CBR18 Book 24: "Platform Decay" by Martha Wells

Page count: 256 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Monthly Keyword 26: Decay

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own. This book is out on May 5th, 2026.

Murderbot (who has installed a mental health module now, and keeps doing Emotion checks on itself) is on a rescue mission on a large artificial planet controlled mostly by Barish-Estranza. What starts out as needing to find and escort three people from the hostile territory becomes a lot more complicated when Murderbot is forced to agree to locate and rescue an additional group of people, some of whom are juveniles (I love how Murderbot refers to children) as well. As you can imagine, Murderbot, who is deeply uncomfortable with most people, is especially discomforted by children. 

I don't really want to go into further details about the plot of this one, because it's much better if you don't know too many specifics. As is often the case with new instalments of The Murderbot Diaries, this book starts very abruptly, and it takes a few chapters to understand what is really going on. And that's part of the joy of it. I won't reveal who Murderbot has been sent to rescue, and it would be a major plot spoiler to reveal who is in the second group.

It's been years since System Collapse was released, and to say that I was excited when I discovered I had been granted an ARC for this is an understatement. High-pitched squeals of excitement may have been heard by the rest of my family, and there may have been some bouncing up and down on the sofa. However, I also knew that if I read it immediately, I would forget a lot by the time I needed to review it, so I saved it until just before release, so everything would be fresh in my memory. 

Murderbot's voice (which is not for everyone, I have come to realise) is so clear from the very first page, and even when you're not exactly sure what is happening, it's just so comforting to be back in Murderbot's presence and let the story wash over you. I loved Murderbot's new Emotion checks (it has been through some stuff in the past few books) and how it is begrudingly forced to admit to itself (and us, the readers) that it has people it cares about now. That being a rogue and lonely SecUnit isn't exactly the best way to be.

This book is very funny, but also emotional and action-packed and as always, deeply anti-capitalist. I laughed a lot while reading it, and while Murderbot would clearly hate it, it is still my favourite snarky artificial intelligence. 

Judging a book by its cover: For the entire series, the covers have been Murderbot, in its distinctive suit, clearly in the middle of some action. Sometimes, the location is in space; sometimes, it's obviously on a planet. On some, Murderbot has company; on others, it is alone. On this cover, Murderbot appears to be in a shaft of some sort, with a ladder. It gives the reader a hint of what's going on in the story, without spoiling anything. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 7: "The Galaxy, and the Ground Within" by Becky Chambers

Page count: 325 pages

Rating: 5 stars

Monthly Keyword Challenge 26: Ground

Nowhere Book Bingo 26: A book that came out more than 4 years ago

Defeating the Goblin TBR 26: The Gizmo Book (A Sci-fi or Dystopian book)

Reading Rainbow - Indigo cover

The planet of Gora doesn't have much to recommend itself to anyone, except as a stopover for travellers to other, more interesting parts of space. Travellers can rest, refuel, eat, restock their supplies and update any permits that might be required. It's like an interstellar truck stop between big wormholes. 

The Five-Hop One-Stop is run by Ouloo, a Laru (from the description of what the Laru looked like, I imagined a Golden Retriever with longer limbs and a long, bendable neck), and her child, Tupo. Ouloo clearly takes immense pride in catering to her guests, and has made an effort to make the Five-Hop One-Stop as comfortable for as many species who travel the galaxy as possible. She's courteous, but also curious about the various lives of the visitors who come and go. 

While Ouloo is hosting three very different guests, all there mainly to refuel and restock for a brief while, there is some sort of catastrophic event that leads a lot of the satellites around the planet to crash down, meaning all travel in and out of the planet is halted, and all communications are shut down. So for five days, Ouloo, Tupo and the three guests are stranded together at the Five-Hop One-Stop. There is Speaker, an Akarak, separated from her sickly twin sister for the first time ever. The Akarak can't breathe oxygen, so they wear space suits whenever they leave their ship. Based on the description of her species, I pictured the Akarak basically like big sloths. The second traveller, who is very distressed by not being able to travel further, is Roveg, a Quelin (seemed a bit like an armoured centipede), who has a very important appointment he needs to get to, and the delays on Gora could mean he misses his chance. The final guest is Pei, an Aeluon (they communicate in colours), who readers who have read the first book in the Wayfarers series will recognise as Captain Ashby's romantic partner. 

This book has very little plot to speak of, although there are some dramatic things that happen over the course of the five days. What the reader gets is five character studies, but that's not nothing, because Becky Chambers writes so beautifully that even five people stuck in the same place and trying their best to get along (and in the case of Speaker and Roveg, not panic about the delays) is fascinating to read, and I wouldn't have minded another hundred pages or so, especially since this is the final book in the series. While this is the fourth and final book, all the books can be read independently of each other, and work perfectly well as stand-alones.

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what made me love this book so much. The only character who has appeared in any of Chambers' books before is Pei, and there she was a secondary character, whose point of view we were never able to share her point of view, like we do here. Yet Chambers makes you care for all of them, and become invested in their lives and futures. As is pretty much always the case, this book made me smile, and it made me cry, and I didn't really want it to end. 

Chambers doesn't appear to have published anything since the Monk & Robot novellas, which came out in 2021 and 2022. I do hope she hasn't stopped writing entirely, but whatever she is doing, I hope she is enjoying it. 

Judging a book by its cover: The UK covers for these books, with the vast views of starlit skies, are all so beautiful, and the US covers for these are so very clunky and (to me) ugly. The font, the way the images are positioned, I do not care for them. Which is why I've made sure I buy the UK editions when I have the chance. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR16 Book 65: "The Mimicking of Known Successes" by Malka Older

Page count: 169 pages

Rating: 3 stars

CBR16 Bingo: Earth Day (while this novella is set off-Earth, a lot of the plot involves conservation efforts to try to reintroduce healthy biodiversity on Earth)

Mossa is investigating the mysterious disappearance, most likely a suicide, on one of the human colonies on Jupiter. Mossa discovers that the missing man worked at the colony's university, where conveniently for her and her further investigation, Mossa's ex-girlfriend is a scholar working with others to try to recreate the ecosystems of Earth before it collapsed.

Pleiti is surprised to see Mossa, but flattered that she wants assistance. Mossa presents as very likely neuro divergent, very focused and usually rather unconcerned about the feelings and reactions of those around her. She's a dedicated and experienced investigator, but digging into the case with the help of Pleiti just keeps making things more confusing, and strange. Will Mossa be able to solve the puzzling case, and might she have a new chance with Pleiti, after breaking it off with her so many years ago?

I think there was too much sci-fi here, and not enough of the mystery to grab me. Mossa and Pleiti were fine as characters, but I was never really invested in the case they were working together on, nor did I really care about the world-building, although the colonies on Jupiter sounded pretty neat. I didn't hate this story, but considering it's a novella of less than 200 pages, it shouldn't have taken me three days to finish. I just didn't feel compelled to keep reading, because the story and characters were merely OK. To others, this might be a great read, but I really wasn't feeling it. At least it allowed me to complete my Earth Day square on the bingo card, which means I have actually completed the whole card, and the bonus square. Before I thought of this novella, which I have owned in e-book for a while now, I was probably just going to skip this square altogether. So I don't regret reading it, I just don't think I'll revisit it, or remember the plot too well a couple of months from now.

Judging a book by its cover: While the book itself left me merely whelmed, I really like the cover. The reds and oranges of the background, the tiny sci-fi details in the background and only a silhouette to give an impression of what the characters look like. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR15 Book 57: "Network Effect" by Martha Wells

Page count: 345 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR15 Bingo: Take the Skies 

Murderbot is away from Dr. Mensah, the person it likes the most (although it would never admit this to anyone, or itself), in order to guard a research party (which includes Mensah's daughter). The group is attacked and sucked through a wormhole, and Murderbot is really very annoyed about the sudden upheaval. When it turns out that the abduction may in fact have something to do with an old friend of Murderbot (not that it acknowledges friends, as such), things immediately get more complicated. If Murderbot could choose, it would spend all its time watching videos and not involving itself in anything complicated involving feelings, but when its humans, or the entity it cares the most for in the universe, are threatened, Murderbot will act, with immediate and drastic measures. 

It was a long hiatus, but as soon as I picked up this first full-length novel about our favourite misanthropic SecUnit, I wondered why it had taken me so long to return to the world of Murderbot. While this book was a bit slow to start, once the action starts, it pretty much doesn't let up until the end. Murderbot, who is learning to become an individual of its own, has to deal a lot with pesky feelings in this book. While there is a bit of a misunderstanding between Murderbot and Mensah's kid (I could look up the name, but I'm not going to), about how they feel towards one another, Murderbot is clearly very protective, and the teen at one point refers to Murderbot as "Third Mom" - which incidentally totally justifies the feeling I've always had that if Murderbot did have a gender, it would be female. It's in the text, people!

