Lonely Shore (Chaos Station #2)
by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen
My Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MM
Blurb:
All they can do is live day to day…Felix Ingesson has returned to his duties as the Chaos’s engineer with Zander Anatolius, his ex-boyfriend-turned-broken-super-soldier, at his side. Hope means something again. But there’s nothing Felix can do to battle the alien poison flowing through Zander’s veins, or his imminent mental decline. With each passing day, the side effects of Zander’s experimental training are becoming more difficult to ignore.
When the ruthless Agrius Cartel seeks their revenge—including an ambush and an attempt to kidnap the Chaos’s crew—Zander is pushed over the edge. He can no longer hide his symptoms, nor does he want to. But hurting Felix when he’s not in control of himself is Zander’s worst nightmare—when it nearly happens, he agrees to seek help. Even if that means trusting the unknown.
As Zander places his life in alien hands, Felix appoints himself his lover’s keeper. And though he tries to be strong, he can’t ignore the fact that he might lose Zander…forever this time.
My Review
After I finished Chaos Station I started with Lonely Shore right after. Lonely Shore starts of a bit after book 1 and mostly deals with the results of Zander’s health troubles with the poison that changed him into an ex soldier. This book was sad, but also beautiful and filled with hope. And even tough it was sad in a lot of places, I still enjoyed reading this book.
I really liked the writing styles of these two authors and now having read books by both authors alone I can also say I like their styles separately. The writing fits the story and I liked how they didn’t shy away of showing exactly how much was wrong with Zed. It was sad to see him slowly decline and lose pieces and memories, until he almost didn’t feel like the same person anymore. It was sad, but also a necessary part of their story.
For a long time I wasn’t sure how they would survive this, what the way out would be. And I am still not fully happy with what happened as I always feel those type of plot lines/ twists feel a bit off somehow. But all in all I did like how it was handled. It did make sense sort of and also why it had to happen this way. I am not sure I fully understand what this will mean for the characters, I am sure we’ll find out in future books.
What Zander and Felix go through in this book is heartbreaking and while it was horrible to see what Zander went through, I almost felt even worse for Felix, who is seeing his lover decline like that. I do think it shows again how much they care about each other and with all the hardships they go through, the ending of this book ends on a positive note.
This book is great in terms of world building and how we see the world get expanded a bit more in this book. Now with the initial set-up done in book 1 we get to see more of the other alien races. I liked learning more about the Ashucks and how the authors did a good job making them seem alien, but you could still care for them as well. I also really liked Qek in this book.
To summarize: this book was pretty sad, but also I think an important part of this series. And it’s also hopefully and the book ends on a high note. It was sad to see both Zander and Felix got through this, Zander is struggling with his health due to the poison and Felix sees his lover slowly disappear. For a long time I had no idea how they would make it through this. And while the book was sad I still enjoyed it as it’s so well written and while sad it also shows the depth of feelings between these two. I also liked seeing the world get expanded on a bit more, we learn more about especially the Ashuk’s in this book and I also really liked Qek in this book. While difficult to read at times, it was well written and I liked seeing where everyone is at the end of the book and am looking forward to reading book 3.
Links:
– Goodreads
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo
You can also read my review on Goodreads and Amazon.
I was convinced that I wanted to read the first book, but this follow up one with all the sad feels and issues from the poison have me even more determined. Neat how both authors separately have great writing and its just as good when they pair up.
Sophia Rose recently posted…Afternoon Delight: Under Fyre Prequel by Cara Bristol
It really is a great series so far and I like how they dealt with the effect of the poison. I hope to read book 3 soon. And I hope you’ll enjoy this series if you decide to pick it up.
I’m happy you enjoyed this sequel, Lola, despite its being sad and the issue you had with how things resolved. I really like the sound of this world and Felix and Zander so I think I’ll give this series a looksie. And yay for finding a writing duo that you also enjoy the writing separately! More reading pleasure! 🙂
It was still a great read despite the sad things and the way things got resolved. I hope you’ll enjoy it if you decide to give it a try.
I am so glad I discovered these two authors as they are great when writing together and solo.
Definitely sad yet hopeful 🙂 I wasn’t a huge fan of that ending thing either, but eh. I also felt terrible for *both* of them. And I agree this series has some great world-building. The authors really managed to make the whole world and characters and everything seem so believable and real.
Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…Mini Reviews: Classics – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Alice in Wonderland, Dracula
I figured you probably felt the same about that ending thing. And I definitely felt terrible for both of them and that they had to go through that. I hope I can pick up book 3 soon.
The world and characters are so well done!
I am not really into overly emotional books right now. I liked your review of it though.
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They don’t work for me in every mood either, but I liked how they handled it in this book.