Genre: Sci-Fi, Alien Contact, Colonization, Space Exploration
Reviewer: Lucy
Get It On Amazon (Releases Mar 23rd)
About The Book
In the galaxies of uncharted territories and unexplored worlds, Roke Stenner had seen his fair share of strange beings and extraordinary phenomena. But nothing could have prepared him for Anadi, the seemingly perfect planet for human colonization that was anything but normal. And nothing could have prepared him for her.
Is She Human… A Female Alien…or?
Caught within the powers of a woman who may or may not be human, Roke finds himself struggling to resist her siren’s call. With each passing day, he falls deeper under her spell, torn between his growing desire for her and his duty to protect humanity from the danger that lurks on Anadi.
Is He Her Prisoner…Or Her Breeding Stud?
As Roke grapples with his own emotions and the impossible reality of the woman who has captured him, he must find a way to escape her grasp and warn the rest of the galaxy. But with her psionic abilities and their intense sexual connection, will he be able to break free, or will he be forever lost to her mysterious and seductive charms?
In this thrilling sci-fi tale, the line between what is human and what is not is blurred, leaving Roke and the reader to wonder: was she human… a female alien… or something else entirely?
The Review
Goddess: A Forerunner Story was my first book by David Wind. It had the tiniest blurb ever on the review request sheet, but the excerpt really drew me in. And the story did not disappoint. I was pulled into the action by the story’s first paragraph and was carried along until the end. This is a fast-paced sci-fi story with an intriguing premise and interesting characters.
We meet Roke Stenner at the end of his Scout Apprenticeship with his mentor, Caruso, as they’re battling a vicious race known as the Scav. The story follows Roke as he discovers a new planet and he and Caruso do the preliminary mapping and exploration to determine whether it is suitable for colonization. When Roke returns alone to the new planet to do the second phase of mapping and scanning, he encounters a strange creature that seems to be a human woman who can shift into a dragon. All searches for sentient life or signs of previous civilizations had come up null and yet, here she is on what appears to be an unoccupied planet far from any other human settlements.
There were a couple of spots where the world-building was bit clunky and deteriorated into info-dumping so that it was pretty much a list of what the author wanted us to know. But that didn’t detract from the overall excellence of the story-telling.
One thing I found distracting was a seemingly unnecessary use of the term ‘injun’ by Caruso in regard to Roke, who is a member of the Navajo nation. Roke was raised by his grandfather, who had been an elder in the Navajo nation and who taught Roke to follow the ancient ways of their Earth-born forebears. The use of the word only happens twice, once at the beginning and once at the end of the story. For me, it was jarring because it seemed to be a non sequitur, apropos of nothing happening at the time. If it was meant as a private joke or weird term of endearment between the men, it missed its mark, for me. The disparity between Caruso’s faith in Roke and that random slur really struck me and stuck with me.
I really enjoyed this story. It grabbed me and dragged me along from the raucous beginning to the tumultuous end, a fabulous story with interesting, well-developed characters. The premise was unique and intriguing and rather chilling. I look forward to reading other books by Wind in the future.
The Reviewer
I’m an avid reader who loves pretty much all genres except math textbooks. As a kid, my parents exposed me to everything from fairies, hobbits, and dragons to the biographies of interesting people around the world, interspersed with poetry, plays, and music. Into adulthood, I spent a lot of years with my nose buried in various textbooks. Now, I read whatever grabs my fancy.
