Fearless: Book 2 of the THE SURVIVAL RACE Series

K.M. Fawcett

Reviewed by RK

(See my review of CAPTIVE book one here)

Summary:

This is a continuation of the SF Romance series that takes place on the world of the Hyboreans, a an alien species that captures humans and uses them for sport. In this book we meat Myia and Kendrick; two humans who exist outside the influence of the Hyboreans. Myia is a shaman with unique abilities who lives in one of the few refuges on the planet without Hyboreans. Kendrick was once of the gladiators used for sport-now is leading a group of humans in an army to help defeat the Hyboreans.

As Kendrick’s people raid Myia’s villages for soldiers-the barbaric Higland invaders- Myia decides that she must use her shaman skills to stop him. She discovers that her world is not what she expected. That there are Hyborean aliens that breed humans for sport; that Kendrick and his people have access to technology that her isolated people could only dream of; and that building a resistance army to free humanity.

Kendrick, in turn, discovers that Myia is not the backwards, ignorant, savage that he thought. He discovers that her abilities can be useful in understanding how the Hyboreans communicate.  There is a rich world building of special powers, genetic links, mysticism explained through science, and more glimpses into the Hyboreans. Even Max and Addy, from CAPTIVE, come into the fold.

Review:

This book expands on the world of the Hyboreans from CAPTIVE, and follows the SF trail-we get to see how the tech works, clues as to the abilities of humans and Hyboreans, and well, just lots of cool SF gizmos. The first book gave the general outlines, but this really played to my geeky side.

The plot line is more complex than the first in the series. Kendrick is organizing a revolution and the secondary characters have significant roles to play. There is definitely more of an epic feel to the book.

The romance is sexier this time around. This could be due to the change in setting or the characterization. I think people who love their SFR heavy on the ‘R’ will be pleased to see it ramped up a bit; but not overloaded that it overwhelms plot. Again, I enjoyed KM Fawcett’s mastery of believable dialogue-she knows how to be witty. I particularly liked Myia-she’s all peace and love on the outside; but practical and tough when she’s pushed to the limit. Her character grows a lot in the novel, which is great.

I had a harder time warming up to Kendrick. He does a few things which are frankly deceptive, and that made me feel for Myia and get annoyed with him. (Although, it speaks well of K.M. Fawcett’s skill that I can have such a strong reaction to a fictional character) The complexities of the plot made it a bit harder to understand his hidden motivations, as per love and relationship, so even though it was a sexier read, the romantic connection was not quite as strong as the first book.

I enjoyed this book and think it’s a great continuation of the series.

Genre: Romance, SFR

Rating: 4 1/2 stars

Publisher: Forever Yours

Blush Quotient: Pink moving to Red

Check out information at K.M. Fawcett’s site and these purchase links at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and The Book Depository.

This book was provided by the author and publisher in exchange for an honest review.