Vortex of Crimson

On Deception's Edge #3

by Lise MacTague

All Torrin Ivanov wanted was to get Jak Stowell back, that was supposed to be the hard part. In a cruel twist, Jak is hers again, but her girlfriend is literally losing her mind. The only help can be found on the last planet in the universe to which Torrin would like to return…To cure Jak, they must return to her war-ravaged home planet, Haefen.

For Jak, returning to her home planet gives her the chance to make good on a promise too long deferred. But will she be able to finally take out her brother’s killer? Or will she be pulled into the dark undertow of local politics…

The two women soon find that politics pale next to the threat of the one who still hunts Jak. This time he has bait—Torrin’s sister, Nat Ivanov. As their search intensifies, Torrin and Jak realize that despite all of the obstacles in their way, one thing is clear—they can at least depend on each other. But will that be enough?

Vortex of Crimson is the exciting conclusion to author Lise MacTague’s On Deception’s Edge series.

Genres: LGBT, Science Fiction, Romance, Lesbian, Military Fiction, Queer, Fiction

453 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 28, 2016

Reviews

[AnnMaree Of Oz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final in the trilogy. Lawd do these ladies need to learn to communicate better lol.

More action and adventure ensue in this sci-fi thrill ride. There's always danger, and the fact these ladies pony up for it time and time again is just badass.

There were a few things I felt were a tiny bit anti-climatic, and unresolved - but overall a satisfying end.

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked some things, didn't like some other things. Mostly I'm not into the military stuff and I wanted more romance and/or sci fi stuff. Full review here!

[Dide · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those series that got better as you progressed. The previous two ranged between 2.5 to 3 star rating but this third book took it straight to 4.5 star ratings.
And the end of this book though abrupt (for me), had a great message. Look forward to what the Author has in store for this series going on.

[Heather Henkel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series

This was a great conclusion to a series that kept me on the edge of my seat. I highly recommend!

[Jess Knapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

The conclusion to the deceptions edge trilogy, a good ending to Jak and Torrins story, leaving room for the story to continue and explore the consequences of the events of the book.
As a ending to a series could maybe have done with just one more epilogue chapter to bring everything together and give a definitive answer to some of the plot points, but still a solid end to the story.

[Ashley E · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I started this series, I loved it. But Book 2, Heights of Green, disappointed me with certain themes, and unfortunately, Vortex of Crimson failed to redeem itself. I struggled through reading this because I love Jak as a character and I held slight hopes of some kind of change of worldview, but I was sadly disappointed.

I have a few different complaints, but ultimately they all come down to one sad truth: transphobia. Which I... hate to just accuse an author outright, especially since I'm not trans myself, but when Jak and Torrin visited Torrin's home world of Nadierzda in Heights of Green, so many things made me uncomfortable. Women's spaces are valid and important things to have. But making those spaces cis-exclusive and making them entire planets (aka, kicking off any male children at age 8)? Not so good, actually. I had a vague (perhaps, foolish) hope that Jak, with her outside, though also skewed perspective, would be able to point out the flaws in Torrin's worldview... but instead she seems to accept on face value that a world built exclusively of cis-women is inherently better, despite the proof to the contrary staring her in the face.

While Vortex of Crimson doesn't deal as directly with these issues, since Jak and Torrin are back on Haefon once again, it's still impossible to ignore the signs now that I've seen how blatant it could be. The way of handling Jak's masculine side and her past of hiding her gender grated on me. Torrin's attitude grated on me often, in fact, and not always related to any gender discourse that popped up. Compared to Jak over the course of the series, Torrin hasn't seemed to experience much in the way of character development, and the longer we follow along on their journey, the more obvious Torrin's lack of change is. Her stubbornness has turned from a quirk to an annoyance, because she refuses to acknowledge the problems that it sometimes causes.

While some readers might not agree with me about Torrin's disappointing lack of character development, there is no excusing the overwhelming themes of gender essentialism and transphobia. Even though the writing and the story is compelling, nothing can redeem this book or series for me.

[I received this book for free through First Reads and was not required to write a positive or any other type of review. All opinions stated herein are solely my own.]

[DefinitelyNotARabbit · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the first two books only gave us glimpses of this Crimson terror, book 3 bursts it wide open and gives us a villain to truly despise whose actions and attitudes are prevalent of a society's moral bankruptcy. While there was a lot of political refuse to wade through the characters shared my frustration and it helped build the tension and move it along. The ending came to me before I wanted it to, but there are plenty of loose ends dangling, so I hope we can see more stories for Jak, Torrin, Nat, and their strong compatriots.

[Iden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked all three…mostly. The third made me cringe with the details of physical and psychological abuse. Both women suck at communication but I found myself talking to the book rather than being upset with the author. The ending was dissatisfying though. There was room to add some detail up to terraforming the Amazonian planet that the author didn’t capitalize on. Jaq’s last sentence sucked as an ending. Ah well…everything was buttoned up enough on the action adventure angle but not so much on the romantic one.

Last thing I’ll say is, we’ll done with the sexual imagery in all three books 😏!

[Madi Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is the person on the front cover meant to be Jak? Because it sure doesn't match Torrin's description and I think torrin was the character on Heights of Green.
Anyway, since when did Jak start wearing make up? I dunno buy if she was going around like that in Depths of Blue with make up on her face, there was no way she was passing as male haha.

[Rtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 and a half stars! Loads of action. Good ending.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read all three books, and while I enjoyed the,, I didn't love them. the world building was a bit trite, and the sex scenes felt like they were written by a man. It was like tribbing was the most important part of sex?

I liked the growth of the characters, but the concepts and ideas of feminism felt 15 to 20 years out of date. I was going to give this book four stars when I thought it was written in the early 1990s. discovering it was written in 2016 seriously decreased tgat.