In Enemy Hands

In Enemy Hands #1

by K.S. Augustin

The Republic had taken everything from Moon—her research partner, her privacy, her illusions. They thought they had her under control. They were wrong.

Sirin, Moon's new research partner, is a chemically enhanced math genius whose memory is erased every two days. He's also a charming, fascinating man who is attracted to her anew after each memory loss cycle.

Escape from the regime that treats them like tools is impossible. There are too many walls around them, too many eyes watching. But when you've got nothing left to lose, running becomes the only option.

89,000 words

Genres: Science Fiction, Science Fiction Romance, Romance, Ebooks

257 pages, ebook

First published May 26, 2010

About the author

KS “Kaz” Augustin is an Australian author who considers herself a citizen of the world. She has several University degrees, ranging from Computer Science to International Politics, is an avid reader of military history and tactics, and writes in several genres, from space opera to romance to fantasy. The one thing that remains the same through all of this is the amount of research she brings to each world, peopled by rich and varied characters. She has visited, lived and/or worked on four continents and hopes to make it all seven in the future.

Kaz is Chief Editor of Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly and she and her husband run Sandal Press. The Augustin family consists of two human offspring, a brace of eccentric cats and a miniature Bull Terrier with a bark bigger than her entire body. Kaz is a Linux geek. For fun, she reads, cooks, is learning Latin and dotes on her twin-cab diesel truck.

You can find details of all my releases at http://www.KSAugustin.com

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carina Press has another winner in my eyes with In Enemy Hands! Moon Thadin is a super scientist working on what she calls stellar re-ignition, hoping to be able to bring back to life dead stars. Her early years of research were done with her partner Kad, who she finds out is an acting terrorist against the Republic. He barely escapes, and leaves Moon stuck dealing with the fall out.

Fast-forward three years and Moon has just been released from Republic control and allowed to continue her research. She is given a lab and the opportunity to start trials in space. She is also given the Republic’s secret super computer, Srin Flervos aka “The Turk”. Turk is a human super computer, able to compute complex equations in his mind, faster than any super computer known in the universe, and he has assigned to be at Moon’s disposal.

As Moon and Turk continue to work on her research, she learns more and more about the Republic, and comes to find herself questioning their decisions at every turn. Her dedicated computer partner and new found romantic interest tried once to defy the Republic, and because of it he now is forced to unknowingly take a drug that wipes his memories every two days. Then, hints are dropped that the Republic doesn’t want her research to create life, instead to destroy it.

With all these discoveries, Moon knows that in order to live her life, she must take a stand against Republic, and fight for not only her man, but her research and future.

I absolutely adore Moon. She is this great nerdy, somewhat naïve researcher who can only see the positives in her work. She reminded me of a child, unable to see the potential for evil in others. But, I enjoyed watching her open her eyes to the situation around her. Her history as being named a traitor as the catalyst of it all.

Turk was incredible as well. Named after the computer playing chess genius Turk, his crazy fast brain was frequently working overtime. I thought it was great the way his subconscious found ways around the memory blocking drug he was being forced to take, and was floored at how he was able to leave himself reminders and clues to figure out his life.

Although there were parts of the story where Moon or Turk were going into basic descriptions of their work that left me somewhat glassy eyed, the science aspect of this story was amazing. The thought of being able to bring life back to a star and jump start the life of a whole solar system. WOW, the balance between the Sci-Fi action and the romance was perfect!

The only little gripe I have about this book was the ending. It came too suddenly and felt somewhat unresolved to me. It seemed like on the second to the last page Moon and Turk were still trying to escape the tight clutches of the Republic, and then suddenly they get their HEA. I would have liked to see it a little more resolved than that. However, if the abrupt ending was done intentionally because of the plans for a sequel, then I take back my gripe and say only this... “I hate cliffhangers!”

All in all I give In Enemy Hands 4 out of 5 stellar re-ignitions!

[Jacqueline J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay. I liked this very well. It was an almost seamless blend of Sci Fi and Romance. The world building was stellar (heehee). Drawn with just a few strokes and mostly in the actions and reactions of the characters rather than exposition, the Republic was shown to be extrememly totalitarian with no true freedom for the people. Very well done. The heroine, Moon, has fallen afoul of the Republic through no fault of her own, but this just makes it easier for her to turn against the government when she meets Srin who has been abused by the Republic for 20 years because they want to use his immense brain power. He didn't want to stay but wanted to go back to his fiance. So for 20 years, his handler has been wiping his memory every 2 days. He wakes on the third day or Day One as they call it convinced that he will shortly be going back to his home but as he is kind, he's willing to help them out for a couple of days.

I won't go farther into the plot because this is one that I would definitely recommend to any SFR lover and I don't want to spoil it.

The romance is very well done and you feel for Moon loving him and knowing that every 2 days she must introduce herself to him again as a stranger. You also feel for Srin who somehow knows that his life is not right but who cannot remember why.

These two characters are more well drawn than a larger portion of H/hs in straight romance. They are both living and breathing and fully realized.

The sci fi element is also well done. The experiment that Moon is working on seems plausible in a future setting. The space ships are well described and rationally written and don't seem like super duper all powerful behemoths which ignore the laws of physics. The planets are gritty and realistic. The sci fi is not dense and impenetrable for non sci fi regulars however.

My only real complaint is that the book ended very abruptly. I clicked next page on my reader and literally blinked taken aback when the next page said "the end." I really hope there will be another book because I need to see what happens next.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great premise for the story. . KS Augustin writes a lot of erotica so I did not know what to expect in the book. What I found was Science Fiction Romance with no more sex than any romance today. I thought Moon refused to look at her work realistically for too long but she is a compelling character. Sirin her research partner is all you want from a wounded hero. My big problem with the book was the ending. It just left me hanging. There had better be a sequel.

[Joely Burkhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this SFR from a new-to-me author. Every two days, Moon and Srin are "reintroduced" because his memory is wiped, yet he remembers bits and pieces of HER. He can't forget her no matter what the Republic does to him. Now that's romance!

Read on my iPhone.

[CaliGirlRae · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Enemy Hands is sci-fi romance hybrid filled with adventure, suspense and some spiffy tech speak alongside a developing romance. The sci-fi romance subgenre is slowly growing and I'm always jazzed to see new additions to the library.

The book starts in the past with Moon's old research partner as they work for the republic. As with many great SF stories, there are rebels working outside of the republic and Moon gets a surprise when she finds out a secret her partner is hiding. Needless to say, she is left holding the back and suffers years of interrogation and life when she held for crimes she didn't commit. Later, she is sent to work on another vessel where she meets her new research partner, Srin, a literal living calculator who also loses his memory every two days in a restart to keep him under control. Moon is fighting her attraction to Srin and is heartbroken every time she has to restart their meeting. Srin's mind is completely wiped...or is it?

Firstly, can I just say how much I love love love Moon and Srin. With Moon, I loved that she was a woman of color and a sympathetic, brilliant scientist. Although her cultural background isn't identified, I didn't mind at all. I love that she was described as having brown skin with kinky hair and was beautiful. Srin even described her being different from his previous love. I didn't like the assault she suffered in the beginning considering it's a pet peeve of mine whenever women are hurt in such a way. It slowed my reading in the story down even though I can understand why it was put in.

With Srin, ah Srin. I loved Srin. Normally romance touts alpha heroes for their leading men and Srin, although a strong character in his own right, may be classified as beta, although I don't think that's quite accurate either. He was genuine. A complex man who had a past, a life, a love and had it all taken away for his abilities in how he can be used by a bigger machine.I was rooting for Srin and Moon and was heartbroken every time Srin had his memory taken away from him.

I also have to say I love the technical bits that made this tale authentically sci-fi. Most sci-fi romances gloss over the technical aspects and just put the magic woo woo with a bit of technobabble and I'm left scratching my head and wishing for more. Ms. Augustin went all out with her research to make the republic and the science feel so real. I loved that. I always look for techie goodness in my SF and was jazzed to see it here.

On the romance end, I was glad it took time to develop and there wasn't a forced attraction right from the beginning. Although this may be billed as a sci-fi romance, I may have to shift it into erotica territory. The sex scenes are explicit, including a scene of self pleasuring, and I felt it knocked the story off its axis during these scenes where it screeched to a halt. I'm not really a fan of explicit sex scenes and here where character development and the attraction is mostly sweet, it feels like the sexual aspects came out of nowhere and fell into TMI territory.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story development and I REALLY enjoyed the characters which were a joy to follow. The diversity was a wonderfully pleasant surprise and the adventure was fun to follow. I look forward to reading more SFR like this, although preferably with love scenes on a more sweeter scale.

