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The Raven Ladies #3
The Gunfighter's Gambit
Fiona and Gieo are back in the third book in the Raven Ladies series! The war of retribution against the city of Juarez has gone well through the autumn and winter months. Fiona, at the head of a fresh army of Ravens provided by the new White Queen Alondra, has captured or killed the fleeing remnants of the Juarez invaders responsible for the massacre at Tombstone. Supported by Gieo and her fledgling air force of modified World War II planes, Fiona is set to end the war of retribution with a final blow to the last bastion of the Juarez drug cartel. Before the final blow can be struck, the Slark make their return to the conflict, restored to their former glory and strength.
After a disastrous battle, Fiona’s army is on the verge of breaking and Gieo has fallen into the hands of the marauder warlord General McKenzie. Fiona must leave the Ravens to find her captured beloved, riding out alone into the desert to seek help from the revived Apache Nation, the spirit world, and Gieo’s robot companion, Ramen, who is discovered to be of sinister origins.
Riding through the post-apocalyptic world of Dead Texas, Fiona infiltrates McKenzie’s marauders only to find the Ravens have once again lied to her. Fiona’s rescue might end in wedding bells or betrayal and seems destined for bloodshed either way.
After a disastrous battle, Fiona’s army is on the verge of breaking and Gieo has fallen into the hands of the marauder warlord General McKenzie. Fiona must leave the Ravens to find her captured beloved, riding out alone into the desert to seek help from the revived Apache Nation, the spirit world, and Gieo’s robot companion, Ramen, who is discovered to be of sinister origins.
Riding through the post-apocalyptic world of Dead Texas, Fiona infiltrates McKenzie’s marauders only to find the Ravens have once again lied to her. Fiona’s rescue might end in wedding bells or betrayal and seems destined for bloodshed either way.
279 pages, ebook
First published December 19, 2012
6 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Cassandra Duffy
14 books84 followersCassandra Duffy spent most of her childhood being precocious, which stopped being entertaining or impressive when she grew into an adult, at which point she had to start being precious. After being an outcast child prodigy it was no surprise when she graduated from one of the many fine University of California schools a year early to follow her girlfriend in a cross country move.
She writes a free-lance sex advice column found in various lesbian magazines and dating websites. Her short story collections and novels can be found on her website.
Two of her greatest prides are being a true California girl and author of some truly naughty things. She is a dutiful partially-Asian daughter who is beloved by her fairly traditional Korean father who thinks having a gay daughter is just fine as long as she keeps playing coed flag football. She is a stereotypical younger sister, and an adoring aunt of a hilarious little boy. Being a modern techno-freak, gamer-girl, she spent most of her childhood dreaming of being a video game designer, but changed her mind and brought her dreams of world building and story-weaving to writing unique romance novels.
Cassandra is a gleefully monogamous girlfriend to an earthbound goddess who was once her high school bully, but has done a magnificent job of making up for all the school girl nastiness ever since. When she isn't being an avid fang girl (vampire fan girl) or tormenting people in online gaming, she lives and writes in Winter Park, Florida with her partner and soul mate Nichole and their two cats: Dragon and Josephine.
She writes a free-lance sex advice column found in various lesbian magazines and dating websites. Her short story collections and novels can be found on her website.
Two of her greatest prides are being a true California girl and author of some truly naughty things. She is a dutiful partially-Asian daughter who is beloved by her fairly traditional Korean father who thinks having a gay daughter is just fine as long as she keeps playing coed flag football. She is a stereotypical younger sister, and an adoring aunt of a hilarious little boy. Being a modern techno-freak, gamer-girl, she spent most of her childhood dreaming of being a video game designer, but changed her mind and brought her dreams of world building and story-weaving to writing unique romance novels.
Cassandra is a gleefully monogamous girlfriend to an earthbound goddess who was once her high school bully, but has done a magnificent job of making up for all the school girl nastiness ever since. When she isn't being an avid fang girl (vampire fan girl) or tormenting people in online gaming, she lives and writes in Winter Park, Florida with her partner and soul mate Nichole and their two cats: Dragon and Josephine.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 4, 2013
An unexpected and fun adventure! I had a wonderful time with this third installment of The Raven Ladies series. I have to come out right now and say that I skipped over the second book in the series and jumped right into this one. I did it for two reasons though, the main one being I loved Geio and Fiona so much that I just had to continue their story right away and the second being that I read reviews of Steam Powered Sniper and I'm not really interested in reading about a bisexual protagonist. I don't read lesbian romance/thriller/adventure books to have heterosexual relationships take up my time. Anyway, I love Duffy's writing and I almost certainly will go back and read it at some point.
On to the book at hand though, I was really impressed with Duffy's growth as a writer and world builder. This was a rich experience for me. It read beautifully and I actually got sucked into the small town life that Geio found herself in the middle of. Both Geio and Fiona had strong growth as characters and their time apart only strengthened their bond. In addition, Duffy created excellent supporting characters that I don't want to spoil. That's the mark of a great writer though, characters have layers and your initial impression gives way to deeper understanding and affection.
