Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Regeneration
AUTHOR: Louise Lyons
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 211 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 15, 2017
BLURB:
In the 23rd Century in the galaxy of Sigma Kappa, Kim Fortune was the first surviving experimental enhanced human—a regenerate. Aged fifteen, he escaped the lab and years later, his failings as a regenerate and the suspicion of regular humans, leave him lonely and lacking in self-worth. Stranded on an abandoned planet, the arrival of a stricken ship and its crew give him hope that he may finally find what he always longed for—love.
Christian Novak is a successful regenerate with all the intended attributes—including lack of human emotion. Despite their immediate attraction to each other, Kim’s failing confidence, and Christian’s inability to empathize are a recipe for disaster. But war, imprisonment, and danger throw them together, and after each saves the other’s life, their feelings begin to change.
Can a seemingly unsuitable pair ever find love, or is a future together destined to fail?
REVIEW:
The first great sci-fi of the year for me, Regeneration had a little bit of everything and was entertaining from start to finish. The story revolves around Kim, a ‘failed’ regenerate who managed to escape a life of captivity only to find himself stranded on an inhospitable planet with dangerous animals that come out in the dark. Six months after his ship crashed, he finds himself with unexpected company as another ship suffers the same fate; among those now stuck with him is Christian Novak, a regenerate soldier that, after defecting, has been captured and was being taken back to undergo ‘modification’. The attraction between the two is near instantaneous but there’s one major problem; regenerates have been made to have no emotions but Kim is more human than expected and has all the feelings to go with that humanity. He’s sure Christian wants to get him into bed but Kim wants something he’s only ever dreamed about: love.
Ah, this story was just so good! All of the characters were well flushed out and the descriptions given by the author made it super easy to envision everything that Kim was seeing and experiencing. A lot of things happened in the book but it all felt like a natural progression instead of a bunch of random events stuck together to provide action and I really appreciated that; the story just flowed beautifully and I was swept up into it. Besides the great story, there was a good amount of character development for both Kim and Christian; Kim began thinking of himself as something other than a failure and Christian discovered that regardless of how he was made, he was capable of change. Reading about both men individually was almost as satisfying as watching their relationship develop and evolve.
This was just a completely satisfying read from start to finish; I was completely engrossed in it from the beginning and the ending was just perfect. I really have no complaints! If you enjoy science fiction and want something that’s more story driven with a slow burn romance, I highly recommend you check this one out. This was my first story by this author and it most definitely won’t be my last!
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