species, to show off the community that’s starting to grow between them all, despite age, species and culture.
And I was so immersed in the story and these lives that the cliffhanger ending actually shocked me.
So I will be waiting until Summer of 2027 for the next book and the next chapter of their journey. I am very excited to see where the author takes them and us!
One of the best books I’ve read this year. Highly recommended.
USA Today Bestselling author Rebecca Thorne delights in a brand new cozy science-fiction romance series for fans of Martha Wells.
Torian Razner finally bought a starship, and contrary to Amelia’s assessment, it was not “a meteoric sign of stupidity.” Sure, the alien starship may have been abandoned for a century, and it may be covered in moss now… but it’s Torian’s ticket to freedom, regardless of what her ex… ah, captain… said.
Except Torian’s first flight reveals a surprise passenger: the moss is actually an organic computer with a snarky attitude and serious abandonment issues. The target of its loathing? The immortal alien who built it (and then parked the starship, with Moss inside, and forgot about it). The same alien who just found Torian and accused her of “stealing” the ship.
It’s entirely possible that Amelia was right about this meteoric stupidity.
Shannon Mayer is a hit or miss writer for me. Some stories I think she writes are just wonderful, well plotted with amazing characters. Then there’s those books I find have terrific points and elements but include one or two aspects of the story that make me put it down, permanently.
Neverthorn, the first book of Of Quirks and Curses series by Shannon Mayer, is a bit of both. Mayer’s previous dark urban fantasy academy thriller, Shadowspell (2021) is amazing. Now comes Neverthorn, Of Quirks and Curses, it’s not a YA novel although there’s some similarities.
It has some really interesting elements about it. Starting immediately with Harlow, a 29 year old magical thief, who, along with her younger non-magical sister, is dragged unwillingly back to Neverthorn Academy, a place she left and swore never to return to.
As with these urban fantasy academy mystery series, the main character gathers together a group of misfits around her. This time it’s another group of older people, thrown together into a magical House, who’ve come from a variety of normal lifestyles outside of the magical life because they sucked at magic.
This is a great element. A group of adults brought back to an academy for purposes unknown, most of them with “weak magic “, who were bullied when they were younger there.
I loved watching them gell as a group, definitely a “us vs them” atmosphere. But with such a fantastic plot element, Mayer has a hard time hanging onto the characters ages and writing them as credible adults of 29 and older. More and more, their personalities start to present as younger than they should be. They soon feel like early 20’s, if that. And an interesting plot idea is being lost.
The School is certainly harsh as is its situation. The scenes are laid out in rich detail and the darkness of the magic of the villain is spookily drawn into the narrative. Very well executed.
However for every nice twist that’s revealed, there’s a major plot or storyline that’s been easily telegraphed by Mayer’s execution so that the reader can see who is actually the villain (wink, wink) and how the entire series will play out without needing to read it. It’s just that heavy handed.
I’m going to because I’m sure there’s some interesting twists along the journey. But yes, I have to say I have a good idea of how it will go down. And if you have read enough of these books, you’ll see it too.
It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.
And the second book is out so the reader can head immediately forward to the how it’s resolved.
I’m recommending it because it’s still enjoyable to read.
In a realm where magic reigns, a legendary Hero once stood against the encroaching darkness. But with his death, hope dwindled, and the best the world can muster is Harlow Daygon—a thief, magic school dropout, and notorious troublemaker.
At nearly thirty, Harlow can’t even cast a simple rune without blundering it. So why does anyone think she can take up the mantle of Hero? Reluctantly, she’s dragged back to Neverthorn Academy with seven former classmates, tasked with training to confront and defeat the Villain of their world.
But the challenges are stacked against her:
Professor Hot-As-Sin makes it clear she’s a failure.
Professor Used-To-Be-A-Mean-Girl has a vendetta.
And lurking in her past is a secret so dark it could reveal she’s not the Hero the world needs—but the next Villain.
With fate hanging in the balance, can Harlow embrace her destiny before the shadows claim her?
Michael Anderle is an extremely prolific author who often co writes his books and series with several other authors, Isabel Campbell among them.
And I admit I often pick up a book by him because the premise is intriguing, offering something I haven’t seen before in a paranormal/fantasy or science fiction novel.
That happens with A Witch’s Legacy, the first book in the Drakethorn Legal series.
It has a really great storyline about a main female character who is a lawyer who turns out to be a dragon. There’s so much potential there for interesting character history, courtroom drama, and, well dragon related stuff.
Stacy Drake, a lawyer who has an eye for cases for the underdog, doesn’t know she’s a dragon until she starts blacking out . Turns out she’s a dragon or the offspring of a dragon and a witch.
It starts off entertaining and with all the drama and elements that drew me into this story. But then begins to lose me.
