Reviewed by Carissa
SERIES TITLE: The Red Dragon
AUTHOR: Becky Black
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
SERIES REVIEW:
For something that I was reluctantly pulled into reading (due to another reviewer’s need to hand off a few of their books), I have to say that I really enjoyed this series and am glad I got the chance to read these books. There was a very nice balance of science fiction and storytelling, and even when I felt myself needing to put down my kindle it was because I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what was going to happen to these guys I had come to genuinely care about. The second book certainly had more tension than the first one did, but both were built upon great characters and a romance I found myself enjoying in all its complexity.
If you are looking for some science fiction with a nice romance as well, I fully recommend this series. For myself, I can only hope that there is a book three, and that it is coming out soon.
SERIES RATING: 
BOOK ONE TITLE: The Company Man
LENGTH: 257 pages
BLURB:
Jarvez Kashari travels light, sacrificing relationships for ambition. Alyn Evans is out to establish himself as a company captain. Falling in love was not part of either man’s plans.
The Red Dragon is a ship in trouble. It was once the pride of the Outer Spiral Trading Company’s fleet, but is neglected and fallen from its old glory. It’s a ship in need of love – and a new captain.
Alyn Evans is a man in need of a new challenge. He’s an ex-warship captain and peace has put him out of a job. A man of his experience should have no trouble commanding a merchant ship…he thinks. But of all the challenges he faces on his first trip out, the hardest one is keeping his hands off his gorgeous and fascinating company rep, Jarvez Kashari.
Jarvez Kashari is a man with a plan. He’s determined to make a name as the company’s best trader and thinks reviving the fortunes of the Red Dragon is the perfect opportunity to prove himself. Jarvez travels light, sacrificing personal relationships to focus on his ambitions – until he meets Alyn Evans. Falling in love was not part of the plan.
It’s four months to Earth. Four months for Alyn to juggle passengers, prisoners, suspicious officers, a resentful crew and the intensifying relationship with Jarvez. Four months in space with a traitor aboard…
REVIEW:
Alyn Evans, after leaving the military, has signed up to captain for a trading company. However, he was promised a ship much more glamorous–and far less broken down–than the Red Dragon. Still, a ship is a ship, and Alyn is confident he can get the Red Dragon back to Earth with very few problems. And then he finds out that in addition to passengers and cargo he’ll also be transferring not only the last captain (who’ll be making her home in the brig), but Jarvez Kashari–a company rep and the man set on discovering just how fraudulent the last captain was. Jarvez also happens to be the man that Alyn slept with last night. Oops?
With the mysterious third party to the ex-captain’s crimes still at large on the ship, and a crew incredibly suspicious of their new captain, Alyn has his work cut out for him. Especially when his determination to keep his hands (lips, and other body parts) off of Jarvez starts to falters.
When it comes to m/m scifi I’m pretty used to being underwhelmed. Something about the addition of spaceships to a world just seems to throw things off. Or maybe I just like a specific type of scifi, and I can’t expect authors to cater to my every whim (this is mistake that I have every intention of altering once I rule the world. Just you wait!). I had a vague idea what I was getting into when I started this book, since it’s been rolling around the bottom of the tbr list for a while, but expectations are always a bit hit a miss when it comes to new-to-me authors.
I however found myself really enjoying this. It isn’t very angsty at all, and while I would have loved a bit more tension with the whole ex-captain thing, I liked how it resolved itself. I also liked how the ex-captain was not evil. Criminal, yes, and an asshole, absolutely–but not evil. Plus she brings out some of the conflicts that I’m sure that Alyn is going to have to face soon in the second book.
And Alyn and Jarvez were damn hot together. Especially in the beginning when they are trying fight (with dubious results) their attraction to each other. It was also really nice that while their dynamic in the bedroom was one thing, they were perfectly capable of realizing that when the clothes were back on, Jarvez was not one to push around. I liked that this wasn’t a problem for them. It will also be interesting to see how they handle this relationship in the next book, where some things are not going to be able to be kept secret.
Overall, this was a very nice book, and I am really looking forward to the next one. It seems to bring with it a whole new set of problems for them to overcome. This one was pretty light read, even if there were a few moments of tension, and I’d say if you’re looking for a pretty straightforward scifi story to pick up, this one is a good bet.
RATING:
BUY LINKS:
BOOK TWO TITLE: Too Good A Man
LENGTH: 281 pages
BLURB:
Alyn and Jarvez’s relationship is evolving, but thanks to Alyn’s principles it will face tests that could destroy it. To get his lover back Jarvez will tell any lie and burn any bridge he has to.
After months of sneaking around, Captain Alyn Evans and Jarvez Kashari have gone public as a couple. Alyn wants to move in together, but Jarvez isn’t ready. As the Red Dragon’s trading mission begins, Jarvez worries that Alyn’s principles will clash with the Company’s sometimes ethically dubious methods. The Company rep aboard ship, he fears he’ll be the one to feel the sharp edge of Alyn’s disapproval and could even lose him.
Alyn’s unbending sense of right and wrong leads him to give asylum to an enslaved man, Sumi, bringing threats of retribution from Sumi’s owner. This leads to tension between Alyn and Jarvez when Alyn makes Sumi his personal steward and Jarvez feels he can no longer get a moment alone with his lover.
Sumi’s owner follows up on his threats and Alyn is brought before a court in a politically charged trial, whose outcome already seems fixed. Kept apart from Alyn, terrified he’ll see him go to prison, Jarvez doesn’t think the situation can get any worse. Until Alyn’s ex shows up. In the end he’ll be driven to beg for help from the one person who’d like to see Alyn out of Jarvez’s life forever.
REVIEW:
Book two in this series picks up a few months after the end of The Company Man. Alyn and Jarvez are back in space aboard the Red Dragon, and while they are still clearly in love with each other they are also still very much trying to figure their way around this whole ‘relationship’ concept. Should they be ‘out’ to the crew? If they do so, should they move in together? What about marriage? What about that darned cat?? Lots of questions, even more answers, but very few of them of any use. Still, they are determined to figure it out one way or the other.
They Alyn decides to be all noble and principled, granting asylum to an enslaved passenger on his ship. This is, needless to say, not a big hit with the slave’s master. But Alyn has his principles. Those stupid pesky principles–that Jarvez understands (and even mostly agrees with) but he can also see the mess that those principles is going to bring down upon them. And his reticence to liking Sumi has nothing to do with the fact that he’s cute and young and spending all day with Alyn. Nope.
As you can guess, the shit doth indeed hit the fan, and Alyn and Jarvez find themselves at odds with an entire planet. Quick thinking and luck may not be enough to get them out of this one. Good thing Jarvez is used to relying on more than just luck to get him by.
I enjoyed this book just as much as I did the first one, though for different reasons. The Company Man was mostly free of outside tension (except for the brief bit, near the end), instead relying on the romantic entanglements of Alyn and Jarvez to raise the stakes. And I liked that; it made for a light read. But here, while there are certainly moments of personal conflict, a lot of the story hinges on outside forces trying to tear these two apart. And since these two guys didn’t have a whole lot they could do to change the path they set themselves out on, you found yourself hoping fate would be kind.
And if there is one thing that I have learned, it is that fate is a bitch. And one that likes to toy with you just for the fun of it.
So, lots of tension. And I liked it. Go figure.
The second major reason I liked this book is the whole dynamic these two have going on in the bedroom. To put it plainly, they are not a match made in heaven. Nothing is perfectly synched between them–but they love each other and are willing to bend to meet the other’s needs. And I liked that it is difficult for both of them. Alyn doesn’t feel the need to dominate the same way that Jarvez craves being dominated. In fact, it makes Alyn a bit nervous that Jarvez wants this–because he doesn’t know if can/wants to deliver it. That this is something they are probably going to have to figure out, that they clearly are not ‘perfect’ for each other, is something that I love. People are not perfect. But we love them all the same. Finding out what the ‘need’ is, beneath all the various ‘wants’ surrounding them, is going to be interesting watch.
In the end I really enjoyed this story. Especially that little twist at the end. I hope that there is a third book in the works, because I can’t wait to see how that little scheme plays out.
RATING:
BUY LINKS:
I have The Company Man lurking in my tbr pile, and it is one that I tend to go – maybe next time! So having read your comments, next time I’ll take it on!
lol. that’s exactly how i was treating it. and if you do decide to read it, i heard from the author that the third book should be out next month, so if you like the series you won’t have to wait long for the next one. 😀