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Class 5 #4
Dark Matters
DARK MATTERS . . . taking matters into her own hands
A time bomb, waiting to go off . . .
Lucy Harris is on the run, not sure where she can turn to for help, or if help is even available. But even as her abductors chase her down, she realizes they don't just want to recapture her, they want to erase her.
When your very existence puts a planet at the risk of war, there's no choice but to do everything in your power to stay out of your enemies hands.
A predator . . . waiting for the chance to pounce
The powerful AI battleship, Bane, is accompanying the United Council envoy to Tecra to mete out the punishment the Tecrans have earned for breaking UC law. He revels in the power he's about to have over his old masters. But his mission isn't only to rain down retribution on the people who kept him chained for years, he's also looking for a human woman his fellow Class 5 thinking system mentioned in the final seconds of his life. Paxe admitted to taking Lucy Harris from Earth, and Bane has been looking for her ever since.
A warrior conflicted . . .
Commander Dray Helvan thinks the Grih made a mistake in not pushing for war with the Tecran, but he's had to accept the compromise, that he and the other envoys from the United Council will go to Tecra and dismantle its military from the top down. His mission is not one of his choosing, but when he and his team arrive, he's handed a very different job. While he distrusts Bane on principle, when the thinking system tells him there's a woman running for her life on the planet below, he will do whatever he has to to see her safe. And if that means war for Tecra, well, then it means war.
This is book 4 in the award-winning Class 5 series.
A time bomb, waiting to go off . . .
Lucy Harris is on the run, not sure where she can turn to for help, or if help is even available. But even as her abductors chase her down, she realizes they don't just want to recapture her, they want to erase her.
When your very existence puts a planet at the risk of war, there's no choice but to do everything in your power to stay out of your enemies hands.
A predator . . . waiting for the chance to pounce
The powerful AI battleship, Bane, is accompanying the United Council envoy to Tecra to mete out the punishment the Tecrans have earned for breaking UC law. He revels in the power he's about to have over his old masters. But his mission isn't only to rain down retribution on the people who kept him chained for years, he's also looking for a human woman his fellow Class 5 thinking system mentioned in the final seconds of his life. Paxe admitted to taking Lucy Harris from Earth, and Bane has been looking for her ever since.
A warrior conflicted . . .
Commander Dray Helvan thinks the Grih made a mistake in not pushing for war with the Tecran, but he's had to accept the compromise, that he and the other envoys from the United Council will go to Tecra and dismantle its military from the top down. His mission is not one of his choosing, but when he and his team arrive, he's handed a very different job. While he distrusts Bane on principle, when the thinking system tells him there's a woman running for her life on the planet below, he will do whatever he has to to see her safe. And if that means war for Tecra, well, then it means war.
This is book 4 in the award-winning Class 5 series.
321 pages, ebook
First published October 15, 2019
478 people are currently reading
338 people want to read
About the author
Michelle Diener
60 books1,921 followersMichelle Diener is a bestselling, award-winning author of historical fiction, science fiction and fantasy. Having worked in publishing and IT, she's now very happy crafting new worlds and interesting characters.
Michelle was born in London and currently lives in Australia with her husband and two children.
When she's not writing, or driving her kids from activity to activity, you can find her online at Twitter and Facebook.
Michelle was born in London and currently lives in Australia with her husband and two children.
When she's not writing, or driving her kids from activity to activity, you can find her online at Twitter and Facebook.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews
August 6, 2022
After 4 books of the same dish I got seriously bored. (Well, not really. It was fun, still…: All the women, the ships and the men sound the same, the romance aren't real, and the stories go nowhere.)
I get that elfs sound sexy, insects don't. But a copy of the same couple for 4 books is a little too much. This series has always been (very) shallow (on all counts), but I think this book was my breaking point. As if the change of scenery was supposed to be enough. :)
And after I read it a second time I realised being shallow is not only a personal nit, but it hints at bigger problem: homogenisation (which smacks of colonisation). All the MC are white, in all the galaxies the good guys looks the same (tall, white, “american”) and act the same, even sexually (and totally stupidly too, not a thought to safe sex or birth control. And safe sex when the other is alien should be foremost in your mind..).
Yes this is futuristic romance, it has nothing to do with Sci-Fi. Still. Don’t we deserve at least a little bit of, let’s say, excitement... Something new, something real (at least something real-sounding :D)😎
Kissing is mostly a European habit (one that is now seen everywhere, but is a form (ok a nice one) of colonisation). Until last century it wasn’t that common. But hey in space everybody know how to kiss 🤣
Racism is racism even when the Other is looking like an ugly bird. But when you write all, and I mean all, people from a race as bad (cowards, stupid, liars, traitors, violent or all of the above), you are just writing in a way that smacks of racism. And I’m not joking, the least “bad” thing they do is turning the other way (rather than selling her out). The “best” of them give them some money and wash their hands of her.
So I had fun, but it wasn’t fun enough to turn my mind off…
I get that elfs sound sexy, insects don't. But a copy of the same couple for 4 books is a little too much. This series has always been (very) shallow (on all counts), but I think this book was my breaking point. As if the change of scenery was supposed to be enough. :)
And after I read it a second time I realised being shallow is not only a personal nit, but it hints at bigger problem: homogenisation (which smacks of colonisation). All the MC are white, in all the galaxies the good guys looks the same (tall, white, “american”) and act the same, even sexually (and totally stupidly too, not a thought to safe sex or birth control. And safe sex when the other is alien should be foremost in your mind..).
Yes this is futuristic romance, it has nothing to do with Sci-Fi. Still. Don’t we deserve at least a little bit of, let’s say, excitement... Something new, something real (at least something real-sounding :D)😎
Kissing is mostly a European habit (one that is now seen everywhere, but is a form (ok a nice one) of colonisation). Until last century it wasn’t that common. But hey in space everybody know how to kiss 🤣
Racism is racism even when the Other is looking like an ugly bird. But when you write all, and I mean all, people from a race as bad (cowards, stupid, liars, traitors, violent or all of the above), you are just writing in a way that smacks of racism. And I’m not joking, the least “bad” thing they do is turning the other way (rather than selling her out). The “best” of them give them some money and wash their hands of her.
So I had fun, but it wasn’t fun enough to turn my mind off…
August 7, 2022
This is fourth in a sci-fi fantasy romance series and it's fairly well self-contained. Characters from the others show up, but any backstory necessary is presented here just fine. So you could skip those and read this one first, but I have no idea why you'd want to.
I didn't realize how important the plot was to these books until we got to this one where the plot sucks. None of the broader movements make any sense whatsoever, starting with the Tecran reception of the UC diplomatic mission and going from there. Spoilers for the whole stupid thing will be big in this and I'm not going to bother with tags because a) they're stupid and b) they aren't subtle, like, at all, so it's exactly what you think it is.
This whole plot hinges on a leadership cabal that wants to start a war with the UC. Not only have they lost their biggest war assets, but four out of the five are on the other side (the fifth is dead). How, exactly, did they think that war was going to go? This is so stupid, I just can't even.
But it's worse than that, even. Because if they seriously didn't care about starting a war, then what they heck are they doing putzing around with Lucy? She's their captive off and on for pretty much the entire story, some of it far enough away that body disposal wouldn't be an issue. So why aren't they just killing her, again? It's played off as underlings not having clear orders to do so, but that just begs the question of why don't they? I mean, her being alive is the single biggest threat to them starting their little war off on the wrong footing (with an angry home populace and their own people turning on them).
Only their own people are pretty universally venal cowards as we get to know a swath of them in this story as Lucy bounces around in her escaped moments. Not one of them helps her in any meaningful way, and a significant portion of them try to exploit her for their own gain.
So the motivations are stupid and there's really no saving them, but worse is that the entire story takes place on the Tecran homeworld so the scope is narrower than all of the other stories, too. There's no wonder. There's no moments of peace drifting through space. There's no getting to know other interesting people. It's all Tecrans and their bleak little planet full of venal, stupid people.
And I couldn't help feeling like this diplomatic mission was full of the most useless people possible, while we were at it. I mean, one of their leaders goes missing for days and they're doing what, exactly? The Tecrans, who have violated every one of their treaties, aren't even pretending to uphold their latest agreement and they're all "let's talk about this with them"? Look, if you make an agreement to avoid a war and the other side doesn't bother doing anything to uphold it, they've effectively called your bluff. What the heck are you doing futzing around with meetings when your best option is letting Bane off his leash and having him stomp the local military ships out of existence as a starting point for them getting serious about the whole "not going to war" thing they agreed to?
So yeah, I finished this story on inertia and because I still like the gumption of the heroine. And I liked Lucy in her own right. I liked how she never stopped working the bad guys over and I liked seeing her turning her therapist powers on her captors and sowing division among them. Dray was kind of a loss, though. He spends way too much of this story captured or unconscious.
