Review: A few issues but lots of fun
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 9, 2013
With half-star ratings, this would have been 4 1/2 as I don't know for sure if I'm going to re-read it and my 5 star ratings are usually reserved for the books I know I'm going to keep to re-read. However, I got this as a free download (which is where 99% of my books from new to me authors come from) and I liked it well enough that I immediately purchased the sequel, something I rarely do. Thus ... 5 stars.A few issues. Some of the description dragged a bit and occasionally the dialogue seemed a bit awkward and some of the writing could have been smoother in places. Plot was not particularly unique, a 'kidnap to add to the family' scenario, but the somewhat  twist that the kidnapped is male rather than the usual female kept it from being formulaic.Interesting juxtaposition between high tech cities and the 'barbarians' who live in remote areas with no connection to the city technology. A little off-beat and required some serious suspension of belief, but that's what fantasy is and it worked well for the storyline. I found the tensions and politics between the city cartels interesting, a sort of family business group competition as war games.Overall, a very entertaining read.