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Dawn of War #1
Salvation
Salvation follows gladiator-pit-ruler Malek and sky-ruler Soran. Their two states face destruction unless the men can form a bond they both can trust.
Sexy and violent, with great battles in a beautiful cloud city, Hawke’s work has been described as dark, bloody, and thought-provoking. Salvation should appeal to readers of gay fiction and stories involving men loving men.
Famed gladiator Malek the Destroyer has spent years secretly plotting a revolution against the oppressive Senate that rules his planet. Popular victors who have retired, left the city of Dis, or even apparently died in the arena have secretly trained as Malek’s revolutionary army.
But Malek’s revolution won’t stand a chance if only one city fights it. He reaches out to Soran, leader of the one autonomous city left on the planet, Aerix. Soran leads a caste of Skyknights, starfighter pilots famed for elaborate body modifications that make them nimble fighters and grueling training as soldiers and fighter pilots. Malek invites Soran to Dis to secure an alliance—and to tempt him with promises of power.
Sexy and violent, with great battles in a beautiful cloud city, Hawke’s work has been described as dark, bloody, and thought-provoking. Salvation should appeal to readers of gay fiction and stories involving men loving men.
Famed gladiator Malek the Destroyer has spent years secretly plotting a revolution against the oppressive Senate that rules his planet. Popular victors who have retired, left the city of Dis, or even apparently died in the arena have secretly trained as Malek’s revolutionary army.
But Malek’s revolution won’t stand a chance if only one city fights it. He reaches out to Soran, leader of the one autonomous city left on the planet, Aerix. Soran leads a caste of Skyknights, starfighter pilots famed for elaborate body modifications that make them nimble fighters and grueling training as soldiers and fighter pilots. Malek invites Soran to Dis to secure an alliance—and to tempt him with promises of power.
358 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2017
2 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
A.M. Hawke
4 books4 followersA. M. Hawke lives in the Washington, DC, area where she works as a peer mentor and advocate for people with disabilities. She has a master’s degree in philosophy from Georgetown University, but has always returned to her passion for writing. When not writing, she can be found gaming, seeking out new restaurants to try, or hanging out at a local coffee shop on Saturday mornings.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 2, 2017
A Joyfully Jay review.
3.75 stars
Salvation, the first in a new duology, was something of a conundrum to review. On the one hand, it’s a jumbled mess of info dumps, awkward relationships, and uneven plots. On the other hand, it’s a pretty darn enjoyable to read. Let’s start with the good stuff. Both Soran and Malek are compelling characters and while we aren’t given a truly full picture of either, we have enough to understand that both are strong, prideful, and determined. They usually do well together, though most of their courtship seems to involve attacking one another on a regular basis. Their romance is less about warmth and more about two brutal men breaking the other down. So there isn’t much by way of tenderness, but you don’t expect it. There is also a climatic battle scene in the last third of the book that is well written and truly engaging. It is fast paced and described in such a way that the reader is placed in the center of the action. This was easily the highlight of the book.
Now for the downsides. From page one we are left stumbling to catch up with a story that already seems in progress. There are landfills of information early on, but they often fail to clarify confusing points or just repeat previously given details. As a reader I was pretty adrift for the first few chapters and there were always gaps where I felt I didn’t quite know what was happening. There are secondary scenes that are odd or jarring and don’t seem to fit with the wider story. They tend to distract from the rest of the plot and while the author does a decent job of bringing it all together by the end, it reads like a chaotic mess for the rest of the time. While I enjoy Malek and Soran together, there is a jaggedness to their relationship that doesn’t always work. Because they are so vicious with one another most of the time, when they attempt softness it comes off as uneven and forced. It’s almost like the author couldn’t quite decide what kind of relationship that Soran and Malek should actually have. This doesn’t happen often and their partnership flows most of the time.
Read Sue’s review in its entirety here.
3.75 stars
Salvation, the first in a new duology, was something of a conundrum to review. On the one hand, it’s a jumbled mess of info dumps, awkward relationships, and uneven plots. On the other hand, it’s a pretty darn enjoyable to read. Let’s start with the good stuff. Both Soran and Malek are compelling characters and while we aren’t given a truly full picture of either, we have enough to understand that both are strong, prideful, and determined. They usually do well together, though most of their courtship seems to involve attacking one another on a regular basis. Their romance is less about warmth and more about two brutal men breaking the other down. So there isn’t much by way of tenderness, but you don’t expect it. There is also a climatic battle scene in the last third of the book that is well written and truly engaging. It is fast paced and described in such a way that the reader is placed in the center of the action. This was easily the highlight of the book.
Now for the downsides. From page one we are left stumbling to catch up with a story that already seems in progress. There are landfills of information early on, but they often fail to clarify confusing points or just repeat previously given details. As a reader I was pretty adrift for the first few chapters and there were always gaps where I felt I didn’t quite know what was happening. There are secondary scenes that are odd or jarring and don’t seem to fit with the wider story. They tend to distract from the rest of the plot and while the author does a decent job of bringing it all together by the end, it reads like a chaotic mess for the rest of the time. While I enjoy Malek and Soran together, there is a jaggedness to their relationship that doesn’t always work. Because they are so vicious with one another most of the time, when they attempt softness it comes off as uneven and forced. It’s almost like the author couldn’t quite decide what kind of relationship that Soran and Malek should actually have. This doesn’t happen often and their partnership flows most of the time.
Read Sue’s review in its entirety here.
February 2, 2018
"Salvation" had and abrupt start that got the action going immediately.
I've read that the author is a Transformers fan. Being one myself, I was quick to find parallels to the Transformers universe. Like Megatron, Malek is a gladiator who is organizing an uprising to overthrow the elite. Like Starscream, Soran is an intelligent, cunning "lord of the sky" who becomes fascinated by the power Malek represents. (He even screeches orders to his underlings! Nice touch.)