I talked myself down to two stars while writing this review. I was going to give it three for a not-completely-botched ending, but I'm pretty sure that felt good only in comparison to all the preceding suck. It was a contrast issue and I'm thinking I'm not interested in rewarding mediocrity.
A note about Steamy: There's attraction. And we get some sex at one point. But we only see the initial disrobing and foreplay so it's a really light steam. Barely any at all.
I didn't realize how important the plot was to these books until we got to this one where the plot sucks. None of the broader movements make any sense whatsoever, starting with the Tecran reception of the UC diplomatic mission and going from there. Spoilers for the whole stupid thing will be big in this and I'm not going to bother with tags because a) they're stupid and b) they aren't subtle, like, at all, so it's exactly what you think it is.
This whole plot hinges on a leadership cabal that wants to start a war with the UC. Not only have they lost their biggest war assets, but four out of the five are on the other side (the fifth is dead). How, exactly, did they think that war was going to go? This is so stupid, I just can't even.
But it's worse than that, even. Because if they seriously didn't care about starting a war, then what they heck are they doing putzing around with Lucy? She's their captive off and on for pretty much the entire story, some of it far enough away that body disposal wouldn't be an issue. So why aren't they just killing her, again? It's played off as underlings not having clear orders to do so, but that just begs the question of why don't they? I mean, her being alive is the single biggest threat to them starting their little war off on the wrong footing (with an angry home populace and their own people turning on them).
Only their own people are pretty universally venal cowards as we get to know a swath of them in this story as Lucy bounces around in her escaped moments. Not one of them helps her in any meaningful way, and a significant portion of them try to exploit her for their own gain.
So the motivations are stupid and there's really no saving them, but worse is that the entire story takes place on the Tecran homeworld so the scope is narrower than all of the other stories, too. There's no wonder. There's no moments of peace drifting through space. There's no getting to know other interesting people. It's all Tecrans and their bleak little planet full of venal, stupid people.
And I couldn't help feeling like this diplomatic mission was full of the most useless people possible, while we were at it. I mean, one of their leaders goes missing for days and they're doing what, exactly? The Tecrans, who have violated every one of their treaties, aren't even pretending to uphold their latest agreement and they're all "let's talk about this with them"? Look, if you make an agreement to avoid a war and the other side doesn't bother doing anything to uphold it, they've effectively called your bluff. What the heck are you doing futzing around with meetings when your best option is letting Bane off his leash and having him stomp the local military ships out of existence as a starting point for them getting serious about the whole "not going to war" thing they agreed to?
So yeah, I finished this story on inertia and because I still like the gumption of the heroine. And I liked Lucy in her own right. I liked how she never stopped working the bad guys over and I liked seeing her turning her therapist powers on her captors and sowing division among them. Dray was kind of a loss, though. He spends way too much of this story captured or unconscious.
I talked myself down to two stars while writing this review. I was going to give it three for a not-completely-botched ending, but I'm pretty sure that felt good only in comparison to all the preceding suck. It was a contrast issue and I'm thinking I'm not interested in rewarding mediocrity.
A note about Steamy: There's attraction. And we get some sex at one point. But we only see the initial disrobing and foreplay so it's a really light steam. Barely any at all.
October 19, 2023
Through 98% of this book the story was absolute page-turning, nail-biting perfection! It was intelligent, exciting, endearing… basically every single thing one is looking for in an action-packed sic-fi with a touch of romance! That last two percent, though, *sigh* is the most infuriating, disappointing ending in the WORLD! It is so abrupt that it leaves most of the major threads hanging with no way to tie them up and answer the burning questions every reader is asking (the next book is about a completely different woman and storyline)!
All the excitement revolves around Lucy being hidden by the Tecran’s on their own planet, then their attempts to kill her to hide what they have done as she frantically tries to run and survive. The twists and turns are genius and absolutely un-put-downable as the tension ratchets up and Commander Dray, the Grih and the entire United Council discovers what is going on.
After devouring the entire book and witnessing the horrible atrocities the Tecran’s are willing to commit, however, the reader is left with absolutely NO idea what consequences they will face! Seriously! We jump from Lucy in the room telling her story to her sitting with the other earth women enjoying time together. The end! So what the heck happened to the Tecran’s? We NEED to see some serious consequences! We NEED justice!! But, the rest was just so dang good!
All the excitement revolves around Lucy being hidden by the Tecran’s on their own planet, then their attempts to kill her to hide what they have done as she frantically tries to run and survive. The twists and turns are genius and absolutely un-put-downable as the tension ratchets up and Commander Dray, the Grih and the entire United Council discovers what is going on.
After devouring the entire book and witnessing the horrible atrocities the Tecran’s are willing to commit, however, the reader is left with absolutely NO idea what consequences they will face! Seriously! We jump from Lucy in the room telling her story to her sitting with the other earth women enjoying time together. The end! So what the heck happened to the Tecran’s? We NEED to see some serious consequences! We NEED justice!! But, the rest was just so dang good!
October 24, 2019
I loved the previous 4 books and I liked this one too just not as much! LOL
Who's my favorit character here? But Bane, of course! Because I just LOVE the Class 5 ships! ;-)
Lucy and Drey are OK, I just couldn't see their love here. To me it seems like more a scratch-an-itch type of relationship than love! Lucy is fascinated by Drey because he resembles an elf, while Drey is attracted to Lucy because she's human and can sing. And that's the foundation of their "love"... Meh...
Apart Bane I liked here the action parts. And I liked that the UC wanted a peaceful resolution and not war with Tecrans, but I think they were too lenient with the military and politicians who did everything to sabotage them!
And, I found that there was not a satisfactory ending. The Tecran's military and politicians get only a slap after having betrayed, lied and incited the revolt! Why just a slap?!!!
What happens next? It's just left hanging... I hope MD will right some resolution in the next book...
Who's my favorit character here? But Bane, of course! Because I just LOVE the Class 5 ships! ;-)
Lucy and Drey are OK, I just couldn't see their love here. To me it seems like more a scratch-an-itch type of relationship than love! Lucy is fascinated by Drey because he resembles an elf, while Drey is attracted to Lucy because she's human and can sing. And that's the foundation of their "love"... Meh...
Apart Bane I liked here the action parts. And I liked that the UC wanted a peaceful resolution and not war with Tecrans, but I think they were too lenient with the military and politicians who did everything to sabotage them!
And, I found that there was not a satisfactory ending. The Tecran's military and politicians get only a slap after having betrayed, lied and incited the revolt! Why just a slap?!!!
What happens next? It's just left hanging... I hope MD will right some resolution in the next book...
May 14, 2021
2.75
Well... the book isn't bad per say... its just that I feel like I've re-read the same step-by-step story with similar elements now for the 4th time:
*Earth woman falls for hot elf looking Grih guy in a matter of days
*obsessed with grinabo
*gets unique weapon from Thinking System
*Thinking system is obsessed with Earth woman
*Earth woman gets captured and re-captured by inept bad guys at least twice
*Everyone sings and is worshiped for it
*Earth woman can magically speak an alien language fluently after only a few months
*Repeated mentioning of the name Rose McKenzie
I thought the 3rd book was the last one, and I felt like this new book didn't really add anything interesting story or character wise. I like the original premise, and gave the first book 4 stars, but like I said it just the same premise with an inter-changable Earth woman, a different Grih military guy, a different thinking system. Also, the romance was a bit ho hum for moi.
I did like the Lucy really didn't take any shit though.
But like I said I guess I wanted something more than just a rehashing of the same story with differently named leads
Well... the book isn't bad per say... its just that I feel like I've re-read the same step-by-step story with similar elements now for the 4th time:
*Earth woman falls for hot elf looking Grih guy in a matter of days
*obsessed with grinabo
*gets unique weapon from Thinking System
*Thinking system is obsessed with Earth woman
*Earth woman gets captured and re-captured by inept bad guys at least twice
*Everyone sings and is worshiped for it
*Earth woman can magically speak an alien language fluently after only a few months
*Repeated mentioning of the name Rose McKenzie
I thought the 3rd book was the last one, and I felt like this new book didn't really add anything interesting story or character wise. I like the original premise, and gave the first book 4 stars, but like I said it just the same premise with an inter-changable Earth woman, a different Grih military guy, a different thinking system. Also, the romance was a bit ho hum for moi.
I did like the Lucy really didn't take any shit though.
"Lucy had made a decision not to apologize for anything that had been done to her, and so she met the ambassador's gaze without wavering."
But like I said I guess I wanted something more than just a rehashing of the same story with differently named leads
October 20, 2023
I have to admit I absolutely love this sci-fi romance series. It had the perfect blend of action, intrigue, romance, humour, and cool alien sci-fi technology. Combine that with Michelle Diener’s engaging writing style and the easy to root for characters and it always delivers a satisfying tale!
This series is sci-fi adventure romance. I think of it as a sort of mix of Star Trek and a regular tame romance series. It is a blend that really works for me! The aliens are very Trek like with them being very similar to humans and the United Council has the feel of the Federation about it.