In terms of the expected parts, action, sexiness and so forth, Duffy continues to be very strong. The violence is well written and visceral and had me fearing for characters I loved on more than one occasion. The sex takes a backseat to the adventure to a greater degree than in the first book and as usual for me I would have liked a little more time spent with our heroes before the book ended. But as to the main part of the story, the lack of it was not a detriment. I appreciate her not forcing it where it didn't belong and I always prefer books where the writer shows restraint. I find that makes the steamy parts all the hotter.
So I highly recommend this book and the first one to all fans of lesbian adventure and scifi. I can't talk about the second obviously, you'll have to make your own decision.
On to the book at hand though, I was really impressed with Duffy's growth as a writer and world builder. This was a rich experience for me. It read beautifully and I actually got sucked into the small town life that Geio found herself in the middle of. Both Geio and Fiona had strong growth as characters and their time apart only strengthened their bond. In addition, Duffy created excellent supporting characters that I don't want to spoil. That's the mark of a great writer though, characters have layers and your initial impression gives way to deeper understanding and affection.
In terms of the expected parts, action, sexiness and so forth, Duffy continues to be very strong. The violence is well written and visceral and had me fearing for characters I loved on more than one occasion. The sex takes a backseat to the adventure to a greater degree than in the first book and as usual for me I would have liked a little more time spent with our heroes before the book ended. But as to the main part of the story, the lack of it was not a detriment. I appreciate her not forcing it where it didn't belong and I always prefer books where the writer shows restraint. I find that makes the steamy parts all the hotter.
So I highly recommend this book and the first one to all fans of lesbian adventure and scifi. I can't talk about the second obviously, you'll have to make your own decision.
May 7, 2013
Fiona and Gieo are back! With a whole new cast of characters supporting the two heroine's, this book delivers with action, great dialog and of course, lesbian lovemaking! I had become a huge fan of Cassandra Duffy since Gunfighter and The Gear-Head and have read all of her books. Truly a gifted and talented writer and she gets better and better with each book she publishes.
April 12, 2017
I'll be damned if this book wasn't actually excellent.
The first two in the series I thought were fun, clever, often exciting books - but ultimately a little messy.
With the first one I feel like the author was probably having a little too much fun with the girl on girl action (This is kind of a petty complaint because it ain't like I dipped my toe into this series for too many other reasons) - which looked to be a carry over from the types of short story erotica she writes. The plot as a whole was also a little muddled, with too many separate 'adventures' happening one after the other making it feel a little like a series of short stories, rather than one cohesive whole.
Still - sexy, violent stuff set in a kick-ass Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Western world, people by some really cool characters.
With the second one I feel like the author realized the story was actually more important than the erotica so it pretty much disappeared from the series, and the story as a whole was far better structured. The change in tempo though, with the more dour War Story, and the whole new set of characters - none of whom were anywhere near as exciting or fun as the ones from the last story - didn't help things much. It also featured some pretty clunky coincidences early on which annoyed me.
With this third installment the characters from the first book are back, and with them, the far more enjoyable Sci-Fi Western setting. And man, has Duffy got her shit down tight in this one. This chick has always been able to write action well - really visceral, dynamic, fast moving stuff - but in this one she really out does herself. From intimate moments that suddenly explode into horrific violence, to large scale battle scenes with big shoot outs.
All told though, it's the two central characters that make this book shine.
Gieo is incredibly lovable, and in separating her from Fiona, she is able to fully come into her own - and in a very specific way, which I thought was really well handled in this book. However it's in Fiona that Duffy has created something truly special.
Psychos make fun bad guys, but they also make really fun heroes, and in this book, now that the author knows her characters and her world inside and out, Fiona is elevated to legendary status.
A cold blooded killer with just enough soft spots to make us comfortable with the fact that we can't help but adore her.
Aside from all of the above, this is simply a rich, expertly told tale. Two separate heroes journeys bringing them and their worlds full circle.
And it's all still sexy as hell.
The first two in the series I thought were fun, clever, often exciting books - but ultimately a little messy.
With the first one I feel like the author was probably having a little too much fun with the girl on girl action (This is kind of a petty complaint because it ain't like I dipped my toe into this series for too many other reasons) - which looked to be a carry over from the types of short story erotica she writes. The plot as a whole was also a little muddled, with too many separate 'adventures' happening one after the other making it feel a little like a series of short stories, rather than one cohesive whole.
Still - sexy, violent stuff set in a kick-ass Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Western world, people by some really cool characters.
With the second one I feel like the author realized the story was actually more important than the erotica so it pretty much disappeared from the series, and the story as a whole was far better structured. The change in tempo though, with the more dour War Story, and the whole new set of characters - none of whom were anywhere near as exciting or fun as the ones from the last story - didn't help things much. It also featured some pretty clunky coincidences early on which annoyed me.
With this third installment the characters from the first book are back, and with them, the far more enjoyable Sci-Fi Western setting. And man, has Duffy got her shit down tight in this one. This chick has always been able to write action well - really visceral, dynamic, fast moving stuff - but in this one she really out does herself. From intimate moments that suddenly explode into horrific violence, to large scale battle scenes with big shoot outs.
