Chaos Station (Chaos Station #1)
by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen
My Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MM
Blurb:
“You’re not real. Felix Ingesson is dead.”The war with the alien stin is over, but Felix Ingesson has given up on seeing his lover, Zander Anatolius, ever again. Zander’s military file is sealed tighter than an airlock. A former prisoner of war, Felix is attempting a much quieter life keeping his ship, the Chaos, aloft. He almost succeeds, until Zander walks on board and insists that Felix isn’t real.
A retired, broken super soldier, Zander is reeling from the aftereffects of his experimental training and wants nothing more than to disappear and wait for insanity to claim him. Then he sees footage of a friend and ally—a super soldier like him—murdering an entire security squad with her bare hands and a cold, dead look in her eyes. He never expected to find Felix, the man he’d thought dead for years, on the ship he hired to track her down.
Working with Felix to rescue his teammate is a dream come true…and a nightmare. Zander has no exit strategy that will leave Felix unscathed—or his own heart unbroken.
My Review
I first heard of this book on the blog of one of my blogger friends. And the more I heard about it the more I decided I had to give this book a try. I bought a copy of this book and have since read a few other books by Kelly Jensen, before finally reading Chaos Station. I am so glad I gave this one a try.
It’s a great read. The story caught my attention immediately and I like the way it’s written. It has a great romance, deals with some hard topics, but still has a light overall feel. The characters are all great to read about and have enough depth to feel real. It’s emotional at times, sad, but also happy. And it features one of those close knit crew that would do anything for each other. Before I even finished book 1 I had bought the rest of the series.
Chaos Station follows the story of Fixer/ Flick/ Felix, who’s a mechanic. He bought a ship, named the Chaos, with his friend Elias. And that’s where he spends his days now. He never thought he would see his old lover Zander again until Zander shows up on his ship after Elias agreed to do a job for him. Zander thought Felix was dead and doesn’t believe his eyes when he sees the man alive and well. Zander has been in a special soldier program and struggles with the side affect of what they did to him, he’s trying to find an old friend of his and Felix now. Which is the main plot line for this book, finding that friend.
I found it interesting how this story takes place after a big war that took place in the galaxy. It shows the devastating effect a war can have in a whole different way. The war or actually the aftermath of it is a big part of the story and how it influences their lives. I liked how setting it after the war gave a whole new perspective and feel to this book. Not only the whole what do we do now struggle the soldiers have after the war has ended, but also seeing how the galaxy and people are affected by this war. Each character has their own physical or mental scars from the war. It was thought to read about at times, but felt very believable.
The story is mostly character focused and focuses on Felix and Zander with a few chapters from Elias his point of view. I loved seeing Zander and Felix reconnect and find out that same chemistry from years ago is still there, but they changed and aren’t the same people anymore and that gets explored too.
I loved Zander and Felix together and their chemistry and connection to each other is clear from the moment they meet again, but it’s also clear that a lot has happened in the few years they haven’t seen each other. They have to figure out how to interact with each other now and if they can ever recapture what they had. It felt so realistic how this was handled, there are struggles, emotional parts and a bit of drama, but it doesn’t get blow up. I felt for both of them and really hoped they could figure things out even with the secrets and changes. There are touching and sweet scenes between these two and some hot ones too and the authors manage to find the perfect mix between the two parts.
I liked the side characters and crew too. They each have their own personality and quirks and I like this type stories with this tight knit crew that care about each other so much. They will do a lot for each other and I enjoyed seeing how they functioned as a crew and how each person worked as part of the crew too.
We only get a little piece of the galaxy in this book, but it was enough to get a feel of things with the aliens that are around and how things work. And make me curious to see more of this world. There is also a part that make me think is a set-up for later books with the guardians and the stin.
To summarize: Chaos Station was a great start to this series and I am eager to continue the series. It grabbed my attention from the start and kept it for the whole read. I liked reading about these characters and the tight knit crew who has each other’s back. Zander and Felix haven’t seen each other for years and it was great to see these two reconnect, but a lot has changed in that time and during the book they have to figure out if they can recapture what they had. There are sweet and touching scenes and some hot ones, with a great balance between the two parts. I liked the side characters and getting to know the rest of the crew. The setting in a galaxy right after a big war has ended was interesting and made for an unique setting. The effect of the war are felt everywhere and many characters have physical or mental scars from the war. I liked the feel we got of the galaxy this story takes place in and I can’t wait to see more of it in the rest of the series.
Links:
– Goodreads
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo
You can also read my review on Goodreads and Amazon.
I was pretty sure you’d like this one, so I’m glad you did 🙂 It does have a lot of great emotion without being too heavy.
That’s a great point, it really does show the aftereffects of war, which is a different perspective since a lot of SFF books build up to war, but that’s where the series ends, and you never see the effects it has on characters or the world.
Zander and Felix did have great chemistry, and I loved the tension-filled, struggling aspect of this story. Plus the whole crew was great!
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I am so glad I decided to check out this series :). Your review for this one also convinced me to check out Kelly Jensen’s books last year, which are great too and I now also tried one of Jenn Burke’s standalone books.
I liked how it shows emotions, without getting too heavy, although the second book does get a lot heavier. And I liked seeing the aftermath of the war as like you said it’s such a different perspective than in most series.
Zander and Felix really are great together and the whole crew is so fun to read about.
I’ve had my eye on this series since Jensen mentioned her sci-fi in an interview. I’m glad to see that the story is good on sci-fi action, but also the character development. I like war stories that are honest about the effects of it, particularly afterwards. I’ll definitely be reading it at some point.
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It’s a great series so far! It has a good balance between the different elements with the action, plot and characters and romance all getting enough attention. I hope you get the chance to check it out at some point :).
That really sounds good and different since it takes place after a war has already taken place. Seeing what happens after a war and how people pick up the pieces and go on is something that sounds really good to me.
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It really is an interesting point of view with it taking place after the war. I don’t think I’ve read many books that deal with the aftermath and it was quite interesting and also a bit sad to see how the war had impacted all these characters.