death defying by nina croftFormat read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Genre: science fiction romance
Series: Blood Hunter #3
Length: 286 pages
Publisher: Entangled: Select
Date Released: February 24, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

Part snake, part human, and—some would say all bitch—Captain Tannis of the starship El Cazador has one goal in life—to earn enough credits to pay for the Meridian treatment to achieve the immortality she craves. And one last job will get her there. The assignment: protecting the most powerful man in the Universe.

Being leader of the known universe isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it sucks big time. And after five hundred years, Callum Meridian, founding member of the Collective, is bored out of his mind. But as things are changing, he’s changing—into what, though, he isn’t sure. Callum is determined to discover the truth, and he’s employed the crew of El Cazador to help him do it.

Not everyone agrees with his plan, though. His own people will stop at nothing to prevent the truth coming out, the Church is taking advantage of the confusion and attempting a coup, and even the crew of El Cazador seem close to tossing him out the airlock without a space suit. But defying death has never been more dangerous, sexier, or more fun.

My Review:

deadly pursuit by nina croft Death Defying begins its action/adventure/romance/space opera story just at the point where Deadly Pursuit leaves off.

And the crew of El Cazador is being pursued, with deadly intent, yet again. It looks like all the forces they have previously defeated are out to get them, once in for all.

It doesn’t help that the Collective and the Church are out to get each other, with the crew of El Cazador seemingly caught like fish in a large, space-spanning barrel.

The Collective controls the immortality-granting drug Meridian. After 500 years, the founding members of the Collective have a few problems. They’ve managed to gain control of the galaxy, or at least their corner of it, by their control of the drug. People who defy them are banned from ever receiving “the treatment” that gives them not just immortality, but membership in the elite circle that controls the system. Very few people are willing to lose their chance at the drug, no matter how high the price for it or how slim the chance that they could ever receive it.

But Meridian has a downside–doesn’t everything? Those who take it are not just made immortal, they are irrevocably changed. Everyone knows that members of the Collective are telepathic with the group. But the whole “growing wings” thing is totally unexpected. The members of the Collective are becoming something other than human. In a system where many people consider Genetic Modification to be “less than human”, what will winged people be?

Also, a lot of inhumane acts have been committed in order to keep the supply of Meridian flowing to the select few who qualify. But the supply has run out. The planet where Meridian was found is all tapped out.

The Collective doesn’t want to relinquish their control by admitting that they can’t elect anyone else into the club. Their leader wants to let the whole “wing thing” out into the open. Quite possibly because he’s tired of hiding the fact that he can fly. He wants to test those things out!

When the Council turns down his request for the big reveal, he goes to plan B–escape on El Cazador. The fee he’s paying for their assistance is the last bit of coin that Captain Tannis needs to fund her own Meridian treatment.

Instead, the Council betrays its leader, Callum Meridian, and plans on using double-and-triple crosses to get the Church of Everlasting Life to destroy the planetary source of Meridian in a blaze of glory–so they have a public scapegoat for the end of the supply.

Both the Church and the Collective plan on catching Callum in the cross-fire; the Church because it has decreed the Collective as anathema, and the Collective because Callum wants to delve into secrets that the Collective wants hidden.
Both sides have tackled with the crew of El Cazador before, and wiping them off the face of the galaxy would be a pleasure for either side.

But the crew is much too clever to go down without a fight. Several fights. Especially now that they have recruited their own rebel alliance to help even the odds.

Callum Meridian has been unwilling to admit that immortality has gotten boring. On El Cazador he discovers that fighting for his life, and the lives of the crew who have managed to become friends–is the opposite of boring.

Falling in love is the best experience of all, and one he thought he was no longer capable of. But will loving and losing be worth the price, if he has to live with it forever?

break out by nina croft Escape Rating B: Death Defying, and the entire Blood Hunter series so far, has been an absorbing combination of space opera and romance. In Break Out, as much as I adored it, the space opera took a backseat to the romance. In Death Defying, it’s the romance that takes the backseat, and the space opera political maneuvering that comes to the fore.

All three romances have been between a man who has been around entirely too much, and a woman who has little or no experience of sex, love or romance. Not necessarily because they are young, but because their lives have otherwise excluded romantic possibilities.

The heroine of Death Defying, Captain Tannis, almost seems too damaged to have changed so fast. She was experimented upon by a mysterious lab for 14 years, from the ages of 4 until she turned 18, and she can’t stand to be touched. She wants Meridian so she can hunt down the people who tormented her. Callum is the first man she’s ever let touch her, and she manages to forgive him for letting that lab, and other inhumane acts, be perpetrated on his watch as head of the Collective.

I didn’t quite buy into their romance, but the political machinations and Callum’s search for the secrets to Meridian kept me on the edge of my seat. The Church and the Collective are using each other, and both want to wipe out El Cazador. That ship is in everyone’s sights, and it takes a huge trick for them to escape both sets of clutches.

It was difficult to believe that the Church could get even more evil than they were in Deadly Pursuit, but they hit new lows. Not that the Collective is any better.

Riding the spacelanes on El Cazador has been so damn much fun that I’ll be sorry to see it end. I thought that Death Defying wrapped up all the loose ends left over from the first two books in the series, the fabulous Break Out and the terrific Deadly Pursuit. I was incredibly pleased, but I’ll admit also slightly surprised, to see that the author has two more books planned for the series.

I can hardly wait to see how she picks this up from where she left us this time!

~~~~~~TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

Nina Croft Double Feature Banner Nina is generously giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky commenter on the tour. To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter below. For more chances to win, check out the other stops on the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Books Posts

Sep 30, 2015

Waiting On Wednesday: City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

By Beauty in Ruins

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett...

Sep 14, 2015

Fantasy Review: The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

By Beauty in Ruins

I thoroughly enjoyed The Aeronaut's Windlass, no doubt about it. It was a fast-paced, action-packed, imaginative bit of fiction with a lot of elements that appealed to me. Where Jim...

Sep 14, 2015

The Martian Reviewed, Godzilla and King Kong, America’s Got Talent, Iron Maiden and Muse Album Reviews, and Ninja News!

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Entertainment News The upcoming film, The Martian, was just reviewed at the Toronto International Film Festival. According to JoBlo’s site - As such, The Martian really is terrific family entertainment....

Sep 09, 2015

Waiting On Wednesday: Servants Of Hell by Paul Kane

By Beauty in Ruins

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. Servants Of Hell by Paul Kane Expected...

Sep 04, 2015

Horror Review: The Crimson Corset by Alistair Cross

By Beauty in Ruins

Falling somewhere between paranormal romance and vintage horror, The Crimson Corset is a tale of small towns, family ties, and vampires. Alistair Cross puts just enough of a spin on...

Aug 26, 2015

Waiting On Wednesday: The Last Mortal Bond by Brian Staveley

By Beauty in Ruins

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. The Last Mortal Bond by Brian Staveley...

Aug 24, 2015

RiffTrax Live! Plus Movie Reviews, Trivia, and News; Dragon and Cassa News, Battle of the Banned, and Ninja News

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Back from vacation! I’m starting to really enjoy those… RiffTrax Live! Two more shows remain in this year’s RiffTrax Live line-up – Miami Connection and Santa and the Ice Cream...

Aug 17, 2015

Urban Fantasy Review: Daring by Elliott James

By Escape Reality, Read Fiction!

My Review: Although I read Daring before Fearless (review here), I’m posting it after. I’ll be packing for WorldCon in Spokane when this posts, and frankly, I needed to have...

Aug 14, 2015

SF Review: Doctor Who: The Drosten’s Curse by A.L. Kennedy

By Escape Reality, Read Fiction!

My Review: Tomorrow, Saturday August 15, has been declared Doctor Who Comics Day by Titan Comics, who, of course, publish Doctor Who Comics. While I didn’t have a Doctor Who...

Aug 13, 2015

SF Review: The End of All Things by John Scalzi

By Escape Reality, Read Fiction!

My Review: If Doctor Who is the story of a “madman with a box” then The End of All Things is at least partially the story of a brain in...