Anderle is very good at writing action and fantasy stories. He can build worlds and make them real. But here the bridges between Stacy’s character and storyline and how we get to her father and his past and the fantasy isn’t well established.
She’s mad at dad. He’s fabulously wealthy. Huge castle and estate. She sees him again and wonder of wonders, the servants are gone, estate is looking shabby, and our young lawyer says nothing about it. Her dad doesn’t look so hot either. Any chance of Stacy mentioning that? No.
She’s supposedly extremely intelligent, great attorney. Yet time after time, things slide right by her. Not just her father and the past. But SMH plot points that make a reader wonder about the character’s motivations and smarts.
Then there’s the entire she’s supposed to be a dragon but we get the magic of her mother, so there’s that. A bit disappointing and the magical system we do get is never explained but more on the poof, it’s magical thing. Not very exciting.
I finally finished it but nothing made me feel as though I had to go further.
Interesting. But the potential for more was what brought me here.
Neither did she — until the lawyer turned out to be a dragon.
Stacy Drake champions the people no one else will fight for. Evicted single moms. Bullied shop owners. An entire nation the city wants to bulldoze. She buried her old-money family name so every courtroom win would be hers and hers alone — and she’s very, very good at making smug, powerful men squirm.
Then a masked man jumps her in an alley with a knife and a warning. She blacks out. She wakes up with no memory, a bloodied shirt, and a headline about three attackers found torn apart — “WITNESS CLAIMS SUPERHUMAN ATTACK.”
The truth is older than she could imagine. Her estranged father is the last Red Dragon. Her dead mother was a powerful witch. And Stacy is both — just as the rival she keeps beating in court hires something inhuman to bring him her head.
A snarky, big-hearted urban fantasy for readers of Annette Marie and Lindsay Buroker — dragon fire, witch magic, found family, and an underdog you’ll be c heering by page two. Clean read, no spice, all bite.
One-click A Witch’s Legacy and start the series readers binge in a weekend.
Dark Horse, the first book in the science fiction series Class 5 by Michelle Diener, was given several awards for science fiction in 2016, one of the reasons I grabbed it up.
I’m always curious to see how well science fiction stories will age from publication point, given their author’s storyline, scientific elements, and any imaginative alien aspects that are presented here.
I’m really enjoying this series and growing groups of characters. While there’s some overall series plot elements that I have been questioning, the characters and storytelling just draws one into the narrative and each women’s struggle to adapt and survive her new life in space among aliens.
The first story is that. The first for multiple characters, cultures and the beginning of a major galactic mystery and heinous crime that will take the entire series to investigate and unravel.
Yes, I’m on book 2 now.
Rose McKenzie, a linguistic professor, has been abducted by the Tecran, tortured and experimented on. The one who saves her? The Class 5 Battleship, Sazo, who itself has been a prisoner of the same race and needs Rose to free it. They form a formidable alliance and friendship to free themselves.
Here Sazo is called a thinking machine, which I found unwieldy. But most importantly it’s one of only 5 in existence that survived a AI war in which they were killed off and banned.
So it’s not just about Rose’s recovery from her ordeal, her trauma and her struggles to adapt but it’s Sazo’s too. With Rose’s guidance, learning empathy, emotions, and what its emergence as a self aware being means. To itself and those around it. Especially when so many mean it harm because of prejudice and past history.
Their relationship and dynamics is layered and has a depth that is emotionally strong with the reader. As well as containing some surprises.
The aliens are humanoid, the Grif especially with their elf life ears. Maybe this aspect of the series will expand into more complex worlds and less human like aliens as I get into it, but for now, it’s just human-like aliens in space. Something I see quite a bit of in space exploration fiction. When it’s not cat-aliens in space. Wish there were more imagination used here in this capacity. Not that I don’t enjoy the characters, I do.
The references are fun, the characters are engaging and the plots well executed. Things that i would thought were underutilized were later shown by the author to be a long-term storyline. Loved this.
I originally thought the author missed an opportunity for Rose as a professor with the sociological aspect of singing both species looking at songs and singing from very different perspectives. From an Earth cultures/ peoples perspective, singing and songs are viewed as an integral part of life, from lullabies to dirges, entertainment to dance. The Grih are at the other end of the spectrum, seeing songs and the few who sing them as solemn rituals , reverent and cherished.
However, Diener is using this idea of singing and songs as a series thread that multiple characters are using to express themselves and create bonds between species. In some cases, beginning to see a cultural or ideological shift,for better or worse.
Its elements like this, along with engaging characters and just plain old terrific storytelling that has me hooked.
No it doesn’t always science, but it’s highly enjoyable. I’m recommending it. And I’m onto the third!
Rose McKenzie may be far from Earth with no way back, but she’s made a powerful ally–a fellow prisoner with whom she’s formed a strong bond. Sazo’s an artificial intelligence. He’s saved her from captivity and torture, but he’s also put her in the middle of a conflict, leaving Rose with her loyalties divided.
Captain Dav Jallan doesn’t know why he and his crew have stumbled across an almost legendary Class 5 battleship, but he’s not going to complain. The only problem is, everyone on board is dead, except for one strange, new alien being. She calls herself Rose. She seems small and harmless, but less and less about her story is adding up, and Dav has a bad feeling his crew, and maybe even the four planets, are in jeopardy. The Class 5’s owners, the Tecran, look set to start a war to get it back and Dav suspects Rose isn’t the only alien being who survived what happened on the Class 5. And whatever else is out there is playing its own games.
In this race for the truth, he’s going to have to go against his leaders and trust the dark horse.
Winner of a SFR Galaxy Award 2016 and the Prism Award 2016 for Best Futuristic.
The Class 5 science fiction series is set in a galaxy where Earth women are abducted and thrust into conflicts between alien civilizations. The United Council governs multiple planets, while powerful AI battleships known as Class 5s navigate tensions between warring species. The Tecran have been abducting humans in violation of UC law, and the Grih Battle Center works to rescue abductees and prevent interstellar war. Each woman becomes a catalyst in diplomatic crises that could shift the balance of power between nations on the brink of conflict.
Exploring themes of survival, agency, and adaptation far from home, the series blends military science fiction with character-driven narratives. The abducted women must forge alliances, navigate political machinations, and fight for their own destinies while caught between species racing toward war. With AI battleships as both allies and unpredictable forces, the series examines individuals who refuse to remain pawns in larger conflicts. Perfect for readers seeking space opera featuring women who take matters into their own hands when facing impossible odds.
I found this series and author by accident but I’m thrilled that I did. Rules of Redemption, the first book in The Firebird Chronicles by T. A. White, is a absolutely fantastic read and gripping space tale of a woman seeking knowledge and revenge against those who both tortured her and others and who she fought against in a galactic war.
Kira Forest, along with her AI companion, Jin, is now a space scavenger. But during a visit to a space station to retrofit her ship, a selfless move by her ends up bringing her back into the attention of those she’s been avoiding.
I consumed this book. Up til the early morning hours and then started reading the next because Kira and Jin’s saga has me completely hooked.
I’m not going to spoil anything but there so much to this. Author T.A. White is laying out the story arc so that Kira’s past and Jin’s is slowly revealed over the series, as events in the books make it clear what happened to them.
It’s alien invasion, galactic wars, alien abductions, genetic engineering and manipulation, so much more. Various alien societies and cultures and their own historical traditions that impact on Kira and her people.
It’s funny, dramatic, highly emotional, action packed with great sequences of battles and fights and even sentient sea beings.
But my favorite relationship? Kira and Jin, the AI, a tightly connected, deeply engaging dynamic that’s still unfolding. I’m holding my breath as to how this relationship will end.
So many mysteries, so many complications, and expanding casts.
I don’t think this series is going to be long enough.
The war everyone thought was over is just beginning.
Kira Forrest is a survivor. She’s risen above the pain of her beginnings to become a war hero only to leave it all behind in the pursuit of a simple life. Now a salvager, she makes a living sifting through the wreckage of dead alien ships from a war that nearly brought humanity to its knees.
After her ship takes damage, she’s forced to re-route to a space station where her past and present collide with dangerous consequences.
Kira’s existence holds the key to a faltering peace treaty with the Tuann—a technologically advanced alien race who dislikes and distrusts all humans. Winning her freedom should be easy, but a powerful and relentless Tuann warrior stands in her way. Deceiving him seems impossible, especially when he strays dangerously close to secrets she struggles to hide.
Can Kira reconcile the pain of her past with the possibilities of her future? The fate of two races depends on her success.
The war everyone thought was over is just beginning.
Kira Forrest is a survivor. She’s risen above the pain of her beginnings to become a war hero only to leave it all behind in the pursuit of a simple life. Now a salvager, she makes a living sifting through the wreckage of dead alien ships from a war that nearly brought humanity to its knees.
After her ship takes damage, she’s forced to re-route to a space station where her past and present collide with dangerous consequences.
Kira’s existence holds the key to a faltering peace treaty with the Tuann—a technologically advanced alien race who dislikes and distrusts all humans. Winning her freedom should be easy, but a powerful and relentless Tuann warrior stands in her way. Deceiving him seems impossible, especially when he strays dangerously close to secrets she struggles to hide.
Can Kira reconcile the pain of her past with the possibilities of her future? The fate of two races depends on her success.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 