Review: Ivar's Prize

Ivar's Prize by Amy Pennza
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Wrongfully sentenced to a mining prison planet, Nadia is sure she will die. Her wimpy and whiney fiancé leaves her hanging in the wind for a minor crime she didn't even completely commit. What a female will do for a man when she is in love is always surprising. Nadia is one of the youngest to join the star fleet. Her entire career and life is now void because of this asshat. This was a difficult scene to start the book because it just makes me livid. First, I can not stand the bratty self-centered fiancé. Second, how did Nadia think it was okay to steal drugs and jeopardize her job? She is not the one with connections. All of this set up makes me want to stop reading because it seems as if this is a tale of woe from a character who makes one bad decision after another. Fortunately, it gets interesting pretty quickly when Nadia lands on the prison planet and within hours is stripped and sold off as a slave.

This story turns into a potential kinky dub-con space opera. Except it does not. Instead, Ms. Pennza starts to build out this world in a way that intrigues me. This start of the series promises to be interesting with conspiracies, sentient alien life forms and synthetic humans. There are several different threads going on in this story that feel as if it is the set up for the next book in the series. I'm hooked. This is a well-written teaser book with a possible complex world. In some ways, it reminds me of Anne McCaffrey's Crystal Singers series mixed with the Peytabee series. The alien life form captures my attention and I want to learn more. Just as I want to learn more about these synthetic humans which reminds me a little bit of Ms. McCaffrey's Restoree book.

Nadia's tale of misfortune turning into something miraculous is a little too good to be true, just as Ivar suspects and worries about. The possible sleeper agent is not far from my mind. Regardless, Nadia's bad luck is Ivar's windfall. The two of them have chemistry in more ways than one. I liked how Nadia refused to sleep her way to the top. This is not to say she did not ultimately end up as a bedmate to Ivar. Still, her sticking to her guns is impressive given the situation. The kinky bits to this story kicked up the heat in a way that Ms. McCaffrey's never did. I liked it! This tale is a great start to the series and I can't wait to read the next one. Recommended to space opera readers who like second chances.

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