REVIEWED BY CINDY
TITLE: The Soldier
SERIES: Free Men Series Book 2
AUTHOR: Kate Aaron
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 185 Pages
Blurb:
Three months. That’s all it took for Kai to forsake freedom and learn to love his new life as pleasureslave to a wealthy Thirskan Underlord.
Finding himself surrounded by his own people once more, Kai should have been happy: relieved to be rescued from slavery, and out of the clutches of a man who was the sworn enemy of his people. Yet his people are not how he remembers them. Distrustful of Kai, and disgusted by his relationship with not one man but two, they make it abundantly clear he no longer fits in.
Beaten, starved, and tortured, when the chance comes to escape, Kai is barely strong enough to make the journey. Even if he succeeds, how could anybody ever love the thing he’s become in order to survive?
Review:
The Soldier is the second book in Kate Aaron’s Free Men series and I seriously think it’s become my favorite series since Mary Calme’s Warder Series.
This story is told from Kai’s POV. It takes up where we left off in The Slave and chronicles Kai, Tam and Lysander’s journey after they are taken from the Overlord’s compound.
Kai struggles with his feelings for two men and how he could have changed so much in such a short time. The author takes us into his heart and lets us watch as he comes to understand how his old life wasn’t really what he thought it was and how his new life might be different, but so much better.
The horrors that Kai endures at the hands of the kidnappers are heartbreaking, but the way he feels about himself after is more so. His love for Tam and Lysander overwhelms him but it never fails him once in the whole story. It’s what keeps him going when things are at their worst.
It’s amazing to watch as he finds the strength that he needs to help save the men he loves, even as he doubts that they will ever want him again.
I love how the author has given voice to these three characters and the addition of Lysander’s wife and her lover add a perfect kind of depth to the story. This part of the story explains the motivation behind the events that are transpiring and while it’s the middle part of the tale and it reads as such, it definitely leaves you panting for more when it’s done.
Once again, the descriptions of the places around the characters paint an amazing picture, transporting the reader to another place and time. It invites to explore a world so different from our own and leaves us in wonder and awe of it.
This novel has excellent characters, perfect plot built up and is smart and artistic. I loved every word.
Rating: 
Buy Links: