Thursday, October 1, 2015

Black Ice Heart (Space Grit Book 1) by Ella Drake

Science Fiction Romance

From Goodreads:

Condemned and in transit to an asteroid prison, he found what he'd never had before--a chance to love.

***

Ensign Joan Holly has one last mission before transferring to a secretive, elite unit, the Nex. It's what she's wanted since joining the military as a child. All she has to do is escort the most reviled prisoner on Geonate to meet his fate. Simple, since he's immobilized and nobody has ever escaped the Asteroid Pit.

Cenak Bronson never had it easy. He's never been free and never had a future. He accepts his doomed fate until he's rescued by a band of half-aliens, the Scoriah. After the chaos of his breakout, Cenak finds himself reluctantly bound to the only other survivor, his jailer Joan.

But they aren't the sole survivors by coincidence and they weren't captured by the Scoriah randomly. To survive, they join forces, uncovering secrets and lies that change everything. Including the future of Geonate itself.

Black Ice Heart is a full-length science fiction romance novel that begins the Space Grit series and can be read stand-alone

Warning: This novel is intended for readers 18 and older. It contains explicit scenes, language, violence.

There are many things to like about Black Ice Heart.  The world building is very well done.  The back story is told when and where needed.  The plot is interesting and moves at a nice pace.  The characters are well developed and interesting.  Everything is in place for a very good Science Fiction Romance story.  I should have loved it.  Instead there was an element that I did not like and as a result I could not enjoy it as much as I should have.

That element was how the story started.  It started with the deaths of many of the occupants of the space station that serves as a prison.  It was not the deaths but who did the killing that bothered me.  I want consequences for actions and instead the killers ended up being portrayed as the good guys who were not responsible for their actions.. 

The Scoriah start as killers and end up looking like long lost puppies.  It just did not work for me.  Joan Holly should have been running away from them screaming.  Instead she was cuddling with them.  While the Scoriah got away with murder their creator get the punishment she deserved.   

Something similar turned me off of Frost Station Alpha and my review is very similar.

I like danger and tension.  I also like the bad guys who run around killing people to stay the bad guys.  When that does not happen it is a complete turn off for me.  I would like to see what others say about the story and if any had the same reaction as I did.

I have enjoyed other stories written by Ella Drake so it was surprise when I reacted to this on as I did.


Ella Drake published Black Ice Heart in 2015.

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