Tag Archives: sci-fi

Agent I1 Tristan

Book Review: Agent I1: Tristan (The D.I.R.E. Agency #1), by Joni Hahn

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Agent I1

I downloaded Joni Hahn‘s Agent I1: Tristan (The D.I.R.E. Agency #1) from the Amazon free list. At the time of posting, it is still free.

Description from Goodreads:
Credentials:
• Second generation Former Navy SEAL
• DIRE’s top agent
Enhancements:
• Teleportation
• Invisibility

Raised in the art of warfare, Former Navy SEAL, Tristan Jacobs, has always been a force to reckon with. Now that D.I.R.E. has successfully implemented his scientific enhancements, he’s a walking weapon. Unstoppable, as long as he stays focused. No relationships.

When ex-BUD/S teammate, Aidan Monroe, interrupts his long-awaited sabbatical to call in a favor, Tristan reluctantly fills the simple request: take out his sister’s fiancé.

One problem: Rachel Monroe – smokin’ hot, kind-hearted, and in desperate need of a protector. After the best sex of his life, Tristan’s afraid unstoppable is just a memory. Knowing Aidan’s temper, Tristan could be, too.

Rachel Monroe had a plan to help her mother. Her brother ruined everything when his gorgeous, super-agent friend teleported her to some forsaken island – and his bed. She’s drawn to him despite the fact he’s a professional agent, much like the people suspected of killing her father. 

Now, his enemies have come to her small town, looking for vengeance. 

Have they found more than they bargained for? Or, does the past have its own retribution in mind?

Review:
Here’s the perfect way to describe the forgetableness of this book. Last night I finished a book and went to bed, with the intention of reviewing it this morning. This morning, I took my Kindle to the gym and started this book while on the stationary bike. When I got home, I reviewed the book I finished last-night and then sat down to look at my Kindle Collections to pick out what to read next, completely forgetting that I had started and read 30% of this book already. It made that little of an impression. When I finally remembered having already started it, I sat down to finish it up.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not necessarily saying it was a bad book. I’m sure we’ve all read those books that we don’t love, but we don’t hate either. They’re like cotton candy—a shot of sweetness that you can only savour for a moment and then leaves very little memory of itself. Yep, that’s what this book was like. 

Seeing the emotionless Tristan become attached to someone was nice. The fact that Rachel wasn’t a complete pushover was appreciable. Her ultra-protective brother was fun. There were plenty of ‘aww’ moments and the sex was pretty mild. 

However, quite a lot of the plot was just skimmed over or just plain unbelievable. For example, I’m still unsure why Aidan called Tristan to guard Rachel in the first place, other than that he disliked her fiancé. That seems a little extreme. As far as I can tell there was no actual risk to Rachel that Aidan would have been trying to protect her against. 

There is also a lot of history between the older generation of characters that isn’t explored. The science isn’t well explained. And the romance is lightning fast. It isn’t insta-love, but within a matter of a day or so Tristan and Rachel fall madly in love and are willing to essentially throw their established lives away to be together. It too seems a bit extreme. 

For a quick, fluffy read, this is worth picking up. If you’re looking for great literature….um, it probably won’t fit the bill. It does actually end, though. Yes, that’s right, no cliffhanger!

C791

Book Review Eve Langlais’ C791 (More Than Macines, #1)

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C791I grabbed Eve Langlais‘ C791 (More Than Machines, #1) from the Amazon free list. At the time of posting, it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
Machines aren’t supposed to feel, but this cyborg can’t help falling in love.

Assigned as a specimen collector for a captured cyborg, Chloe is intrigued by the machine disguised as a man. Kidnapped during his daring escape, he shows her that despite the chip in his brain, his humanity is not completely lost.

Formerly known as unit X109GI, Joe is on a quest to discover his origin. While he doesn’t find the answers he’s looking for, he does discover that affection and lust aren’t just for humans. But when it comes to a battle between logic and love, which side will the cybernetic organism–once a man–choose?

Evaluating his feelings will have to wait though because the military isn’t done with Joe. But their threats against him pale in comparison before the shocking discovery of project C791, the revelation of which stuns the rebel cyborgs–and ignites a fury for vengeance.

Review:

I’ve read a couple of Eve Langlais’ books now and I generally enjoy them for their smouldering sex, blithely paired with enough levity to ensure the reader isn’t too cheesed out. I mean, a plot can get pretty corny and still be really enjoyable as long as it doesn’t try to take itself too seriously. I think this is where Ms. Langlais shines. However, I have to admit that this book is hovering around the 2.5 star mark and threatening to sink. It was not one of my favourites. 

This isn’t to say it was all bad. There were still some good one-liners. The sex was still hot. In the middle section Joe turned from the alpha bad-boy cyborg to a cute, confused cyborg with disarming boyish charm that I really liked. The C791 reveal was a good one. Seth and Solus were fun sidekicks. As with so many of Langlais’ heroines, Chloe is described as beautiful and sexy as well as rounded, plump even, thereby breaking from the narrow societal standards of beauty. And though opening itself up for sequels, the story did end. There were some appreciable aspects to the story. So I didn’t hate it.

But I did hate the four important aspects of it. To start with, Joe’s dialogue was painful. Now, this was addressed. He was said to have not fully grasped human syntax. Fair enough, but there were some awkward passages, especially in the beginning. His first couple sentences in the book made me laugh out loud, and not in a good way. (It did seem to get better as the book progressed.)

Secondly, his character seemed unstable. Like I said, he started out as a strong, bad-ass leader of the cyborg rebellion. Then went all googly-eyed and little boy-like. Then ended up practically a basket case. He was inconsistent at best. Likeable, but undependable. 

Third, the air at the end of the book got really, really thick with heavy sentimentality and overplayed emotions. Sci-fi erotica just doesn’t have the gravitas to support it, so it felt horribly unnatural. 

**Spoiler***Lastly, and to me most importantly, the book employed the infuriating and cheap plot device of providing Chloe a history of sexual abuse that contributed absolutely NOTHING to the plot. It was COMPLETELY unnecessary. It was pure dirty TITILLATION. It provided opportunities for her to be called a dirty whore and threatened with future abuse, and nothing more. 

This didn’t heighten the suspense for me. It just made me ask, “Why was that necessary?” Answer: It wasn’t. Sure, if a history of rape (repeated gang rape or otherwise) is an important part of a plot, I’ll endure it. But it wasn’t here. The rest of what was done to Chloe was enough to provide her with the necessary anger to move the story along. The periodic victimisation references were not needed. They were overkill to the extreme, unpleasant and came across (to me, anyway) as evidence that the author couldn’t or wouldn’t dig a little deeper than such a trite overused cliché. For anyone who’s read many of my reviews, you know this is a hot button for me. Pretty much ruined the book. 

I have no doubt that this won’t be the last Langlais book I read. Not as long as she keeps popping them up on the free list, anyhow. But this will remind me to be a little more cautious as I approach them from now on.

Book Review: Rook, by Richard A. Shury

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rook cover

Description from Goodreads:

The year is 2188. Long ago, Earth was invaded by marauding aliens; these aliens were defeated, but their technology remained. Using it, humanity has reached out into space, but only to continue the conflicts of Earth. Rook is the story of a hardened mercenary who steals valuable items – for a price. After he steals a vaccine for a deadly virus, he finds himself in a crisis of conscience, one that will put him in the firing line of anyone who stands to profit from the virus’ spread. Will he be able to survive long enough to do the right thing?

Review:

Rook can essentially be reduced to one man’s attempt to do the right thing, possibly as an attempt at redemption. The character Rook is a highly skilled assassin/thief who suddenly develops a conscience and sets out on an audacious journey to protect the innocent. It’s a thankless job, but he feels he has to do it. The book really is a one-man show. It focuses almost exclusively on the title character.

Here’s the thing, though… a lot of galactic history is given, which, while interesting, really isn’t necessary unless the book is going to be part of a series (thereby giving it purpose it currently lacks), but none is provided for Rook. This means that the reader has no idea why he should suddenly decide on a course of action that is obviously presented as a breach of character. About 65% in there is a little bit of internal dialogue (should that be monologue if he is talking to himself?) about it, but how he feels about his actions still doesn’t explain why he took them in the first place. This makes the book feel pointless…or rather beginning and endless. The reader doesn’t know what is being built up to or when it has been accomplished.

I have considered the possibility that the story is actually an allegory of how small one man’s efforts are to the whole, even when he is exceptionally well trained and giving his whole. Like Rook no matter how hard one tries, 99.999% of the world (galaxy in this case) won’t know you exist, even fewer will know what you sacrifice, and everything just keeps moving along regardless.

Now, having said all of that I have to praise Shury’s writing skill. The book is incredibly well written. The fight scenes are exciting, the plot engrossing, and the technology and galactic history well thought out. There is even a timeline at the end. If this were a longer piece or part of a bigger whole, it would have seemed more important. But it is clear that Shury took some time to really establish the back story to this story, and I, for one, would be really interested in reading more.