Being abducted by creepy-looking possible aliens and eventually being reunited with ART, and then deciding to assist in recovering ART's missing crew leads to all manner of complications. It feels strange to describe the relationship between a very powerful AI and an android, neither of whom should be able to feel any emotions at all, as romantic, but there were scenes in this that hit me straight in the feels. Murderbot's humans clearly recognise that there is something special between them, and the way both of them are ready to kill the heck out of anyone who threatens the safety of the other is rather swoon-worthy. 

I would not recommend anyone start with this novel without having read at least All Systems Red and Artificial Condition to get the necessary backstory (but the other two novellas are also great, so why would you skip them?). It takes a lot for me to like sci-fi, but I absolutely love these. The only reason I'm not rating this 5 stars is that having just read Lessons in Chemistry and Folk med Ångest, both books which made me feel even more, and this doesn't feel like it really reached the same level (I wanted more schmoopy emotions between Murderbot and ART). Upon a re-read, I will probably change the rating to a full 5. 

The benefit of having waited as long as I have is that there's only about a month to wait for the release of the next novel, and while I wait, I have another novella (sadly set earlier than this, because I REALLY want to see where this goes next) to comfort myself with. 

Judging a book by its cover: The cover is nicely atmospheric, with Murderbot out on either a space station or a spaceship, with another one hovering above it. All the Murderbot stories have excellent covers, this is no exception. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

#CBR12 Books 34-37: "The Murderbot Diaries" by Martha Wells

Total page count: 650 pages
Total rating for the series: 4.5 stars

#CBR12Bingo: Gateway (this would work as an excellent gateway into sci-fi fiction)

All Systems Red - 4.5 stars
I have reviewed this first novella before, back in 2018, and my original post can be found here. I decided to re-read this first Murderbot story and then read the following three novellas in preparation of the full novel about everyone's favourite misanthropic sec unit, being released in May 2020. By now, when I've finally gotten around to writing my review, the book has of course been out for several months, and I have yet to find the time to read it (June REALLY wasn't a particularly good month for me, reading-wise).

Murderbot, of course, wishes that everyone would just leave it alone to enjoy all its downloaded entertainment, but instead, the humans they're supposed to protect keep getting into scrapes and it has to do its job as a Sec Unit. Once we went into lockdown, I would have happily just self-isolated at home and binge-watched Netflix and HBO, but instead I had to take care of and entertain a rapidly developing two-year-old, and remote teach up to ninety teenagers a week (15 of which I also had to call at least once a week to make sure they were doing OK), while my own mental health steadily deteriorated. Honestly, Murderbot is way better at performing its duties in a high-pressure environment than I have been for the last few months.

It was nice to revisit the beginning and get re-familiarised with the crew that got Murderbot to start feeling all those inconvenient feelings and emotions.

Artificial Condition - 4.5 stars
Murderbot doesn't want to become anyone's "pet" Sec Unit, instead, it goes off on its own, trying to figure out what actually happened in the mining disaster where it killed a number of humans and actually became Murderbot. Discovering the truth of the past will also help Dr Mensah, the kind human who technically now owns Murderbot, as further evidence against the big corporation that may or may not have tried to kill Dr Mensah, Murderbot and their entire crew can only come in handy.

Murderbot makes a new friend, who is even smarter than it is, a Research Vessel going by ART. After a slightly tense and antagonistic start to their relationship, Murderbot and ART bond over their love for space soaps.

Along the way on its new mission, Murderbot also encounters some new humans that it starts feeling protective of. It's all very inconvenient.

Of course, Murderbot's further adventures are just as entertaining, if not better, than the first novella. I really liked ART, and the friendship that developed between it and Murderbot. I also really like how Martha Wells manages to include slower, more introspective passages with tense and fast-paced action scenes, as well as more chances for Murderbot to develop and become more of its own individual.

