Tag: NineStar Press

A Chaos Moondrawn Review: Conviction (A New World #2) by M.D. Neu

Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

This is book two in a series and really should be read in order. Mi’ko has made his son Mi’cin’ one of his aides and assigns him the task of helping Todd acclimate to the home they have made for him on the main ship. Not everyone is pleased by Todd being there, either amongst the Nentraee or the humans. Once Todd realizes the enormity of the actual task he has been given, it’s too late. He is now firmly between Nentraee politics and Earth politics. There are people who will do anything to control the world as they see fit, regardless of what the rest of its citizens want. Knowing who to trust is crucial moving forward with the plan for the new settlement. Old friends and old enemies no longer seem to matter as people switch alliances based on those who support the Nentraee being on Earth, and those who don’t. Terrorists come out of the woodwork based on fear and hate.

I liked how other countries were being included in both trade and cultural events. The Nentraee, with the Speakers House, ranking members of the House of the People, and any prominent civilians spread out across the globe in order to quell jealousies and charges of favoritism towards the United States that having Todd aboard created. It’s fun to see the different ships and see Todd’s reactions. The cultural exchanges here make the book more accessible with the focus on education and integration. No longer are the Nentraee going to hold themselves apart and let their enemies control the narrative, making it easier for people to fear and hate them. Humans learn about the holidays of the different clans while the Nentraee learn about Earth holidays. Todd plans a Thanksgiving dinner with his family, Mi’ko’s family, Dan, and people from his old job at CRiNE. With Mi’cin’ asking uncomfortable questions in an effort to understand humans and their traditions, tensions run high. These are the first steps and there will be many awkward encounters as the Nentraee start to visit Earth and humans are allowed to start visiting the ships.

Another reason this book is much more emotionally accessible than the first book is the reader gets to know Todd better as he talks to his dead husband Jerry to help him get through tough situations. He is obviously still working out his grief and feeling lonely. Todd uses Dan and Brad as sounding blocks and touchstones to remember his humanity while he is under stress and living in an alien environment. He also grows close to Mi’cin. Watching Todd and Mi’cin date is sweet and oddly funny. I still feel this is a science fiction book rather than a romance because that is a small part and not the main point or focus. The many points of view help round out the plot; I like getting the insights. I also like the juxtaposition of the female dominated culture vs. our male dominated culture.

Trying to work out where Nentraee people will build their nation is problematic and gets solved in an unexpected way due to security issues and violence. I’ll look forward to how they plan their settlement and continued integration with Earth culture. There is a bit of a plot twist with the Nentraee looking backward and forward at the same time as they worry about losing themselves and their traditions as they accommodate Earth for ease of trade and relations. I am surprised not more was done with the cádo. They are like intelligent medium sized talking dogs and considered good judges of character who pick their own providers. This seems a great way for them to help find humans to trust and work with that isn’t being utilized. There is a major plot point that is a little over the top. While it gives Todd the chance to step up, again, proving the faith Mi’ko has placed in him, it also makes Todd less “everyman” and slides into action hero territory. I would also say that although the focus is Todd, the reader is given so many other points of view that I would like to see those expanded. The end leaves the reader with the sense that the danger is not over so I’ll look forward to the next book.

The cover artist is Natasha Snow. This complements the cover of book one and has that space meets terran feel.

Sales Links:  NineStar Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published March 25th 2019 by NineStar Press
ISBN 139781950412358
Edition Language English
Series A New World :

Contact
Conviction

A Free Dreamer Review: Horizon Points (The Galactic Captains #3) by Harry F. Rey

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

The problems of the Outer Verge are stacking up for Ales, now a commander of the Union fleet. From rebellious priests on Jansen to terrifying rips in space sucking matter out into the unknown, not to mention jealous lovers scattered across space, Ales is pulled in infinite directions. Disrupting the Galactic Balance isn’t so simple, and Admiral Turo is also a hard man to please.

While trying to secure a crucial trade deal on the heterosapien world of Nelu, Ales struggles to ignore the stark inequalities cutting through life in the galaxy. If he’s not fighting for a future free from the horrors that blighted his past, what’s the point of living?

With the Outer Verge bitterly divided and factions readying for war, the new horizons Ales dreamed of feel galaxies away.

I was thrilled to see “Horizon Points” pop up in my inbox and couldn’t wait to get back to Ales and everybody else. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed.

First of all, this is part three of the“The Galactic Captains” series. As such, it really doesn’t work as a stand-alone at all. You definitely need to read the first two parts in order to understand and enjoy this one.

If you have read parts one and two, you know what to expect: Great SciFi with a lot of hot, kinky sex and the author once again delivers all that and more.

Ales has changed and grown and continues to do so during this book. He seems less bitter and hateful and  I think I liked him better than before. He also seems a bit more mature, though he’s still thinking with his dick most of the time, even if said dick is caged. And that’s really the only issue I continue to have with this series. Ales has sex or thinks of sex at the craziest moments, when there should be other, more important, things to worry about.

I was surprised to actually find some hints of a possible blossoming romance. Previously, there was only sex, but no love. Of course it really didn’t turn out the way I’d expected. There were a couple of twists I really didn’t see coming.

It all ends with a horrible cliffhanger, so I’m eagerly anticipating the next installment of this great series.

The cover by Natasha Snow works well for the story. It’s unique enough to be easily distinguishable and yet similar enough to the others to create an overall aesthetic for the series.

Sales Links:  NineStar Press | Amazon

Book details:

ebook, 167 pages

Published March 4th 2019 by NineStar Press

The Galactic Captains Series:

Siege Weapons

Forbidden Pursuits

Horizon Points

A Chaos Moondrawn Review: Abundance by Emmalynn Spark

Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

This story throws the reader right into the action with an emergency in space, in the first person POV of crewman Alex Harris. He’s part of the bio-tech staff on board the spaceship. Earth was dying so they sent people into space to reach a new planet, New Earth, for a chance to save the human race from extinction. On the way to the planet, something goes horribly wrong, killing almost everyone on board. The only other survivor is Commander Luke Belka.

This is an ARC so these things might not be in the final version, but there were a few inconsistencies that took me out of the story. At one point Alex thinks about waking up from stasis after a hundred years, but later, when he thinks about his mom being dead, the time period seems to be hundreds of years ago. The reader is told Alex hid that he was gay so he could be picked to go on this ship, even using his best friend Eileen as a beard. Yet, he also flirted with Commander Belka previously on Earth. They know nothing about this planet, not even if the air is breathable, yet they didn’t check before they disembarked. They never seem to be worried about any predators or if the plants are poisonous to the touch, only if they are poisonous to eat. Since there were other ships–ten altogether–Alex thinks maybe there will be people there already growing food, but then he is worried about planting anything from Earth that might be an invasive species and hurt the local flora and fauna.

This is really a wish fulfillment story with forced proximity. At one point I wondered if Alex was dreaming in stasis. I wanted more than just an excuse for two men to have a lot of sex, hot though it was, after all the world building and tragedy that I had to wade through. It seems terrible to have had so many people die just to set them up. The book is at its best as a crisis leads them to set out to see if there is a settlement on the other side of the mountain. The reader finally gets to see Luke’s POV as he tells Alex what he’s been thinking. All the psychological issues come to a head during an argument and there is finally the real emotional connection that I wanted all along.

I liked the book, I just wanted a bit more emotion all the way through instead of mostly in the last twenty percent. I liked that at a certain point they switched roles. Although Alex was not great in an emergency, he recovered from his overwhelming grief and resignation to find joy in his environment. Luke, who was great in an emergency, couldn’t adapt to the fact they were alone. He ignored anything that meant they might be there a long time right up until he could no longer do it. The book ends with hope, but I can’t help wondering if any of the other nine ships made it or are still coming. Despite their being in love, I can’t help wondering what would have happened to their relationship had they been found.

The cover art is by Natasha Snow and matches the title to show the hopeful, positive side of the story.

Sales Links:  NineStar Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 202 pages
Published March 4th 2019 by NineStar Press
ISBN13 9781950412136
Edition Language English

A Free Dreamer Review: Severed (Precinct One #1) by Shona Husk

Rating: 4 Stars out of 5

Halle Ish, one of Velli’s elite police Arrows, is shot down during a Precinct One riot. Wounded and unable to fly, she tries to hide and avoid capture, knowing that if she is found by the razor gangs or Clipper Sect they will sever her wings. She needs to get out of Precinct One. Avin Lent was once a promising medical student, but he started sniffing Mumble to beat the stress and is now the doctor to one of the biggest gangs in Precinct One—while not part of the Clipper Sect, they are just as dangerous. He knows he is only as useful as his next surgery and they would have no qualms about killing him. Only Jarro is keeping him safe. Jarro Coblic is deep under cover and has been for a year. Immersed in the gang, he suspects his hands will never be clean again. When he finds the wounded Arrow, he knows he can’t turn her over even though everyone is looking for her. With his lover’s help, they hide her and heal her wing. All the while, falling for her. He prays Avin will not crumble and reveal their secret as Jarro tries to figure out a way to get them all out of Precinct One before the Sect and the gangs bring the full wrath of Velli on Precinct One. Tearing the place down can’t come soon enough, but there will be blood before the slate can be washed clean.

“Severed” marks the beginning of a new series and I liked this first part. I avoided anything with M/F in it for a while and only recently discovered that MMF is actually a relationship dynamic I could come to really enjoy.

A little trigger warning before we start: Avin is a drug addict and his struggles with his addiction and being high are a very important part of the story. There’s also quite a bit of violence and some off-screen torture going on.

It’s a bit hard to find the right genre for this book, but I guess it’s a futuristic urban fantasy, set in a completely different world. For quite a while, I thought it was set on Earth, but in the distant future, where something had happened to make women grow wings. It was all a little confusing, since I was always wondering, what could have happened to cause such a drastic change in our anatomy. I think it took too long for the author to establish that, in this world, women have always had wings. If that had been made clear from the get-go, it would have been obvious that this is a completely made-up world, inhabited by humans with a slightly different anatomy.

Once I’d realized that this was a different world, I actually started to find it quite fascinating. Women are physically superior to men, the wings giving them a definite advantage over the land-bound men. The society is essentially matriarchal, but leaning towards equality. Kind of like our own society, but also the opposite, since we come from a patriarchy. Most of the book is set in a crime-riddled slum, with not a lot of normal people left. So we don’t get to see much of the normal society, which was a bit of a shame. From the little that was shown, it seemed really interesting.

Relationships work differently in this universe. It’s perfectly normal for people to be in same-sex relationships or in poly relationships. I found the idea that there were essentially two models of poly relationships. The “famili sect” is made up of two M/F couples, who live together and watch out for each other during reproductive sex, as that can actually get dangerous for the man. Then there’s the “poli sect”, which has one woman in a relationship with two men. I’m not a fan of the “I’ll change one letter and invent a new fantasy word” thing, though. Either come up with a completely new name or leave the normal English one. But that’s just a minor niggle I’ve seen in a lot of fantasy books.

We never really learn how the women’s wings look. Are they feathered? Or skin? What colour are they? The same as the hair or the skin colour or something completely different? That was a disappointing lack of detail.

I really liked the relationship between Jarro and Avin. It’s born out of convenience and lust and has grown feelings over time, though neither is sure if he can trust the other one. That made for some great tension. I did think Avin took the revelation of Jarro being an undercover cop a little too lightly, though. I also liked them as individuals and they had some really hot sex together.

I’m not sure how I feel about Halle and her inclusion into the relationship. The feelings developed very fast and under less than ideal circumstances. I didn’t really feel the love there. But again, the sex was hot. Though there is a bit of a blood kink, which is normal in this universe. Still not necessarily one of my favourite kinks, but it worked well here.

