The Power of Two by Patti O'Shea
A two haiku review--
Soldier and Tech Geek,
Bound together by implants,
Partners on missions.
They meet, sparks fly,
Love blooms in time of danger,
Strong start, weak finish.
Bound together by implants,
Partners on missions.
They meet, sparks fly,
Love blooms in time of danger,
Strong start, weak finish.
Comments from the peanut gallery:
This book started off great. I liked the idea of the quandem: a female anchor and a male recep, each fitted with a set of neural implants through which they can pass intel and communicate while the recep is out in the field and the anchor in front of a bank of computers. The book sets up an interesting future world which is refreshingly lacking in incomprehensible future speak. I liked the heroine Cai, a super intelligent computer nerd who lacks social skills and confidence. She could be quite kick ass, but also knew when to defer to the expertise of her partner, Special Forces Captain Jacob Tucker. I liked Jake as well, although I thought he got over the fact that she was a human rather than a computer rather quickly. Even though these two begin the book with an established relationship of intimacy and trust, when they finally meet in person, the tension is delicious. I quite enjoyed the banter and head butting that ensued.
Unfortunately, the book kind of fell apart for me. I thought that they were going on some mission to capture a rebel leader named Banzai Maguire (Awesome name, btw. I'm changing the Destroyer's name to Banzai, because that's what she's shouting inside as she leaps off the couch wearing nothing but a pair of Fairy wings). I was intrigued by this Banzai, a woman who had come from 175 years in the past. Was she a rabble rouser? Did the country need to be reformed? Was the man with her brainwashed, as thought by the military? As it turns out, this was just an excuse to get Cai into the slimy villain's compound to save her parents, a much less compelling story, IMO. Banzai does get captured in the end, but there is nary a face to face encounter with her. As it turns out this was #4 in a series. I guess the series has to be read in order, because this one felt very disconnected to me. You don't want an info dump, but I had little idea of the greater canvas. And was it ever explained why anchors are always female, receps always male? This gets a C+. I enjoyed the characterization and relationship development, and despite the many questions I had (or perhaps because of them) I want to seek out others in the series.
6 comments:
I just bought a Patti O'Shea, but not this one. I've never tried one of her books, but I've been on a bit of a futuristic kick lately. ;)
BTW, I'm looking at your blog on IE and I think the Romantic Advances button is messing you up. :( All your posts have been shunted down to the bottom beneath your sidebar. Do you want me to email you a smaller button?
Hmmm...it looks fine in Firefox. But I don't want my blog looking ugly to IE users, so that's probably a good idea. I will email you.
I love your haiku reviews! :-)
I agree with Mailyn - love your haiku reviews!
As for the books, I liked this one a lot, but I prefered Through the Crimson Veil. What I think is awesome is although the books are part of a series, you can read them as stand-alone... cos the rest of the series is only so, so. :)
I agree with you, it had a very strong start and did finish a bit weak, but i didn't wonder that much about Banzai and the revolution... actually, didn't care that much. Yes, Banzai was an excuse for Cai to find her parents, but we knew that from the beginning... and also, they did capture Banzai..
Love Cai and Jake :P You know, I think that the reason that Jake got over the part that she was human and not a computer so fast is that he had other things to worry - his teams, Cai in danger of overloading, the mission... and most of all, his attraction to her.
I read this whole series in order and I really liked this one. I didn't expect much of Banzai in this one because it was a different author. If we had seen her - I don't think the character would have meshed since the first book was written by Susan Grant
I shoulda done my research before reading. I knew it was a part of series, but this was the only one I'd seen anywhere, so for a good part of the book I assumed it was the first. And so I was a lot more interested in Banzai and political rebellion than Cai's parents. Yes, Banzai was captured, but it was practically offstage. What Kristie says makes sense, but this is why I like to read series in order.
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