Review: The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance, #1) by Dianne Duvall

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Review

4 stars!

What a great read! A sexy and romantic sci-fi adventure with a whole lot of heart, this book swept me up, and I loved it!

Although this book is the first in a new series, it’s a spin-off from the Immortal Guardians series, and as a long time fan of that series, once I read the blurb of this book I knew exactly how it was tied in, and I was right there for it! I would imagine that most Immortal Guardians fans would be the same, but just in case you want details…

Spoiler
Taelon is the brother of Ami from Night Reigns who was ‘adopted’ by Seth and David, married Marcus, and has become a much-loved member of the Immortal Guardians crew
. Squee!

But on with the review…

After a series of devastating losses, Lisa is slowly clawing her way back to a normal life. She’s back in college, but is struggling for money, so she signs up to be a test subject at a research institute, examining whether she has psychic abilities. It’s something she’d never given much thought to, but she soon becomes the subject of a horrifying experiment that will change her life.

Taelon is from a galaxy far-far-away, and he travels to earth in search of his sister who went missing on a diplomatic mission some years ago. But he has been captured by a sinister group who lock him in a secret government facility and do all kinds of unthinkable experiments on him. For years, he is subjected to pain and torture like he’s never experienced, but moments of comfort come when he forms a psychic connection with a woman in the facility, and the two of them communicate secretly, trying to figure out exactly what is going on.

When outsiders infiltrate the facility they are being held in, Lisa get the opportunity to escape, and not wanting to leave her new friend behind, she rescues Taelon and the two of them go on the run together, desperate to escape the people hunting for them, while Taelon continues his search for his sister.

It’s a great set up, and the stage is set for action, excitement and suspense. There are a few twists in Lisa and Taelon’s story which I won’t spoil, but that make the story just that much more exciting, and I was completely hooked through it all. And especially as Lisa and Taelon begin to fall for each other.

This book has a similar feel to other books I have read by this author – the relationship is honest and functional, with very little angst, Lisa and Taelon are completely open with each other, sharing everything that they are thinking and feeling, including their growing attraction. It’s a little unreal, given their situation (I mean, Lisa is very accepting of Taelon being an alien, and just carries on as normal), but I tried not to get too hung up on that. It is a science fiction book, after all. And letting go of all preconceived ideas, I was able to get swept up in the romance, which is sweet, swoony and sexy, and beautifully functional.

Their journey brings them into contact with the Immortal Guardians crew, and I loved catching up with them. Fans of the series will be thrilled to be back in this world, but a warning that you may be a bit lost if you don’t have that background. There are certainly good descriptions given, but there’s a lot of significant character crossover and specifics about the paranormal world and how it all works. It may be a hard to follow, and you certainly won’t be able to keep track of everybody. But you will still be able to enjoy the story.

The latter part of the book really brings the sci-fi element as we get to see Taelon in his element, introducing a new bunch of characters (including his fabulous family, and a bunch of inter-galactic space badasses), and setting the scene for the series to follow.

I really enjoyed this book. It was exciting and romantic with great paranormal and sci-fi elements, and a strong start to a new series.

4 stars.

 

Check out our Immortal Guardians series info page for more details!

 

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