This review is based on a galley received by NetGalley courtesy of the publisher.

[Mandapanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is great to find a new author in the small Science Fiction Romance genre, especially such a talented one. In Enemy Hands is the story of two people abused and trapped by a brutal regime, trying to find a way to freedom. Turk is a mathmatical genious who has been virtually enslaved through mind altering drugs. His memories are wiped every two days. Moon is a scientist who has unwittingly created a world destroying weapon. Events force them on a voyage of self-discovery as they try to escape the regime. Turk is such an appealing hero. His struggle to regain his lost memories and to save Moon is so romantic. Moon is a typically absent-minded professor and takes a while to realize the danger of her research. I could really feel her attraction to Turk. The few sex scenes were well done although maybe the last one could have been better written with more emotional description than physical description. It was feeling more like filler than driven by the story. I LOVED the hard science described in the book. There were a few passages that I really had to stop and think about and I still didn't really understand. But it felt completely authentic and deliciously over my head! There were some great secondary characters and I'm looking forward to reading about them in their own books one day(hint, hint... Drue & Kad!)

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

SFR Reading Challenge 2012 4/15
TBR Reading Challenge 2012: Personal Challenge--this book has been on my to-read list since June 2010.

Grade B-/C+

The story concept here is fascinating, and I thought Augustin's portrayal of Srin was excellent. Unfortunately, the book suffers from uneven pacing and an abrupt ending. I enjoyed the sci-fi aspect of the book, and was gratified that this author actually had a sci-fi plot and wasn't just using a spaceship setting for a romance novel. The problem was that her descriptive passages dragged at times, and took the reader out of the story. Just when the tension surrounding Srin or Moon was getting high, the author inadvertently diffuses it with "shop-talk."

I want to point out another strong point in the book were the conversations. The author does an excellent job with character development, for Srin, Moon, and Captain Jeen especially, drawing their personalities out in conversations.

Parts of this book deserve 4*, and parts deserve 2*. I'm going with an average. I'm interested enough to want to know what happens next, so I hope there is a sequel.

[Hal Evergreen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only redeeming quality of this book was the author's description of Srin's struggles with his two-day memory-loss cycles. While Srin's frequent "reboots" keep him from ever growing into a deep or complex character, concern for Srin and curiosity about how he will overcome his unusual handicap kept me reading when other aspects of the book made me want to chuck it against the wall.

Moon Thadin is neither a believable nor a sympathetic character. For someone who should be well-grounded in logic and the scientific method, she is remarkably near-sighted when it comes to the possible applications of her work. She is also a bit naive for someone who supposedly spent two years in prison.

And then there's the fact that Srin can supposedly perform absurdly complex calculations in his head faster and more reliably than the most advanced computers available. I had a very time suspending disbelief on that point.

I gave this book two stars instead of one because the premise had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the execution was extremely clumsy.

[Carolyn F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was nearly perfect. Slow beginning, but then around page 30 things sped up and it became a much better book.

Moon is thought to be part of a conspiracy that her researcher was involved in and spent about a few years in a detention center while they figured out if she was guilty or not. They allow her to go back to her research which should be very beneficial for the Republic but are watching her closely. After a year of working on the project, she off to test it and they send her an assistant who has incredible mathematical skills. The only problem is he loses his short term memory every two days. The Republic didn't want to lose him so they drug him constantly for the last 18 years. That's when Moon stops trying to survive and tries to see what she can do to help. She also learns that the Republic wants to do the opposite of what she was trying to implement and that could have very devastating consequences. A cliffhanger ending so I'm hoping that book two is already out.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really good story. Interesting, well written. I was going to give it 4 stars, until I got to the last page. Notice, I didn't say the end. Because the story did not end. The climax was not reached. The conclusion did not happen. If the writer had to stop the story there she could have ended it better. It's not that it ended in a cliff hanger. It didn't. It just stopped. That was disappointing. I hope there is a sequel in the works.

[Laverne Brewster · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.00 Stars. (WW/WM). Audiobook with narration by Leslie Bellair. Futuristic. SyFy. Moon Thadin is a research scientist working on a project to re-ignite dead stars. Three years after her first research partner defects and leaves the Republic, the Republic finds that she is not culpable and gives her another assistant, Sirin "Turk" Flervas, a chemically enhanced human mathematical genius. For years, the Republic has sort to control Turk by having him ingest a memory erasing substance every two days; but after meeting and working with Moon, Turk finds ways to safeguard certain things along with his attraction to Moon. The story drags and spends lots of time in Turks head as he maneuvers around the effects of the memory erasing drug. Turk and Moon discover that the Republic isn't interested in rejuvenating stars; but wants to the reverse effect...killing. I couldn't finish the story. DNF.

[Rhianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sexy but slow-paced...

Dr. Moon Thadin might be damned good at stellar mechanics but she didn't see her research assistant's traitorous plot coming. Blindsided and believed to be a traitor to the Republic herself she has only just been allowed to return to her research after three years. Desperate to prove her innocence and that she can reignite dead stars she dives into her work aboard the Differential. But her new partner ignites fires of his own.

Srin Flerovs has the mind of a computer and is of such value to the Republic that his handler has spent the past twenty years wiping his memory every two days. But there are some things that even his handler can't completely explain away such as his aging face and the sense of trust and desire he feels for Moon. When her experiment fails and the two face possible death they are left with no choice but to risk it all. Better to run together than die alone.

Finding really good scifi romance is something I look forward to. I'm a total Star Wars and Firefly geek who lives for a nice space adventure or alien race to dabble in. So glad I found K.S. Augustin because her writing is top notch amongst a not-always-reliable-for-quality epub world. In Enemy Hands certainly lacks the humorous moments the aforementioned fave scifi worlds of mine have giving it a harder, colder edge than most of the science fiction romance I've previously read. Augustin's Republic seems anti-alien, highly manipulative and political. The militaristic heavy-handedness present in the world building will appeal to hard scifi fans.

Moon is a heroine I immediately liked. She's extremely intelligent and while she's very driven she's not completely willing to take advantage of Srin to get results even when she's told that's what he's there for. I also liked that what few mentions of her physical stats were did not give a hard impression of any specific ethnicity. Srin, on the other hand, is mentioned as being very physically fit though based on his years of memory wiping history he has to be somewhere in his 40s. There's something about his personality that was really endearing, probably the fact that he puts up with half the crap he does is part of it. There is an intense and yummy chemistry between Srin and Moon that I had a hard time tearing myself away from. I wasn't sure I would like it at first but their personalities were refreshing individually and together.

The science is a bit confusing but Augustin does a decent job of making it non-essential for the reader to be a rocket scientist to enjoy it. While the plot does center around their work on Moon's experiment the actual story is how their romance can develop when he forgets her every two days.

The one thing the story really lacks that I tend to like is some likable secondary characters. While there are a few they are either villainous or a little too faceless for me to have given a damn what happened to them when they left the room.

Overall I did enjoy In Enemy Hands but I feel that it might not please a scifi romance reader looking for action and adventure. There's a lot of talk and a decent amount of sex and plenty of complaining (though not angsty really) and only in the final few chapters does anything really happen. It fits the setting but does make it feel slow at times. If you love a good amnesia plot this is a nice twist on the theme. I will definitely look into reading more of Augustin's scifi romances in the future.

[Laura Summers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed for www.BookChickCity.com

'In Enemy Hands' was a little inconsistent for me. I swung between enjoying it and getting frustrated with the pace. Set in the future, Moon is a scientist working on a ground-breaking project to re-animate dead stars. But, most of the Galaxy is controlled by the brutal and uncompromising Republic where failure would mean death, or even worse exile.

Moon is assigned the extraordinarily clever Srin Flerovs as her research partner. So intelligent is Srin, that he is the equivalent of a human computer. But Moon soon discovers that the Republic's reign has no bounds. After they realised nearly twenty years ago that they could no longer control Srin, they began chemically erasing his memories every forty eight hours. And this has been his empty, cyclical life ever since.

The premise itself is a clever concept. Not the sci-fi setting or even the omnipotent dictatorship, but the way the Republic control Srin. It raised not only ethical issues, but added an interesting twist to the budding romance between him and Moon.

For a lot of the book I found Moon quite naive. For a very clever woman, she seems to miss a lot of what is going on around her. But she did have the endearing quality of wanting to always see the best in everyone and everything. But it was Srin that stole the story, from the complexity of his condition, to his switch between happy-go-lucky to brooding intelligence.

The sexual chemistry seemed to ebb and flow, building and then dissipating as though it was never there. I think this was because of Srin's disappearing memories. There was one scene that comes to mind with Moon. Now, how to put this delicately.... when she relieved her own sexual tension, *ahem*. I don't believe I'm a prude, but the whole thing seemed to come out of nowhere, there just wasn't enough budding sexual tension in the narrative to make it work and the whole scene made me cringe and quickly flick the page over.

There was a lot of scene setting in the book, details of Moon's past, the science experiment, her relationships with other members of the ship's crew and this did slow things down. Then came 'the great escape' which was crammed into a few chapters in the end.

However, the last few chapters did have lots of great pace and adventure, but unfortunately they were just too short. I wonder if this is the beginning of a new series, because there is no way the ending can be considered in any way a conclusion.

VERDICT:

An inconsistent novel with promise. I did have a lot of problems with it, but for the most part I enjoyed the story. Srin was a fantastic, charismatic hero. But I wonder if this might have been a better novel focusing on his predicament, with the romance just being a small part of the story.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

On Goodreads' scale, where 2=Meh / 3=I liked it / 4=I really liked it, this gets 2.5 to 2.75.

The world-building/premise is pretty good: what would *you* do, if you started to fear and oppose the government which controls every aspect of all the lives in your region of space?

As for the main characters, Moon's on-and-off acknowledgement of the Republic's planned WMD-ization of her project -- a creative bit of megatech-in-development, BTW -- is annoying. Seeing Day One Srin vs. Day Two Srin, including from his own perspective (which is not quite the same as how she, the main PoV, sees him), is well done and emotionally frustrating.
The captain is neither a clear-cut good guy nor bad guy, especially as we see more of his motivations. Srin's minder, however, the ambitious fellow who developed the drugs that have so distorted Srin's life, is thoroughly amoral, and the Republic investigator who enters the scene toward the end is the female version of a mustache-twirling villain crossed with Dolores Umbridge. (BTW, if the Republic is so sexist, how did she even attain such an important position?)

The ending is, as others have noted, a bit abrupt and not fully resolved, so it wasn't satisfying enough to pull the book up and make me call it a "full" 3 stars.

There is also a bit too much explicit (and blunt, and sudden/improbably timed) sex for my personal taste.

Finally, although the first half seemed to be well-edited, the latter portion was riddled with places where (at least as I read it in Kindle for Android) an m-dash was converted into a question mark -- more confusing than if it'd been the box that typically represents "unknown character" -- as well as at least a few sentences that didn't track ("enough" where it should be "too much", "you inferred" which s/b either "you implied" or "I inferred"), etc.

I gather that many of K.S. Augustin's other books are erotica, so I don't think I'm going to bother even looking further among her backlist, though I haven't decided yet whether or not I'm interested enough to read In Enemy Hands's sequel, Balance of Terror, following this couple as their flight continues.

[Jadetyger Sevea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once, when I was still at University, I bemoaned the fact that a side character in my novel seemed to be stealing the show from the lead. "Of course," my teacher said. "He (the side character) has more agency."

Moon Thadin, the main character of In Enemy Hands, has this problem. She lacks agency, that push that propels our hero through the story. Without it, it was difficult to care about her.

Thadin is a scientist so obsessed with her work, she spends much of the novel blind to the manipulative politics around her. When she is told--repeatedly--by others that the project she's working on could be turned into a weapon, she shrugs the warnings off.

By the halfway mark, she's willing to concede the point, but spends another few chapters dithering on an escape plan. It's Srin, her research partner(and lover), who sets things in motion for the story's third act. Srin is charismatic and likable; his illness(a form of retrograde amnesia) intriguing. Quite frankly, I would have enjoyed the book quite a bit more if he had been the focus.

Alas, that was not to be. In the third act, Srin becomes too ill to function, and Moon Thadin is forced to grow a spine.

The last few chapters of In Enemy Hands are quite good. Tension is high, and Moon is actually being proactive, rather than reactive. The story is rolling to its conclusion. "Will Srin be all right? Will he and Moon gain their freedom?"

Unfortunately, we never find out. The plot comes to a screeching halt without a real resolution.

Which brings me to the second thing that drove me nuts about In Enemy Hands: The Ending that Wasn't.

Folks, there are enough loose threads in this book to crochet a blanket. Never have I been so flummoxed by an ending. I kept clicking the 'forward' button on my Kindle to see if I had missed something--hints of a sequel, perhaps. Nothing.

I wanted to like this book. It had received several rave reviews around the Internet, and the concept was solid. Srin was truly entertaining, and Augustin managed to revive my interest in the last third of the book.

However, In Enemy Hands left me disappointed overall.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually 4.5.

Dr. Moon Thadin has been through a lot since her former research partner, Kad Minslok, escaped from the Republic and is,now, hunted as a rebel and a terrorist. Now under suspicion, Moon must watch her every move, and all her illusions about the Republic have been shattered, especially after meeting Sirin, her new research partner. To keep Sirin, who is a math genius, under control, the republic has erased his short term memory every two days for almost twenty years.




IN ENEMY HANDS is a hybrid of science fiction and romance with well-written, borderline erotic scenes. Ms. Augustin does a great job of straddling the fence between pure science fiction and romance, without allowing either genre aspect to suffer. It is evident, that IN ENEMY HANDS is well researched, the science is believable, and the world and characters are complex and multi-faceted. Moon and Sirin are caught up in an almost impossible situation, but somehow find each other, even through all the turmoil and Sirin's memory loss. The Republic's despicable policies are highlighted by their treatment of Moon, Sirin, and, even, the Captain of their ship. I found myself rooting for them from almost the beginning, and by the end, I was on the edge of my seat hoping for them to triumph and be together. The only problem, that I have is that the ending came a little too abruptly for my tastes-- I wanted more story. Hopefully, there will be a sequel and maybe a book that tells the Captain's story.




With great world-building and complex characters, IN ENEMY HANDS does a great job in dual roles, as a science fiction and romance read. I highly recommend it.

[Meka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book certainly knows how to command the attention of the reader!
It
I have not read a lot of science fiction romance, but this one was really enjoyable. However, I do not like cliffhanger ending's. I really hope that there is a sequel! I love the heroin. She is smart, savvy, intelligent, and when the chips are down, she gains a great deal of courage to fight back!
I absolutely love the hero, and part of the wonder of this book for me is the absolute horror that was done to him. If I think about it for any length of time, it is both terrible and heartbreaking.
There better be a sequel! I really, really, really, hate cliffhangers. Did I mention that already? This book was a punch in the face, and I can't wait to read more by this author. Although, if the usual style is an ending that leaves me hanging then I am going to need some major spoilers.
The
The world building was on point.

[Celestine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book months ago, but the character of Srin has really stuck in my mind. It is always interesting reading when the hero needs to overcome a personal challenge - all for the sake of love. Plus Moon and other characters are well done, too. This is an involved book, with action moving from location to location over a decent amount of time. What is truly great is that the settings are so incredibly descriptive. Despite months away from this book, I can still visualize a trashed lab, the ship, the underground tunnels, etc. Will continue to read the series.

[Book Utopia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it's the genre, but I really got bogged down in the sci-fi details of this. It slowed down the overall story for me, as well as distracted from what were fascinating characters. There were too many sections where it was just about explaining the science and experiments going on, and I got bored with it. In addition, the ending is ambiguous. It's part of a series, and the rescue at the end is never definite. I was left feeling very frustrated.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

It ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger. It feels as though this is only half of the story. Good thing I lined up the sequel "Balance of Terror" before I started this one.

The characters are interesting and show development over time. The universe they live in is kind of a depressing one, with a majorly big-brother style government. So far it's a little dark for my tastes. I hope the story ends well.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the premise of the book, but at the end it just ... ended. We have no idea what happens to the two main characters who are on the run from the empire that wants them dead. They're being helped by a group of rebels, and are supposed to be transported from the planet they're on by a pirate ship, then ... that's it. The end of the book.

[Anja · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Sayuri_x · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me, ultimately disapponting with a sucky ending.

[Rachel Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this more than I did. I loved the premise, very original, but it felt flat to me.

[ValHallaGirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars maybe 4.. (i can't make up my mind)
I got better as i read it..i just wish it didn't end that way.

[Hmr28 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good sfr. I enjoyed the characterizations and the concept. Nothing
earthshattering.

[Talltree]

ZZZzzzz

[Katmac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great set up, build up of claustrophobic tension unfortunately undermined by graphic sex scenes better suited to "romantic" sci fi

[Misti · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this had an interesting set up and potential but I ended up not really caring for it. And I disliked Moon. For someone so smart, she was really dumb and self centered.