Forged in Shadow

Dark Planet Warriors Series, Book 5

By: Anna Carven

Narrated by: Jillian Macie

Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Sergeant Arin Varga has a problem on her hands. She's supposed to be in charge of a squad of peacekeepers. That's something she would normally handle with ease, except that now her people are stuck in Earth's orbit on a doomed superfreighter.

To make things worse, they're being held hostage by a group of very threatening, very menacing silver-skinned Kordolians, who are insistent that all they want is safe passage to Earth to kill oversized insects.

One particular alien, who goes by the name of Rykal, seems be constantly getting inside her personal space. He isn't just threatening, he's friendly and threatening, and if Arin isn't careful, that could become a major problem.

Contains mature themes.

©2016 Anna Carven (P)2018 Tantor

Better than the last!

this book was definitely better than the last. however it was not as good as the first book in the series because the narrations kind of boring and very robotic. The plots good enough that you can ignore the bad narration. however it's disappointing that she writes such strong females yet puts them in situations where they have to be rescued and not very realistically. it's a good read and I recommend that you try it.

One of my favourite Dark Planet series stories!

I love this story, and I think Rykal is probably my second-favourite Kordolian warrior. My only minor complaint about any of it is the way some of the names are pronounced. I even noticed some inconsistency in how this narrator read them, as if her own initial pronunciation didn't sit right with her, either, LOL...but overall, it was a great listen to an awesome basic story. I own every single Dark Planet story so far, and am now working through the Audible versions, too.

I've been...

working my way through the books in this series in order and enjoying them immensely. This was the 'meh'est book thus far. Mind you Carven's meh is better than most sci-fi romance authors' best. I only know it was dull because I listened to some of it with a low grade irritation. It took everyone ages to escape the freighter. Also this book was heavy on sexual tension but light on actual sex. I like a lot of explicit physical intimacy.

As for Rickle or Ry-Kal get over it. tomAto, tomAHto nbd.

love this series

love this series. hope to read more and about the characters and her story. love 💟

Arin and Rykal has that special something

Rykal was not sure why he was feeling the things he was. She was just a human. Arin captures him and makes him curious. Arin was not certain but she felt like something was not right with the federation and the things happen with the evacuation of the human citizens. What was the hold up.

We find two individuals and a complicated mess unfolding in the dark recesses of space. Family. Friends. Does. Comrades. Federation. Secrets. Lies. More.

I still don’t like the pronunciation by the narrator of Rykal’s name. Although her narration style grows on you and allows you to bond with the characters.

Great story!

I really enjoyed this story. The only reason I gave it four out five stars is because I had trouble focusing enough to listen to the story, I had trouble getting into it. Now, that is probably just me and the fact that so much craziness is going on right now. (Covid-19 lockdown) As for the story itself, if I discount all the times I had to take a break, the story is really good. Arin and Rykal are really great characters. I would have preferred it if the relationship between had had a bit more time to develop but that just me. The author and the narrator did wonderful jobs at bringing another story to life in this fantastic space/earth series. I've always found that space/alien stories take a certain finesse to make them good and this author has taken the time to make each story in the series good. Well done to the author and the narrator. I'm looking forward to listening to the next story.

Least liked in the series so far

But not too bad. The main characters just aren't as rich or entertaining as previous books.

Great story problem with narrator continuity.

I have loved all the books in the series! The Author is great but I can't get past the fact that in the first part of the series the male narrator called the character Rye-cal, which sounds great! This narrator keeps calling him rickle and all I hear is pickle Rick! I get really frustrated when a narrator can't keep basic name continuity, or even just phonetically pronounce words.

Space Bugs!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙❤️💚💜
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌍
Character development: 😊😘😟🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Solo Narration

The heroine: Arin Varga - she is the daughter of a female general and she is a peacekeeper that has been in charge of patrolling a gigantic mining station in a super-freighter for the last few years. She had to report to a committee to explain the situation with the Zargek and the Kordolians. The Zargek are large bug-like aliens that can easily overcome a planet and are a threat to Earth and Humanity. The Kordolians are the only alien species that have the capacity to get rid of the adult Zargek’s. Though the leaders of Earth see the Kordolians as another hostile species of alien, especially since they had recently captured the super-freighter.

The Heroes: Rykal - He took Arin hostage when they first met. She reminded him of an ice blade (ashika). She was sharp, direct and effective. She was able to take control of the humans and guide them with her level-headed intelligence and poise. The super-freighter was how they escaped the doomed mining station Fortuna Tau.

The Story: Kordolians and humans looked a lot alike and when Rykal thought of Arin, he often wondered just how alike they were. Rykal was a killer, but he rarely made promises, though he promised Arin that he would try not to kill any of the humans. He didn’t have a very high opinion of humans other than Arin. There was no way a human could kill a Kordolian, as they had body armor coded in their DNA which could be called up at any moment. Almost nothing the humans had could get through the exo-armor. Though the humans on the freighter did try to overpower the seven Kordolians while Arin was off the Freighter making her appeal to the senate.

Arin didn’t really mind Rykal. She thought he was the most handsome of the Kordolians, and actually preferred being on a doomed freighter with him than on Earth dealing with the politics and her mother. When two agents from alien affairs meet with Arin, they tell her that since the general died, she is the sergeant that has taken on most of the leadership on the freighter, especially since she was the one trying to broker a deal with the Kordolians. They want Arin to continue to work with the Kordolians but to also spy on them. They don’t give her a choice. They plan to use the Kordolians to get rid of the Zargek’s then figure out how to get rid of them.

I liked this book, both main characters had interesting back stories, especially Rykal. He went through something in his transition to be a warrior where they removed all his memories, but he has been having flashbacks. I also liked Arin because she was a strong female character who was more intelligent than most people she had to deal with.

This audiobook was told in dual points of view via solo narration and was narrated by Jillian Macie. I like her voice and she is very good at using different voices and tones for different characters. She is also great at showing emotion through her voice. Though I would much rather this be dual or duet narration, but Jillian does a terrific job.

Loved This Book, except for the Ickle

The action, Aliens, romance themes were great, even if some strained credulity. I liked that this female lead was a kickass warrior, who could still be feminine and vulnerable with her lead male. Would have given 5 stars all the way, except one thing: the horrific pronunciation of Rykel.
Don Rickles, Butter Brickle, likes to tickle.
Ugh.
Rye-KEL ( like it was pronounced in the first book with male narrator) is a name I can take seriously. Also makes the Rye nickname more plausible than Ree.