This 4th instalment followed the regular format of the series with the added twist that it was mostly set on Tecra rather than a space ship. It was an interesting twist as we got to learn a bit more about the Tecron and finally even met a few female Tecron! It was an interesting time on the planet with them dealing with the fallout of the original trilogy and the government and military on Tecra conceding to UC oversight rather than war and expulsion from the UC. The story picked up just as the first UC team was arriving on planet. Of course things soon complicated when it quickly became apparent the Tecrans had been secretly keeping a 4th Earth women in a military facility on the planet!
As always the characters were very easy to root for. Lucy and Dray were a likeable duo and Bane, despite the ominous name, has always been one of the more easygoing Thinking Systems despite his refusal to join with the Grih like the others!
The story was fun. Despite being held on Tecra Lucy was not actually treated as poorly as the previous Earth women but still had to run for her life when the Tecran military decided to eliminate her before the UC delegation found out she was there and complicated things even further. For Dray Helvan, the lead Grih UC member, Lucy’s presence was an unexpected complication in an already tense situation as the UC team had to start the oversight on Tecra while juggling the fact that Bane (decidedly not a fan of the Tecrans and with no Rose in sight to temper him) had decided to accompany the team to keep a better eye on the Tecrans and their willingness to comply with UC demands.
The romance was pretty fun. Dray and Lucy were easy to root for when circumstances flung them together.
All in all this was a fun new instalment in the Class 5 series. Which definitely ranks as my absolute favourite sci-romance series and just one of my favourite regular romance series ever.
Rating: 5 stars. Not quite perfect but close enough! An easy rating considering I could barely stop listening to the story from start to finish.
Audio Note: Christina Delaine did as good job with the audio as she has done with the previous books in this series.
This series is sci-fi adventure romance. I think of it as a sort of mix of Star Trek and a regular tame romance series. It is a blend that really works for me! The aliens are very Trek like with them being very similar to humans and the United Council has the feel of the Federation about it.
This 4th instalment followed the regular format of the series with the added twist that it was mostly set on Tecra rather than a space ship. It was an interesting twist as we got to learn a bit more about the Tecron and finally even met a few female Tecron! It was an interesting time on the planet with them dealing with the fallout of the original trilogy and the government and military on Tecra conceding to UC oversight rather than war and expulsion from the UC. The story picked up just as the first UC team was arriving on planet. Of course things soon complicated when it quickly became apparent the Tecrans had been secretly keeping a 4th Earth women in a military facility on the planet!
As always the characters were very easy to root for. Lucy and Dray were a likeable duo and Bane, despite the ominous name, has always been one of the more easygoing Thinking Systems despite his refusal to join with the Grih like the others!
The story was fun. Despite being held on Tecra Lucy was not actually treated as poorly as the previous Earth women but still had to run for her life when the Tecran military decided to eliminate her before the UC delegation found out she was there and complicated things even further. For Dray Helvan, the lead Grih UC member, Lucy’s presence was an unexpected complication in an already tense situation as the UC team had to start the oversight on Tecra while juggling the fact that Bane (decidedly not a fan of the Tecrans and with no Rose in sight to temper him) had decided to accompany the team to keep a better eye on the Tecrans and their willingness to comply with UC demands.
The romance was pretty fun. Dray and Lucy were easy to root for when circumstances flung them together.
All in all this was a fun new instalment in the Class 5 series. Which definitely ranks as my absolute favourite sci-romance series and just one of my favourite regular romance series ever.
Rating: 5 stars. Not quite perfect but close enough! An easy rating considering I could barely stop listening to the story from start to finish.
Audio Note: Christina Delaine did as good job with the audio as she has done with the previous books in this series.
January 2, 2020
.
Lucy is the last human woman abducted by the Tecran and Bane is on a mission to rescue her. He is the neutral thinking system (AI) sent to Tecra with ambassadors from all the other alien members of the United Council. Dray is the military member of the Grih members of the mission.
But only Bane knows about Lucy.
The Tecran military know the UC is coming and need to make Lucy disappear before they arrive... Easier said than done though.
In the book we learn more about the Tecran and it's not all bad.
There's more intrigue, more gripping action, and more romance (although it's a smaller part of the story like the other books in the series).
I had a hard time putting this one down and wish it was available in audio like the first 3.
Safety is fine
Lucy is the last human woman abducted by the Tecran and Bane is on a mission to rescue her. He is the neutral thinking system (AI) sent to Tecra with ambassadors from all the other alien members of the United Council. Dray is the military member of the Grih members of the mission.
But only Bane knows about Lucy.
The Tecran military know the UC is coming and need to make Lucy disappear before they arrive... Easier said than done though.
In the book we learn more about the Tecran and it's not all bad.
There's more intrigue, more gripping action, and more romance (although it's a smaller part of the story like the other books in the series).
I had a hard time putting this one down and wish it was available in audio like the first 3.
Safety is fine
October 12, 2019
OK, let me make sure everyone knows I love this series and have given 5 Stars to the previous 3 books but while this one was a 5 Star action story, I have to admit the horrible "insta-love" was just a bit overdone here so overall I gave it 4 Stars.
So with that out of the way we had a hint at the end of the last book that there was one more Earth woman to find and so this is her story and a great story it is, political intrigue, action, sorta romance (just to make the main 2 characters react as lovers), a class 5 of course and a great story that you just was sure was about to end and off it goes again.
This was a bit different story than the others and it also has an ending that does not really give us any hint of another book so not sure if there will be anymore or not but I loved this one but the instant romance took me out of the story a time or 2 so a 4+ but rounded down to 4.
So with that out of the way we had a hint at the end of the last book that there was one more Earth woman to find and so this is her story and a great story it is, political intrigue, action, sorta romance (just to make the main 2 characters react as lovers), a class 5 of course and a great story that you just was sure was about to end and off it goes again.
This was a bit different story than the others and it also has an ending that does not really give us any hint of another book so not sure if there will be anymore or not but I loved this one but the instant romance took me out of the story a time or 2 so a 4+ but rounded down to 4.
October 15, 2019
Well it looks like the Tecram are really in a pickle now as the United Council have realised just how insidious their actions have been. Stealing alien technology and even humans is something that cannot go unpunished. Lucy has been a prisoner of the Tecrans for months, treated with contempt by many and suspicion by others yet as those in power seek to eliminate the threat her existence poses she takes the chance to escape.
Dray hadn't really trusted the Tecram yet finds himself part of the diplomatic mission to their home planet. What he hadn't expected was for Bane the powerful Class 5 battleship to contact him. Finding out that Lucy really does exist means Dray is desperate to find and free her but with warmongers determined to kill Lucy can Dray really get her out of there ?
I love this series and in this book we really got to know the AI Bane. I freely admit he's my favourite character here as he's given a presence throughout this story that felt real. Yes I know AI means artificial intelligence but honestly it should be angry intelligence because Bane is no passive pushover but a true war machine. Although I will say there's humour written into him as well and at times he reminded me of a curious child.
This author seems to excel at giving us heroines that are bright and brave and Lucy is no exception. Sadly for this reader Dray just didn't quite hit the mark but I could understand the attraction because from his description I was picturing Channing Tatum in Jupiter Ascending with his cute ears ! Yes there's romance that is probably too quick for many but I could understand that Lucy is unlike any female Dray has seen and for Lucy to finally have an ally would be pure heaven. Possibly more lust than love but I believe the couple could develop love between them given the mutual attraction and respect. It doesn't look as if there are any more books in this series planned but it certainly has been interesting, inventive and fun !
This voluntary take is of an advanced copy and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair.
Dray hadn't really trusted the Tecram yet finds himself part of the diplomatic mission to their home planet. What he hadn't expected was for Bane the powerful Class 5 battleship to contact him. Finding out that Lucy really does exist means Dray is desperate to find and free her but with warmongers determined to kill Lucy can Dray really get her out of there ?
I love this series and in this book we really got to know the AI Bane. I freely admit he's my favourite character here as he's given a presence throughout this story that felt real. Yes I know AI means artificial intelligence but honestly it should be angry intelligence because Bane is no passive pushover but a true war machine. Although I will say there's humour written into him as well and at times he reminded me of a curious child.
This author seems to excel at giving us heroines that are bright and brave and Lucy is no exception. Sadly for this reader Dray just didn't quite hit the mark but I could understand the attraction because from his description I was picturing Channing Tatum in Jupiter Ascending with his cute ears ! Yes there's romance that is probably too quick for many but I could understand that Lucy is unlike any female Dray has seen and for Lucy to finally have an ally would be pure heaven. Possibly more lust than love but I believe the couple could develop love between them given the mutual attraction and respect. It doesn't look as if there are any more books in this series planned but it certainly has been interesting, inventive and fun !
This voluntary take is of an advanced copy and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair.
November 11, 2024
Commander Dray Helvan is on the envoy to Tecra to enforce the demobilization of their military following the breach of United Council law. Bane, a AI battleship, is also coming and he has a reliable rumor that Lucy Harris, another Earth woman, and final proof that the Tecrans have repeatedly lied and broken the law is alive. Lucy was spirited out of the research facility where she was kept... but now she's on the run in a foreign planet without anyone to trust.
Why I started this book: Another Class 5 book? Yes, please. This is a silly space opera series that brings me so much joy. I can't explain it, and I don't have to.
Why I finished it: Not my favorite, maybe because there was so much more on planet? And it was a very abrupt end... but like they say "A bad day on the golf course is better than a good day at the office."
Why I started this book: Another Class 5 book? Yes, please. This is a silly space opera series that brings me so much joy. I can't explain it, and I don't have to.
Why I finished it: Not my favorite, maybe because there was so much more on planet? And it was a very abrupt end... but like they say "A bad day on the golf course is better than a good day at the office."
October 22, 2019
I was thrilled when I saw this was released --total surprise! I had felt that the series was not quite "done".
But this one is not in the same class as the first 3.
There were missing scenes that would have made the book better.
Parts were really good, parts were missing, parts just meh for me.
I did like seeing some of the other aliens having better personalities.
Read it if you like the first 3, worth it.
But this one is not in the same class as the first 3.
There were missing scenes that would have made the book better.
Parts were really good, parts were missing, parts just meh for me.
I did like seeing some of the other aliens having better personalities.
Read it if you like the first 3, worth it.
April 12, 2025
Third read 4/10/25:
I love this book just as much the third time as I did the first two. Fabulous series!
Review from 7/13/24:
Action-packed fourth book in a wonderful SF-romance series
Lucy starts out a bit disoriented and naive at the beginning of the book, but she rapidly picks up speed and becomes as strong an FMC as Rose from Book 1, Fiona of Book 2, and Imogen of Book 3. I love her friendship with the AI AKA "thinking system" named Bane. Up until this point, Bane has been a detached, free agent, and I found it extremely satisfying that he gets strongly involved in rescuing one of the Earth women kidnapped by the evil Tecran. As is the case throughout this series, this book offers the dual POV of the FMC and the MMC. Unlike the MMCs of Books 1-3, the MMC, Dray, is not a spaceship captain, but he is a military officer of very high rank and, similar to all of the MMCs in this series, he is one of the Grih, an alien species who look exactly like humans from Earth except for pointed elf ears and that they are, on average, about 20% bigger than human beings.
As is the highly entertaining pattern within all of the books in this series, there is plenty of edge-of-the-seat action in this novel, and the romance is endearing. In keeping with the approach to sex throughout this series, there is no sexual activity onstage beyond kissing, with the consummation of the slowburn romantic relationship presented as "closed bedroom door" at the end of the novel. In spite of this PG choice of the author, she provides a satisfying amount of emotional and physical chemistry between these two extremely brave, honorable and compassionate MCs.
For more details about the world-building in this series, see my review of Book 1.
Note that it is important to read these books sequentially because they build upon each other for an overall dramatic arc. The ultimate defeat of the Big Bad does not occur until Book 5. However, each of the five books in this SF-romance series has a satisfying, upbeat ending for the romance.
The audiobook version of this novel is narrated by the very talented voice actor, Christina Delaine. She once again does a terrific job in both her dramatic performance and her quite effective rendition of both male and female voices, as well as the voices of the AI characters.
This is my second read of this novel and it remains a 5-star book for me.
I love this book just as much the third time as I did the first two. Fabulous series!
Review from 7/13/24:
Action-packed fourth book in a wonderful SF-romance series
Lucy starts out a bit disoriented and naive at the beginning of the book, but she rapidly picks up speed and becomes as strong an FMC as Rose from Book 1, Fiona of Book 2, and Imogen of Book 3. I love her friendship with the AI AKA "thinking system" named Bane. Up until this point, Bane has been a detached, free agent, and I found it extremely satisfying that he gets strongly involved in rescuing one of the Earth women kidnapped by the evil Tecran. As is the case throughout this series, this book offers the dual POV of the FMC and the MMC. Unlike the MMCs of Books 1-3, the MMC, Dray, is not a spaceship captain, but he is a military officer of very high rank and, similar to all of the MMCs in this series, he is one of the Grih, an alien species who look exactly like humans from Earth except for pointed elf ears and that they are, on average, about 20% bigger than human beings.
As is the highly entertaining pattern within all of the books in this series, there is plenty of edge-of-the-seat action in this novel, and the romance is endearing. In keeping with the approach to sex throughout this series, there is no sexual activity onstage beyond kissing, with the consummation of the slowburn romantic relationship presented as "closed bedroom door" at the end of the novel. In spite of this PG choice of the author, she provides a satisfying amount of emotional and physical chemistry between these two extremely brave, honorable and compassionate MCs.
For more details about the world-building in this series, see my review of Book 1.
Note that it is important to read these books sequentially because they build upon each other for an overall dramatic arc. The ultimate defeat of the Big Bad does not occur until Book 5. However, each of the five books in this SF-romance series has a satisfying, upbeat ending for the romance.
The audiobook version of this novel is narrated by the very talented voice actor, Christina Delaine. She once again does a terrific job in both her dramatic performance and her quite effective rendition of both male and female voices, as well as the voices of the AI characters.
This is my second read of this novel and it remains a 5-star book for me.
October 18, 2019
To be honest I am disappointed.
I llooooved the first and third of this series.
This book felt a little like series-stretching. Author realized how popular this series was and decided to create
another - but her heart wasn’t in it.
Also - did anyone else think Lucy was an American?
The first three books were all British ladies.
* Rose was on ‘holiday’
* The other women were kidnapped from the same area
* They all sang Frère Jacques
Lucy didn’t seem British at all. “We’re not in Kansas anymore”
This story just seemed.... forced.
Like MD was giving in to someone nagging/begging her.
It was a lot of action. A near constant state of running and hiding. Frequent near death events.
Lots of Tecran being entirely unlikable.
(I was repeatedly thinking “Bane, just get the good guys away and raze the planet of all Tecran”)
But there’s a TON of unanswered questions you never find out. What occurred to Lucy for that month she was in a coma? The scientists got nervous when she asked and avoided answering.
What is going to happen with the Tecran? War? 5 additional years? What?
The romance is nearly non-existent.
And the ending was SO ABRUPT.
Sooooooo freakin abrupt.
Don’t go into this one with high hopes.
I llooooved the first and third of this series.
This book felt a little like series-stretching. Author realized how popular this series was and decided to create
another - but her heart wasn’t in it.
Also - did anyone else think Lucy was an American?
The first three books were all British ladies.
* Rose was on ‘holiday’
* The other women were kidnapped from the same area
* They all sang Frère Jacques
Lucy didn’t seem British at all. “We’re not in Kansas anymore”
This story just seemed.... forced.
Like MD was giving in to someone nagging/begging her.
It was a lot of action. A near constant state of running and hiding. Frequent near death events.
Lots of Tecran being entirely unlikable.
(I was repeatedly thinking “Bane, just get the good guys away and raze the planet of all Tecran”)
But there’s a TON of unanswered questions you never find out. What occurred to Lucy for that month she was in a coma? The scientists got nervous when she asked and avoided answering.
What is going to happen with the Tecran? War? 5 additional years? What?
The romance is nearly non-existent.
And the ending was SO ABRUPT.
Sooooooo freakin abrupt.
Don’t go into this one with high hopes.
October 20, 2019
I discovered this series last week when book 4 was released, I asked some group reader buddies about it and someone said it was good….wrong. Why do I keep taking other random reader group members advice? Let me clarify.
So there are 4 books in this series. And yes, I read all four which is why this review includes brief information about each. Why? Because I wish before I got into a series and became invested someone else would have taken the time to warn other readers.
Spoilers head! Let’s set sail…
Sex…if you like reading it in your SF books, this series isn’t for you. There were like 2 IMPLIED sex scenes, in book 1 and book 4. It’s assumed in 2 and 3 those couples eventually get physical. But there are no actual sex scenes and no desciptions. In book 3 the h even asks if cuddling up to the H is okay! What in the heck… were these books written for children? If anyone tells you these are hot, steamy or romance it’s a lie. The relationships in these books take the absolute back burner. So if you just want SF and it’s okay if there’s a budding relationship, you should be good cause it’s certainly not the focus point.
So apparently the overall arching theme through out this series is that these all powerful battleships have been held captive on a leash, but after getting freedom the human women are the ones to teach them right from wrong and to do no harm. So if you want actual hardcore action and you want these ships to mete out some revenge, it doesn’t happen in these. They get to pew pew pew just a tiny bit here and there. No level of violence or blood that was graphic or descriptive. There’s some fight scenes, but nothing that made me go WHOA or be surprised, all very mild.
I felt like these ships should have been able to really show off their skills.
The series had some word / spelling errors here and there. Book one was the worst, but it wasn’t terrible.
The series as a whole was interesting in the fact that the ships were thinking systems (think artificial intelligence) and developed personalities. I like that it wasn’t another same ol repeated story that’s super common. And overall, the books were pretty well written.
Book 1 3 stars Rose, Dav and Sazo. Probably the best in the series since the ship was most talkative and involved in this one. The ships really ended up becoming the best part even though they didn’t get any real action and she ruined 2 of them in these books.
The sex scene that appeared to be stating just stops with them falling asleep. Later in the story it’s sort of implied that I guess they’ve done the deed at that point, but the romance is totally on the back burner. I hated Hoke, so why does she get glory going forward in this series? She was definitely doing some long game planning. The constant treats on the Barrist Grih ship was annoying. And there were several scenarios where I just thought are you serious right now?
Book 2 gets 2 stars Fiona, Hal and Eazi.
Oh my gosh. Stop calling Fiona FEE in this book. Just use Fi. Readers could have figured out Fiona shortened to Fi would obviously sound like Fee, you didn���t have to act like everyone reading might be stupid. So this was SUPER annoying when it was used.
Secondly, really? You’re just gonna destroy the battle ship of Eazi’s like that? And then he takes over a space station. Pretty lame.
Book 3 Another 2 stars Imogen, Cam and Paxe / Oris
Here we go with the singing obsession again…
At this point the 5 Class 5 ships that are so reveared have been dwindled down to 3 now. And they’ve still got no real action unless you count them being harmed. I think the author wanted to theme teach that these systems could be taught and learn right from wrong by the human womens guidance…was that not one of the points?
Paxe self-destructs in this one. Imogen should have held onto his crystal and still would have got to the maintenance pod. Useless waste of a ship. But the author tried at a weak attempt to make this okay by saying he didn’t like human women at first. Lame.
Book 4 This one gets 2.5 stars cause the heroine wasn't terrible. Lucy, Dray and ship Bane.
Biggest issue with this one, Lucy had two weapons on her when she was snatched AGAIN near the end of the book and had ample opportunity to use them to get away and sits on them. WTF… Also, here comes the Earth women hen house party at the end of the book. They all decide to not go back to Earth for Earth’s safety. Uh, if those ships can hide the data log and know when theyre being followed etc. I’m pretty sure they can get back to Earth without being followed and then delete the log map after coming back. I found it extremely stupid that this wasn’t obvious even though the h’s had good intentions. These civilizations obviously have advanced medical tech. WHY wouldn’t you see about bringing this tech. back to Earth even covertly to help human and animal kind have diseases cured which humans still hadn’t found cures to? And as much as they talked about the food being so bad, why wouldn’t you come get resources from Earth to eat and enjoy? Like since the first 3 books in the series were OBSESSED with music… you could have got some instruments for Imogen.
Sidenote: I guess she attempted to want to make Paxe sound like a bad system/ship since he didn’t like Lucy at first to excuse her decision to end him in book 3.
So would I recommend this series? It’s doubtful.
So there are 4 books in this series. And yes, I read all four which is why this review includes brief information about each. Why? Because I wish before I got into a series and became invested someone else would have taken the time to warn other readers.
Spoilers head! Let’s set sail…
Sex…if you like reading it in your SF books, this series isn’t for you. There were like 2 IMPLIED sex scenes, in book 1 and book 4. It’s assumed in 2 and 3 those couples eventually get physical. But there are no actual sex scenes and no desciptions. In book 3 the h even asks if cuddling up to the H is okay! What in the heck… were these books written for children? If anyone tells you these are hot, steamy or romance it’s a lie. The relationships in these books take the absolute back burner. So if you just want SF and it’s okay if there’s a budding relationship, you should be good cause it’s certainly not the focus point.
So apparently the overall arching theme through out this series is that these all powerful battleships have been held captive on a leash, but after getting freedom the human women are the ones to teach them right from wrong and to do no harm. So if you want actual hardcore action and you want these ships to mete out some revenge, it doesn’t happen in these. They get to pew pew pew just a tiny bit here and there. No level of violence or blood that was graphic or descriptive. There’s some fight scenes, but nothing that made me go WHOA or be surprised, all very mild.
I felt like these ships should have been able to really show off their skills.
The series had some word / spelling errors here and there. Book one was the worst, but it wasn’t terrible.
The series as a whole was interesting in the fact that the ships were thinking systems (think artificial intelligence) and developed personalities. I like that it wasn’t another same ol repeated story that’s super common. And overall, the books were pretty well written.
Book 1 3 stars Rose, Dav and Sazo. Probably the best in the series since the ship was most talkative and involved in this one. The ships really ended up becoming the best part even though they didn’t get any real action and she ruined 2 of them in these books.
The sex scene that appeared to be stating just stops with them falling asleep. Later in the story it’s sort of implied that I guess they’ve done the deed at that point, but the romance is totally on the back burner. I hated Hoke, so why does she get glory going forward in this series? She was definitely doing some long game planning. The constant treats on the Barrist Grih ship was annoying. And there were several scenarios where I just thought are you serious right now?
Book 2 gets 2 stars Fiona, Hal and Eazi.
Oh my gosh. Stop calling Fiona FEE in this book. Just use Fi. Readers could have figured out Fiona shortened to Fi would obviously sound like Fee, you didn���t have to act like everyone reading might be stupid. So this was SUPER annoying when it was used.
Secondly, really? You’re just gonna destroy the battle ship of Eazi’s like that? And then he takes over a space station. Pretty lame.
Book 3 Another 2 stars Imogen, Cam and Paxe / Oris
Here we go with the singing obsession again…
At this point the 5 Class 5 ships that are so reveared have been dwindled down to 3 now. And they’ve still got no real action unless you count them being harmed. I think the author wanted to theme teach that these systems could be taught and learn right from wrong by the human womens guidance…was that not one of the points?
Paxe self-destructs in this one. Imogen should have held onto his crystal and still would have got to the maintenance pod. Useless waste of a ship. But the author tried at a weak attempt to make this okay by saying he didn’t like human women at first. Lame.
Book 4 This one gets 2.5 stars cause the heroine wasn't terrible. Lucy, Dray and ship Bane.
Biggest issue with this one, Lucy had two weapons on her when she was snatched AGAIN near the end of the book and had ample opportunity to use them to get away and sits on them. WTF… Also, here comes the Earth women hen house party at the end of the book. They all decide to not go back to Earth for Earth’s safety. Uh, if those ships can hide the data log and know when theyre being followed etc. I’m pretty sure they can get back to Earth without being followed and then delete the log map after coming back. I found it extremely stupid that this wasn’t obvious even though the h’s had good intentions. These civilizations obviously have advanced medical tech. WHY wouldn’t you see about bringing this tech. back to Earth even covertly to help human and animal kind have diseases cured which humans still hadn’t found cures to? And as much as they talked about the food being so bad, why wouldn’t you come get resources from Earth to eat and enjoy? Like since the first 3 books in the series were OBSESSED with music… you could have got some instruments for Imogen.
Sidenote: I guess she attempted to want to make Paxe sound like a bad system/ship since he didn’t like Lucy at first to excuse her decision to end him in book 3.
So would I recommend this series? It’s doubtful.
October 15, 2019
Such a great story, feel like bursting into song.
Hoped for a story with Bane and a human and here it is. Opened the first page and I was back in the land of Grih, Tecran, Fitali, Bukaria, Gramman, abducted humans and class 5 ships. Action, suspense, drama then the last page came, which was way too soon and the story was over. Sad. But a fantastic conclusion to the whole series.
The world building continued to be consistent throughout the book and series. Lucy the heroine and Dray the hero were great together and separately. Lucy seriously ran mental circles around everyone else, although Dray did catch some of what she was doing. Someone clue me in on her earth profession, I suspect psychologist but wasn't quite sure from her description to Dray.
And did anyone really think the Tecran military was going to surrender easily, their crazy just rose a few notches and the straight shooters in the UC weren't crazy enough to foresee their end game.
I'm sad that the current series has ended but the ships figuring out their lives and the girls adapting to their chosen new homes, interacting with other societies, trying to have mixed species children are totally different types of stories. I'm happy to stop here where everyone is in a happy for now.
I highly recommend this book and the 3 previous stories. This book can stand alone but if you like it please go back and read the other three. These books and others are why this author is on by auto-buy list.
Off to reread the whole series back to back, Dark Horse, Dark Deeds, Dark Minds and now Dark Matters. Then the Verdant String, another fantastic space opera, loosely connected series by the author.
Possible spoiler -
...
...
...
Though an opening has been left for the ships to get to earth, probably years or decades after the girls have passed on. I imagine they or their heirs would want one of the ships to check out the state of earth society before first contact is made.
cross posted goodreads, bookbub, amazon
Hoped for a story with Bane and a human and here it is. Opened the first page and I was back in the land of Grih, Tecran, Fitali, Bukaria, Gramman, abducted humans and class 5 ships. Action, suspense, drama then the last page came, which was way too soon and the story was over. Sad. But a fantastic conclusion to the whole series.
The world building continued to be consistent throughout the book and series. Lucy the heroine and Dray the hero were great together and separately. Lucy seriously ran mental circles around everyone else, although Dray did catch some of what she was doing. Someone clue me in on her earth profession, I suspect psychologist but wasn't quite sure from her description to Dray.
And did anyone really think the Tecran military was going to surrender easily, their crazy just rose a few notches and the straight shooters in the UC weren't crazy enough to foresee their end game.
I'm sad that the current series has ended but the ships figuring out their lives and the girls adapting to their chosen new homes, interacting with other societies, trying to have mixed species children are totally different types of stories. I'm happy to stop here where everyone is in a happy for now.
I highly recommend this book and the 3 previous stories. This book can stand alone but if you like it please go back and read the other three. These books and others are why this author is on by auto-buy list.
Off to reread the whole series back to back, Dark Horse, Dark Deeds, Dark Minds and now Dark Matters. Then the Verdant String, another fantastic space opera, loosely connected series by the author.
Possible spoiler -
...
...
...
Though an opening has been left for the ships to get to earth, probably years or decades after the girls have passed on. I imagine they or their heirs would want one of the ships to check out the state of earth society before first contact is made.
cross posted goodreads, bookbub, amazon
June 9, 2020
4 formulary stars
Enjoyable series. Will continue.
Enjoyable series. Will continue.
November 19, 2022
I was surprised that Goodreads allowed me to see several of the other reviews. I am blocked almost completely on all my pages at this point. 🤔 Since I have the option today, I want to mention that I agree with JPT's review of the book. Amazon/Goodreads have also masked all ID's of comments on my reviews, except for Powers of the Earth. 🤔 After I noticed, I closed my reviews to comments. This stealth harassment must include a low level supervisor together with a (useful idiot) system tech, since they are not removing my reviews which would leave a noticeable trace in their system logs.
The above finally convinced me to follow the advice of a Goodreads friend to purge my list of lurkers. Of course Goodreads suddenly will not allow me to remove the last one. 🤔 She is a Susan Hamilton (a professor at University of Tennessee ?), who has posted nothing for more than two years but has not answered my request to remove me at her end. 🤔 The site is obviously toxic but this is skeevy. My advice is to be careful adding any new friend. If they have not posted for two months or so, I would drop them.
The above seems to prove that when you write one brutal review of "a book about a heroic Jan 6, 2021 type on the moon", being a communist becomes a bad thing.😊
If curious about Goodreads, see my review of "Stowaway", a poor space adventure or Powers of the Earth (a book about a heroic Jan 6, 2021 type on the moon) by a writer of racist bent and the comments from a Claes Rees Jr/cgr710 (a self-identified NeoNazi and US patriot).
To Claes Rees Jr/cgr710
Don't be a numpty. Be a smarty. Come and join the Communist Party.
I sometimes wonder how US patriots (Claes Rees Jr, US Republic Party and Tucker Carlson, for example) process their support for Putin's Russia. They praise a country whose leaders and a large portion of its population publicly state that the US is their main enemy and threaten to destroy it. I understand that in a capitalist society, money trumps cognitive dissonance but supporting the most repressive industrialized (sort of) country still confuses me. In any case.
GLORY TO UKRAINE !!!
This book adds more romance to the series plot but it feels a little rushed. The fact that each of the women has some music background and seems to belong to the same class and demographic is weird.
The absence of diversity is not an identity politics criticism, just improbable to say the least. I imagine that it is a common feature of romance novels but maybe science fiction settings demand something more.
I hadn't noticed before I read JPT's review but the characters do all run to males or can be assumed to be males. That's another weakness in the series. Where the species involved do have sexes, what is the role of females, if they never appear in the series as major characters.
The books are more romance than science fiction but it is as well done as it can be. I am not a romance fan and I am making a judgement from a limited sample.
I liked this book least of the four but it looks to be a good series if you like the romances. I don't expect that I will continue with the series myself.
It is still better than most current science fiction in world building and character description. I have moved away from science fiction print because it is so generally dismal. Fortunately the streaming services all seem to offer science fiction stories that are better written and/or more entertaining as a rule. Netflix also includes the bonus of a large multinational selection in its catalogue.
I began watching YouTube about two years ago because science fiction was usually overpriced for the better writers and often unreadable at the low end. I found science fiction channels and more but the real find was accidentally stumbling onto the book tubers. 😍😍😍 The communities which they created are fun, thoughtful and believe that all bookish things are valuable. Imagine Amazon/Goodreads without the Amazon or the Goodreads book sale practices. I recommend a visit to some of the book channels for any reader and have listed some below.
YouTube carry long form video essays and documentary but I also found the educational video sites. Many channels will advertise documentary channels with which they are affiliated. They are definitely worth looking into, if documentaries appeal.
YouTube picks of the moment:
The Kavernacle; Kathy's Flog in France; The Researcher; The Leftist Cooks; Cruising Alba; Sarah Z;
Novara Media - Aaron Bastani's interview with Jeremy Corbyn.
These channels are just some that I found interesting. I ask that Goodreads members not attack them, just because you dislike my reviews. It says a lot about this site that I thought that I needed to ask.
Some of my favorite YouTube channels are.
TVP News, Tara Mooknee, Noah Samsen, Eleanor Morton, The Juice Media, Tom Nicholas, Engineering with Rosie, Books and Lala, Chloe Stafler, UA Courage, Pentatonix, Novara Media, Tulia, Renegade Cut, Cruising Alba, Cruising the Cut, Prime of Midlife, Kings and Generals, Timeline, The Budget Museum, Black Pigeon Speaks, Sabine Hossenfelder, Elena Taber, Tibees, Filaxim Historia, Invicta, World War Two, The Great War, Brandon F, The Cambrian Chronicles, The Templin Institute, Vasya in the Hay, Lilly's expat life, Resurrected Starships, Esoterica, Practical Engineering, The Piano Boat, Boat Time, Chill Goblin, Alice Cappelle, Alize, DW Documentaries, Some More News, Then & Now, May Moon Narrowboat, Sort of Interesting, The Mindful Narrowboat, Camper Vibe, Brittany the Bibliophile, Lindsey Stirling, Jessie Gender, Sciencephile The AI, A Frolic Through Fiction, Make Better Media, The Roomies' Digest, A Day of Small Things, The Carpenter's Daughter, Diane Callahan Quotidian Writer, Jean's Thoughts, Kathy's Flog in France, Jake Broe, Joe Blogs, The Piano Guys, We're in Hell, Weir on the Move, Holly the Cafe Boat, Philosophy Tube, Neringa Rekaslute, AlysOtherLife, A Life of Lit, A Cup of Nicole, All Shorts, Spark, Enby Reads, Rowan J Coleman, Adult Wednesday Addams, Endevr, Pro Robots, Olly Richards, Chill Goblin, Little Wars TV, Morgan Alison Stewart, What Vivi did next, Patrick is a Navajo, Three Arrows, Spacedock, The Welsh Viking, The Kavernacle, Between the Lines, Dr Ben Miller, IzzzYzzz, Karolina Zebrowska, Jill Bearup, Certifiably Ingame, The Gravel Institute, Alt Shift X, With Olivia, The Angry Astronaut, Epimetheus, The Shades of Orange, Traveling K, Narrowboat Pirate, Northern Narrowboaters, Tiny Wee Boat, Jabzy, Battle Order, Military History Visualized, Military Aviation History, Answer in Progress, Propaganda Talks, Depressed Russian, Materials Lab, Minds Eye Design, Lantern Jack, Violet Orlandi, Natalia Tsarikova, Geography Geek, 3Blue1Brown, Apostolic Majesty, Randy Rainbow, Up and Atom, Mrs Betty Bowers, No Justice MTG, Owen Jones, Munecat.
I wish you a sunny morning, an exciting afternoon, a wonderful evening, a pleasant night and may we all keep !earning.
Is it possible that a person's Humanity exceed his capacity for Empathy?
Meditation, Dark Sisters
The above finally convinced me to follow the advice of a Goodreads friend to purge my list of lurkers. Of course Goodreads suddenly will not allow me to remove the last one. 🤔 She is a Susan Hamilton (a professor at University of Tennessee ?), who has posted nothing for more than two years but has not answered my request to remove me at her end. 🤔 The site is obviously toxic but this is skeevy. My advice is to be careful adding any new friend. If they have not posted for two months or so, I would drop them.
The above seems to prove that when you write one brutal review of "a book about a heroic Jan 6, 2021 type on the moon", being a communist becomes a bad thing.😊
If curious about Goodreads, see my review of "Stowaway", a poor space adventure or Powers of the Earth (a book about a heroic Jan 6, 2021 type on the moon) by a writer of racist bent and the comments from a Claes Rees Jr/cgr710 (a self-identified NeoNazi and US patriot).
To Claes Rees Jr/cgr710
Don't be a numpty. Be a smarty. Come and join the Communist Party.