I didn’t quite understand why Jarro was in Velli in the first place. He’s from a different city state and I found it very odd that he’d be doing official police business for a foreign country. Why would the Velli police use a foreigner? They must have their own undercover agents. I kind of missed a proper explanation for that oddity.

Overall, “Severed” was an enjoyable read and I’m definitely interested in the next part. There’s no evil cliffhanger, though the overall story arc obviously isn’t finished yet. You could read it as a stand-alone with a HEA for the triad and HFN for the rest of the world, sort of.

I really don’t like the cover by Natasha Snow. I read the book despite the cover, not because of it. I don’t get why there’s only Halle on it, with odd-looking wings. The guys are definitely missing. And the pink background implies a lighter story. Also, I just generally hate pink, but that’s just me.

Sales Links:

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble

Book details:

ebook, , 281 pages

Published February 25th 2019 by NineStar Press

A Free Dreamer Review: Ostakis by Angelica Primm

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

The Human Planets Collective sent young Ambassador Kaj Deder to the former colony planet Ostakis to establish relations. Without trade with the HPC, the dwindling resources of Ostakis will ultimately end human life on the planet. But his mission faces a huge obstacle in the form of Most Reverend Thyenn Sharr, the head of the Faith Progressive Church, who sees Kaj’s arrival as the beginning of the end of the Church. Kaj’s powerful attraction to Trademaster Klath’s son, Arlan does not smooth relations.

Arlan Klath, the son of the Trademaster of Ostakis, bears in his body the secret that the pious people of his planet want to hide. Born Cursed and inherently sinful, Arlan lives without legal rights or property. It enrages Thyenn Sharr Arlan’s father defiantly refuses to submit his son to a cruel act to “redeem” Arlan’s soul. The stakes ratchet when Arlan and Kaj form a relationship Thyenn Sharr considers ample justification to usurp the Trademaster position through the legal power of his Church.

Can Kaj navigate the treacherous currents of Ostakian politics and religion to save these human descendants of Earth? And must he chose between Arlan or his mission to do so?

“Ostakis” was a very surprising read. Surprising plot-wise and surprising that I enjoyed it as much as I did.

The main focus of the story lies on the diplomacy, which was actually really interesting. It’s told through both MCs’ POV, so we got to see the society of Ostakis through the eyes of a stranger and of a native. That was a very good choice and made for some interesting insights.

At times, I thought Kaj was a bit undiplomatic. His mission is a very dangerous one, potentially lethal, actually. And yet, he made some rather clumsy mistakes. Like during the very first meal, he refuses to eat the meat he’s served. He’s a vegetarian and I can see why he wouldn’t be happy to eat an animal. But under such circumstances, that’s a little rude and probably not a very wise decision. Not the kind of behaviour I’d expect from an experienced diplomat. And he did seem a little bit judgmental as well, though only in private. Of course the oppressive society of Ostakis is horrible, but I’d have expected him to be a little more open-minded.

Arlan was a really sweet young man. But also rather brave and fierce, despite the oppressive society he’s grown up in.

The world building of Ostakis was well done. The world building surrounding Earth in the distant future was barely there, however, and seemed rather utopian. You have to be quite the optimist to expect humanity to let go of all prejudices for good and embrace diversity of any kind and create a completely equal society.

Most surprising of all, however, were the Cursed. They’re pretty much a third gender and there’s something like Mpreg in this story. Now, I hate Mpreg with a passion and would never pick up a story with it. But in this case, it actually worked for me. Maybe because I didn’t really see the Cursed as males and more something like intersex. Kaj and Arlan are real equals, which is not something I’ve seen in stories of this kind before. Plus, there wasn’t a lot of focus on the pregnancy itself and more on the inequality and oppression of the Cursed.

I really liked the idea behind the story and I think there might just be hope that this is the start of a new series. I really hope so, because I’d love to read more about this idea. Maybe on different planets, so we  get to see more of the universe.

The cover by Natasha Snow is very fitting, though maybe a little bit dark.

Sales Links:

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Book details:

ebook, 200 pages
Published February 18th 2019 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781950412037
Edition LanguageEnglish