Aydarr (Sectors New Allies #1)
Veronica Scott
My Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF
Blurb:
Jill Garrison, a maintenance tech at the Sectors Amarcae 7 colony, goes to sleep one night as usual only to wake up in her nightgown stranded in the middle of a forest on an unknown world. There’s no time to think as she’s stalked by carnivorous predators and rescued by genetically engineered warriors calling themselves the Badari. Turns out they and she, along with her whole colony, are now prisoners of the Khagrish, a ruthless race of alien scientists. Working for enemies of the Sectors, the Khagrish have created the Badari to be super soldiers.Aydarr, the Badari alpha, isn’t sure he can trust Jill but his attraction to her is undeniable. He impulsively claims her as his mate to prevent her death at the hands of the Khagrish.
Can he continue to protect her from the experiments already underway? Will his claiming her put his pack in jeopardy from their alien masters?
As Jill searches for a way to rescue her fellow humans and get them all to safety, she finds herself falling for Aydarr, despite the secrets he’s keeping. She has a few of her own.
The situation becomes dire when Aydarr and his pack are sent offplanet on a mission, leaving Jill unprotected, prey for the senior scientist. Can she escape the experiments he has in mind for her? Will she be able to thwart the Khagrish plans and liberate humans and Badari alike? How will she and Aydarr reunite?
This is the first book in a new scifi romance series and each novel has a satisfying Happy for Now ending for the hero and heroine, not a cliffhanger. Some overarching issues do remain unresolved in each book since this is a series but romance always wins the day in my novels!
My Review
Aydarr is the first book in a new series by veronica Scott and I’ve been eager to start this new series, but also a bit hesitant to start a new series and wonder whether I would like this one as much as her previous books. Aydarr was a solid start to this new series, while different in tone that some of the author’s other books, I also recognized elements that I’ve come to expect in Veronica Scott’s books. I read this as a buddy read with Sophia and had fun discussing the book while reading.
Aydarr is told mostly from the point of view of Jill, who gets kidnapped from her home on a colony world and wakes up on an alien planet with dangerous creatures, she gets rescued by some Badari warriors who take her in and care for her. The Badari warriors are genetically engineered warriors and help captive by those who run the experiments on this planet. It was absolutely horrifying to read about how the Badari warriors were treated and from the start I was hoping they would manage to escape. Most of the details of these horrifying experiments are only mentioned and not shown, but it still made me feel uncomfortable to hear what the had to go through.
A lot of the story takes place while the characters are in captivity and while it made for an engaging story with me wanting to read more and see how and when they would escape, I felt like it made for a less than romantic setting for a romance. The plot was exciting and filled with danger and some action and it kept my attention as I wanted to see what would happen next and whether they would manage to escape and free everyone.
I liked both Jill and Aydarr as characters and they have their own personalities. Aydarr is a clear leader and also is sensible enough in how he approaches things and tries to keep his pack safe. While Jill is more of the barge in and take risks type. I liked how she had some skills that came in handy as she used to be in the military. There are plenty of promising side characters as well. And a side character that gets introduced later in the book that I really liked.
When it came to the romance I struggled a bit more with this one. Jill and Aydarr meet as he saves her from a creature and he takes care of her and helps her recover from her poisoning. They are attracted to each other, but there isn’t a lot of time for them to spend with just the two of them and really get to know each other. I felt the author still managed to give us a feel for both characters and build their connection, but it still felt a bit fast to me. It bothered me how at first Aydarr wouldn’t tell Jill much, even though his reasons for doing so made sense. I didn’t like the circumstances surrounding their first intimate time together, even while it was clear their feelings ran deep and they cared for each other, the circumstances didn’t feel right. It also felt a bit fast to me how things developed, but I did feel their bond and love for the other was clear.
The world building is well done and as the book progresses I got to understand more about the Badari and their captors. The situation on this planet becomes clearer too and who is behind it all and how things work. I especially liked learning more about the Badari, their customs and their culture. I liked how they developed their own culture, values and traditions even while being held captive their whole lives. I found it interesting reading about them. The Badari feel a bit like shifters in some ways, with how this pack is called a pack and they have claws and fangs as there are canine DNA in their genetics of this pack.
To summarize: Aydarr was a solid start to this new series, it introduced the Badari and their situation. What the captors did to the Badari is absolute horrifying and I wanted to know if and how they would escape. The story was compelling and kept my attention, but I would’ve liked to see more of the characters being free as so much of this took place while they’re in captivity. While the story was interesting, I felt the romance felt a bit off due to the circumstances and setting. I liked Jill and Aydarr and we get to know them and feel their bond, but I thought their romance progressed quite fast and I didn’t like the circumstances surrounding their first time being intimate together. They both are likable characters to read about it and I like seeing how they work together. There are some interesting side characters as well and I am looking forward to reading more about them. The world building is well done and as the book progresses there is more information about the world, the alien captors and the Badari.
Great review. I have my eye on her The Sectors series, but I haven’t had a chance to start reading that yet. And it seems like a lot of times the first book in a series gets less glowing reviews than the subsequent ones.
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