Recommend by: Riley

My opinion of Traitor seesawed a few times since I first read the blurb on Amazon. Only the I’ve-finished-the-book-opinion really counts, but I will start at the beginning.

The book blurb includes words and phrases like sexy-as-sin, desire and fertility crisis. Plus the cover has a half-naked man on it. Well, you only see his top half, so really, half-naked is only an assumption. My initial opinion was that this book was heavy on the romance side with a healthy dose of sex. Probably a light read that would be good for easing a book hangover. The pre-order price was right so I clicked. A month later Traitor showed up on my e-reader, but I was not in the mood for it at the time, so it was shelved.

Last month, Bitten by Romance put on the Tour of the Universe. Jody Wallace’s post about sentient ships really intrigued me. Then I remembered. I have her book! A book where a ship is a major character sounds really fascinating. That post changed my opinion.

So I started reading Traitor. Immediately, I went back to my first opinion. The opening chapter is all about desire and sex. With the Tour of the Universe post in mind, I was kind of disappointed, since it was not what I was looking forward to.

But, with the Tour of the Universe post in mind, I persevered. Even in chapter 1, with all that talk about desire and sex, Ship 1001 is a major character. And Ship continued to evolve into the complex appealing character that is basically the glue that holds all parts of Traitor together. Ship is my favorite character in this book. He has opinions on everything, considers Shipborn to be his children and is not above interfering in their lives. He is kind of annoying in a humorous way. Ship is often the comic relief.  As Ms. Wallace explains in Traitor: “The personality of Ship 1001 was that of an extroverted, somewhat uptight, and insistently nosy next bunk neighbor.”

The book gets it title from more than one source. The source I will talk about is Captain Nikolas EstherVorn – Niko. His traitorous actions occurred prior to the events in this book, but it is not necessary to know all the details (as presented in book 1 – Angeli) to grasp the situation in Traitor. At the beginning of the story, General Vorn, Niko’s father, has confined Niko to Ship for previous code infractions.

I am not going to give you any particulars about other traitors because, well, no spoilers here! But pretty early in the book, it becomes evident that there has been a plot to interfere with the success of the Earth mission to save it from creatures that came through a dimension rift. There is a mystery to be solved. It is going to be solved by Niko and Dr. Sarah CallenJoseph.

Niko and Sarah have been secretly attracted to each other but neither had any intention of acting on that attraction. It just so happens that acting on that attraction becomes a ploy to help them solve the mystery. What tangled, romantic, sexy webs they will weave!  The romance between Sarah and Niko is a central part of this story. Ship thinks it is pretty important too and offers his opinion on the subject whenever he can. Which just endears Ship to me more.

The story is complex and multi-layered. It would not have been a good cure for book hangover. There are plots. And plots within plots. Niko and Sarah must defy code (and Ship and the General) to solve the mystery. They uncover evil plans that need to be foiled! Foiling requires action that takes place on both Earth and Ship. Niko being the son of General Vorn adds another complexity layer to this tangled tale. And let us not forget that Earth is about to be overrun by creatures from another dimension. Earth really needs help from the Shipborn, but Terrans have been quite uncooperative. Which leads to more complexity. And more action. Oh, and there are some cool, high-tech tools that Shipborn have access to.

My final opinion is this. Don’t judge this book by its cover (like I did). Traitor is a lively Sci Fi Action/ Mystery/ Romance with plenty to grab your attention and hold it firmly until the end of the book.

Maelstrom Chronicles

 

 

 

Links:

Goodreads

Jody Wallace’s Website