3.5 stars
From Goodreads:
As the seventh of nine children, Ada von Hasenberg knows that her only value to House von Hasenberg is as a political pawn in an arranged marriage. But after watching two of her older sisters get auctioned off to horrible men, Ada refuses to play her part. She flees off-planet and disappears for two years.
Ada’s father, fed up with her rebellion, offers a bounty for her safe return. The universe is a big place, but mercs are everywhere, and Ada is caught. With the merc ship full, she’s forced to share a cell with Marcus Loch, the Devil of Fornax Zero. Rumor has it he murdered every commanding officer who issued orders during the Fornax Rebellion. All anyone knows for sure is that the Royal Consortium wants his head.
Ada has no trouble believing the muscled man chained in the back of her cell is a killer. But when their ship is attacked by forces from rival House Rockhurst, Ada must decide whether to trust him—because once you release the devil, you can’t put him back. And when the attack heralds the opening salvo of a much bigger war, Ada must determine where her loyalties truly lie.
As if some of the reviews I did earlier this year weren’t a bit sub par, when I was trying to remember things I read one or even two months ago, my massive work load and other priorities have now resulted in there now being a nearly three month long gap between the books at the bottom of my review backlog and me actually writing about them – and as a consequence, I should probably apologise in advance for what is likely to be a thoroughly middling review.
This is by no means a bad book, there’s romance, there’s action, there’s all manner of fanciful technology. The hero and heroine keep getting into dangerous situations, and there’s a nice balance of Marcus rescuing Ada and vice versa. Ada certainly isn’t a damsel in distress, but she relies more on cunning and connections than brawn to get her out of a sticky situation. Marcus is obviously not the terrible villain that the blurb makes him out to be, there’s moral and understandable reasons for his insubordination and since the series, of which this is the first book, is called The Consortium Rebellion, it’s safe to assume that the Consortium that controls things is something worth rebelling against. There’s some perfectly enjoyable supporting characters, but I can’t really say I remember much more than Ada has a friend, Marcus has some friends, there’s a plot moppet and maybe his grandma? They don’t feature heavily in the main plot.
Full review on my blog.