I sometimes wonder how US patriots (Claes Rees Jr, US Republic Party and Tucker Carlson, for example) process their support for Putin's Russia. They praise a country whose leaders and a large portion of its population publicly state that the US is their main enemy and threaten to destroy it. I understand that in a capitalist society, money trumps cognitive dissonance but supporting the most repressive industrialized (sort of) country still confuses me. In any case.
GLORY TO UKRAINE !!!
This book adds more romance to the series plot but it feels a little rushed. The fact that each of the women has some music background and seems to belong to the same class and demographic is weird.
The absence of diversity is not an identity politics criticism, just improbable to say the least. I imagine that it is a common feature of romance novels but maybe science fiction settings demand something more.
I hadn't noticed before I read JPT's review but the characters do all run to males or can be assumed to be males. That's another weakness in the series. Where the species involved do have sexes, what is the role of females, if they never appear in the series as major characters.
The books are more romance than science fiction but it is as well done as it can be. I am not a romance fan and I am making a judgement from a limited sample.
I liked this book least of the four but it looks to be a good series if you like the romances. I don't expect that I will continue with the series myself.
It is still better than most current science fiction in world building and character description. I have moved away from science fiction print because it is so generally dismal. Fortunately the streaming services all seem to offer science fiction stories that are better written and/or more entertaining as a rule. Netflix also includes the bonus of a large multinational selection in its catalogue.
I began watching YouTube about two years ago because science fiction was usually overpriced for the better writers and often unreadable at the low end. I found science fiction channels and more but the real find was accidentally stumbling onto the book tubers. 😍😍😍 The communities which they created are fun, thoughtful and believe that all bookish things are valuable. Imagine Amazon/Goodreads without the Amazon or the Goodreads book sale practices. I recommend a visit to some of the book channels for any reader and have listed some below.
YouTube carry long form video essays and documentary but I also found the educational video sites. Many channels will advertise documentary channels with which they are affiliated. They are definitely worth looking into, if documentaries appeal.
YouTube picks of the moment:
The Kavernacle; Kathy's Flog in France; The Researcher; The Leftist Cooks; Cruising Alba; Sarah Z;
Novara Media - Aaron Bastani's interview with Jeremy Corbyn.
These channels are just some that I found interesting. I ask that Goodreads members not attack them, just because you dislike my reviews. It says a lot about this site that I thought that I needed to ask.
Some of my favorite YouTube channels are.
TVP News, Tara Mooknee, Noah Samsen, Eleanor Morton, The Juice Media, Tom Nicholas, Engineering with Rosie, Books and Lala, Chloe Stafler, UA Courage, Pentatonix, Novara Media, Tulia, Renegade Cut, Cruising Alba, Cruising the Cut, Prime of Midlife, Kings and Generals, Timeline, The Budget Museum, Black Pigeon Speaks, Sabine Hossenfelder, Elena Taber, Tibees, Filaxim Historia, Invicta, World War Two, The Great War, Brandon F, The Cambrian Chronicles, The Templin Institute, Vasya in the Hay, Lilly's expat life, Resurrected Starships, Esoterica, Practical Engineering, The Piano Boat, Boat Time, Chill Goblin, Alice Cappelle, Alize, DW Documentaries, Some More News, Then & Now, May Moon Narrowboat, Sort of Interesting, The Mindful Narrowboat, Camper Vibe, Brittany the Bibliophile, Lindsey Stirling, Jessie Gender, Sciencephile The AI, A Frolic Through Fiction, Make Better Media, The Roomies' Digest, A Day of Small Things, The Carpenter's Daughter, Diane Callahan Quotidian Writer, Jean's Thoughts, Kathy's Flog in France, Jake Broe, Joe Blogs, The Piano Guys, We're in Hell, Weir on the Move, Holly the Cafe Boat, Philosophy Tube, Neringa Rekaslute, AlysOtherLife, A Life of Lit, A Cup of Nicole, All Shorts, Spark, Enby Reads, Rowan J Coleman, Adult Wednesday Addams, Endevr, Pro Robots, Olly Richards, Chill Goblin, Little Wars TV, Morgan Alison Stewart, What Vivi did next, Patrick is a Navajo, Three Arrows, Spacedock, The Welsh Viking, The Kavernacle, Between the Lines, Dr Ben Miller, IzzzYzzz, Karolina Zebrowska, Jill Bearup, Certifiably Ingame, The Gravel Institute, Alt Shift X, With Olivia, The Angry Astronaut, Epimetheus, The Shades of Orange, Traveling K, Narrowboat Pirate, Northern Narrowboaters, Tiny Wee Boat, Jabzy, Battle Order, Military History Visualized, Military Aviation History, Answer in Progress, Propaganda Talks, Depressed Russian, Materials Lab, Minds Eye Design, Lantern Jack, Violet Orlandi, Natalia Tsarikova, Geography Geek, 3Blue1Brown, Apostolic Majesty, Randy Rainbow, Up and Atom, Mrs Betty Bowers, No Justice MTG, Owen Jones, Munecat.
I wish you a sunny morning, an exciting afternoon, a wonderful evening, a pleasant night and may we all keep !earning.
Is it possible that a person's Humanity exceed his capacity for Empathy?
Meditation, Dark Sisters
October 21, 2022
Not a bad book, fast paced and with tension running high from start to end. But what I didn't like about this novel was that the bad guys always stayed one step ahead of our protagonists. The villains perpetually have more people, more intelligence, and better equipment, while the good guys always play catch-up. They are constantly behind, constantly scrambling and coming up short or late. Their consistent bad luck began grating on my nerves half-way through the story, and it never let up until the very end. I prefer my protagonists more proactive. I wanted them to start calling the shots, but they kept reacting instead of acting. In a way, it was disappointing, even though the good guys won in the very last second.
February 9, 2020
This was dissapointing. This was just a series of escape attempts with varying degrees of success.
October 19, 2019
First of all I want to say how glad I am that the author wrote this book because it had actually already ended in 2016 with the third book. So I feel really blessed that we have gotten a fourth book in the series. Out of her science fiction series, this series is still my favorite so yay I was so happy to have been able to read it. Now on to the review!
Right from the start this book completely hooked me. It was hard to put my Kindle away and to stop reading, it was that good. Starting this book, being already very familiar with the whole world (or should I say galaxy?) of this series it was like coming home and I really liked that feeling. Michelle Diener simply outdid herself with this one.
Dark Matters had a kickass but very relatable and human heroine named Lucy, a military but caring hero (who made me swooooon!) named Dray and a dangerous but loyal AI named Bane. There was no lack of action. In fact, this story was almost non-stop action and oh how I loved that! Never a boring moment! I'd even go as far as to say that this book might rank in my top ten favorite books of 2019 blog post at the end of the year.
I have to say that Lucy, Dray and Bane made a very good team together. I just adored Lucy. She had been through a lot in the last few months since she was abducted from Earth. She was very brave but even so she wasn't afraid to show her emotions and vulnerable side and that's something I want to see more in the books I read. Dray was an amazing character as well. Knowing how important finding Lucy, he didn't hesitate to protect her and at the same time know that she wasn't just some damsel in distress. I might be in love with him. Sigh. The romance between them was secondary to the overall story but still Lucy and Dray had such chemistry, even though they just met. Definitely my favorite couple!
But my absolute favorite character was Bane, the thinking system willing to do anything to keep Lucy safe from harm, even destroying planets if he has to. I just loooove AI characters. And I especially loved how the author wrote them, not just in this book but in the other books of the series as well. I thought it was great how they all were so loyal to the human women and how well they worked together. I just loved it all, really!
Overall, Dark Matters by Michelle Diener was an explosive sci-fi adventure with romance and action all around! I absolutely loved this fourth book in the Class 5 series. For me it was the best book in the series (the others were fantastic as well though) and in case my gushing about it wasn't enough I will say that I absolutely recommend this book and the series to everyone.
Right from the start this book completely hooked me. It was hard to put my Kindle away and to stop reading, it was that good. Starting this book, being already very familiar with the whole world (or should I say galaxy?) of this series it was like coming home and I really liked that feeling. Michelle Diener simply outdid herself with this one.
Dark Matters had a kickass but very relatable and human heroine named Lucy, a military but caring hero (who made me swooooon!) named Dray and a dangerous but loyal AI named Bane. There was no lack of action. In fact, this story was almost non-stop action and oh how I loved that! Never a boring moment! I'd even go as far as to say that this book might rank in my top ten favorite books of 2019 blog post at the end of the year.
I have to say that Lucy, Dray and Bane made a very good team together. I just adored Lucy. She had been through a lot in the last few months since she was abducted from Earth. She was very brave but even so she wasn't afraid to show her emotions and vulnerable side and that's something I want to see more in the books I read. Dray was an amazing character as well. Knowing how important finding Lucy, he didn't hesitate to protect her and at the same time know that she wasn't just some damsel in distress. I might be in love with him. Sigh. The romance between them was secondary to the overall story but still Lucy and Dray had such chemistry, even though they just met. Definitely my favorite couple!
But my absolute favorite character was Bane, the thinking system willing to do anything to keep Lucy safe from harm, even destroying planets if he has to. I just loooove AI characters. And I especially loved how the author wrote them, not just in this book but in the other books of the series as well. I thought it was great how they all were so loyal to the human women and how well they worked together. I just loved it all, really!
Overall, Dark Matters by Michelle Diener was an explosive sci-fi adventure with romance and action all around! I absolutely loved this fourth book in the Class 5 series. For me it was the best book in the series (the others were fantastic as well though) and in case my gushing about it wasn't enough I will say that I absolutely recommend this book and the series to everyone.
April 5, 2022
I was totally crazy in love with a perfect finale of an amazing series! 💕Lucy sure made all Earth women everywhere proud! It was hard to share when I loved everything about the story! Actually loved the entire series so much. Loved the world building, brilliant plot line, lovable main characters, and best of all, all the fantastic fight scenes!
Sharing one of my favorite scenes:
Sharing one of my favorite scenes:
"I thought I was going to die so many times in the last two months, and here I am, making out with a handsome alien in a fancy spaceship."
"And that is a good thing?"
"It's the best thing." She slid her arm around his waist.
He turned her toward the door . . . "Then that's all right."
October 17, 2019
I'm so glad Michelle Diener decided to give her readers a last book to conclude this awesome series.
This story was perfect . Action, angst, some drama, a bit of romance... the usual when it comes to the Class 5 series.
I enjoyed the leads, but I must see I really loved Bane ! We didn't get to know him a lot in the past, and I was glad that now all the thinking systems each have a human woman whom they can trust.
The ending however was abrupt... The author end the book before we know how Lucy adapts herself to her new life and what she will do with her freedom, also it would have been interesting to know how the whole Tecran situation resolved itself throughout the months after the UC cleaned up the mess.
But anyway, it was a great final book and I'm super glad the author wrote it.
This story was perfect . Action, angst, some drama, a bit of romance... the usual when it comes to the Class 5 series.
I enjoyed the leads, but I must see I really loved Bane ! We didn't get to know him a lot in the past, and I was glad that now all the thinking systems each have a human woman whom they can trust.
The ending however was abrupt... The author end the book before we know how Lucy adapts herself to her new life and what she will do with her freedom, also it would have been interesting to know how the whole Tecran situation resolved itself throughout the months after the UC cleaned up the mess.
But anyway, it was a great final book and I'm super glad the author wrote it.
October 25, 2019
3.5
Perhaps a bit formulaic in terms of the series, but I understood that by the end of the second book and I still enjoy the world and the story. The romances are predictable but I like that they are a distant secondary plot and that everything else that's going on is interesting.
I'm very glad and grateful that Diener returned to the series to write the book rather than leaving it hanging out there as an unfinished story point.
Perhaps a bit formulaic in terms of the series, but I understood that by the end of the second book and I still enjoy the world and the story. The romances are predictable but I like that they are a distant secondary plot and that everything else that's going on is interesting.
I'm very glad and grateful that Diener returned to the series to write the book rather than leaving it hanging out there as an unfinished story point.
September 8, 2022
See my review of Dark Class
February 12, 2023
The UC is on their way to Tecra to dismantle the Tecran military for their role in the development of the Class 5's AI (thinking systems) and the kidnapping/imprisonment/experimentation of Earth women. The UC anticipates this will take 5 years. They will also have a hand in the government too and the average citizen is unhappy about it. Dray, is part of the Grih contingent on this mission. They are also accompanied by Bane, the Class 5 that has declared his neutrality.
Bane has his own reason for accompanying the UC. There was a 4th woman taken, Lucy Harris, and he needs to find out if she is still alive. The UC does not know about her.
This was so good to read. I had a hard time putting this down. The Tecran are trying to cover their tracks and Lucy is able to escape with some help. It seems most of the Tecran she encounters don't want to actively help and many don't believe what their government/military was up to.
Lucy was strong and resourceful. I could see the attraction with Dray. Rose and Imogen make appearances. My only complaint is I felt the end was too abrupt and could have used an epilogue. Was is Lucy going to do (profession)? Rose explores with Dev, Imogen sings, and Fiona manages Large Ways.
Bane has his own reason for accompanying the UC. There was a 4th woman taken, Lucy Harris, and he needs to find out if she is still alive. The UC does not know about her.
This was so good to read. I had a hard time putting this down. The Tecran are trying to cover their tracks and Lucy is able to escape with some help. It seems most of the Tecran she encounters don't want to actively help and many don't believe what their government/military was up to.
Lucy was strong and resourceful. I could see the attraction with Dray. Rose and Imogen make appearances. My only complaint is I felt the end was too abrupt and could have used an epilogue. Was is Lucy going to do (profession)? Rose explores with Dev, Imogen sings, and Fiona manages Large Ways.
January 16, 2020
4 stars.
Quite a good new addition to the series featuring Bane, the "neutral" AI Class 5 serving guard duties as the United Council sends a "peace-keeping" force to oversee the law-breaking Tecran Military responsible for the abduction of the Earth women.
The Tecrans people are divided, with the military not wanting to bow to their punishment and civilians resentful of loss of their autonomy and protests breaking out all over the country against the "invasion" and also their own government.
But Bane had another purpose for going to Tecra, as before Pax self-destructed in the last book, he told Oris (another AI) that he had also abducted another Earth woman and tried to kill her. Bane and the others believe that she's still alive but would likely be killed so that this additional abduction remains a secret to the UC.
When the facility where Lucy is held captive, was raided, the scientists working on her actually helped her escape and then it's a chase between Bane, Grih Commander Dray and the nasty Tecran Military elements to get to her....
With this book, I think the abduction theme has to end. I'm hoping there's some way to take the series in another direction, otherwise, I think this book really marks the end of the series.
Quite a good new addition to the series featuring Bane, the "neutral" AI Class 5 serving guard duties as the United Council sends a "peace-keeping" force to oversee the law-breaking Tecran Military responsible for the abduction of the Earth women.
The Tecrans people are divided, with the military not wanting to bow to their punishment and civilians resentful of loss of their autonomy and protests breaking out all over the country against the "invasion" and also their own government.
But Bane had another purpose for going to Tecra, as before Pax self-destructed in the last book, he told Oris (another AI) that he had also abducted another Earth woman and tried to kill her. Bane and the others believe that she's still alive but would likely be killed so that this additional abduction remains a secret to the UC.
When the facility where Lucy is held captive, was raided, the scientists working on her actually helped her escape and then it's a chase between Bane, Grih Commander Dray and the nasty Tecran Military elements to get to her....
With this book, I think the abduction theme has to end. I'm hoping there's some way to take the series in another direction, otherwise, I think this book really marks the end of the series.
November 4, 2021
Really, really liked this book as well, although the previous ones were a little bit better.
You should definitely read this as well. If you haven't read the previous books, you should, the plot would make no sense if you don't.
What I wanted more of: the politics and the resolution. I wanted to know more about what happens next to the Tecrans and how they solve everything in the end.
Also, I'd have loved it if there was some sort of an open ending, but I get why the series has to end.
You should definitely read this as well. If you haven't read the previous books, you should, the plot would make no sense if you don't.
What I wanted more of: the politics and the resolution. I wanted to know more about what happens next to the Tecrans and how they solve everything in the end.
Also, I'd have loved it if there was some sort of an open ending, but I get why the series has to end.
December 24, 2021
Needs a better ending
While Lucy is finally safe and with her fellow Earth women, there's still a lot of things that are up in the air. Like what is going to happen to Tecran and the Garmann (??) who betrayed the UC? It's all left hanging. The other books ended the same way, but I never minded since the seroes hasn't ended. But I think this is the last one and I hate that it ended with just Lucy finally getting away from the Tecran military and meeting Rose and the others. Other than that, I loved the book. Hopefully, there's a novella wrapping things up.
While Lucy is finally safe and with her fellow Earth women, there's still a lot of things that are up in the air. Like what is going to happen to Tecran and the Garmann (??) who betrayed the UC? It's all left hanging. The other books ended the same way, but I never minded since the seroes hasn't ended. But I think this is the last one and I hate that it ended with just Lucy finally getting away from the Tecran military and meeting Rose and the others. Other than that, I loved the book. Hopefully, there's a novella wrapping things up.
February 9, 2021
2.5 stars. All par for the course. I would've liked to read an installment where the heroine was small-chested, super tall and tone deaf but that's just me. LOL.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this series to someone who's a serious fantasy/space opera lover. I'd say that this is more fantasy lite with the slightest veneer of space elements. If you enjoy sexy aliens and aren't really looking to think too hard about space-y things, give this series a try.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this series to someone who's a serious fantasy/space opera lover. I'd say that this is more fantasy lite with the slightest veneer of space elements. If you enjoy sexy aliens and aren't really looking to think too hard about space-y things, give this series a try.
August 17, 2020
Just as awesome as the previous books in the series!
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