The Taste of Lies (Halcyon Universe #4)
by Mindi Briar
My Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f
Blurb:
A charismatic, sexy guitarist…who’s here to kill.
Deep undercover as a hot new rock band on the Moon Palace, Jed and his team are Greenjacket rebels with a mission: assassinate problematic royals and destabilize the Emperor’s rule. When a disastrous failed attempt draws the attention of his ex, a noble lady, Jed fears his cover’s about to be blown. Lady Saray is far too perceptive, and the way she gets him to say things he’s sworn to keep secret is…almost like magic.A royal lady-in-waiting who can literally smell a lie.
The ability to taste the truth, and even force others to tell it, keeps Saray alive in the viciously competitive Moon Palace society. But it also makes her a perilous weapon in the wrong hands. If the Emperor knew the extent of her power, he’d use her against the people and planets she loves.A kidnapping that puts them all in danger.
When a young prince is stolen and Saray’s father framed, the Emperor threatens an attack against her peaceful home planet. With both Saray’s and Jed’s secrets on the brink of being revealed, they team up with Simon, a reclusive hacker, to track down the child before it’s too late. Trusting each other—and facing their darkest fears—might be their only chance to keep the galaxy from exploding into war.This action-packed continuation of the Halcyon Universe series includes an aromantic main character, a low-spice M/M romance, and a heaping tablespoon of feminine rage. It can be read standalone, but to avoid spoilers, read in order after Petrichor Blooms and The Invisible Bright.
My Review
I received a free copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.
I really like the Halcyon Universe series and was excited to hear about this fourth book in the series and was excited to read this latest installment. It has some last book in the series vibes, but I still hope there will be more books as I like this series. The Taste of Lies has a more epic vibe than previous books in the series with a nasty emperor, political tension and a possible war and rebellion looming. Despite that Taste of Lies also had the things I’ve grown to expect from this series like interesting and likable characters, an interesting world, psychic powers and romance.
The Taste of Lies is told mainly from the points of views of Saray, who can taste lies and she’s a lady in waiting for the emperor’s favorite consort, and her ex Jed who is undercover at the Moon Palace as a rockstar to assassinate problematic royals. They are not the two who get into a romantic relationship interesting enough. Saray is aromantic and Jed has a romance instead with another guy, which was a fun way to have the book still contain romance as well as an aromantic main character. I did feel that the romance between Jed and Simon could’ve used some more page time, I did like the two together, but I wanted a bit of the romance. Then again there is so much going on plot wise with the political situation and the way Jed and Saray fit into this all it made sense there isn’t as much focus on the romance.
Speaking about the plot I liked seeing that all play out. There’s a lot going on and some interesting twists and turns as well as some tense situations. The plot kept me invested and I wanted to keep reading and see it all play out. And it kept my attention during a stressful time in my life. I liked how all the characters have an important role to play in the events. I enjoyed reading more about this universe and there are some appearances of character from previous books, although I admit I had to read the book descriptions of those to remember who was who.
To summarize: I really enjoyed this fourth book in the Halcyon universe series and hope it isn’t the last. I liked reading about Saray, Jed and the rest of the characters. The plot is more epic than the previous books with the focus the emperor, the politics surrounding it all and a brewing rebellion. The plot kept my attention and I was eager to see how it would all play out. I enjoyed reading about the characters and the role they had to play in the plot. There is a romance plot line, but it’s between Jed and Simon, while Saray is aromantic which I thought was an interesting way to have both a romance in this book and an aromantic main character. There are some great twists and turns and I enjoyed seeing how everything played out and seeing what happened to the characters. I really enjoy this series and hope the author writes more.
Hmm, it does sound like the end with all the big political stuff. Hope you get more, though.
It does feel like the end indeed, but I do hope she will write more or maybe a new scifi series. This one was great!
I don’t read a ton of science fiction romance, but the cover definitely grabbed me for this. Sounds like you enjoyed it as well. Great review!
I really like scifi romance and don’t read enough of it. This whole series is really good and has great covers.