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Sahara's Revenge: A Female Assassin Space Opera
This isn’t her planet…but it is her fight. And she intends to finish it.
Sahara Acwellan has nothing left. Her mission to assassinate the head of the ruthless galactic collective known as the Drakkin was a total failure. They destroyed her family and her homeworld, and she is headed to the desert planet of Silesia to serve a life sentence in the mines.
But then her prisoner transport ship crashes in the sands, and she is taken in by the last remaining human stronghold on the planet. Now that she’s free, she wants revenge...and she won't let anything stand in her way.
Sahara finds an ally in Jared Alareth, a man whose past is not so different from her own and whose hatred of the Drakkin runs almost as deep. But there are dark forces at work on Silesia…and when evil closes its grip around your throat, betrayal is a small price to pay for survival.
If she and her scrappy rebel force can bring down the Drakkin, they will liberate the galaxy…but if she fails, it will mean their annihilation.
Sahara's Revenge is the gripping first book in The Silesia Chronicles space opera adventure series.
Sahara Acwellan has nothing left. Her mission to assassinate the head of the ruthless galactic collective known as the Drakkin was a total failure. They destroyed her family and her homeworld, and she is headed to the desert planet of Silesia to serve a life sentence in the mines.
But then her prisoner transport ship crashes in the sands, and she is taken in by the last remaining human stronghold on the planet. Now that she’s free, she wants revenge...and she won't let anything stand in her way.
Sahara finds an ally in Jared Alareth, a man whose past is not so different from her own and whose hatred of the Drakkin runs almost as deep. But there are dark forces at work on Silesia…and when evil closes its grip around your throat, betrayal is a small price to pay for survival.
If she and her scrappy rebel force can bring down the Drakkin, they will liberate the galaxy…but if she fails, it will mean their annihilation.
Sahara's Revenge is the gripping first book in The Silesia Chronicles space opera adventure series.
348 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 9, 2023
About the author
Shannon Blake
3 books3 followersShannon has been dreaming up stories and writing them down for almost as long as she can remember. She’s insatiably curious and loves science fiction for giving her the excuse to research the most random things — and for giving her the freedom to explore galaxies.
In addition to penning novels, Shannon is an award-winning screenwriter managed by Art/Work Entertainment. She loves giving back to the writing community through coaching and teaching, and she also works as an editor, ghostwriter, and creative entrepreneur.
When she’s not writing, she loves running, dancing, obstacle course racing, and hanging out with her family and friends. And she has never been known to turn down chocolate or a chai latte.
You can find more about her upcoming projects and author appearances at shannonblakebooks.com or follow her on Instagram @shannonblakebooks.
In addition to penning novels, Shannon is an award-winning screenwriter managed by Art/Work Entertainment. She loves giving back to the writing community through coaching and teaching, and she also works as an editor, ghostwriter, and creative entrepreneur.
When she’s not writing, she loves running, dancing, obstacle course racing, and hanging out with her family and friends. And she has never been known to turn down chocolate or a chai latte.
You can find more about her upcoming projects and author appearances at shannonblakebooks.com or follow her on Instagram @shannonblakebooks.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 31, 2024
I want to start off by saying, this book was fun! I would see this book laying on my couch and feel drawn over to pick it up again and again. There was something satisfying about it and the short chapters kept me saying “Well, I might as well read one more…” The opening scene of this book is very exciting! It did a great job of pulling me into the world while also leaving a healthy amount of unanswered questions that piqued my curiosity.
Unfortunately, where this book fell the shortest for me was the overall story development.
Spoilers to follow -
The character’s were very surface level to me and sometimes confused. I never felt like I could pin down Sahara’s personality. I often found that she would react to situations in ways I wouldn’t expect based on her characterization as a mission-oriented, highly trained, unwavering, badass assassin. Based on that, I assumed she would do any and everything it took to achieve her goals no matter who got in her way. She’s even described as doing just that, causing her entire crew to die. In my mind, when Jared told her she couldn’t leave the city I expected she would try to leave the city immediately. Additionally, the second she learned the only way off the planet is through the Drakkin fortress, I expected she would make way to the Drakkin fortress immediately. Instead, Jared said no so she stayed. And she stayed for months at that! Doesn’t make sense to me.
Jared on the other hand, has no personality at all other than being the eventual love interest for Sahara so everything he does is to reinforce the romance plot. It never made sense to me why he wanted her to stay in the city so badly especially when she herself wanted to leave. Especially since the legend of his people stated that the appearance of an outsider will bring doom to them all. He’s not a bad guy, I get it but, there is no mutually positive outcome of her sticking around town. She doesn’t want to be there, the citizens of the city don’t want her there, not even the Drakkin want her there. If he really wanted to help her, he could have teamed up with her in order to help her escape to the Drakkin fortress so she could leave. To me it would have been more satisfying if he doesn’t trust her at first and wants her to leave, maybe even helps her to leave, but eventually, through working together, they grow to like each other and when Sahara get’s captured he saves her. As things currently are in the book, there is no chemistry between them.
The politics of why the city leader is okay with keeping Sahara around is never explained or expanded upon. Realistically, they would never let her stay because, prophecy or not, her being there will attract the Drakkin. When it’s revealed that the city’s shaman is actually a Drakkin spy, it makes even less sense why they would keep her around for so long. If the Drakkin were trying to find her, why wouldn’t the spy turn her over immediately?
The world building could be better. I often found myself completely at a loss for visualizing the scenes that I was reading. I know there’s sand but that’s about it. I couldn’t picture the planet, the city, or even the way the characters looked 99% of the time.
The story was fine but predictable. Nothing ever surprised me.
The writing itself was decent. Not too overly verbose but not too sparing either.
In conclusion, I say all of these things for the love of writing. I don’t mean to attack. I had fun reading this book, it just fell a bit flat for me and I often found myself wishing it was a bit more than it ended up being.
Unfortunately, where this book fell the shortest for me was the overall story development.
Spoilers to follow -
The character’s were very surface level to me and sometimes confused. I never felt like I could pin down Sahara’s personality. I often found that she would react to situations in ways I wouldn’t expect based on her characterization as a mission-oriented, highly trained, unwavering, badass assassin. Based on that, I assumed she would do any and everything it took to achieve her goals no matter who got in her way. She’s even described as doing just that, causing her entire crew to die. In my mind, when Jared told her she couldn’t leave the city I expected she would try to leave the city immediately. Additionally, the second she learned the only way off the planet is through the Drakkin fortress, I expected she would make way to the Drakkin fortress immediately. Instead, Jared said no so she stayed. And she stayed for months at that! Doesn’t make sense to me.
Jared on the other hand, has no personality at all other than being the eventual love interest for Sahara so everything he does is to reinforce the romance plot. It never made sense to me why he wanted her to stay in the city so badly especially when she herself wanted to leave. Especially since the legend of his people stated that the appearance of an outsider will bring doom to them all. He’s not a bad guy, I get it but, there is no mutually positive outcome of her sticking around town. She doesn’t want to be there, the citizens of the city don’t want her there, not even the Drakkin want her there. If he really wanted to help her, he could have teamed up with her in order to help her escape to the Drakkin fortress so she could leave. To me it would have been more satisfying if he doesn’t trust her at first and wants her to leave, maybe even helps her to leave, but eventually, through working together, they grow to like each other and when Sahara get’s captured he saves her. As things currently are in the book, there is no chemistry between them.
The politics of why the city leader is okay with keeping Sahara around is never explained or expanded upon. Realistically, they would never let her stay because, prophecy or not, her being there will attract the Drakkin. When it’s revealed that the city’s shaman is actually a Drakkin spy, it makes even less sense why they would keep her around for so long. If the Drakkin were trying to find her, why wouldn’t the spy turn her over immediately?
The world building could be better. I often found myself completely at a loss for visualizing the scenes that I was reading. I know there’s sand but that’s about it. I couldn’t picture the planet, the city, or even the way the characters looked 99% of the time.
The story was fine but predictable. Nothing ever surprised me.
The writing itself was decent. Not too overly verbose but not too sparing either.
In conclusion, I say all of these things for the love of writing. I don’t mean to attack. I had fun reading this book, it just fell a bit flat for me and I often found myself wishing it was a bit more than it ended up being.
February 3, 2026
This had a lot of great action and a main character to root for. I did have to question Jared’s logic in the last third. We had a guy come out of the desert, and Jared just trusted him immediately even as he suspects one of the pillars of the community of being a traitor. Other than that, I went along fine with the story.
December 8, 2024
Very intriguing book
This book has just enough twist and turns to keep it very interesting and entertaining ,I like the logic of the author line of thinking .
This book has just enough twist and turns to keep it very interesting and entertaining ,I like the logic of the author line of thinking .
July 8, 2025
I could not put this down! I am excited to read the next one! I'm so glad I ran across her at Comic Con in Dallas!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews