Trapped on Talonque

The Sectors #7

by Veronica Scott

Will an alien sleeping beauty awaken to save him, or destroy everyone around her?

When a Sectors Special Forces soldier and his team crash land on an alien planet, they're taken captive and given a challenge--win at the violent ball game of sapiche and live. Lose, and they die, sending a mysterious, alien beauty to an even uglier fate. To survive, these soldiers must win the game and find a way to free the dangerous prisoner from her locked chamber.

Nate Reilly and his team are in deep trouble. Prisoners on a backward alien planet, they're brought before an alien 'goddess', sleeping in her high tech seclusion. Nate is astonished when she awakes and establishes a psychic link with him. But her news is not good--he and his men must win a brutal challenge set by their captors, or they will die. She'll give her aid, but in the end their courage and strength must win the contest.

Bithia sleeps in her chamber, as she has for thousands of years, since her own people unaccountably left her there. Viewed as a goddess by her captors, she must hide her ancient secrets to survive. But only the bravest of men may free her. Can she use her psychic powers to keep Nate and his men alive long enough to help her escape, or will her only hope of freedom die with them?

Genres: Science Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction Romance

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 21, 2016

About the author

USA Today Best Selling Science Fiction & Paranormal Romance author.

Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories.

MISC FACTS ABOUT VERONICA
Seven time winner ~ SFR Galaxy Award

Proud recipient ~ NASA Exceptional Service Medal but must hasten to add the honor was not for her romantic fiction!

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt – I’ll improve your process (mwahahahaa)!

Elvis Presley’s best friend once serenaded Veronica on a local TV telethon…now that could be a novel…

Reviews

[Pamela(AllHoney) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The eighth book in A Sectors SF Romance series by Veronica Scott. Nate Reilly and 2 of his team crash land on Talonque and are taken prisoner by the aliens. They are marched to a city where they are taken to see the "Sleeping Goddess". While there, the "goddess" makes a psychic connection to Nate. It soon becomes clear that Nate and his men will have to fight for their lives by playing a game whose losers are promptly put to death. Nate and his men must find a way to escape and take the sleeping lady with them.

I have truly enjoyed this series by Ms. Scott. They are stand-a-lones for the most part. Some of the books have characters in common and/or take place in the same general time period but each story is wrapped up and no cliffhangers. Every book has grabbed me and I held on tight for an exciting ride. They are not absolutely perfect but pretty close. My biggest gripe with this addition to the series would be the abrupt ending. It felt unfinished to me. Just a short epilogue would have helped it I think.

[Lyndi W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars I kinda thought this would be a silly romance for some reason? It was not that. It was so much better than that. I had a lot of fun reading this and wasted entirely too much of my day off with it. I am gonna be so busy tomorrow.

I love the accidental goddess trope and both H/h were easy to like. No character development really, just nonstop action. And it's a long one, but it stays interesting.

Unfortunately, the abrupt ending totally killed the satisfaction of the characters' victory, so I can't give it a full 5 stars. There are also a LOT of unanswered questions that should have been answered. But I would definitely recommend it.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Returning from a mission, they crash land on a world with a primitive alien culture and find themselves tributes to a death god and warriors to a sleeping ancient alien thought of as a goddess and oracle by the natives. Special Forces leader, Nate Reilly, and his team are all about survival let alone escape until the alien sleeping beauty links with his mind and he has no plans to leave her behind.

Trapped on Talonque is the seventh of The Sectors series and is a standalone sci-fi romance featuring the accidental goddess and sci-fi tech meets native cunning.

As with previous books in the series, this one harkened back to recognizable historical earth cultural roots. When the primitive alien society was described, particularly their worship of a death god who demanded human sacrifice and some of the god’s tributes came through a game, my mind turned immediately to the Mayan civilization. And, that was interesting for a sci-fi backdrop.

Nate and his friends are taken to a fortress city to the king and his evil queen where they are made aware of their perilous situation. They are alien to these superstitious people so the rulers who are trying to hold their throne against another group battling to end their death cult despotism, decide that Nate and his guys plus another captive who believes in the goddess and not their death god, are thought to be powerful sacrifices. They have to escape and hope their ship is still flyable, but first, Nate is determined to save the other captive, Bithia, who has become over time while she slumbered a goddess of legend. She has been in forced sleep for centuries and Nate isn’t sure she will want to be rescued to a time that calls her people ancients and long gone and looks so different from her own.

I enjoyed learning the mysterious past of Bithia as they put together her history even as they work to escape. It got exciting and had some good twists so that just when it seems they’ve made it, they encounter more trouble. My only gripe was the abrupt ending. Readers are told earlier what their plans are, but there was a suggestion to it all that there would be difficulties even if they got off the planet. Perhaps there will be follow up news later.

After laying the ground work for what was going on and filling in the background for how it came to be, the story got up and moving which I was relieved to see happen. Like others in the series, this one feels like a blend of sci-fi with fantasy (even though Trapped on Talonque is more legend than magic) and I would recommend it to those who enjoy a blend of no-tech and high tech backdrop.


My full review will post on Aug 16th at Books of My Heart.

[KJ Van Houten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another GREAT Sectors book! Have to admit, anytime I see ‘Sectors’ and ‘Veronica Scott’ in the same line, I get super excited – this is one of my very favourite series. (No, I’m not doing another series review, going to actually stick to one book for this review…)

Trapped on Talonque starts out with Special Forces soldier Nate Reilly and his buddies – fellow soldier Thom Curran and and cadet pilot Haranda – In an interesting predicament: crashed on an unknown, somewhat primitive planet that is not within the Sectors’ boundaries, captured and chained, along with a group of native prisoners, and force-marching to who knows where. And to make it more fun, none of their Sectors’ training or implants can translate the native language.

After days of marching, and some adventure along the way, our crew finds themselves in their captors’ capitol city. They are brought before the king and queen co-rulers of a society very much run on lines of fate superstition, and ceremony. The king takes the three offworlders and one of the native prisoners – a man named Atletl who bears an interesting tattoo – to an underground chamber that can only be opened by a special talent known to only one woman who is treated as both a special attendant to this chamber and a slave. When the door is opened the men are shocked to find that the chamber is full of highly advanced technology, beyond even what the Sectors is capable of. In the center is a sleeping woman. Nate has a blinding, painful reaction when the king pushes some buttons which also awakens the woman temporarily, and hears her voice in his mind before the woman sleeps again and the men are taken away, back to a prison in the more primitive, ‘normal’ section of the palace.

While chained, the three offworlder men discuss what they’ve seen. They are thinking that they’ve possibly seen an Ancient One, a member of a progenitor race that lived so far in the past that only a few ruins of their civilization remain scattered throughout the galaxy. If this is true, how is this woman alive after thousands of years? What is the technology they saw? And why is Nate the only one that heard her voice in his head? Falling asleep, Nate dreams of the woman, a strange dream that isn’t a dream, where they talk and she tells him how the king thinks she is a sleeping goddess which they rouse at times for prophecy. The king further thinks the offworld men have come from her father-god to rescue her, but the king won’t allow that as he has his own plans for her and the future. He wants her power and thinks that he can gain it for himself, and will use the men as tools to get it from her. Before the dream fades, she tells him her name is Bithia.

The next day, the men are taken to an amphitheater where they watch a strange game played. The description makes me think of basketball ball with holes in the wall instead of baskets, combined with soccer, and gladiatorial fighting. The players of each team are comprised of prisoners. Anything goes on the field and violence is encouraged. The winners are hailed champions in a way that makes me think of gladiators while the losers are chained and taken away. Later it is discovered that the losers are sacrificed to the dread god Huitlani by being thrown into a pit of hungry savage creatures.

Okay, that sets up the background of the story! Of course Nate and his friends find themselves forced to train for the game, which they learn is called sapice. Their goal is obvious: learn to play and win the game so they are not put to death while finding a way to get back to their crashed ship and get off this primitive planet, and somehow rescue Bithia and take her with them. Sounds easy, right?

As months pass, the men learn sapice, avoid angering the king, queen, and priestesses, and learn to speak the native language from their teammate, the native Atletl who has the cool tattoo (which they discover is a symbol sacred to the religion that has grown up around the legend of the sleeping goddess). They learn that Atletl’s from an opposing group of people who want to get rid of the king and queen, whose ancestors had invaded and taken over this land and forced their cult of the death god on the people. They learn that the woman attendant who had opened the hidden chamber is named Celixia and she is secretly working against the king and queen also. (And growing a strong attraction to Atlet). Nate continues to have dreams which are not dreams where he meets with Bithia and they exchange information about themselves, their pasts, and the situation they each find themselves trapped within. This strange connection brings Nate and Bithia close, and when events occur that give them a chance to escape, he cannot leave her behind.

The rescue of Bithia and the escape from the city is quite dramatic and there are so many spoilers that I can’t bring myself to say here! Just know that at this point I was quite satisfied with the resolution of the story. Looked down at my ereader and realized I was only at 50% through the book! More?! This is like getting TWO Sectors novels in one! I cannot describe the joy is knowing that the book wasn’t ending so soon!

The second half of the book features the adventures of the offworlders, Atletl, and Bithia, joined by Celixia, to find their way back to the crashed ship, and further to a secret mountain hideaway full of high technology, eventually finding a way off the planet and back to the Sectors. Some highlights include more secret chambers, massive explosions, death sacrifices, a lot of running, some horse-like creatures called kemat, men in kilts, a beach, a mountain, and a lot of interesting technology! And alright, maybe some sex, too…

I can’t recommend this book enough. I’d say it is one of the best Sectors’ novels, but I love each book in this series so much that I think I just love whichever one I am reading, just finished reading, or about to reread! I love that there is so much that happens in this book that I feel like I can to stay in this ‘world’ longer! I can easily see where the author could have ended the story much sooner and still have had a great story, but I’m so very glad she didn’t!

If you haven’t read any of the other Sectors’ books, know that most of the series can indeed be read as standalone, although in some books (not so much this one), there is some crossover references that might give spoilers, so I do suggest reading the series in order. Each book is pretty unique, with its own theme and setting, providing quite an interesting variety, yet tied together by the Sectors Special Forces men and women that we encounter. Speaking of...Trapped on Talonque sets up for a potentially very interesting follow-on novel that I sure hope is twirling around in the author’s head right now!

[Paraphrodite · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars.

Our Sectors Special Forces hero Nate crash landed on a planet where the ruling faction worships a blood-thirsty god. Nate, his team mate Thom and the sole surviving cadet were captured and trained for a gladiator-like ball game in which the losers are sacrificed to the god. The winners are granted an audience with the Sleeping Goddess who turned out to be a living, breathing sentient being held in a high-tech healing chamber.

When Nate realised he can mind-speak with the sleeping woman, Bithia, he plans to free and use her supposedly divine powers to escape from his captives and get off-planet. What follows is an action-packed story of their escape, with stopovers at sites left from Bithia's father's expedition centuries ago. The ending feels a bit unfinished though. I hope there is a sequel, I would enjoy learning what happens next.

[Coral · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot: 4/5
Characterisation: 4/5
Prose: 4/5
How much I enjoyed it: 5/5

[Rabid Readers Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scott’s science fiction world is original but familiar. She is a master of adapting history and mythology to a new stage. Her primitive people are in no way naive, but they view the world in the way of people to whom much is a mystery. They are as of yet, unaware of the world that readers of Scott have seen in the Sectors series. There is a ritual to everything. Bithia is kept in an underground chamber where she is guarded by a priestess of sorts who is the only one that can access her chamber. It becomes clear to the more traveled men that the equipment their “hosts” see as mystical is in actuality an advanced technology.