All told though, it's the two central characters that make this book shine.
Gieo is incredibly lovable, and in separating her from Fiona, she is able to fully come into her own - and in a very specific way, which I thought was really well handled in this book. However it's in Fiona that Duffy has created something truly special.
Psychos make fun bad guys, but they also make really fun heroes, and in this book, now that the author knows her characters and her world inside and out, Fiona is elevated to legendary status.
A cold blooded killer with just enough soft spots to make us comfortable with the fact that we can't help but adore her.
Aside from all of the above, this is simply a rich, expertly told tale. Two separate heroes journeys bringing them and their worlds full circle.
And it's all still sexy as hell.
July 20, 2019
I have very complicated feelings about this book, I'd give it a 3.5 if I could. The characters, as in The Gunfighter and the Gear-Head, remain delightful. The action (though there is less of it than in TGATGH) is top-notch. The expanded worldbuilding was cool, really really cool.
But I just couldn't wrap my head around the "two-spirit means this white woman is the reincarnated spirit of an Apache hero" thing, or whatever the heck was going on with that. It was as unnecessary as it was confusing, and though I can't give the final word on it given that I'm not Native American, it soured a good chunk of the book for me.
And the whole thing with rescuing all these horrifically abused women from--Juarez, was it?--I just couldn't stomach the image of a "heroic" white woman shouting at a crying, panicking abused brown woman, knowing said abused woman couldn't speak English and didn't even know she'd been "saved" from the evil men, just to make some kind of conversation point? I get that Fiona's chaos tics are supposed to make her do unacceptable things, but psychologically torturing a victim of sex slavery--that level of punching down isn't just ~problematic~ to me, it's honestly hugely upsetting. At this point I've been spoiled by books that manage to be edgy without doing... whatever was going on here, so I don't consider this something I can hand-wave away (I mean, this wouldn't even have happened if there wasn't this quasi-racist worldbuilding of "yeah after the apocalypse the US got pretty misogynistic so women banded together to create their own safe civilization, but Mexican women didn't stand a chance)
I know I've talked a lot about stuff I didn't like about this book, but honestly it's just because I wanted to like it so much, especially given how much I treasured The Gunfighter and the Gear-Head. It's unfortunate, because like I said, the worldbuilding is just so much better than before, Duffy juggles three-ish plots at once in an ambitious and mostly successful move, and the romance between Fiona and Gieo wraps up in what I consider a great and satisfactory ending. So as much as I don't regret reading this book, I could only recommend it to a friend with heavy, heavy disclaimers.
But I just couldn't wrap my head around the "two-spirit means this white woman is the reincarnated spirit of an Apache hero" thing, or whatever the heck was going on with that. It was as unnecessary as it was confusing, and though I can't give the final word on it given that I'm not Native American, it soured a good chunk of the book for me.
And the whole thing with rescuing all these horrifically abused women from--Juarez, was it?--I just couldn't stomach the image of a "heroic" white woman shouting at a crying, panicking abused brown woman, knowing said abused woman couldn't speak English and didn't even know she'd been "saved" from the evil men, just to make some kind of conversation point? I get that Fiona's chaos tics are supposed to make her do unacceptable things, but psychologically torturing a victim of sex slavery--that level of punching down isn't just ~problematic~ to me, it's honestly hugely upsetting. At this point I've been spoiled by books that manage to be edgy without doing... whatever was going on here, so I don't consider this something I can hand-wave away (I mean, this wouldn't even have happened if there wasn't this quasi-racist worldbuilding of "yeah after the apocalypse the US got pretty misogynistic so women banded together to create their own safe civilization, but Mexican women didn't stand a chance)
I know I've talked a lot about stuff I didn't like about this book, but honestly it's just because I wanted to like it so much, especially given how much I treasured The Gunfighter and the Gear-Head. It's unfortunate, because like I said, the worldbuilding is just so much better than before, Duffy juggles three-ish plots at once in an ambitious and mostly successful move, and the romance between Fiona and Gieo wraps up in what I consider a great and satisfactory ending. So as much as I don't regret reading this book, I could only recommend it to a friend with heavy, heavy disclaimers.
December 4, 2013
Book 3 of the series brings back Fiona and Gieo, the main characters of book 1, and it is a welcome return as their differences and their bond make them really interesting and entertaining characters. When pilot Gieo's plane is shot down in battle, she ends up being taken prisoner in a strange technology-free Texas town. Meanwhile Fiona is out to find her lover and bring her back, and woe be to anyone who gets in the way! The book is filled with action, intrigue, lots of humor and is a blast to read, as well as featuring Duffy's usual pitch perfect ear for dialogue, fascinating people (and aliens and robots and coyotes) and really amazing world building. Highly recommended.
January 2, 2014
I really enjoyed this latest installment of the Raven Ladies series. In this one, Geio and Fiona are separated for most of the book and their stories alternate chapters. Both stories were interesting tangents and I really liked how the characters developed. It's definitely still violent but it fit the characters and story. Well done.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews