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Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Polaris Rising

Polaris Rising (Consortium Rebellion, #1)

Polaris Rising is a fast paced debut that mixes space opera with a heaping dose of romance- and it works. I had a lot of fun reading this and despite a page count in excess of 400 pages it never seemed to flag- a pretty good accomplishment for a debut novel. There are escapes and action galore and no shortage of snarky banter, not to mention the smoldering intensity between the leads- Ada of House von Hasenberg and Marcus Loch. 

Ada is on the run from her House which is trying to marry her off to Richard, a douchebag from a rival House who wants her back- badly. They were childhood friends once but no longer- Richard has changed, and Ada wants nothing to do with an arranged marriage. Her father has put a price on her head for safe retrieval, and the story starts with her being captured by mercenaries intent on delivering her to her father. Unfortunately for them Ada doesn't take well to being captured, and since her fellow prisoner is Loch, one of the more feared men in the galaxy, they soon come out on the losing end of that. 

As you can imagine there is instant sexual tension between Ada and Loch, and the story moves from there as the two of them try to stay ahead of Richard. The pace is quick as I mentioned- not a lot of downtime- and everything pretty much works. There's a nice mix of romance and worldbuilding, neither overshadows the other much, although there are more sexytimes than I typically read. I know this book walks a fine line for some as to whether the romance is too much or just right, and I come down a little in the middle. I like a good romance in an SF tale but sometimes less is more. 

The real issue I had was Loch. He's the baddest of the bad in terms of prowess- super strong, heals quickly, etc. There's a reason for this of course, but the way he growls rather than talks and the smoldering gazes- I couldn't help but roll my eyes at times. He's like a superman who can't be stopped and I would have liked maybe a little more vulnerability or nuance? He is developed to an extent but I just think he's pretty one dimensional. And at least two other characters- Rhys and Ian- struck me the same way, as if every prominent male in the story has to be a smoldering badass. 

The worldbuilding worked for me. It's rolled out in an organic way, as the story flows- not a lot of info dumping. Ada was awesome- I really liked her- and her sister Bianca is intriguing as well when she's introduced late in the story. And Veronica is a favorite- she's a woman with a secret who Ada befriends and they become very tight in their travels. The female characters in this book are top notch. 

Some final thoughts- and these might be a bit spoilery. Ada doesn't like to kill but finds herself forced to at various times, and this weighs on her. Completely understandable, but on at least one occasion she makes a decision that objectively is not very smart, and it of course leads to some necessary killing if she's going to escape. Given the fact that she's never really in life threatening danger- I mean sure in a firefight anything might happen- but by and large she's wanted alive and if the worst ever happens she can fall back on her House for support. So she doesn't really need to go out and do things that result in death. I found that to be a bit of weakness in the plot- if she hates killing why act like she's a super agent and start galactic crises? 

Having said that I enjoyed this novel a lot and flew through it. It's a little longer than maybe it needs to be, but at the same time with everything going on it doesn't feel rushed, so maybe that's a plus. And for a debut it feels very assured and smooth- I give kudos to the author for producing a fun SF tale that never flags and hits a lot of right notes.  

24 comments:

  1. Awesome review, Greg. I really loved this book, and you're right, the female characters were done really well. I hadn't really thought about Loch as a smoldering badass, but now I see what you mean:-) I think the next book in the series is about Bianca.

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  2. Nice review!! I've had my eye on this one even after some initial hesitation. I just kept seeing it everywhere, so I bought it, but now I need time to read it! It sounds like a fun story with great characters. Glad you enjoyed it despite a few hangups!

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  3. Glad you enjoyed it. Love the cover.

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  4. Fantastic review, Greg! Polaris Rising sounds like just my kind of read! I'm so happy that the world building and characters worked for you. It does seem to be a rather impressive debut. I'm going to be reading it ASAP! :)

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  5. I really enjoyed this novel and I can't wait to read more!

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  6. I love it when long books don't feel long at all... and a debut as well! That is definitely an accomplishment. Loch sounds like a typical bad boy-vibe in books though? It sounds like this is a first book in a series, so maybe he'll be more vulnerable in the future? Maybe there's even a story to his baddest of bad. :D

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  7. I've been really looking forward to this one. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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  8. Everyone seems to be loving this book. I do hope to get the chance to read it very soon. I am so glad you enjoyed it, Greg!

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  9. I'm not a big reader of romance, but with good balance, it could really work. I'm glad you enjoyed this too, I agree it was so much fun and went quick because of it. Great review!

    ~Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum

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  10. It wouldn't be for me but I do like your review!

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  11. Well I loved it. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It likely has too much romance /sex plot for most strictly sci-fi readers.

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  12. I was onboard with this before your bit about Loch and my interest utterly deflated. Sighs. Not in the mood for love interests like that. But am taking note of this. It feels like I need to be int he right mood to take this on!

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  13. I actually thought of that every time she killed too,,,hmm

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  14. I've been seeing this book going around. It sounds like an awesome story! I'll probably check this out in the future. Great review :)

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  15. I picked up this book bc it was recommended on another blog I enjoy. I'm struggling to finish it. The world building is interesting, I enjoy the banter and snark quite a bit. But the romance... I've definitely fallen on the side of too much. It just seems to interrupt the story.

    "as if every prominent male in the story has to be a smoldering badass. " LOL, I agree. The men are a bit one-dimensional.

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  16. Great review, Greg. I get more and more excited for this book with each review I read!

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  17. I may listen to this one with my husband. We're driving out to the Northern Coast on Friday and we've been listening to audio books on long drives. It's between this and John Scalzi's The Consuming Fire. We listened to the first, The Collapsing Empire (after reading your review) on this same drive a few trips ago. The audio was great! Wil Wheaton narrated. You know, the kid from Star Trek The Next Generation? Him. Have you read The Consuming Fire yet?

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  18. You make me want to read this one! I imagine I will roll my eyes with the smoldering looks and growling too, but otherwise it sounds great.

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  19. The things which were issues for you would probably totally work for me. I am a huge fan of romance and I've heard good things already about Polaris Rising so it's on my to buy radar, but Loch sounds like a ridiculous OTT man I am going to be swooning after with his utter ridiculous. Sure, I'll probably roll my eyes, but I'll still be totally sucked in by it all. It sounds brilliant.

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  20. I so enjoyed this book. I was pleasantly surprised with how much i loved it. The world building was great and it was smooth. great review.

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  21. This sounds like an amazing book and I have read a lot of great reviews for it. I must get this one. I love your review!

    Mary

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  22. This is one of the books which has been on my radar lately, and I love a good sci-fi and a good romance so them combining and working well together makes me happy :) I will be reading it and great review!

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