On that same line, the dynamic of Malek and Soran's relationship is that of a power play. It's physically abusive and moderately manipulative, but they're both into it, so it's not entirely uncomfortable to read. That said, there is some blood-play between them, which made me wince a bit. You get your first taste of it right at the start, though, so it's not something that will jump out and surprise you once you're invested.
There was one particular word choice that would jerk me out of the story every damn time, though: "Snickered". When Soran snickers, it matches his personality. When Malek snickers, it... I don't know. It just didn't fit. He's a tough, serious, brute-force beast. I imagined him as having a deep, rumbling voice, with a presence both proud and poised. Yet every time he was described as snickering, the old cartoon character Muttley popped into my mind, which absolutely destroyed my mental image of him. Malek stuck me more as someone who would chuckle, or maybe even guffaw when the right mood struck him. But not snicker. I don't know what that bothered me so much, but holy crap, I just dedicated a whole paragraph to how much it did. So there you go.
Moving on to the characters themselves, I'll be brutally honest: I found Malek to be unlikeable, and the side characters to be woefully forgettable. On the bright side, Soran was an absolute gem. I wish more time had been spent on developing him, or at least on the development of his relationship with Malek. Their interactions seemed kind of rushed in comparison to everything else, which was a shame, since their interactions were what kept me reading.
Over all, this isn't the sort of book you can't put down, but it is the sort of book you keep coming back to. I liked it, and I'd like to read the second novel, but it's not something I'll be impatient over.
I've read that the author is a Transformers fan. Being one myself, I was quick to find parallels to the Transformers universe. Like Megatron, Malek is a gladiator who is organizing an uprising to overthrow the elite. Like Starscream, Soran is an intelligent, cunning "lord of the sky" who becomes fascinated by the power Malek represents. (He even screeches orders to his underlings! Nice touch.)
On that same line, the dynamic of Malek and Soran's relationship is that of a power play. It's physically abusive and moderately manipulative, but they're both into it, so it's not entirely uncomfortable to read. That said, there is some blood-play between them, which made me wince a bit. You get your first taste of it right at the start, though, so it's not something that will jump out and surprise you once you're invested.
There was one particular word choice that would jerk me out of the story every damn time, though: "Snickered". When Soran snickers, it matches his personality. When Malek snickers, it... I don't know. It just didn't fit. He's a tough, serious, brute-force beast. I imagined him as having a deep, rumbling voice, with a presence both proud and poised. Yet every time he was described as snickering, the old cartoon character Muttley popped into my mind, which absolutely destroyed my mental image of him. Malek stuck me more as someone who would chuckle, or maybe even guffaw when the right mood struck him. But not snicker. I don't know what that bothered me so much, but holy crap, I just dedicated a whole paragraph to how much it did. So there you go.
Moving on to the characters themselves, I'll be brutally honest: I found Malek to be unlikeable, and the side characters to be woefully forgettable. On the bright side, Soran was an absolute gem. I wish more time had been spent on developing him, or at least on the development of his relationship with Malek. Their interactions seemed kind of rushed in comparison to everything else, which was a shame, since their interactions were what kept me reading.
Over all, this isn't the sort of book you can't put down, but it is the sort of book you keep coming back to. I liked it, and I'd like to read the second novel, but it's not something I'll be impatient over.
September 3, 2017
The universe that this story is set in reminded me of the Red Rising series, with the interplanetary travel, politics, war, and different classes.
The story was good, but in the first half it felt like pages or chapters are missing. When the book starts and you meet Malek and Soran, it feels like you began at chapter 2 or 3 and missed something before this. The dynamic between the two of them could also have been drawn out to create more anticipation. Without more pages to flesh things out, you're immediately thrown into trying to understand the conflict happening, and the "romance" (for lack of a better word) is too obvious and comes on too quickly. The battle scenes were excellent though!
The story was good, but in the first half it felt like pages or chapters are missing. When the book starts and you meet Malek and Soran, it feels like you began at chapter 2 or 3 and missed something before this. The dynamic between the two of them could also have been drawn out to create more anticipation. Without more pages to flesh things out, you're immediately thrown into trying to understand the conflict happening, and the "romance" (for lack of a better word) is too obvious and comes on too quickly. The battle scenes were excellent though!
December 4, 2017
2017 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Salvation (Dawn of War #1) A.M. Hawke
1)A.M. Hawke has created an interesting society with her detailed world building and her fully realised MCs and supporting cast made me care enough about them to want to know what happens to them, their hopes and dreams as this series develops.
2) It took me a while to get into the story, but once I was, I was hooked. Interesting worldbuilding which is very political. The characters are complex, as is the plot, and I liked the fact it wasn't stereotypical in any way. I also liked the way it didn't shy away from the realities of war, and the battlefield. The ending gives the impression that this is just the beginning.
1)A.M. Hawke has created an interesting society with her detailed world building and her fully realised MCs and supporting cast made me care enough about them to want to know what happens to them, their hopes and dreams as this series develops.
2) It took me a while to get into the story, but once I was, I was hooked. Interesting worldbuilding which is very political. The characters are complex, as is the plot, and I liked the fact it wasn't stereotypical in any way. I also liked the way it didn't shy away from the realities of war, and the battlefield. The ending gives the impression that this is just the beginning.
October 29, 2018
It took me a while to get into the story, but once I was, I was hooked. Interesting worldbuilding which is very political. The characters are complex, as is the plot, and I liked the fact it wasn't stereotypical in any way. I also liked the way it didn't shy away from the realities of war, and the battlefield. The ending gives the impression that this is just the beginning.
More detailed review to come.
More detailed review to come.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews