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Northern Waste #1
Driven
Alternative cover editions for this ASIN can be found here & here.
In the harsh Northern Waste where human life is worth little, ice trucker Raina Bowen has learned to keep her eyes open and her knife close at hand. She's spent her life on the run, one step ahead of the megalomaniac who hunts her. All she wants is to stay out of trouble and haul her load of grain to Gladow Station—but trouble finds her in the form of a sexy stranger called Wizard. He has the trucking pass she needs, and she has to drag him out of a brawl with the very people she's trying to hide from in order to get it.
She may have rescued him, but Raina's not foolish enough to see Wizard as anything close to helpless. He's hard and honed and full of secrets—secrets that may destroy them both. As they race across the Waste, trying to outrun rival truckers, ice pirates, and the powerful man bent on their destruction, Raina's forced to admit that trouble's found her. And this time, there's nowhere left to run.
In the harsh Northern Waste where human life is worth little, ice trucker Raina Bowen has learned to keep her eyes open and her knife close at hand. She's spent her life on the run, one step ahead of the megalomaniac who hunts her. All she wants is to stay out of trouble and haul her load of grain to Gladow Station—but trouble finds her in the form of a sexy stranger called Wizard. He has the trucking pass she needs, and she has to drag him out of a brawl with the very people she's trying to hide from in order to get it.
She may have rescued him, but Raina's not foolish enough to see Wizard as anything close to helpless. He's hard and honed and full of secrets—secrets that may destroy them both. As they race across the Waste, trying to outrun rival truckers, ice pirates, and the powerful man bent on their destruction, Raina's forced to admit that trouble's found her. And this time, there's nowhere left to run.
321 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 28, 2007
978 people are currently reading
2125 people want to read
About the author
Eve Kenin
4 books65 followersBestselling, award-winning author
Eve Silver
writes dark contemporary paranormals and historical suspense. As Eve Kenin she writes speculative romance. Her work has garnered starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Awards, and was listed by Library Journal among its Best Books 2007.
Eve holds two post-secondary degrees. She is an instructor of human anatomy and microbiology. She lives with her husband and two sons, along with an energetic Airedale terrier and an enormous rabbit. Contact Eve through her website at http://www.evesilver.net
Eve holds two post-secondary degrees. She is an instructor of human anatomy and microbiology. She lives with her husband and two sons, along with an energetic Airedale terrier and an enormous rabbit. Contact Eve through her website at http://www.evesilver.net
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February 3, 2025Again, this is one from the deepest archives of the early 2010s.
One of the things I’ve been impressed by in my tour through Romancelandia is the sheer cracktastic insanity of some of the books I’ve read. I’m not sure that Driven quite beats Angel’s Blood for sheer weirdness, but I think “post-resource-depletion trans-Siberian trucker dystopia” might just get the prize for “setting I was least expecting to see in a Romance novel.”
As always, spoilers ahead.
Driven tells the story of ice trucker Raina Bowen who, while racing to transport a cargo of genetically modified grain across dystopian future Siberia, encounters a man named Wizard. It soon becomes apparent that Wizard is not entirely normal – he survives a savage beating entirely unscathed, can see in the dark, has preternaturally keen vision and hearing, and estimates probabilities to the nearest fraction of a percent.
Despite being an indestructible ninja badass, Wizard scores pretty low on the alpha dickhead front. He tends to let the heroine have her space, trusts her judgement, and respects her right to make her own decisions. He’s protective of her, but in a “don’t want you to get hurt” way, not a “I will actively prevent you from doing things I don’t want you to do” way. He talks like a computer in a 1980s cartoon series (the guy actually says “affirmative”), and there’s something strangely endearing about his stilted, off-kilter way of expressing himself. He does a pretty good job of being a credible romantic lead despite ostensibly having no emotions, and his arc parallels Raina’s nicely (they both start off as isolated and somewhat paranoid, and ultimately learn not only to care for each other, but also to feel part of a wider community in the Wastes).
About halfway through the book, Raina abandons the delivery job (which turns out not to have been what it seemed) and settles in with a ragtag band of rebels holed up in the frozen north. I always appreciate it when a romance recognises that lovers aren’t the only important people in your life, and Raina’s developing relationships with the various members of the rebel band serve as an important counterpoint to her relationship with Wizard, and to the overarching plot about the evil trucking magnate. I was very, very slightly disappointed that when Raina discovered that Wizard and rebel leader Yuriko had some kind of personal history, she jumped immediately to “they’re dating” rather than – say “they’re comrades in arms”, but that’s a minor quibble.
The plot mostly revolves around the struggle between Raina (and Wizard, and the Rebels) and the aforesaid evil trucking magnate, the fabulously named Duncan Bane. Duncan Bane is basically everything you want in a villain. He’s ruthless, wealthy, sadistic, cacklingly insane, and wears an eyepatch like a scary pirate. The man shows a truly commendable commitment to his role as designated villain. For example, the genetically engineered grain that Raina is delivering at the start of the book is part of some kind of competition that Bane has set up, with a prize of fifty million interdollars. Bane is trying to rig the competition so that an employee from his company will win. He is not doing this because he wants to keep the money, or as far as I can tell because he wants to make the company look good. He is doing this because he plans to have the winner murdered in order to get his cash back, and he wants to kill off one of his own men while he’s doing it so that he can get rid of the guy before his family qualifies for any kind of benefits.
This is a man who would make Darth Vader say “look, it isn’t really any of my business, but you might want to have a serious think about your management style.”
I’ve got to admit that I got a little bit fixated on Duncan Bane. Not in an edgy, slightly emo, oh-but-the-villains-are-always-so-fascinating way, just in a “seriously, how does this guy get through a day” way. By the end of the book I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to eat breakfast without trying to have the eggs assassinated, the bacon flogged and the hash browns stripped, beaten and sent to his bedchamber that he might revel in their suffering. He ostensibly runs a trucking company, but he’s apparently also some kind of major player in something called the New Government Order, and more or less single-handedly rules the entire Northern Waste. Naturally, his primary goal in the book – and the one to which he devotes pretty much his whole fortune and entire private army – is abducting and raping the heroine.
To give him his due, I can see why he’s got such a personal vendetta against her – she managed to cut his eye out the last time he tried to rape her, back when she was twelve (and there’s part of me here that’s going … dude … you couldn’t take her when she was a kid what the hell chance do you stand now). That said, I’m not quite sure why it’s taken him this long to come after her in force (there’s some discussion of the fact that he’s coming for her now because her dad has just died, but since Bane basically rules the north I really don’t see how one dude – who isn’t a genetically engineered supersoldier – would be able to stand in his way).
I think my issues with Bane were part of a wider set of confusions about the worldbuilding. There’s a lot going on in Driven, and a lot of quite detailed implied backstory – right down to specific bits of in-world legislation (like the “Blood-borne Pathogen Act of 2087”). But there were times when I couldn’t quite tell if it all hung together in a sensible or coherent way. There are a lot of references to specific historical events, like the Second Noble War (which kind of implies a First Noble War) which led to the fall of the Old Dominion and the rise of the New Government Order, but it was quite hard to see how it all fit together. Like if laws made in 2087 are still in effect, that would seem to imply that the NGO was already in power by that point (unless they held onto a lot of Old Dominion legislation), but that means that we somehow get from the present day, through not one but two different world governments (unless the “Old Dominion” is supposed to be the current world, but people tend to talk about it like it’s one institution) in about seventy years.
In a lot of ways, the vagueness works quite well. It creates the sense of a believable world without getting too bogged down in the details of how that world is supposed to work. The flip side of this, however, is that sometimes it’s hard to see … well … how the world is supposed to work.
Coming back to Duncan Bane, I spent quite a lot of time struggling to work out exactly where all of his money and power are supposed to come from. I mean, I get that he’s powerful in the North because he controls the supply lines, but I don’t really understand how that makes him rich or powerful on a larger scale. As far as I can see, there is literally nothing of value in the Wastes, so while being the only man who can bring food and supplies into the frozen North gives you a lot of scope to dick with people’s lives, I don’t really see how there’s money in it. These people, after all, have nothing. A fairly major feature of the setting is that it’s a post-resource-depletion society, so there can’t be any fuel reserves or anything like that. I suppose there could be some kind of minerals or precious metals that people mine, but we don’t see any evidence of that either. As far as I could tell, Bane operates in an entirely evil-based economy. Like he seems to make his money primarily by being a dick to people. I get that the notion is that he gets to charge monopoly prices in the North, but surely that only works if people actually have something to trade. I mean I could be totally wrong about this, but I’m pretty sure that if you went on Dragon’s Den and said that your business plan was to buy goods from a place where everybody was rich and sell them at a markup in a place where everybody was poor you’d be told that you needed to seriously rethink your strategy.
Worldbuilding nitpicks aside, I did really enjoy Driven. It had a good mix of romance and action, and I thought it did a good job of integrating its love story into its wider plot. I think here it helped that the protagonists were mostly reacting to an overwhelming external threat, rather than something they could pro-actively pursue in their own time. When you’re basically hunkered down waiting for the next attack, you kind of might as well focus on your love life. I think it helps that Wizard and Raina aren’t just compatible romantically, they also ultimately have quite similar goals, and so it never feels like one of them is a passenger in the other’s plot. They’re both basically loners who have difficulty navigating their mutual attraction, but they’re also both survivors, basically moral people, and of course they both want to murder Duncan Bane’s face off. The plot moves naturally from Wizard and Raina’s first meeting, to their flight from Bane’s goons, to Ice Pirates, to rebels, to more ice pirates, to the final confrontation, with plenty of room for shagging in the middle.
Much like its worldbuilding, the central story arc of Driven is high on allusion and short on details. Raina is being pursued by Bane, Bane used to be part of some kind of military thingy in the Second Noble War, and this military thingy found a secret laboratory full of genetically engineered superkids, one of whom grew up into Wizard. It turns out that Raina’s emotionally distant, sort-of abusive father was also part of said military thingy, and that Bane’s entire vendetta against her has its roots in the military operation that uncovered the superkids. There isn’t really much sense of what was going on at the time, what this military thingy actually was, what the war was or who it was against. And as with the worldbuilding this is a mixed blessing. Ultimately these kinds of mysteries seldom have satisfactory solutions – Bane, Raina’s father, the New Government Order, the Old Dominion and the War are all such big presences in the text that actually trying to explain them would be both time consuming and a bit pointless. That said, it also means that the reader is left a little light on detail.
I found this particularly difficult when it came to Raina’s father, Sam Bowen. Sam – despite being dead – is an important feature of the narrative. Initially we only hear about him from Raina’s perspective, and he comes across as having been, not to put too fine a point on it, an abusive asshole. It’s tricky, because the Wastes are clearly a very hostile environment populated almost entirely by psychopaths, and so raising your kid never to trust anybody or to care about anybody except herself is probably quite sensible, but actively beating her just to toughen her up crosses a line for me from “making the best of a bad situation” to “just not okay.” Later in the story, we hear about Sam from Wizard and Yuriko’s perspective, and they clearly see him as some kind of hero. This was intriguing for a while, but I never felt we got enough detail about Sam for me to really feel there was anything heroic about him. I mean yes, he saves the superkids (in a sense, he basically delivers them from one prison to another) but that’s one nice thing. I’d been vaguely hoping for some kind of remarkable double life or a deep-seated connection to the rebels rather than a single encounter two decades ago.
I think what most bothered me about Sam was the revelation late in the day that because of something something genotype blood something something antigens, Raina had acquired some of Wizard’s ability to adapt to physical hardship. So when Sam was whacking her around the head to try and make her stronger he was, well, sort of right. I think strangely, I could cope with the setup as I originally understood it – that Sam was low-key abusive because he was a hard man who lived in a hard world, and that was just the way it was – because I felt like it was supposed to be ambiguous. It seemed like Raina learned a lot from Sam that kept her alive, but that he also kind of messed her up. By the end, it felt more like Sam was supposed to be an unambiguously good man who was applying a difficult but necessary regimen of physical training in order to put his daughter in peak physical condition. It lost a lot of the ambiguity for me, and in a strange way made Sam’s character less interesting.
Overall I really liked Driven. The plot, the setting and the characters came together really well for me. It was well paced, had lots of explosions and a completely over-the-top villain. Pretty rad.
Everything I learned about life and love from reading Driven: In the future, tattoos will be illegal but personal plasma rifles will not. The exhaustion of our fossil fuel reserves will in no way impact the road haulage industry. If a girl cuts your eye out, you should probably let it go. What does not kill you makes you stronger, but only if you’ve had your genome resequenced.
One of the things I’ve been impressed by in my tour through Romancelandia is the sheer cracktastic insanity of some of the books I’ve read. I’m not sure that Driven quite beats Angel’s Blood for sheer weirdness, but I think “post-resource-depletion trans-Siberian trucker dystopia” might just get the prize for “setting I was least expecting to see in a Romance novel.”
As always, spoilers ahead.
Driven tells the story of ice trucker Raina Bowen who, while racing to transport a cargo of genetically modified grain across dystopian future Siberia, encounters a man named Wizard. It soon becomes apparent that Wizard is not entirely normal – he survives a savage beating entirely unscathed, can see in the dark, has preternaturally keen vision and hearing, and estimates probabilities to the nearest fraction of a percent.
Despite being an indestructible ninja badass, Wizard scores pretty low on the alpha dickhead front. He tends to let the heroine have her space, trusts her judgement, and respects her right to make her own decisions. He’s protective of her, but in a “don’t want you to get hurt” way, not a “I will actively prevent you from doing things I don’t want you to do” way. He talks like a computer in a 1980s cartoon series (the guy actually says “affirmative”), and there’s something strangely endearing about his stilted, off-kilter way of expressing himself. He does a pretty good job of being a credible romantic lead despite ostensibly having no emotions, and his arc parallels Raina’s nicely (they both start off as isolated and somewhat paranoid, and ultimately learn not only to care for each other, but also to feel part of a wider community in the Wastes).
About halfway through the book, Raina abandons the delivery job (which turns out not to have been what it seemed) and settles in with a ragtag band of rebels holed up in the frozen north. I always appreciate it when a romance recognises that lovers aren’t the only important people in your life, and Raina’s developing relationships with the various members of the rebel band serve as an important counterpoint to her relationship with Wizard, and to the overarching plot about the evil trucking magnate. I was very, very slightly disappointed that when Raina discovered that Wizard and rebel leader Yuriko had some kind of personal history, she jumped immediately to “they’re dating” rather than – say “they’re comrades in arms”, but that’s a minor quibble.
The plot mostly revolves around the struggle between Raina (and Wizard, and the Rebels) and the aforesaid evil trucking magnate, the fabulously named Duncan Bane. Duncan Bane is basically everything you want in a villain. He’s ruthless, wealthy, sadistic, cacklingly insane, and wears an eyepatch like a scary pirate. The man shows a truly commendable commitment to his role as designated villain. For example, the genetically engineered grain that Raina is delivering at the start of the book is part of some kind of competition that Bane has set up, with a prize of fifty million interdollars. Bane is trying to rig the competition so that an employee from his company will win. He is not doing this because he wants to keep the money, or as far as I can tell because he wants to make the company look good. He is doing this because he plans to have the winner murdered in order to get his cash back, and he wants to kill off one of his own men while he’s doing it so that he can get rid of the guy before his family qualifies for any kind of benefits.
This is a man who would make Darth Vader say “look, it isn’t really any of my business, but you might want to have a serious think about your management style.”
I’ve got to admit that I got a little bit fixated on Duncan Bane. Not in an edgy, slightly emo, oh-but-the-villains-are-always-so-fascinating way, just in a “seriously, how does this guy get through a day” way. By the end of the book I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to eat breakfast without trying to have the eggs assassinated, the bacon flogged and the hash browns stripped, beaten and sent to his bedchamber that he might revel in their suffering. He ostensibly runs a trucking company, but he’s apparently also some kind of major player in something called the New Government Order, and more or less single-handedly rules the entire Northern Waste. Naturally, his primary goal in the book – and the one to which he devotes pretty much his whole fortune and entire private army – is abducting and raping the heroine.
To give him his due, I can see why he’s got such a personal vendetta against her – she managed to cut his eye out the last time he tried to rape her, back when she was twelve (and there’s part of me here that’s going … dude … you couldn’t take her when she was a kid what the hell chance do you stand now). That said, I’m not quite sure why it’s taken him this long to come after her in force (there’s some discussion of the fact that he’s coming for her now because her dad has just died, but since Bane basically rules the north I really don’t see how one dude – who isn’t a genetically engineered supersoldier – would be able to stand in his way).
I think my issues with Bane were part of a wider set of confusions about the worldbuilding. There’s a lot going on in Driven, and a lot of quite detailed implied backstory – right down to specific bits of in-world legislation (like the “Blood-borne Pathogen Act of 2087”). But there were times when I couldn’t quite tell if it all hung together in a sensible or coherent way. There are a lot of references to specific historical events, like the Second Noble War (which kind of implies a First Noble War) which led to the fall of the Old Dominion and the rise of the New Government Order, but it was quite hard to see how it all fit together. Like if laws made in 2087 are still in effect, that would seem to imply that the NGO was already in power by that point (unless they held onto a lot of Old Dominion legislation), but that means that we somehow get from the present day, through not one but two different world governments (unless the “Old Dominion” is supposed to be the current world, but people tend to talk about it like it’s one institution) in about seventy years.
In a lot of ways, the vagueness works quite well. It creates the sense of a believable world without getting too bogged down in the details of how that world is supposed to work. The flip side of this, however, is that sometimes it’s hard to see … well … how the world is supposed to work.
Coming back to Duncan Bane, I spent quite a lot of time struggling to work out exactly where all of his money and power are supposed to come from. I mean, I get that he’s powerful in the North because he controls the supply lines, but I don’t really understand how that makes him rich or powerful on a larger scale. As far as I can see, there is literally nothing of value in the Wastes, so while being the only man who can bring food and supplies into the frozen North gives you a lot of scope to dick with people’s lives, I don’t really see how there’s money in it. These people, after all, have nothing. A fairly major feature of the setting is that it’s a post-resource-depletion society, so there can’t be any fuel reserves or anything like that. I suppose there could be some kind of minerals or precious metals that people mine, but we don’t see any evidence of that either. As far as I could tell, Bane operates in an entirely evil-based economy. Like he seems to make his money primarily by being a dick to people. I get that the notion is that he gets to charge monopoly prices in the North, but surely that only works if people actually have something to trade. I mean I could be totally wrong about this, but I’m pretty sure that if you went on Dragon’s Den and said that your business plan was to buy goods from a place where everybody was rich and sell them at a markup in a place where everybody was poor you’d be told that you needed to seriously rethink your strategy.
Worldbuilding nitpicks aside, I did really enjoy Driven. It had a good mix of romance and action, and I thought it did a good job of integrating its love story into its wider plot. I think here it helped that the protagonists were mostly reacting to an overwhelming external threat, rather than something they could pro-actively pursue in their own time. When you’re basically hunkered down waiting for the next attack, you kind of might as well focus on your love life. I think it helps that Wizard and Raina aren’t just compatible romantically, they also ultimately have quite similar goals, and so it never feels like one of them is a passenger in the other’s plot. They’re both basically loners who have difficulty navigating their mutual attraction, but they’re also both survivors, basically moral people, and of course they both want to murder Duncan Bane’s face off. The plot moves naturally from Wizard and Raina’s first meeting, to their flight from Bane’s goons, to Ice Pirates, to rebels, to more ice pirates, to the final confrontation, with plenty of room for shagging in the middle.
Much like its worldbuilding, the central story arc of Driven is high on allusion and short on details. Raina is being pursued by Bane, Bane used to be part of some kind of military thingy in the Second Noble War, and this military thingy found a secret laboratory full of genetically engineered superkids, one of whom grew up into Wizard. It turns out that Raina’s emotionally distant, sort-of abusive father was also part of said military thingy, and that Bane’s entire vendetta against her has its roots in the military operation that uncovered the superkids. There isn’t really much sense of what was going on at the time, what this military thingy actually was, what the war was or who it was against. And as with the worldbuilding this is a mixed blessing. Ultimately these kinds of mysteries seldom have satisfactory solutions – Bane, Raina’s father, the New Government Order, the Old Dominion and the War are all such big presences in the text that actually trying to explain them would be both time consuming and a bit pointless. That said, it also means that the reader is left a little light on detail.
I found this particularly difficult when it came to Raina’s father, Sam Bowen. Sam – despite being dead – is an important feature of the narrative. Initially we only hear about him from Raina’s perspective, and he comes across as having been, not to put too fine a point on it, an abusive asshole. It’s tricky, because the Wastes are clearly a very hostile environment populated almost entirely by psychopaths, and so raising your kid never to trust anybody or to care about anybody except herself is probably quite sensible, but actively beating her just to toughen her up crosses a line for me from “making the best of a bad situation” to “just not okay.” Later in the story, we hear about Sam from Wizard and Yuriko’s perspective, and they clearly see him as some kind of hero. This was intriguing for a while, but I never felt we got enough detail about Sam for me to really feel there was anything heroic about him. I mean yes, he saves the superkids (in a sense, he basically delivers them from one prison to another) but that’s one nice thing. I’d been vaguely hoping for some kind of remarkable double life or a deep-seated connection to the rebels rather than a single encounter two decades ago.
I think what most bothered me about Sam was the revelation late in the day that because of something something genotype blood something something antigens, Raina had acquired some of Wizard’s ability to adapt to physical hardship. So when Sam was whacking her around the head to try and make her stronger he was, well, sort of right. I think strangely, I could cope with the setup as I originally understood it – that Sam was low-key abusive because he was a hard man who lived in a hard world, and that was just the way it was – because I felt like it was supposed to be ambiguous. It seemed like Raina learned a lot from Sam that kept her alive, but that he also kind of messed her up. By the end, it felt more like Sam was supposed to be an unambiguously good man who was applying a difficult but necessary regimen of physical training in order to put his daughter in peak physical condition. It lost a lot of the ambiguity for me, and in a strange way made Sam’s character less interesting.
Overall I really liked Driven. The plot, the setting and the characters came together really well for me. It was well paced, had lots of explosions and a completely over-the-top villain. Pretty rad.
Everything I learned about life and love from reading Driven: In the future, tattoos will be illegal but personal plasma rifles will not. The exhaustion of our fossil fuel reserves will in no way impact the road haulage industry. If a girl cuts your eye out, you should probably let it go. What does not kill you makes you stronger, but only if you’ve had your genome resequenced.
September 15, 2010
Everyone compares Eve Kenin's Driven to Mad Max, and I see it. Her world's barren, dog-eat-dog, and Raina Bowen's a road warrior racing the clock to deliver a package and fighting against black-gummed, post-apocalyptic savages sponsored by government and bad business.
Sounds good, huh?
I enjoyed unfolding the rules of the Northern Wastes, but Kenin's delivery leaves something to be desired. Her narration's cumbersome and lacking immediacy in part because of meta-cognition like this: "Shaking her head, she focused on the first thought." That lack of urgency is even more apparent examining that same paragraph:
She not only interrupts an action scene with a monologue but her inner dialogue is entirely too casual for the suicide into which she's heading. I expect action scenes to be tight, no more than a few thoughts seeding the narrative and all of them contributing to an atmosphere.
Given that road romances are already slow by definition, Kenin's repetition isn't helping her case either. By the 100 page mark, Kenin's insistence that her heroine is independent in inner dialogue has become tedious. She needs her own song. No one must get close. We get it. Some world-building or setting might have filled that space equally adequately. Her worldbuilding's light.
That said, Kenin's real strength is her character development. Obviously lacking proper socialization, male lead Wizard could have easily been one-note, but a good deal of dialogue ensures that Wizard is constantly responding in some way, whether that's a stiffening of his shoulders or a comment and so on. Props for that. He's shown complex and intelligent. Baddie Duncan Bane is likewise truly, provably bad. No question. Truly evil fellow in the way that humans can be.
Also, an A for the love scenes. They were neither flowery nor graphic, interesting, and for a machine, Wizard's sure passionate!
I believe Kenin more suited to PNR rather than SFR, even though her writing has improved in her later Compact of Sorceror novels (or else she's benefited from a good editor). I would recommend Driven on the merits of its romance rather than its action, plot, or scifi. That's really the strength of the story, Raina and Wizard.
Sounds good, huh?
I enjoyed unfolding the rules of the Northern Wastes, but Kenin's delivery leaves something to be desired. Her narration's cumbersome and lacking immediacy in part because of meta-cognition like this: "Shaking her head, she focused on the first thought." That lack of urgency is even more apparent examining that same paragraph:
"Sam's voice rang in her head, reminding her that everyone felt fear, but what separated the coward from the hero were knife-edge smarts and the ability to control that fear. Of course, he also taught her that only fools fought battles that weren't their own. Shaking her head, she focused on the first thought. She'd chosen her path today, and she'd see it through to the end, even though her little snowscooter pitted against the hard-shelled tanks was the equivalent of a mosquito against a genetically engineered shaggy-haired mastodon.In the middle of an action scene, she philosophizes, meanders enough to naysay her own theory (i.e. "Of course..."), consciously returns to point A, pauses to remark on a convoluted metaphor, and just when we expect her to finally leap back into the fray, she philosophizes some more.Maybe that made her a fool. Or maybe it made her brave. Or maybe it just made her human."
She not only interrupts an action scene with a monologue but her inner dialogue is entirely too casual for the suicide into which she's heading. I expect action scenes to be tight, no more than a few thoughts seeding the narrative and all of them contributing to an atmosphere.
Given that road romances are already slow by definition, Kenin's repetition isn't helping her case either. By the 100 page mark, Kenin's insistence that her heroine is independent in inner dialogue has become tedious. She needs her own song. No one must get close. We get it. Some world-building or setting might have filled that space equally adequately. Her worldbuilding's light.
That said, Kenin's real strength is her character development. Obviously lacking proper socialization, male lead Wizard could have easily been one-note, but a good deal of dialogue ensures that Wizard is constantly responding in some way, whether that's a stiffening of his shoulders or a comment and so on. Props for that. He's shown complex and intelligent. Baddie Duncan Bane is likewise truly, provably bad. No question. Truly evil fellow in the way that humans can be.
Also, an A for the love scenes. They were neither flowery nor graphic, interesting, and for a machine, Wizard's sure passionate!
I believe Kenin more suited to PNR rather than SFR, even though her writing has improved in her later Compact of Sorceror novels (or else she's benefited from a good editor). I would recommend Driven on the merits of its romance rather than its action, plot, or scifi. That's really the strength of the story, Raina and Wizard.
November 20, 2016
This book is on sale right now for 99 cents. There is a novella in this world coming out soon (it takes place between the two books that are out) so now's a good time to grab this one.
https://www.amazon.com/Driven-Norther...
Found this book because of Book Bub's sale alerts and thought the blurb looked pretty good. So, so happy that happened!
Raina Bowen drives a high-tech big rig through the post-apocalyptic Siberian wastelands. The New Government Order is supposed to secure a safe and peaceful existence even in this crummy, frozen region, but cronyism has actually secured a ridiculous amount of power to one man. The man who wants to torture Raina to death.
Raina meets Wizard when she "saves" him from her nemesis's ugly minions. She'd been there to meet him anyway for some finagled documentation, but the actual meet includes a rescue and confused intent. And thus our adventure begins.
Eve Silver AKA Eve Kenin says in the author's note at the end of the book that the show Firefly was a big inspiration for this world. Considering I'd thought that many times while reading, she did a good job of harnessing the same feel of the characters and the place. Being a big Firefly fan, that's a huge plus for me as a reader. And they're truckers! That's a new one for me, but it works spendidly.
Raina is beautiful and Wizard is hot. They're both damaged and a bit strange and their chemistry is clearly not something either of them has ever experienced before. It's totally believable in the story as well as refreshingly different from the typical romance path.
I'm already starting on the next book thanks to my inability to avoid sample chapters at the end of books. There's also a deleted scene included at the end of the main text that's pretty darn smokin'.
I don't know if it's on sale anymore, but it's definitely worth the read. My one actual story complaint is that the villain is A Very Bad Man. Meaning, he's just crazy, evil bad. He has one basic motive, but one doesn't have to be so Terribly, Terribly Bad and Evil to accomplish it.
I definitely liked this one for a new-to-me Romance/UF series.
ETA: 5 stars for the reread, too! :D
REreading (again - 2nd reread after over a year) 8/21/16. Damn, I love this book.
https://www.amazon.com/Driven-Norther...
Found this book because of Book Bub's sale alerts and thought the blurb looked pretty good. So, so happy that happened!
Raina Bowen drives a high-tech big rig through the post-apocalyptic Siberian wastelands. The New Government Order is supposed to secure a safe and peaceful existence even in this crummy, frozen region, but cronyism has actually secured a ridiculous amount of power to one man. The man who wants to torture Raina to death.
Raina meets Wizard when she "saves" him from her nemesis's ugly minions. She'd been there to meet him anyway for some finagled documentation, but the actual meet includes a rescue and confused intent. And thus our adventure begins.
Eve Silver AKA Eve Kenin says in the author's note at the end of the book that the show Firefly was a big inspiration for this world. Considering I'd thought that many times while reading, she did a good job of harnessing the same feel of the characters and the place. Being a big Firefly fan, that's a huge plus for me as a reader. And they're truckers! That's a new one for me, but it works spendidly.
Raina is beautiful and Wizard is hot. They're both damaged and a bit strange and their chemistry is clearly not something either of them has ever experienced before. It's totally believable in the story as well as refreshingly different from the typical romance path.
I'm already starting on the next book thanks to my inability to avoid sample chapters at the end of books. There's also a deleted scene included at the end of the main text that's pretty darn smokin'.
I don't know if it's on sale anymore, but it's definitely worth the read. My one actual story complaint is that the villain is A Very Bad Man. Meaning, he's just crazy, evil bad. He has one basic motive, but one doesn't have to be so Terribly, Terribly Bad and Evil to accomplish it.
I definitely liked this one for a new-to-me Romance/UF series.
ETA: 5 stars for the reread, too! :D
REreading (again - 2nd reread after over a year) 8/21/16. Damn, I love this book.
August 21, 2010
Oh romance-sci-fi, you are so erratic. There were many things derivative of every Sci-fi movie ever in this book: Mad Max and Terminator being the biggest.
Yes, I still read it (and it was enjoyable in a clunky kinda way), yes the hero is a dude named "Wizard", yes, I think the lady on the plane next to me glanced at my Kindle when the words "thick c$#$" were at the top of the page, and it was uncomfortable after that. Sigh.
I think this is a first book by the author and will try the next book in the series. It reminded me a bit of Nalini Singh's "Psy" series a bit, although that is one of my fave series so the comparison didn't help. Nonetheless I think there's a lot of potential there for growth and I'll give the author another shot.
Yes, I still read it (and it was enjoyable in a clunky kinda way), yes the hero is a dude named "Wizard", yes, I think the lady on the plane next to me glanced at my Kindle when the words "thick c$#$" were at the top of the page, and it was uncomfortable after that. Sigh.
I think this is a first book by the author and will try the next book in the series. It reminded me a bit of Nalini Singh's "Psy" series a bit, although that is one of my fave series so the comparison didn't help. Nonetheless I think there's a lot of potential there for growth and I'll give the author another shot.
August 25, 2016
I love the world for this book. Ice truckers fighting it out in a frozen wasteland is such a cool idea. I thought the romance was sweet. The characters are pretty cool, and the dialogue was well done. The prose wasn’t sappy or flowery and the love scenes erotic.
I’ve read some reviews that say this book is like Mad Max and I suppose with the ice truckers and pirates there is some similarity. Actually, there are lots of little tidbits and homage that made me think of other SciFi movies and television shows. For instance the rebels’ goodbye phrase, “live to see peace,’ made me think of Spock’s “Live long and prosper". And Wizard talks a lot like Spock with words like ‘Affirmative’ and ‘Unacceptable.’ The rebal's camp in the frozen wasteland made me think of The Empire Strikes Back. Kenin likes to use plasma and phosphorous for many futuristic devices and she had some cool ideas about winter survival gear. All this stuff made me smile and I enjoyed the little references.
One of the things that bothered me about her world though was I never did get a clear idea of the big picture. I suspect the Northern Waste is somewhere in Canada, but Kenin never confirms this, and it doesn't help that she keeps using words like ‘Siberia’ and ‘Mongolians.’ I would hope this story didn’t take place in Europe/Asia because it doesn't fit. I was also lost as to what caused the wasteland. Kenin mentions something about war, but if this world has been damaged by nuclear bombs, I don’t see the real evidence of that. Everything is so vague. I know movies like Mad Max got away with being vague, but in books you want a little bit more detail.
Another thing that drove me insane is Kenin’s insistence on having Raina ponder and reflect every emotion to death. Even during action scenes, Raina is lost in reflection. Raina thinks she cares for Wizard, but then she argues she’s independent and can’t trust anybody. Then she's jealous of Wizard and Yuriko and ponders the relationship between them, and gosh isn’t Wizard damn good looking, but he may be with Yuriko whom she likes…on and on and on. These long passages of nowhere babble go on for a page or two and then they are repeated. I get the feeling Kenin was afraid we wouldn’t understand what Raina was thinking so she kept telling us. This really bogs the story down, and it’s really bad when it’s right in the middle of the exciting conclusion. I just wanted to tell Raina’s inner voice to SHUT UP!
Overall though, I enjoyed this book. I think Eve Kenin (aka Eve Silver) has some cool ideas, just like she did with her ‘Sins’ series. I just wish she would clarify things more and explain her world in more detail. In the two books I’ve read by her, I always feel like I don’t know all the rules and I’m missing a big chunk.
I’ve read some reviews that say this book is like Mad Max and I suppose with the ice truckers and pirates there is some similarity. Actually, there are lots of little tidbits and homage that made me think of other SciFi movies and television shows. For instance the rebels’ goodbye phrase, “live to see peace,’ made me think of Spock’s “Live long and prosper". And Wizard talks a lot like Spock with words like ‘Affirmative’ and ‘Unacceptable.’ The rebal's camp in the frozen wasteland made me think of The Empire Strikes Back. Kenin likes to use plasma and phosphorous for many futuristic devices and she had some cool ideas about winter survival gear. All this stuff made me smile and I enjoyed the little references.
One of the things that bothered me about her world though was I never did get a clear idea of the big picture. I suspect the Northern Waste is somewhere in Canada, but Kenin never confirms this, and it doesn't help that she keeps using words like ‘Siberia’ and ‘Mongolians.’ I would hope this story didn’t take place in Europe/Asia because it doesn't fit. I was also lost as to what caused the wasteland. Kenin mentions something about war, but if this world has been damaged by nuclear bombs, I don’t see the real evidence of that. Everything is so vague. I know movies like Mad Max got away with being vague, but in books you want a little bit more detail.
Another thing that drove me insane is Kenin’s insistence on having Raina ponder and reflect every emotion to death. Even during action scenes, Raina is lost in reflection. Raina thinks she cares for Wizard, but then she argues she’s independent and can’t trust anybody. Then she's jealous of Wizard and Yuriko and ponders the relationship between them, and gosh isn’t Wizard damn good looking, but he may be with Yuriko whom she likes…on and on and on. These long passages of nowhere babble go on for a page or two and then they are repeated. I get the feeling Kenin was afraid we wouldn’t understand what Raina was thinking so she kept telling us. This really bogs the story down, and it’s really bad when it’s right in the middle of the exciting conclusion. I just wanted to tell Raina’s inner voice to SHUT UP!
Overall though, I enjoyed this book. I think Eve Kenin (aka Eve Silver) has some cool ideas, just like she did with her ‘Sins’ series. I just wish she would clarify things more and explain her world in more detail. In the two books I’ve read by her, I always feel like I don’t know all the rules and I’m missing a big chunk.
February 13, 2013
I didn't know what Driven was about when I downloaded it. I thought it might be some futuristic UF or the similar. I did not expect what I found.
The book has a great idea, if not at all new. A world after the apocalypse with the rich dominating with lies and strength (mafia-like) and the rest of the population fighting for survival. Well, this is the idea only, as what we get is much, much less. There's close to no world-building, but thank God no info-dump. At least the back-story is woven in to the plot nicely. But that's it. It was one of the most boring read in quite a while, more of a pity, because it started with a bang.
Unfortunately this is also it's main problem. The beginning gave me expectations regarding the pace and the characters, expectations that were thrown out of the window soon after. A huge part of the book, from 20% to almost the end, is a never-ending... nothing. A total blabbering.
As new-user said:
Worse is the insta-lust absolutely out of character. Do you remember how long it took Kate Daniels to trust? We're talking of books... Here in a couple of scene the heroine forgets past and training. Moreover, I wonder if authors realize that some of us find boring and offending reading about a woman who can only think how sexy the guy is. Who can not strategize, think, protect because she is distracted by the guy? Pages on pages of this idiocy. I don't think a teenage boy's mind is so full of hormones and lusty thought. And after this, we are presented with a teenage in luuuv, waiting and moaning for her love. (By the way they met a few days before...what is this love based upon?)
Three action scenes can not bear the pace of an entire book. And after the big reveal...what a let down. Give me a strong reaction. I understand this is romance and there is expectation of HEA, but how much better giving a hint of it but real?
Bastard doesn't even cover it. Oh Yes, we are all for Heroes and freedom-fighters. We may understand the reason. But forgetting and forgiving aren't easy nor quick. But then I did not see how she fell for him.
Hero was. Hero was. Terminator kind of. More of a joke though. Nice to read and laugh about. I can't say much more. The villain lacked any depth, it was cartoonish (with the eye-patch to boot and impotent and therefore violent...sigh).
Melanie loved it though, here's her review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The book has a great idea, if not at all new. A world after the apocalypse with the rich dominating with lies and strength (mafia-like) and the rest of the population fighting for survival. Well, this is the idea only, as what we get is much, much less. There's close to no world-building, but thank God no info-dump. At least the back-story is woven in to the plot nicely. But that's it. It was one of the most boring read in quite a while, more of a pity, because it started with a bang.
Unfortunately this is also it's main problem. The beginning gave me expectations regarding the pace and the characters, expectations that were thrown out of the window soon after. A huge part of the book, from 20% to almost the end, is a never-ending... nothing. A total blabbering.
As new-user said:
In the middle of an action scene, she philosophizes, meanders enough to naysay her own theory (i.e. "Of course..."), consciously returns to point A, pauses to remark on a convoluted metaphor, and just when we expect her to finally leap back into the fray, she philosophizes some more.
She not only interrupts an action scene with a monologue but her inner dialogue is entirely too casual for the suicide into which she's heading. I expect action scenes to be tight, no more than a few thoughts seeding the narrative and all of them contributing to an atmosphere.
Worse is the insta-lust absolutely out of character. Do you remember how long it took Kate Daniels to trust? We're talking of books... Here in a couple of scene the heroine forgets past and training. Moreover, I wonder if authors realize that some of us find boring and offending reading about a woman who can only think how sexy the guy is. Who can not strategize, think, protect because she is distracted by the guy? Pages on pages of this idiocy. I don't think a teenage boy's mind is so full of hormones and lusty thought. And after this, we are presented with a teenage in luuuv, waiting and moaning for her love. (By the way they met a few days before...what is this love based upon?)
Three action scenes can not bear the pace of an entire book. And after the big reveal...what a let down. Give me a strong reaction. I understand this is romance and there is expectation of HEA, but how much better giving a hint of it but real?
Bastard doesn't even cover it. Oh Yes, we are all for Heroes and freedom-fighters. We may understand the reason. But forgetting and forgiving aren't easy nor quick. But then I did not see how she fell for him.
Hero was. Hero was. Terminator kind of. More of a joke though. Nice to read and laugh about. I can't say much more. The villain lacked any depth, it was cartoonish (with the eye-patch to boot and impotent and therefore violent...sigh).
Melanie loved it though, here's her review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
March 27, 2018
I first read DRIVEN when it came out in 2007 but I wasn't writing reviews for books back then. I shelved it as a 'keeper' and five years later I decided to read it again. Eve Silver wrote this SHOMI love story along with its sequel HIDDEN under the alias Eve Kenin after writing a couple of historical romances with some bite. She is currently publishing The Otherkin/Sins books at the present time.
I would venture to guess that this short series was aimed at the 18 and up crowd but it you enjoy futuristic romances with some cryptic moments, a dystopian society, a kick-butt heroine and an anti-hero that you could fall in love with, this book is for you.
DRIVEN is a fast read that contains both action and adventure. Raina Bowen lives during a time when a sadistic man rules the world. She comes into contact with Wizard who is an assassin. They both have hidden agendas and, over a period of days, try to trust each other. This is an issue that neither takes lightly.
It also has some snarky humor. "He stared at her, saying nothing, his gray eyes narrowed in thought. "Romance. Compliments. Gifts." He gave an abrupt nod. "Understood."...."Raina..." She licked her lips..... "Your eyes are appropriately spaced," he whispered. She blinked. "And your ears are proportional to your face...." He looked at her earnestly. "Compliments."
Driven won the Best Genre Fiction in 2007 by Library Journal, the 2008 All About Romance Annual Reader Poll Award and was a Romantic Times BOOKreviews Reviewers Choice award winner. Here is a tip, don't read too much into the reviews.
This time around DRIVEN is closer to four stars but it is still an interesting look at a futuristic society.
I would venture to guess that this short series was aimed at the 18 and up crowd but it you enjoy futuristic romances with some cryptic moments, a dystopian society, a kick-butt heroine and an anti-hero that you could fall in love with, this book is for you.
DRIVEN is a fast read that contains both action and adventure. Raina Bowen lives during a time when a sadistic man rules the world. She comes into contact with Wizard who is an assassin. They both have hidden agendas and, over a period of days, try to trust each other. This is an issue that neither takes lightly.
It also has some snarky humor. "He stared at her, saying nothing, his gray eyes narrowed in thought. "Romance. Compliments. Gifts." He gave an abrupt nod. "Understood."...."Raina..." She licked her lips..... "Your eyes are appropriately spaced," he whispered. She blinked. "And your ears are proportional to your face...." He looked at her earnestly. "Compliments."
Driven won the Best Genre Fiction in 2007 by Library Journal, the 2008 All About Romance Annual Reader Poll Award and was a Romantic Times BOOKreviews Reviewers Choice award winner. Here is a tip, don't read too much into the reviews.
This time around DRIVEN is closer to four stars but it is still an interesting look at a futuristic society.
May 14, 2022
*3.5* A very unique dystopian, sci-fi romance.
Human, but raised by computers, Wizard is an unemotional powerhouse. He has to be partially cyborg with beyond excellent vision and hearing, and he's very robot-like in his wooing technique.
Human, but raised by computers, Wizard is an unemotional powerhouse. He has to be partially cyborg with beyond excellent vision and hearing, and he's very robot-like in his wooing technique.
"Your eyes are appropriately spaced," he whispered.Raina was raised by an ex-military father who trained her to fight, by beating her every time she lost. Both had brutal upbringings but find commendality under all their emotional walls. This story is like ice truckers meets Mad Max.
December 7, 2011
Recommended by: ♫♥✿LovLivLife Reviews✿♥♫ (Chasity)
Thank you Chasity - without you having put this on my radar, I would have been deprived of this thoroughly entertaining futuristic romance!
Wow! I really loved this book. Set in a dystopic future after two nuclear wars where Earth's northern hemisphere is crippled by nuclear winter, we meet Raina Bowen, a tough, solitary ice trucker. A contestant in an ice trucking race to deliver goods to a northern outpost, she's arranged to meet a enigmatic mercenary known as "Wizard" who's agreed to procure a special license she needs to help her win. Only thing is - Wizard's got his own agenda.
From the moment of their colorful meeting, I loved these two together! Raina is a bonafide kick-a$$ chick. Life's dealt her a harsh hand and, as a result, she's got major trust issues... but it's left her tough enough to look after herself in this harsh dystopic reality. The book progresses mainly through her POV, but we get a bit insight from Wizard's perspective here and there. Wizard reminded me so much of one of my all-time favorite heroes - Judd Lauren from Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series. Although he's a strong, capable alpha guy who can take down anybody, anywhere, he's also an emotional cripple - a result of who and what he is - and it was heart-wrenching and thrilling to read about him struggling to identify and then deal with his feelings towards Raina.
I do wish that Kenin (Eve Silver's alter ego) had dished up a bit more of a back story for this novel (a complaint I also have for Silver's Otherkin series) - especially the circumstances surrounding Raina and Duncan Bane, the story's dastardly villain. However, I enjoyed Raina and Wizard's story so much that I'm willing to overlook it. I will definitely be checking out 'Hidden', book 2 (and the last) involving Tatiana, Wizard's sister... here's hoping it's just as good!
Thank you Chasity - without you having put this on my radar, I would have been deprived of this thoroughly entertaining futuristic romance!
Wow! I really loved this book. Set in a dystopic future after two nuclear wars where Earth's northern hemisphere is crippled by nuclear winter, we meet Raina Bowen, a tough, solitary ice trucker. A contestant in an ice trucking race to deliver goods to a northern outpost, she's arranged to meet a enigmatic mercenary known as "Wizard" who's agreed to procure a special license she needs to help her win. Only thing is - Wizard's got his own agenda.
From the moment of their colorful meeting, I loved these two together! Raina is a bonafide kick-a$$ chick. Life's dealt her a harsh hand and, as a result, she's got major trust issues... but it's left her tough enough to look after herself in this harsh dystopic reality. The book progresses mainly through her POV, but we get a bit insight from Wizard's perspective here and there. Wizard reminded me so much of one of my all-time favorite heroes - Judd Lauren from Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series. Although he's a strong, capable alpha guy who can take down anybody, anywhere, he's also an emotional cripple - a result of who and what he is - and it was heart-wrenching and thrilling to read about him struggling to identify and then deal with his feelings towards Raina.
I do wish that Kenin (Eve Silver's alter ego) had dished up a bit more of a back story for this novel (a complaint I also have for Silver's Otherkin series) - especially the circumstances surrounding Raina and Duncan Bane, the story's dastardly villain. However, I enjoyed Raina and Wizard's story so much that I'm willing to overlook it. I will definitely be checking out 'Hidden', book 2 (and the last) involving Tatiana, Wizard's sister... here's hoping it's just as good!
March 21, 2022
You can find this review in English below.
4.5 stars. Ha sido así de buena.
Lo mejor: que es una historia sin pretensiones. Su finalidad es entretener y para ello se apoya en un elenco de personajes bien caracterizados y a los que les coges cariño desde el minuto uno, una trama bastante sencilla y sin complicaciones pero que funciona y una ambientación tirando a sutil que te hace olvidar que estás leyendo ciencia ficción. Pero sobre todo, lo mejor han sido los protagonistas.
Lo peor: Hombre, algo malo tenía que tener. Lo más flojo ha sido el malo. Es el único personaje que no brilla. Es plano, soso y anodino. Pero como sale poco, se puede pasar por alto.
Volviendo a la historia, Raina Bowen es una mujer fuerte, independiente y con su corazón de oro a pesar de que su vida personal ha sido un infierno. Y para conseguir lo que quiere (salvar a una hermana desconocida y huir definitivamente de su enemigo mortal) necesita dinero en cantidades industriales. Y eso es precisamente lo que ofrece el concurso en el que ha entrado. El primero que entregue la carga de grano en su destino será poco menos que millonario. Para ello necesita algo que Wizard, nuestro héroe, le ha de proporcionar.
Wizard, Wizard, Wizard…*sigh* ¿Qué puedo decir de Wizard? Si la infancia de Raina ha sido chunga la de Wizard no tiene nombre. Wizard ha sido entrenado como una máquina de matar desde su más tierna infancia. Él analiza datos, probabilidades y actúa. Punto. Es frío, calculador y no tiene ni idea de que son los sentimientos. Pero la señora Silver tira de humor y vaya si funciona. Para muestra, mi botón favorito:
Y así, en medio de un salvaje infierno blanco, con las principales vías de comunicación en manos del malo y con un gobierno corrupto que ha abandonado a sus ciudadanos, se desarrolla la acción.
Hay un pequeño reducto de disidentes que luchan por mejorar su situación y por devolver al pueblo lo que es suyo y ésta es la principal fuente de aventuras. También hay historias entre estos personajes que me gustaría conocer. Las interacciones entre ellos deja ver que algo hay, pero no el que. Esperemos que la señora Silver lo aclare en las próximas entregas.
En definitiva, una historia muy entretenida que tiene de todo un poco: ciencia ficción, aventuras y romance y que se lee de un tirón.
***
4.5 stars . It has been that good.
The best: that it is an unpretentious story. Its purpose is to entertain and for this it relies on a cast of well-portrayed characters, whom you will love from the start, a simple and uncomplicated plot that works and a subtle setting that makes you forget you're reading science fiction. But above all, the MC´s have been the best.
The worst: Man, it can´t be perfect. The weakest thing has been the bad guy. He is the only character that does not shine. He's flat, bland and anodyne. But since he comes out very little, it can be overlooked.
Going back to the story, Raina Bowen is a strong, independent woman with a heart of gold despite the fact that her personal life has been a living hell. And in order to get what she wants (save an unknown sister and finally flee from his mortal enemy) she needs money in buckets. And that is precisely what the contest in which she has entered offers. The first person who delivers the grain load to its destination will be little short of a millionaire. For this, she needs something that Wizard, our hero, has to provide.
Wizard, Wizard, Wizard ... *dreamy-sigh * What can I say about Wizard? If Raina's childhood has been dodgy, Wizard's was unspeakable. Wizard has been trained to be a killing machine since his earliest childhood. He analyzes data, probabilities and acts. Period. He is cold, calculating and has no idea what feelings are. But Ms. Silver resorted to humor and it worked famously. Here is a sample:
And so, in the midst of a savage white hell, with the main roads in the hands of the bad guys and with a corrupt government that has abandoned its citizens, the action is developed.
There is a small redoubt of dissidents who struggle to improve their situation and to give back to the people what is theirs, and this is the main source of adventure. There are also stories among these dissidents characters that I would like to know. The interactions between them show that there is something going on, but nothing more. I look forward to Ms. Silver´s next installments.
In short, a very entertaining story that has a bit of everything: science fiction, adventure and romance and that I read in one go.
4.5 stars. Ha sido así de buena.
Lo mejor: que es una historia sin pretensiones. Su finalidad es entretener y para ello se apoya en un elenco de personajes bien caracterizados y a los que les coges cariño desde el minuto uno, una trama bastante sencilla y sin complicaciones pero que funciona y una ambientación tirando a sutil que te hace olvidar que estás leyendo ciencia ficción. Pero sobre todo, lo mejor han sido los protagonistas.
Lo peor: Hombre, algo malo tenía que tener. Lo más flojo ha sido el malo. Es el único personaje que no brilla. Es plano, soso y anodino. Pero como sale poco, se puede pasar por alto.
Volviendo a la historia, Raina Bowen es una mujer fuerte, independiente y con su corazón de oro a pesar de que su vida personal ha sido un infierno. Y para conseguir lo que quiere (salvar a una hermana desconocida y huir definitivamente de su enemigo mortal) necesita dinero en cantidades industriales. Y eso es precisamente lo que ofrece el concurso en el que ha entrado. El primero que entregue la carga de grano en su destino será poco menos que millonario. Para ello necesita algo que Wizard, nuestro héroe, le ha de proporcionar.
Wizard, Wizard, Wizard…*sigh* ¿Qué puedo decir de Wizard? Si la infancia de Raina ha sido chunga la de Wizard no tiene nombre. Wizard ha sido entrenado como una máquina de matar desde su más tierna infancia. Él analiza datos, probabilidades y actúa. Punto. Es frío, calculador y no tiene ni idea de que son los sentimientos. Pero la señora Silver tira de humor y vaya si funciona. Para muestra, mi botón favorito:
He stared at her, saying nothing, his gray eyes narrowed in thought. “Romance. Compliments. Gifts.” He gave an abrupt nod. “Understood.”
[...] “Raina… Your eyes are appropriately spaced.” He whispered
She blinked.
“And your ears are proportional to your face. The collagen fibers of your integument have maintained a wrinkle-free and youthful appearance.” He looked at her earnestly. “Compliments.”
“Ummm….” She frowned. “My integument?”
“Tomorrow, I will order you a set of titanium body armor. Lightweight and impenetrable.” The corners of his mouth kicked up just a bit, and he looked incredibly pleased with himself. “Gifts.”
Y así, en medio de un salvaje infierno blanco, con las principales vías de comunicación en manos del malo y con un gobierno corrupto que ha abandonado a sus ciudadanos, se desarrolla la acción.
Hay un pequeño reducto de disidentes que luchan por mejorar su situación y por devolver al pueblo lo que es suyo y ésta es la principal fuente de aventuras. También hay historias entre estos personajes que me gustaría conocer. Las interacciones entre ellos deja ver que algo hay, pero no el que. Esperemos que la señora Silver lo aclare en las próximas entregas.
En definitiva, una historia muy entretenida que tiene de todo un poco: ciencia ficción, aventuras y romance y que se lee de un tirón.
***
4.5 stars . It has been that good.
The best: that it is an unpretentious story. Its purpose is to entertain and for this it relies on a cast of well-portrayed characters, whom you will love from the start, a simple and uncomplicated plot that works and a subtle setting that makes you forget you're reading science fiction. But above all, the MC´s have been the best.
The worst: Man, it can´t be perfect. The weakest thing has been the bad guy. He is the only character that does not shine. He's flat, bland and anodyne. But since he comes out very little, it can be overlooked.
Going back to the story, Raina Bowen is a strong, independent woman with a heart of gold despite the fact that her personal life has been a living hell. And in order to get what she wants (save an unknown sister and finally flee from his mortal enemy) she needs money in buckets. And that is precisely what the contest in which she has entered offers. The first person who delivers the grain load to its destination will be little short of a millionaire. For this, she needs something that Wizard, our hero, has to provide.
Wizard, Wizard, Wizard ... *dreamy-sigh * What can I say about Wizard? If Raina's childhood has been dodgy, Wizard's was unspeakable. Wizard has been trained to be a killing machine since his earliest childhood. He analyzes data, probabilities and acts. Period. He is cold, calculating and has no idea what feelings are. But Ms. Silver resorted to humor and it worked famously. Here is a sample:
He stared at her, saying nothing, his gray eyes narrowed in thought. “Romance. Compliments. Gifts.” He gave an abrupt nod. “Understood.”
[...] “Raina… Your eyes are appropriately spaced.” He whispered
She blinked.
“And your ears are proportional to your face. The collagen fibers of your integument have maintained a wrinkle-free and youthful appearance.” He looked at her earnestly. “Compliments.”
“Ummm….” She frowned. “My integument?”
“Tomorrow, I will order you a set of titanium body armor. Lightweight and impenetrable.” The corners of his mouth kicked up just a bit, and he looked incredibly pleased with himself. “Gifts.”
And so, in the midst of a savage white hell, with the main roads in the hands of the bad guys and with a corrupt government that has abandoned its citizens, the action is developed.
There is a small redoubt of dissidents who struggle to improve their situation and to give back to the people what is theirs, and this is the main source of adventure. There are also stories among these dissidents characters that I would like to know. The interactions between them show that there is something going on, but nothing more. I look forward to Ms. Silver´s next installments.
In short, a very entertaining story that has a bit of everything: science fiction, adventure and romance and that I read in one go.
March 10, 2014
I think I was looking for more...everything here was very shallow, and I didn't really connect with the characters on a deep level.
It's not a bad read but after you've read a bunch of these types of books then you need something new. The set up for this one was interesting until about a quarter of the way in the heroine started to get sappy and/or horny all the time and I lost interest in her. I also think the hero didn't sound robotic enough to me.
The writing wasn't my favorite either. It read like a screenplay rather than a novel-- you know when you get a lot of detail about how the character moves and where there hair blows and how they tilt their head. I appreciate the idea of trying to give us a complete picture but after a while I got really tired of reading it.
If you're looking for a lotta spice in your fantasy then read this... if you're looking for a fun adventure with a kickass woman and a "does not compute feelings" guy then I'd recommend you try Lindsay Buroker's The Emperor's Edge series instead.
It's not a bad read but after you've read a bunch of these types of books then you need something new. The set up for this one was interesting until about a quarter of the way in the heroine started to get sappy and/or horny all the time and I lost interest in her. I also think the hero didn't sound robotic enough to me.
The writing wasn't my favorite either. It read like a screenplay rather than a novel-- you know when you get a lot of detail about how the character moves and where there hair blows and how they tilt their head. I appreciate the idea of trying to give us a complete picture but after a while I got really tired of reading it.
If you're looking for a lotta spice in your fantasy then read this... if you're looking for a fun adventure with a kickass woman and a "does not compute feelings" guy then I'd recommend you try Lindsay Buroker's The Emperor's Edge series instead.
February 21, 2025
What a different read and that’s probably the main reason I picked this up, just how unique it all sounded. Think ice road truckers if it was set in a dystopian wasteland and had romance and a touch of sci-if all with a mad max vibe and that’s the basic gist. The described visuals and world just sounded ever so intriguing.
Raina Bowen works as is a trucker her latest foray and current objective is to get her hands on a cash reward for being the first to arrive at a specific destination with her load intact. After the death of her father Sam, Raina’s discovered an unknown sister and she’s determined to make sure she’s taken care of. But for that to become reality she needs Wizards assistance and that’s where everything starts to go sideways. Now along with her new companion Raina’s evading ice pirates and reavers all whilst harbouring the incredibly stoic and her strange new sidekick Wizard. Plans also change so Raina after doing some business with them finds herself seriously contemplating joining the rebels cause in there fight against the corrupt establishment and her old nemesis Duncan Bane
But Wizard isn’t quite what he seems and his interest in Raina is far from altruistic. He needs her for his own personal agenda something he’s keeping on the down low. He’s following a logical path with an acceptable outcome and Wizard is all about the logic. At times Raina believes he acts more machine than man but there’s something about him despite all of her trust issues that just gets to her.
I did like this but the romance itself felt a tad underdeveloped and the world building could have been so much more than it was. It wasn’t very elaborate in terms of its world set-up and it definitely lost points there. What it was though was unique and that aspect hooked me making this then stand out in a sea of sameness. For that reason alone I’d recommend reading this.
Raina Bowen works as is a trucker her latest foray and current objective is to get her hands on a cash reward for being the first to arrive at a specific destination with her load intact. After the death of her father Sam, Raina’s discovered an unknown sister and she’s determined to make sure she’s taken care of. But for that to become reality she needs Wizards assistance and that’s where everything starts to go sideways. Now along with her new companion Raina’s evading ice pirates and reavers all whilst harbouring the incredibly stoic and her strange new sidekick Wizard. Plans also change so Raina after doing some business with them finds herself seriously contemplating joining the rebels cause in there fight against the corrupt establishment and her old nemesis Duncan Bane
But Wizard isn’t quite what he seems and his interest in Raina is far from altruistic. He needs her for his own personal agenda something he’s keeping on the down low. He’s following a logical path with an acceptable outcome and Wizard is all about the logic. At times Raina believes he acts more machine than man but there’s something about him despite all of her trust issues that just gets to her.
I did like this but the romance itself felt a tad underdeveloped and the world building could have been so much more than it was. It wasn’t very elaborate in terms of its world set-up and it definitely lost points there. What it was though was unique and that aspect hooked me making this then stand out in a sea of sameness. For that reason alone I’d recommend reading this.
December 8, 2011
Absolutely fantastic read!!!!!!
I took Driven with me on my hike to read while taking a small break and I almost didn't want to stop to come back down the mountain! Taken on Ko'olau Summit Trail (KST) between Mariner's Ridge and Kamehame, O'ahu, Hawai'i.
My official review of books one and two, combined:
These books are from my personal shelf and boy am I pleased with my selections!
Eve Kenin a.k.a. Eve Silver is a highly talented writer. I've read her paranormal series and now this sci-fi series and I am all around impressed. The only downer, there is no other book in the series and there really needs to be one because I want it =). With that said, each book is it's own story and each ends cleanly with no loose ends. Of course, there's room for more to be written but if there is never another book I feel like the story is complete. Though I am going to hope for another.
Driven and Hidden are both out of this world entertaining to read. The characters Eve has created are easy to attach to. Suffice to say, I want more of these characters that I love. Even the secondary characters have piqued my interest. Ugh, I'll just say it... I want to read Yuriko's story.
All in all, adventure and rich storyline makes Driven and Hidden must reads.
http://www.lovlivlifereviews.com/2011...
I took Driven with me on my hike to read while taking a small break and I almost didn't want to stop to come back down the mountain! Taken on Ko'olau Summit Trail (KST) between Mariner's Ridge and Kamehame, O'ahu, Hawai'i.
My official review of books one and two, combined:
These books are from my personal shelf and boy am I pleased with my selections!
Eve Kenin a.k.a. Eve Silver is a highly talented writer. I've read her paranormal series and now this sci-fi series and I am all around impressed. The only downer, there is no other book in the series and there really needs to be one because I want it =). With that said, each book is it's own story and each ends cleanly with no loose ends. Of course, there's room for more to be written but if there is never another book I feel like the story is complete. Though I am going to hope for another.
Driven and Hidden are both out of this world entertaining to read. The characters Eve has created are easy to attach to. Suffice to say, I want more of these characters that I love. Even the secondary characters have piqued my interest. Ugh, I'll just say it... I want to read Yuriko's story.
All in all, adventure and rich storyline makes Driven and Hidden must reads.
http://www.lovlivlifereviews.com/2011...
November 29, 2018
I enjoyed this post apocalyptic frozen waste scifi romance, and it was a pick for Vaginal Fantasy quite a while back but I didn't read it at the time. Will have to look into more cold-setting romances, I really liked that part of it! And also kick butt female protagonist that was very capable of handling herself. I appreciated her choices, and also that she made her own decisions and took the actions that were meaningful to her.
Side note: I found it hard to see from the perspective of the antagonist, who a sadist. That makes for uncomfortable reading for me even though the scenes were short and infrequent. It just creeps me out, and something I don't enjoy in romance, so I pulled the rating from 4 stars to 3 stars. That said, I really do want to check out the rest of the series and did enjoy all other elements of the book.
Side note: I found it hard to see from the perspective of the antagonist, who a sadist. That makes for uncomfortable reading for me even though the scenes were short and infrequent. It just creeps me out, and something I don't enjoy in romance, so I pulled the rating from 4 stars to 3 stars. That said, I really do want to check out the rest of the series and did enjoy all other elements of the book.
September 11, 2013
Driven by Eve Silver
A post-apocalyptic, trans-Siberian trucker tale in the Northern Waste. Huh?
A dark futuristic, hard-life, survivor romance.
Raina Bowen survives and travels on her own. It's her choice. It's what she knows. "She doesn't need anyone." Then she rescues Wizard from a group of truckers intending to beat him. So now they are traveling together in her long-haul truck. They go back to the truck stop to help the rag-tag band of kids living there. And eventually find that the really nasty bad guy, Duncan Bane, is getting closer to finding Raina. Does she run or stand her ground?
However you describe this book, it was an adventure from start to finish. I really enjoyed Wizard. He reminds me a little of Spock. He was brought up by a computer so he needs to learn emotions. And Raina is up for that task! It's a great fast-moving story with a great romance. I love this book. It's been sitting on my shelf for years, but I'm glad I finally read it. Eve Silver has moved high on my list of "must read authors".
A post-apocalyptic, trans-Siberian trucker tale in the Northern Waste. Huh?
A dark futuristic, hard-life, survivor romance.
Raina Bowen survives and travels on her own. It's her choice. It's what she knows. "She doesn't need anyone." Then she rescues Wizard from a group of truckers intending to beat him. So now they are traveling together in her long-haul truck. They go back to the truck stop to help the rag-tag band of kids living there. And eventually find that the really nasty bad guy, Duncan Bane, is getting closer to finding Raina. Does she run or stand her ground?
However you describe this book, it was an adventure from start to finish. I really enjoyed Wizard. He reminds me a little of Spock. He was brought up by a computer so he needs to learn emotions. And Raina is up for that task! It's a great fast-moving story with a great romance. I love this book. It's been sitting on my shelf for years, but I'm glad I finally read it. Eve Silver has moved high on my list of "must read authors".
November 20, 2010
I kept putting off reading this book until the day it was due and realize I shouldn't have. The cover made me think it would read like a comic book, which it did a little but was a whole lot more.
This is a post-apocalyptic book after two nuclear wars happen and the top half of the world is a winter "Waste" land. Raina is a truck driver waiting for a man named Wizard to give her a pass so that she'll be able to maybe win a trucking race. Things don't go as planned and Wizard ends up catching a ride with her when his truck is sabotaged.
I loved the book from the beginning all the way to the end and there was no part in the book where I was bored or thought it could have been written better. I plan on reading more from this author. Would definitely recommend this book.
This is a post-apocalyptic book after two nuclear wars happen and the top half of the world is a winter "Waste" land. Raina is a truck driver waiting for a man named Wizard to give her a pass so that she'll be able to maybe win a trucking race. Things don't go as planned and Wizard ends up catching a ride with her when his truck is sabotaged.
I loved the book from the beginning all the way to the end and there was no part in the book where I was bored or thought it could have been written better. I plan on reading more from this author. Would definitely recommend this book.
November 25, 2017
This is a petal to the metal good time. Our heroine is everything and our hero has to do everything he can to keep up with her.
If you like Tank Girl and Mad Mx: Fury Road, you will love this.
A great action adventure romance with a dystopian flare.
If you like Tank Girl and Mad Mx: Fury Road, you will love this.
A great action adventure romance with a dystopian flare.
April 7, 2020
„Dark Future - Herz aus Eis“ ist der erste Band der „Northern Waste“ Reihe von Autorin Eve Kenin. Der Schreibstil gefällt mir richtig gut! Die Seiten fliegen nur so dahin. Für eine Dystopie ist die Welt für meinen Geschmack allerdings etwas zu blass. Ich hätte mir da noch mehr Hintergründe zu dieser dystopischen Gesellschaft gewünscht. Der Fokus des Buches liegt eher auf der Liebesgeschichte, trotzdem ist das Buch sehr spannend. Manche Szenen kann ich mir sogar bildlich vorstellen, die Geschichte hat mich auf jeden Fall von Anfang an in ihren Bann gezogen.
Die Charaktere finde ich stimmig und interessant. Raina ist eine starke weibliche Heldin, Wizard ist aber auch ein toller Protagonist mit Ecken und Kanten. Die Wortgefechte zwischen den beiden Hauptcharakteren sind sehr gelungen. Das Buch bietet eine gute Mischung aus Dystopie und Liebesgeschichte. Auch wenn der romantische Teil hier etwas überwiegt, hat mich die düstere Welt sehr fasziniert. Von mir gibt es daher 4,5 Sterne und eine klare Leseempfehlung!
Leider wurde die Kurzgeschichte „Frozen“, die zwischen dem ersten und dem zweiten Teil spielt nicht ins Deutsche übersetzt. Wer sie lesen will, muss daher auf das englischsprachige Original zurückgreifen. Ich werde sie mir auf alle Fälle irgendwann kaufen, da es um die gleichen Charaktere wie im ersten Band geht und ich gerne noch mehr über sie erfahren würde.
Die Charaktere finde ich stimmig und interessant. Raina ist eine starke weibliche Heldin, Wizard ist aber auch ein toller Protagonist mit Ecken und Kanten. Die Wortgefechte zwischen den beiden Hauptcharakteren sind sehr gelungen. Das Buch bietet eine gute Mischung aus Dystopie und Liebesgeschichte. Auch wenn der romantische Teil hier etwas überwiegt, hat mich die düstere Welt sehr fasziniert. Von mir gibt es daher 4,5 Sterne und eine klare Leseempfehlung!
Leider wurde die Kurzgeschichte „Frozen“, die zwischen dem ersten und dem zweiten Teil spielt nicht ins Deutsche übersetzt. Wer sie lesen will, muss daher auf das englischsprachige Original zurückgreifen. Ich werde sie mir auf alle Fälle irgendwann kaufen, da es um die gleichen Charaktere wie im ersten Band geht und ich gerne noch mehr über sie erfahren würde.
January 20, 2022
I'm trying to read the older titles on my tablet and came across this one. I'm a big fan of Eve Silver's gothic romances so I gave it a go. In a word, this book is sheer brilliance. Okay, that's two words but you get my meaning. It's a fast-paced dystopian story with a wonderful heroine who happens to be an ice trucker. The action is intense and the ending caught me by surprise. Highly recommend!
My Rating: 5+ stars
My Rating: 5+ stars
October 14, 2014
This was the last in the series of paranormal romances that I managed to pick up back to back. Even though this is arguably more sci-fi than paranormal – it is still romance. HEAVILY romance. It starts off all gung-ho – gal in race to win multi-million dollar prize. And said gal has to save guy from his own stupidity. Based on the first few pages available in the sample, it felt as if it will be an action packed science fiction adventure romance. That feeling quickly faded as I moved forward in the story. It settled into a he’s hot/she’s hot, she has horrid unknown past, he has some unknown not quite human qualities. So, we thereby spend the next several pages wondering who what why when how while they make (and refuse to admit) googoo eyes over each other. (Sound like a romance to you? It sure read like one to me!)
A little past the half-way point, ‘stuff’ starts happening. Everyone all ends up in the same place and things start falling into place. For me, there wasn’t enough substance or enough character growth (any character growth?) or enough plot points to make me really happy. I *was* curious enough to at least finish the story. I am not curious enough to continue the series. Simply not enough here. Not even enough to write an effective review. It may have suffered from too much PNR too close together . . . not its fault . . . but . . . bleh!
A solid 3 stars. Maybe a little less. But, I will err on the side of positivity.
A little past the half-way point, ‘stuff’ starts happening. Everyone all ends up in the same place and things start falling into place. For me, there wasn’t enough substance or enough character growth (any character growth?) or enough plot points to make me really happy. I *was* curious enough to at least finish the story. I am not curious enough to continue the series. Simply not enough here. Not even enough to write an effective review. It may have suffered from too much PNR too close together . . . not its fault . . . but . . . bleh!
A solid 3 stars. Maybe a little less. But, I will err on the side of positivity.
May 25, 2018
Eve Silver writing as Eve Kenin brings the same edginess to post-apocalypse sci-fi that she does to paranormal. Both MCs, Wizard and Raina, are prickly, flawed, and violent. They are also courageous, honorable, and made for each other. Throw in a villain in need of killing, a rebellion in need of heroes, and well-crafted mutli-dimensional characters and it is an action-packed read with enough steam and emotional development to make the HFN totally satisfying.
The only flaw in the writing is Raina's repetitive inner monologue about not getting involved. It got old and began to be a bit whiny. Not that that will stop my reading the next book in the series.
The only flaw in the writing is Raina's repetitive inner monologue about not getting involved. It got old and began to be a bit whiny. Not that that will stop my reading the next book in the series.
June 9, 2021
Definite trigger warnings for abuse & sexual assault survivors.
It really is Mad Max Fury Road meets Alaska. Only the first hit is free -- the mid novella & book 2 aren't on K.U.
It really is Mad Max Fury Road meets Alaska. Only the first hit is free -- the mid novella & book 2 aren't on K.U.
Read
September 13, 2022I read this for the Vaginal Fantasy book club and I'll just say that if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have touched this book. The blurb doesn't really grab me, I mean, ice truckers? Not my thing. Regardless, I picked it up because I would actually like to follow along with the discussion and livestream and know what they're talking about. ;)
Our heroine, Raina, is an ice trucker (one of the only female truckers, if not the only), who wants to haul some cargo to Gladow Station to win some race and needs a trucking pass from some dude named Wizard. Well, I hope you weren't expecting some epic cross country ice trucker adventure based on that, because it gets promptly abandoned about a third of the way through. Raina and Wizard end up at a rebel camp with a huge haul of weapons and they hang out there the majority of the book, getting attacked twice randomly by ice pirates and then having sex.
Raina is introduced as a tough chick who can take care of herself. Sure, I bet she could, but we don't really see that past the first scene when she stabs some guy's tongue, it's mostly a woman who internally drools over how hot and sexy Wizard is and then berates herself because he's worthless and a loser. Wizard is an analytic, emotionless dude that learns the joy of emotions and love thanks to Raina. Hooray for instalove: it changes independent women into hormonal teenagers and robot men into love machines. Ugh.
I find the delivery of the narration to be very... clunky, I suppose is a good word. There's almost no world building. I can't speak for everyone, but I like info dumps, especially in standalone books or the first book of a series, as long as it's pertinent stuff that fits into the narrative and not useless fluff. Here we're just shown what the character say, think, and do and have to piece it together and figure it all out on our own. Did you miss the fact that this takes place in a post-apocalyptic world? Don't worry, I'm sure you aren't the only one. I'm not saying it wasn't hard to follow along, I'm just saying that I would have liked some clarification on certain things, which we're never given.
Both Wizard and Bane's POVs do nothing for me. Most of the time both are extremely short, as Raina is our primary narrator and dominates most of the book. Bane's two or three scenes are basically "Bwhaha, I'm the evil bad guy!" and the extremely vague exposition backs that up. Why does he want Raina so badly? What's the deal with Tatiana? So many unanswered questions because, once again, the lack of exposition. Wizard isn't much better. His POV basically boils down to "Raina is making me feel things. I don't feel things. Why am I feeling things?" and "I failed Tatiana." They could have been ditched to make Raina the sole narrator and it wouldn't have changed the book much.
The 'action' scenes are marred by Raina's annoying and disruptive inner reflection, not that the action was that riveting to start with. The image of transport trucks in high speed chases or advancing on the rebels' camp just made me snort in amusement rather than take it seriously. Bane is defeated in lackluster fashion and Raina makes it out okay because she's got plot armour that was strapped on mid-book through some half-assed explanation. Wizard and Raina are in love and get their instalove happily ever after. There's a slight tease of the possibility for more adventure. The end.
This may have grabbed other readers' attention, but it didn't grab mine, and even a few okay sexy scenes couldn't save it. It doesn't drive me into seething rage, I was mostly just bored and rolled my eyes a lot throughout. It gets a generous two stars.
Our heroine, Raina, is an ice trucker (one of the only female truckers, if not the only), who wants to haul some cargo to Gladow Station to win some race and needs a trucking pass from some dude named Wizard. Well, I hope you weren't expecting some epic cross country ice trucker adventure based on that, because it gets promptly abandoned about a third of the way through. Raina and Wizard end up at a rebel camp with a huge haul of weapons and they hang out there the majority of the book, getting attacked twice randomly by ice pirates and then having sex.
Raina is introduced as a tough chick who can take care of herself. Sure, I bet she could, but we don't really see that past the first scene when she stabs some guy's tongue, it's mostly a woman who internally drools over how hot and sexy Wizard is and then berates herself because he's worthless and a loser. Wizard is an analytic, emotionless dude that learns the joy of emotions and love thanks to Raina. Hooray for instalove: it changes independent women into hormonal teenagers and robot men into love machines. Ugh.
I find the delivery of the narration to be very... clunky, I suppose is a good word. There's almost no world building. I can't speak for everyone, but I like info dumps, especially in standalone books or the first book of a series, as long as it's pertinent stuff that fits into the narrative and not useless fluff. Here we're just shown what the character say, think, and do and have to piece it together and figure it all out on our own. Did you miss the fact that this takes place in a post-apocalyptic world? Don't worry, I'm sure you aren't the only one. I'm not saying it wasn't hard to follow along, I'm just saying that I would have liked some clarification on certain things, which we're never given.
Both Wizard and Bane's POVs do nothing for me. Most of the time both are extremely short, as Raina is our primary narrator and dominates most of the book. Bane's two or three scenes are basically "Bwhaha, I'm the evil bad guy!" and the extremely vague exposition backs that up. Why does he want Raina so badly? What's the deal with Tatiana? So many unanswered questions because, once again, the lack of exposition. Wizard isn't much better. His POV basically boils down to "Raina is making me feel things. I don't feel things. Why am I feeling things?" and "I failed Tatiana." They could have been ditched to make Raina the sole narrator and it wouldn't have changed the book much.
The 'action' scenes are marred by Raina's annoying and disruptive inner reflection, not that the action was that riveting to start with. The image of transport trucks in high speed chases or advancing on the rebels' camp just made me snort in amusement rather than take it seriously. Bane is defeated in lackluster fashion and Raina makes it out okay because she's got plot armour that was strapped on mid-book through some half-assed explanation. Wizard and Raina are in love and get their instalove happily ever after. There's a slight tease of the possibility for more adventure. The end.
This may have grabbed other readers' attention, but it didn't grab mine, and even a few okay sexy scenes couldn't save it. It doesn't drive me into seething rage, I was mostly just bored and rolled my eyes a lot throughout. It gets a generous two stars.
March 29, 2017
This is not Mad Max. Raina is not Furiosa.
Raina starts off bad-ass, slicing off the tongue of a creepy trucker who comes onto her in a truck stop in the frozen waste. For a few pages, I thought she'd be my kind of girl.
Then she rescues the hero, Wizard, who actually doesn't need rescuing, (obviously) and turns into the stereotypical Romance heroine. As in every other paragraph reads like this: "He was covered in muscles and deep fried in muscles, and basted in testosterone, and...big hairy forearms, and he smelled like soap,...and muscles, and grey eyes, grey muscled eyes, muscles, muscles, everywhere, wet panties, pant, pant, pant, pant."
The upside is that I skimmed all the lust, which constituted 50% of the story, and breezed through this fast.
In earnest, a much younger me might have loved this. Maybe. But the old version of moi, who's seen it all in romance plotting, couldn't stomach this trope casserole.
Por ejemplo. Raina isn't allowed to be a tough girl because Romance readers aren't supposed to like women with ethical flexibility. Consequently, the story goes through the usual tired machinations of telling (not much showing in this novel) me that Raina loves kittens, and puppies and adorable orphaned waifs. (No kittens, but there is a puppy, the only character who moved me, but who, alas wasn't onscreen much.) And she hates killing, because life is precious, or some other kumbaya bullshit.
And I'm like, "For realz?" Because to survive in the world described, a person, especially a woman, would have to learn to Suck it Up Buttercup and make people dead from time to time.
Oh, and there's the little sister trope, as in Raina is motivated by a desire to save/care for her sister Beth. Who she's never met. Fuck..., for all she knows she and Beth will hate each other. Do little brothers ever need saving?
Wizard, meanwhile is an emotionally constipated, muscle-on-muscle, tough guy, purchased from Romance Heroes Are Us and outfitted with the cyborg option. Oops! That's a spoiler, but if you've ever read a book or two, you'll figure out that plot twist pretty fast.
There's potential here, if it weren't hobbled by the genre requirement that The Couple and their Relationship dominate the story. Yeesh. I'm a sophisticated reader who need not be reminded that this is romance by endless lusty looks and angsty ruminations. You can feed me loads of non-romantic story line and I'll be all the more into the couple because it's more romantic when the lurve isn't so fucking obvious.
Some of the action scenes are exciting, although they often lose momentum when, yeppers, the heroine stops to admire...the muscles.
I bought this because the initial pages paint a picture of an interesting, powerful woman. If in-your-face sexy thoughts and uber-studly men are your thing, you'll love this. Otherwise....
Raina starts off bad-ass, slicing off the tongue of a creepy trucker who comes onto her in a truck stop in the frozen waste. For a few pages, I thought she'd be my kind of girl.
Then she rescues the hero, Wizard, who actually doesn't need rescuing, (obviously) and turns into the stereotypical Romance heroine. As in every other paragraph reads like this: "He was covered in muscles and deep fried in muscles, and basted in testosterone, and...big hairy forearms, and he smelled like soap,...and muscles, and grey eyes, grey muscled eyes, muscles, muscles, everywhere, wet panties, pant, pant, pant, pant."
The upside is that I skimmed all the lust, which constituted 50% of the story, and breezed through this fast.
In earnest, a much younger me might have loved this. Maybe. But the old version of moi, who's seen it all in romance plotting, couldn't stomach this trope casserole.
Por ejemplo. Raina isn't allowed to be a tough girl because Romance readers aren't supposed to like women with ethical flexibility. Consequently, the story goes through the usual tired machinations of telling (not much showing in this novel) me that Raina loves kittens, and puppies and adorable orphaned waifs. (No kittens, but there is a puppy, the only character who moved me, but who, alas wasn't onscreen much.) And she hates killing, because life is precious, or some other kumbaya bullshit.
And I'm like, "For realz?" Because to survive in the world described, a person, especially a woman, would have to learn to Suck it Up Buttercup and make people dead from time to time.
Oh, and there's the little sister trope, as in Raina is motivated by a desire to save/care for her sister Beth. Who she's never met. Fuck..., for all she knows she and Beth will hate each other. Do little brothers ever need saving?
Wizard, meanwhile is an emotionally constipated, muscle-on-muscle, tough guy, purchased from Romance Heroes Are Us and outfitted with the cyborg option. Oops! That's a spoiler, but if you've ever read a book or two, you'll figure out that plot twist pretty fast.
There's potential here, if it weren't hobbled by the genre requirement that The Couple and their Relationship dominate the story. Yeesh. I'm a sophisticated reader who need not be reminded that this is romance by endless lusty looks and angsty ruminations. You can feed me loads of non-romantic story line and I'll be all the more into the couple because it's more romantic when the lurve isn't so fucking obvious.
Some of the action scenes are exciting, although they often lose momentum when, yeppers, the heroine stops to admire...the muscles.
I bought this because the initial pages paint a picture of an interesting, powerful woman. If in-your-face sexy thoughts and uber-studly men are your thing, you'll love this. Otherwise....
October 9, 2011
This was actually really good. While I enjoyed the first half, I was prepared to give it 3 stars. But something happened around the middle of the book, and the characters became more real to me. Raina and Wizard are both multi-dimensional characters with a lot of issues, and while these caused the usual turmoil they didn't become aggravating to read about because they were very real and raw. I teared up when Raina found out what Wizard had done because, while I understood his actions and didn't blame him, her hurt was so palpable and you could understand how truly hard the betrayal was for her given her past.
This is an interesting and harsh world, sort-of post apocalyptic where a new Government Order has taken over and rebels fight with pirates in the "frigging frozen Northern Waste." I liked that our characters met right away and we didn't have to wait around for a lot of set-up. I liked that they had instant chemistry as well, but I think one of the things that made the beginning drag for me was the repetition of Raina's inner thoughts, "He is so beautiful. Why am I thinking about how beautiful he is? It's just lust. But I shouldn't think it all. I can't trust anyone. But he's so beautiful." And so on, and so forth. But again, it really picked up once they were on the road and then in the Waste, and I can't wait to see what happens in Hidden.
And on a side note, I just frigging love Wizard. He didn't say much, but managed to get so much personality across in the little that he did. Those little mischievous smiles and attempts at jokes, so cute!
This is an interesting and harsh world, sort-of post apocalyptic where a new Government Order has taken over and rebels fight with pirates in the "frigging frozen Northern Waste." I liked that our characters met right away and we didn't have to wait around for a lot of set-up. I liked that they had instant chemistry as well, but I think one of the things that made the beginning drag for me was the repetition of Raina's inner thoughts, "He is so beautiful. Why am I thinking about how beautiful he is? It's just lust. But I shouldn't think it all. I can't trust anyone. But he's so beautiful." And so on, and so forth. But again, it really picked up once they were on the road and then in the Waste, and I can't wait to see what happens in Hidden.
And on a side note, I just frigging love Wizard. He didn't say much, but managed to get so much personality across in the little that he did. Those little mischievous smiles and attempts at jokes, so cute!
May 24, 2015
Raina started out with such promise. Unfortunately, she quickly lost all her badass cred when she almost immediately begins obsessing over Wizard, to the point where she's acting (apparently) so far out of character that she makes very poor decisions. And the endless thinking about how hot he is or how much she lusts after him - it got old really fast. So I skimmed. A lot.
The world itself was interesting. Unfortunately, that is the most positive thing I can say about the book. The writing style just didn't work for me and the constant inner monologues during action sequences just made me lose track of what was actually happening and pulled me from the story.
The big secret that everyone was hiding from Raina seemed a bit forced. Also, /rant
So I didn't like the book.
The world itself was interesting. Unfortunately, that is the most positive thing I can say about the book. The writing style just didn't work for me and the constant inner monologues during action sequences just made me lose track of what was actually happening and pulled me from the story.
The big secret that everyone was hiding from Raina seemed a bit forced. Also, /rant
So I didn't like the book.
January 12, 2009
I picked this off the shelf of "new arrivals" at my library, so my impression was that the cover was a little misleading. But I can see that if I'd bothered to check it first here on Goodreads, I would have been clued in to the fact that I'd just picked up a romance novel. Which I am not a fan of, so that colors my review.
I'd like to start off by saying the author writes some great action. I enjoyed that part heartily. But it was interspersed with some really typical romance/sex scenes--don't get me wrong, I don't have any problem with a well-written sex scene and enjoy some romance to fill out a story line, but when each romance scene is a reiteration of every other generic romance novel in existence (for example, she taught him to fear for the first time in his life!, sex against the wall less than 24-hours after near-life-threatening torso wound!, or the page-long description of that first glimpse of the male protagonist's face!), then I will be regrettably distracted by the dull ache around my eyes, caused by the grimace I've been wearing for the past five pages.
I don't like books that give me wrinkles. Or headaches.
I'd like to start off by saying the author writes some great action. I enjoyed that part heartily. But it was interspersed with some really typical romance/sex scenes--don't get me wrong, I don't have any problem with a well-written sex scene and enjoy some romance to fill out a story line, but when each romance scene is a reiteration of every other generic romance novel in existence (for example, she taught him to fear for the first time in his life!, sex against the wall less than 24-hours after near-life-threatening torso wound!, or the page-long description of that first glimpse of the male protagonist's face!), then I will be regrettably distracted by the dull ache around my eyes, caused by the grimace I've been wearing for the past five pages.
I don't like books that give me wrinkles. Or headaches.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2017
I must agree with some reviewers that this story has a Mad Max feel to it. I loved it...
Raina is a badass trucker in a messed-up futuristic post-apo world. She's totally alone until she runs into Wizard. I didn't know what to make of him at fist but he definitely grew on me ;D
This new to me author impressed me and I'll for sure continue the series. Great adventure with lots of action and steam.
Raina is a badass trucker in a messed-up futuristic post-apo world. She's totally alone until she runs into Wizard. I didn't know what to make of him at fist but he definitely grew on me ;D
This new to me author impressed me and I'll for sure continue the series. Great adventure with lots of action and steam.
September 3, 2010
Good read, action plot. Futuristic ice truckers in a post-apocalypse world... It has likable characters [with a twist in Wizard's case] and a page turning plot.
The 'frozen wastelands' make a great read for those hot and sticky summer months. Threads are placed for future books. Read in order.
Driven (2007)
Hidden (2008)
Note: Pen name for Eve Silver
The 'frozen wastelands' make a great read for those hot and sticky summer months. Threads are placed for future books. Read in order.
Driven (2007)
Hidden (2008)
Note: Pen name for Eve Silver
May 16, 2011
The Master: Who run Bartertown? Who... run... Bartertown?
Auntie Entity: ...You know who.
The Master: Say.
Auntie Entity: Master Blaster.
The Master: Say loud!
Auntie Entity: Master Blaster.
The Master: Master Blaster... what?
Auntie Entity: Master Blaster runs Bartertown
Auntie Entity: ...You know who.
The Master: Say.
Auntie Entity: Master Blaster.
The Master: Say loud!
Auntie Entity: Master Blaster.
The Master: Master Blaster... what?
Auntie Entity: Master Blaster runs Bartertown
Displaying 1 - 30 of 275 reviews