Rogue Protocol - 4.5 stars
Murderbot continues in its quest to gather evidence against the evil GreyCris corporation and ends up on another mission, protecting hapless humans who don't know to take proper care of themselves. Murderbot needs to find an identity of its own because it's certainly no longer a proper SecUnit, but it's also not a human, nor does it want to become one. In this story, Murderbot meets a group of people travelling with a bot, who they treat with kindness and respect, a bit like a pet (the very fate Murderbot wishes to avoid). Yet Miki the bot, who is all that is optimistic and naive, so pretty much the diametrical opposite of Murderbot, comes to teach Murderbot some important lessons.

While Miki was an interesting character to introduce, I missed Murderbot's snarky friendship with ART in this one. It's also clear that the story is moving towards reuniting Murderbot with its first crew, and I kind of just wished the story would get to that place. Of the four novellas, this was my least favourite. By all means, very good, but it felt more of a bridging story than the others.

Exit Strategy - 5 stars
Murderbot still fights the notion that it has emotions or feelings, but it's pretty much the only thing that can explain why Murderbot decides to expose itself to danger when its actions in the previous story now means that GreyCris, the corrupt corporation that previously tried to kill Dr Mensah and her crew (while Murderbot was hired to protect them) in fact means has been able to take Dr Mensah hostage. Murderbot still doesn't want to be anyone's pet android, but Dr Mensah and her crew always treated Murderbot with respect and sometimes even kindness, and it cannot stand by and let GreyCris win.

Murderbot has to reunite with its old crew, convince them that it wants to help, then they have to find Mensah and rescue her, with everyone hopefully making it back to Preservation in one piece. Of course, Murderbot doubts it will be joining the others, it seems like GreyCris are pretty determined to take it down, once and for all.

As a lot of long-time readers of my reviews know, I don't tend to read a lot of sci-fi. I'm reading more of it since I started going to my local nerd bookstore's monthly book club since we alternate a fantasy and a sci-fi book every other month. Yet the Murderbot novellas are sci-fi that I thoroughly enjoy, probably because it's very heavily character-driven (even if our protagonist is not a human) and there is a very good balance of exciting action scenes and quieter introspective scenes where Murderbot has to interact with others and further develop as an individual. I'm very glad that Martha Wells has written a full-length novel about Murderbot now, and that there seems to be another coming out in 2021. I adore Murderbot's snary, misanthropic but secretly emotional self. I will happily keep reading whatever Ms. Wells chooses to publish.

Judging the books by their covers: All the novellas in the Murderbot series have very elegantly designed covers with a thoroughly science fiction feel. I don't think you'd doubt for a second what genre of book this was, with any of them.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 106: "Nightchaser" by Amanda Bouchet

Page count: 416 pages
Audio book length: 11 hrs 45 mins
Rating: 3.5 stars

Official book description:
Tess Bailey: the galaxy's Most Wanted.
Captain Tess Bailey is in deep trouble. She and her crew are on the run, pursued by a tyrant who'll take them dead or alive. Tess's best hope is a tall, dark, and much-too-appealing stranger, Shade Ganavan, who says he can help her. But his motivations are far from clear...

Shade Ganavan: arrogance, charm...and that special something that makes you want to kick him.
With the dreaded Dark Watch closing in, what Tess and Shade don't know about each other might get them killed...unless they can set aside their differences and learn to trust each other before it's too late.

So in a surprise twist, here I am, taking time away from my piles of boring correction work (I'd forgotten just how much eight graders simply CANNOT write yet - that's the problem with having had tenth graders for too many years in a row) to sneak one more review in before the deadline. I finished the audio book for this yesterday when out shopping, and wanted to add one more book to my tally before the year ends.

This book has already been reviewed and highly recommended by my friends Teresa and Rochelle. Teresa even included it in her top three books of the year, which is high praise. Having read Amanda Bouchet's fantasy trilogy, the Kingmaker Chronicles, which I thought started out very strong with A Promise of Fire, and then sadly got worse with each book in the series, I was initially not too interested in this when it came out at the start of this year, but based on the strong write-ups from people who tend to enjoy much of the same stuff as me, I figured it was worth a listen when I needed entertainment in the post-Christmas stress.

Sadly, Teresa, I didn't love this as much as you did, mainly because I kept being annoyed by Tess' frequently foolish and reckless behaviour. Sure she's brave, and plucky, and defiant and willing to do anything and everything for the orphanage where she was raised (after she was 12), but the stupid risks she takes and the extreme treatment she puts her own body through (without telling any of her crew who could totally HELP her), just had me rolling my eyes a bit too many times. You can't save those orphans if you're dead, Tess!

There's a lot to like about this book, though. There's action and adventure and some truly tense stand-offs against suitably impressive villains. The opening sequence, when Tess stupidly announces her true identity not only to her crew, but to the people pursuing her, before jumping her ship into a black hole was really very nerve-wracking. Tess flits around space rebelling against the evil space dictator and stealing valuable tech and supplies to provide to the rebels, and that's a worthy and cool cause. Her crew of ragtag co-rebels are also interesting and supportive (although I question the intelligence of her crew scientist, who even when patching up Tess after injuries doesn't notice how drained of blood she appears) and I like the back story of how they came to travel together. The chemistry between Tess and Shade was good and they share some decent banter.

Despite being exasperated by the foolish tendency of the heroine to refuse help from her loyal friends/crew (once you've announced to everyone who you really are, you may as well go all in and share everything that's special about yourself) and some of the decisions made by her along the way, I did mostly really enjoy this and will be checking out the sequel (hoping that unlike in her first series, Bouchet's writing and the story actually improves, rather than deteriorate in quality). Tess both starts and ends the book in a whole heap of trouble, and it will be fun to see how she manages to get out of her next scrape.

Judging a book by its cover: I'm really not a huge fan of this cover, although I like the colour scheme of dark blues and purples, with the orange swirling nebula in the background, behind our scowling cover model, who I'm assuming is supposed to be Tess. The tightly crossed arms, the grumpy facial expression, it just seems like the model was told to go for tough and independent, but landed on pouty, stubborn toddler (I should know, I've seen that facial expression on my child many a time recently). We get it, she wears leather, she doesn't smile - the heroine of this must be tough as nails (except, of course, she totally isn't).

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 82: "Aurora Blazing" by Jessie Mihalik

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 4 stars

This is the second book in a series. While this book can be read independently, there are details to the world building and continuity that's better explained in book 1, Polaris Rising, so you may want to begin with that one.

Official book description:
Bianca von Hasenberg did her duty for High House von Hasenberg and ended up trapped in a terrible marriage. When her husband dies unexpectedly and leaves her a happy widow, she vows never to marry again. Instead, she uses her connections to save other young women. Information is power and Bianca has a network that would be the envy of the ’verse—if anyone knew about it.

After an attack, Bianca’s oldest brother, the House von Hasenberg heir, disappears from Earth without a trace. Determined to find him, Bianca leaves against orders. When she refuses to return, her father sends Ian Bishop, the director of House von Hasenberg security, to haul her home like a recalcitrant child.

Bianca leads Ian on a merry chase across the universe, but when their paths finally collide, she persuades him that they would be far more successful at finding her brother if they worked together. She will do anything to save her sibling, even if it means spending time alone on a small ship with the handsome, infuriating man who once broke her heart.

As clues lead them deep into rival House Rockhurst territory, Bianca must decide if she can trust Ian with the one piece of information that could destroy her completely. . .

I read the first book in the series back in March, but didn't get round to reviewing it until June. I read this book in October, and am forcing myself to catch up on reviews now, two months later, otherwise I won't actually manage to complete my double Cannonball this year. There was a time when I could write ten to fifteen reviews in the last days of December, but that was before I had a nearly two-year-old child. Hence taking time I should probably spend grading (but all work etc.) to do some book blogging.

This book had a slow start, but managed to hold my attention and even when I wasn't reading, I kept wanting to pick it up. That's not as common as I'd like these days, so kudos to Ms. Mihalik for managing it. Both the heroine and hero appear as minor supporting characters in the previous book, and had undeniable chemistry in the few scenes they shared there too. I think my main complaint with this book may be that it's just a little bit TOO slow burn. It would have been nice to have some indications earlier in the story that Bianca's attraction to Ian wasn't a one-sided thing. Ian keeps his emotions bottled up just that little bit too much.

Also, in slight spoiler territory, I would have liked it if Ian's deep dark secret hadn't pretty much turned out to be more or less exactly the same as Marcus' in the first book. It seemed a little bit too convenient, but didn't exactly ruin my enjoyment much, so I'll let it pass.