Trapped On Talonque is a long game novel. The story takes place over a long period of time leaving the men vulnerable, during which time they’re forced to take part in games where losers are brutally punished. The devious nature of the challenges that Nate and his men face were probably my favorite thing about the novel. It’s Mad Max meets Gladiator with the polished edge of an author very comfortable with her world.

[Diane Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so mad at Veronica Scott. Her book made me read until 2am last night so I could finish it. Of course, I should have expected it. Ms. Scott's books are so full of action and characters you want to root for that I always read way too long into the night.

This retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story combines science fiction, action/adventure, and romance. What more can a reader want? Well done, Ms. Scott. Only one problem, though. I want to know more about what happened next. Please tell me there will be a sequel.

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun, SF adventure, this time featuring a primitive planet with a nasty Aztec-like cult. When two military Special Forces agents crashland they're taken prisoner and escape with the help of an alien Sleeping Beauty, who's been stuck in stasis for hundreds of years. Bithia's sense of disorientation from the years she's missed in stasis was well-done.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay. So this time around on Sectors SF, we're dropped on a technologically primitive planet with natives who have some rather bloody ways of worshiping their gods. The fact that one of their gods is an alien woman who's been in a stasis chamber for thousands of years and is kept prisoner by a combination of the technology...Okay, pause. There's a lot going on here. I should probably just say the Special Forces men are as proactive as ever when it comes to saving those in need and leave it at that.

I won't leave it at that, of course, but you get the point.

Those Sectors SF soldiers have drive, man. Especially when someone needs them to do the impossible. Like escape an obsessed king and his vicious queen. Or whatever their actual titles are. Once he realizes the situation Bithia is in, Nate is determined to figure out a way to save both his remaining crew and the woman who connected to him on a soul-deep level.

I think it goes without saying, but I REALLY like these guys. All of them. They're brutal when they need to be, but they're also decent to the core. Nate fights for what he believes in even when it's detrimental to him and there's no chance Bithia will be left behind.

Good times!

-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal

[Kara Prem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nate and Thom have crash landed on an uncharted planet. Along with their pilot and a native war chief, they're taken prisoner by a violent clan and forced to play a brutal ball game. If they win 10 they will be free. Helping them in their journey is a woman from an ancient race who has been trapped in a healing stasis chamber for longer than the Sectors have been around. Bithia is worshiped as a goddess by the people who have captured Nate, but there are varying factions even in the leadership of this brutal group. Bithia is able to form a psychic connection with Nate and help them survive. Seemed like a lot of escape and recapture at the end of the book, but otherwise a decent story.

[Pat Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

CENTURIES OF HEALING SLEEP

Escape seems almost impossible, but, must be accomplished in order to live. Lots of diverging elements that hooked me immediately and drove the story forward at an every increasing pace. The romance was simmering and hot.
Trapped on Talonque is a well written, complex SF romance that superbly adds to the Sectors world. A not to be missed SF read. So very highly recommend!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous story

I really enjoyed reading this story. It was interesting from start to end. The only thing I would have enjoyed more was if the ending was a little better. I would of liked to read that they found his friend and settled. Something along the lines of other stories in this series, just something more wound have put over the top to get the fifth star.

[Colleen Keehne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

I loved the story and the characters! Veronica Scott makes her world come alive for her readers. I can’t wait to read more.

[Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved all Veronica Scots previous books and world building but I could not get into this one at all and did not finish

[Bonnie Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could not put this book down!! Xoxo 💕

Truly rewarding read! Awesome!
Did not expect this story line, I really enjoyed these characters and how they work together!

[Renee Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good book from Ms Scott

I love the sectors books and am always glad when a new one comes out. This book has romance and adventure........and I like the characters.

[Jennifer]

CNF. terrible