Published: December 26, 2012
As you all have probably figured out by now, I am a HUGE Gena Showalter fan. But I am also a recent fan considering I finished the Lords of the Underworld series earlier in 2018. That being said I am slowly working my way through her back list of books. She has so many!! In that vein, I have finally picked up the Otherworld Assassins Series. It is honestly not anything like I was expecting and I find that I am loving that. I like when I am pleasantly surprised and my misconceptions are blown out of the water. Now before I tell you all how fabulous this book is I need to tell you how fabulous the audiobook is. I didn’t read this novel but rather listened to it. As many of you have also figured out, I like listeninc to audiobooks because I get more done that way. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the narrator for this one because I had never listened to anything by him before but I was pleasantly surprised. He wasn’t the greatest with female voices but I think it worked out just fine. The narrator is George Newbern, in case y’all were wondering. Now onto the review.
Solo is part of a Black Ops group that is made up of foundling Otherworlders. He is considered the monster of the group because when angry he literally turns into a big red monster and no one can calm him down. When him and his friends are bombed, he is sold to a circus that specializes in using Otherworlders as the main attractions. That’s fine, he is trained for anything, what he isn’t trained for is his need to protect Vika. She is fragile yet as tough as nails and he wants to know what has made her that way. The Otherworlders hate her and even the circus people don’t care for her. He supposes that being Jessup’s daughter can make life difficult but he can’t understand why she doesn’t defend herself. Will she help him escape? Can he leave without her when he does escape?
Vika knows that the Otherworlders hate her and hate that they are essentially at her mercy. What they don’t understand is that she has no choice. She watched her only friends die in front of her once and she refuses to watch it happen to anyone else. She knows she lives in Hell but she has a plan and she needs to stick to it in order to free herself and the Otherworlders. Only when she gets close to Solo he threatens all of her well laid plans. And her, honestly. She wants to trust him but she knows from experience that everyone lies. It’s her trusting nature that has taken everything away from her in life. Will it take Solo to?
The book was fast paced as Solo tried to find a way out of the circus and his moral tug-of-war about Vika. The others that were a part of the bomb blast (Micheal, Blue, & John) are all out in the world and might need Solo’s help. The drive is there for his character and the fragile yet fierce Vika is a nice balance to the single mindedness. I truly loved the storyline and think that the next book is going to be even better. I even liked the circus theme of this one and it took creepy circus to a whole new level. Definitely a book to be put to the top of your TBR List!
—“In repentance and rest you will be saved. In quietness and trust is your strength.” -Isaiah 30:15—
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