This is a thrilling space adventure featuring two damaged individuals who are both extremely good at what they do, and much in the same way as Marcus and Ada keep ending up in scrapes and then rescuing the other, Bianca and Ian get each other out of trouble while trying to outsmart House von Hasenberg's enemies. To be entirely honest, if you asked me for detailed specifics of the plot now that two months have passed, I'd be hard-pressed to remember much, but Mihalik writes a really entertaining blend of sci-fi, romance and action adventures, and I'm already looking forward to the concluding volume, out in May of next year.

Judging a book by its cover: I like this cover better than the previous book in the series, but that may be entirely because it's dominated by shades of red and purple, which are both favourite colours of mine. I like the choice to not show the whole of the cover model's face, making it easier for the reader to project their own idea of what the heroine looks like.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 70: "Record of a Spaceborn Few" by Becky Chambers

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 4 stars

From Goodreads:
From the ground, we stand. From our ship, we live. By the stars, we hope

Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a place many are from but few outsiders have seen. Humanity has finally been accepted into the galactic community, but while this has opened doors for many, those who have not yet left for alien cities fear that their carefully cultivated way of life is under threat.

Tessa chose to stay home when her brother Ashby left for the stars, but has to question that decision when her position in the Fleet is threatened.

Kip, a reluctant young apprentice, itches for change but doesn't know where to find it.

Sawyer, a lost and lonely newcomer, is just looking for a place to belong.

When a disaster rocks this already fragile community, those Exodans who still call the Fleet their home can no longer avoid the inescapable question:

What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination?

Having now read all three of Becky Chambers' Wayfarers novels, I think I can confidently say that the first one, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is still my favourite one. This third novel is the one it took me the longest to really get into, and I kept putting it down and getting distracted by other things because it's a lot slower than her other two books. For a while, I wasn't really "feeling" it, and was wondering if I was just in the wrong head space for the story. Concerning itself with the different points of view of a number of individuals living on an aging space station, populated by Exodans (the descendants of the humans who first left Earth to live on ships among the stars), and also the observations of an alien scientist there to study their way of life. With a lot of the characters, I didn't really see why I should care about them, and it took me quite a while to see how all the point of view characters' stories fit together.

Once the book entered its final act, so to speak, and it all became clear to me, this book had me in tears and I suddenly understood exactly why Chambers had chosen to tell the story the way she had. The emotional payoff simply would not have been as powerful if I hadn't stuck with the story and gotten the various back stories, eventually woven together to a beautiful conclusion. To anyone reading this review, who may be doubting whether they should keep going with the book, even through the slow start - stick with it, it's very worth it in the end.

Judging a book by its cover: This may be the first of these books where, while I think the cover is pretty, I don't necessarily think it really fits with the book. The silhouette looks like a person sitting on the ground looking up at the stars, someone clearly planet-bound. Yet all of the people in this book are on space stations, born and raised, it's an important part of the story. I think another image might have suited the book better.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 53: "Sweep of the Blade" by Ilona Andrews

Page count: 320 pages
Rating: 4 stars

This book, which was originally intended as a novella, is book 4 in the Innkeeper Chronicles. While it's not necessary to have read the entire series to fully appreciate this book, it might be helpful to at least have read book three, One Fell Sweep, where Maud and Arland meet for the first time.

Official book description:
Maud Demille is a daughter of Innkeepers—a special group who provide ‘lodging’ to other-planetary visitors—so she knows that a simple life isn't in the cards. But even Maud could never have anticipated what Fate would throw at her.

Once a wife to a powerful vampire knight, Maud and her young daughter, Helen, were exiled with him for his treachery to the desolate, savage planet of Karhari. Karhari killed her husband, and Maud—completely abandoned by his family—has spent over a year avenging his debts. Rescued by her sister Dina, she's sworn off all things vampire.

Except... In helping Dina save the world, she met Arland, the Marshal of House Krahr, one of the most powerful vampire houses. One thing led to another and he asked for her hand in marriage. She declined. Arland is not used to hearing the word ‘no;’ and try as she might, Maud can't just walk away from Arland. It doesn't help that being human is a lot harder for Maud than being a vampire.

To sort it all out, she accepts his invitation to visit his home planet. House Krahr is extremely influential and Maud knows that a woman—a human, with a very questionable past—who's turned down a proposal from its most beloved son won't get a warm reception. Maybe she’s not sure about marrying Arland, but House Krahr isn’t going to decide for her. Maud Demille has never run from a fight, and House Krahr will soon discover that there's a lot more to Maud than they’re expecting. 

As with all the other Innkeeper Chronicles books, this started as a free online serial on Ilona Andrews' website. The authors had intended it to be a bonus novella, but it clearly took on a life of its own and by the time they had finished it, it had become a short novel. With the published book, they have added a prologue showing the readers some of Maud's time on Karhari, and also how she reacted to the potentially world-ending threat that Arland risked his life to twart in the conclusion to One Fell Sweep. To some, it may feel like an unneccessary retread, as it repeats scenes from the previous book - but all of those were told from Dina, Maud's sister's POV, and as someone who doesn't exactly have photographic recall of all the books I read, it was nice to have my memory refreshed (with some pretty kick-ass action sequences, as well).

I feel like with every new Ilona Andrews review I write, I gush and go on about what amazing writers they are and how I am literally willing to hand them my money for absolutely everything they write (sometimes in multiple formats). Yet it's so incredibly comforting to know that with each new release, I'm going to get something that makes me laugh, makes my heart race, makes me excited and sometimes genuinely touched. I love their dialogue and the family dynamics they always manage to create, even though the families they portray in their various books and series often are wildly different. The children in their stories feel real, never like annoying plot moppets. Helen, Maud's precocious half-vampire daughter, is a delight.

Maud has had a very difficult time of it, and to say that she's been burned in her previous relationship is an understatement. Her husband royally f*cked up, and Maud and her daughter paid the price for that. The space vampire clans in these books value strength and martial prowess, and while Maud may be human, she became extremely adept at killing and defending herself and her child while exiled on Karhari. She swore off all things vampire, yet can't help but fall for Arland, who is everything her first husband could only dream of becoming. Maud and Helen were abandoned entirely by her first husband's family, and left to die in an uncivilised back water of the universe. The things Maud had to do to keep them alive haunts her. She cannot risk that happening again. So she knows it would be better if she outright rejected Arland, but he also makes her feel good and safe for the first time in years, and is clearly a much better man than the weasel she used to be married to.

With the exception of Arland's uncle, who has met Maud and seen how perfect she is for him, most of Arland's family are extremely hostile to the idea that he's bringing a human girlfriend home for a big wedding celebration, a woman who had the temerity to say no to his proposal. They're convinced she's some sort of scheming gold digger, and also, because she's human, that she must be weak and/or very stupid. Arland is convinced that if his family just gets to meet Maud and Helen, they'll be as crazy about them as he is. He loves and wants Maud, he understands her reluctance and the reasons for her misgivings, but he wants to be with her any way he can, and will therefore patiently wait until she is ready to accept him. While he is the military leader for his entire vampire clan and the beloved son and heir to an ancient and prestigious family, he's also found the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with, and any ultimatums issued by his mother or other member of his family will not go in their favour.

House Krahr is having to host a wedding between two formerly feuding families. There's clearly something fishy going on, but it's difficult to find out exactly what without offering mortal offence to one or both parties. Arland knows that pretty much all the vampires will be underestimating Maud, yet eager to prove themselves better than her and constantly trying to provoke her. So she is his best weapon to finding out what is going on in a timely manner.

I love that Arland is a big, strong alpha hero who can take on a horde of armed combatants single-handedly, and who is also entirely devoted to Maud, loving her perseverance, intelligence, strength and love for her family, on top of the physical attraction he clearly feels for her. He respects and defers to her wishes, but is also willing to completely sever ties with his own family if they don't welcome Maud and Helen properly. He understands that Maud will have to prove herself, both in a fight and by showing just how intelligent she is, but he never doubts for a second that she will succeed in this.

It sounds like Ilona Andrews will be busy with other writing commitments in the next year, so I'm not sure when the next instalment of The Innkeeper Chronicles will see the light of day. Since they tantalisingly hinted that Dina and Maud's previously missing brother Klaus has just turned up, I really hope they get round to writing more eventually, but as these bonus stories are already a generous gift, I will be happy if these four books end up being what we get, as well.

Judging a book by its cover: See, as Ilona Andrews covers go, this isn't a complete eyesore, probably because they self-publish these books and therefore commission the cover art themselves. Maud looks pretty bad-ass, but I don't think the armour looks tough or durable enough (especially compared to the way it's described in the book) enough, she just looks like she's wearing a weirdly patterned body suit. Also not sure why there appears to be flaming meteorites raining down around her, that is not something that happens at any point in Maud's story.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.