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Twice Seven A Slave #1
Three Steps Back: First Command
In a world where chains of honor are as constraining as the shackles of slavery, a fiercely noble girl serves a man who is a bounty hunter that despises the institution that binds her to him. But when a bounty is placed on her, she must navigate a landscape of deceit and betrayal that challenges her identity and beliefs, discovering that the true price of freedom is higher than she ever imagined.
457 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 15, 2023
27 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Michael J. Edmond
14 books16 followersMichael Edmond is a Christian, a husband and a father. He's worked as a coach, an English teacher, and a journalist. He earned his bachelor’s degree in film and video at Pennsylvania State University, where he focused on the art of screenwriting. Desiring to create expansive worlds and fantastical realms with virtuous but flawed characters with rich backstories, Edmond turned to writing novels and earned his master’s degree in creative writing.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 5, 2024
I am in the middle of this book on my Kindle. hope I can finish. It started out great, really exciting. Then the author jumps back to I am guessing a few years earlier. The female is 12. He is a grown man.
He is some fabled bounty hunter named Skamson. He is saddled with this young girl as her penance to him as a slave as determined by her townsfolk and dad. Apparently she is not who she thinks she is, but that is not really being developed yet and I am at 67% . Most of this so far has been their travels, the bounty hunter Skamson and Avinisi. The trouble I am having is she is 12 and she is doing all sorts of dangerous things without the permission of Skamson. Traipsing all over dangerous towns by herself!! So far, there has been much sexual innuendos about how a slave could please her owner, over and over that is the discussion. She is naive and innocent and has not a clue. Her bounty hunter owner, Skamson, is very embarrassed by the discussion . I can tell it is written by a male. Maybe intended for young male readers?
At one point she accepts a dare and goes to find some cutthroat bad guy and his hoodlums in his liar. Once again disobeying her"Master" Skamson. She has local help finding him, She manages to trick them all....she is 12, she is beautiful and nobody messes with her. Other than the young thugs about her age. I almost stopped reading when somehow she managed to drag this unconscious, head hoodlum, bad guy out of his lair and onto a horse! How is that possible? She is 12, he was presumably, a big unconscious heavy muscular guy. Also, her protector, Skamson, is never around when these things a happen, or is he? He leaves her and continues on his way on his quest for next bounty to collect. There is lots of conversation and some adventure that kept me reading. Skamson appears to not care for her at all, she is a nuisance he would rather be rid of. It seems like he tries many times. Somehow she finds him! She is 12 yrs old.
Another thing that really bothers me is the voice and language the author chooses to use for her.
Apparently, she doesn't read or write. Yet, she talks very eloquently with the big words, she sounds like a educated noble girl. She was raised in a village where slaves are common. I wish she sounded like an uneducated child country girl who doesn't talk so noble and educated.
I am off to read more if I can and will add more to this review.
**Ok, finally finished and...things didn't change. The whole rest of the story of book one is their travels to scary towns with scary bad guys and she is so fearless and does not listen to "her Master" at all. At the very end, the story switches back to where they were in the beginning where I presume she was older. Her true identity has been figured out ( also in the early chapters) and it just sorta ends with Skamson and Avinisi on a ship with the guy who found her and they are bound I think to meet the current queen. she has has accepted her identity. The ending was rather abrupt. Alluding to Book 2. I will not be reading book 2. This might be a great book for older male teens.
He is some fabled bounty hunter named Skamson. He is saddled with this young girl as her penance to him as a slave as determined by her townsfolk and dad. Apparently she is not who she thinks she is, but that is not really being developed yet and I am at 67% . Most of this so far has been their travels, the bounty hunter Skamson and Avinisi. The trouble I am having is she is 12 and she is doing all sorts of dangerous things without the permission of Skamson. Traipsing all over dangerous towns by herself!! So far, there has been much sexual innuendos about how a slave could please her owner, over and over that is the discussion. She is naive and innocent and has not a clue. Her bounty hunter owner, Skamson, is very embarrassed by the discussion . I can tell it is written by a male. Maybe intended for young male readers?
At one point she accepts a dare and goes to find some cutthroat bad guy and his hoodlums in his liar. Once again disobeying her"Master" Skamson. She has local help finding him, She manages to trick them all....she is 12, she is beautiful and nobody messes with her. Other than the young thugs about her age. I almost stopped reading when somehow she managed to drag this unconscious, head hoodlum, bad guy out of his lair and onto a horse! How is that possible? She is 12, he was presumably, a big unconscious heavy muscular guy. Also, her protector, Skamson, is never around when these things a happen, or is he? He leaves her and continues on his way on his quest for next bounty to collect. There is lots of conversation and some adventure that kept me reading. Skamson appears to not care for her at all, she is a nuisance he would rather be rid of. It seems like he tries many times. Somehow she finds him! She is 12 yrs old.
Another thing that really bothers me is the voice and language the author chooses to use for her.
Apparently, she doesn't read or write. Yet, she talks very eloquently with the big words, she sounds like a educated noble girl. She was raised in a village where slaves are common. I wish she sounded like an uneducated child country girl who doesn't talk so noble and educated.
I am off to read more if I can and will add more to this review.
**Ok, finally finished and...things didn't change. The whole rest of the story of book one is their travels to scary towns with scary bad guys and she is so fearless and does not listen to "her Master" at all. At the very end, the story switches back to where they were in the beginning where I presume she was older. Her true identity has been figured out ( also in the early chapters) and it just sorta ends with Skamson and Avinisi on a ship with the guy who found her and they are bound I think to meet the current queen. she has has accepted her identity. The ending was rather abrupt. Alluding to Book 2. I will not be reading book 2. This might be a great book for older male teens.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2023
So good. The banter in this book is insane .. gonna start book 2 if it’s available
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews