Review: Enjoyable Installment in the Series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 14, 2013
This was the third book in a series that I've come to enjoy as a nice light weight hit of sci-fi romance.  It has some steam, some intrigue, creative worldbuilding and enjoyable characters packed into what I'm coming to realize are like serial story installments.  The abrupt endings that leave several questions unanswered including a story theme that began in the first book shouldn't still take me by surprise, but they do.  There is a crisis that is averted and a romance that is pretty much sealed up and then boom last page.  I guess I really like my denouements to come down from the height of the crisis point a bit more gently.  Needless to say, its not enough to put me off the series.This one featured the human, Zander Elios, and his Thresl cat that were introduced in book one.  Zander is glad for the Thresl King and his consort getting their happily ever after, but his Thresl has still not shifted for him.  He loves his Thresl cat and he's pretty sure his Thresl likes him, but why won't the cat shift and bond with him?  Zander is from a family of diplomats for whom power, wealth and prestige mean everything.  His father has been making strong noises about parting Zander from his Thresl and arranging something else for both of them.  Then there is all the intrigue going on around King Vohne and Kreslan along with the smuggling of Thresls from the planet to sell them.The plot was as interesting as I've come to expect for this series.  I enjoyed the main story of Zander and his Thresl who have a special relationship built up even before the cat finishes the bond.  The action plot had me so into finding out what was going on with the smuggling that I almost- almost didn't mind that a chunk of the story allowed for Zander and his Thresl to be parted.  There were more sightings of Vohne and Kreslan along with Vohne's enigmatic uncle, Saint.  I really hope Saint gets his story soon and I loved that dangling thread about him at the end.  As I said before, the only thing that bugs me just a little are those jarring endings that jerk me to a halt before I'm ready for the end.Looking forward to the next installment.