Review: One Blood

It's sad, but the truth is that the second, third, and so forth books in a series just don't get as many reviews as the first one. Which makes sense, really. After all, if you get a reader hooked on the first book, they are going to happily hunt for the second, and so on. But what if they read the first and then have to wait for the second? How are they going to find out when the book comes out? Well, you can follow the author, on Amazon, or other social media. But even then the reader might miss it. So here I am, with a review of a second book in a series.

If you were unlucky enough to miss the first one, you're in luck now! You can read two books with no wait! The Scent of Metal is the first book in the Argonauts of Space, and it was a fun read (you can find my earlier review of it here). Science geek, special ops soldiers... and Pluto. Ancient alien threats menace, and the only hope is the long-lost relative of humanity, the Neanderthals. I'll try not to spoil it, but if you haven't read that book, go read it before scrolling down to read about book number two in the series, One Blood.

Look, I really don't gush about every book I read. I've talked before about my reading speed, and most novels take me roughly two hours to consume. Seems a pity, really, that an author takes weeks or months, and here I am plowing through it and popping up with a smile and 'when's the next?' So I read a lot, even though I'm busy. I don't sit and watch TV, I read. If I am sick, I read. I will rip through 5-6 books in a day if I'm sick enough to be stuck in bed and can't sleep. Most of the stuff I read, I never talk about on the blog. After some really horrible, and I emphasize dreadful, experiences reviewing books I didn't like, even with attempts to say 'this bit was good' I had pulled back from ever doing negative reviews again. It's not so much that I come under public and private attack, it's that my friends and mentors get hit as well, when insecure authors lash back at me. So...

That has nothing to do with this book. This book I can rave over, not only because the brilliant Sabrina Chase is a superb writer, but because she's a genuinely nice and sane lady. (Shhh... Sabrina, seriously. Your version of insanity is a nice one. Really.)

One Blood I bought when Sabrina put it up on preorder, and I didn't even realize that it was the sequel to Scent of Metal at first. Yes, I will buy whatever she puts out. No, probably not her grocery list, although when I consider how funny she could make bureaucratic paperwork, I just might. I was delighted to find that it is the continuing adventures of Lea, the AI-connected geek girl, and her lover Ivars, the scarred warrior. In this episode, we follow them as they hurtle through space in a mainship the size of a planet (a small one, and disputed, since it was, after all, named Pluto for years...) racing the evil aliens Fahdol (Fahldol?Fadohl? I can't spell that one) for the Neanderthal planet their newly discovered allies inhabit.

That planet is, as they slowly learn during the journey, no walk in the park. They will have to fight their way in to the stronghold, battle ingrained suspicion once they reach it, and then turn and face the interstellar threat. It's not going to be fun... and there are monsters. Like the one on the cover of the book.

Seriously, this is a fun read. I highly recommend it. I liked the first book, and this one is better.

I can't wait for the next book!