Monday 8 September 2014

REVIEW Seth (More Than Machines #5) by Eve Langlais

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Synopsis
His mission: Blend in with the humans. Save the cyborgs. And seduce the only woman he ever loved, without getting killed.

Cybernetic spy models are different from other humans turned machine. For one thing, they never completely lost touch with their humanity, or their memories. But retaining their identity doesn’t mean the military didn’t mess with their lives. Seth lost the woman he loved because of their web of lies. When the chance arises to make things right, he relies on his superior intellect—and irresistible charm—to prove his innocence, and make Anastasia his again.

Anastasia might possess upgraded parts and programming, but the scientists never could cure her of her biggest weakness, jealousy. The volatile emotion made her walk away from love once. Can she overcome it and recognize the truth? Or will she continue to let the military manipulate her emotional strings?

Review
All the Eve Langlais books I’ve read have been a fun, fast-paced race to the happy ending.  This one? Not so much. To me the ending of Seth and Anastasia’s story lacked resolution - more of a ‘Happy For Now’ than a ‘Happy Forever’. A lot of that feeling comes from Anastasia who seemed to have commitment issues. (That’s a polite description of her ‘I’m a badass, get out of my way!’ attitude.) Of course I’m hoping it really is forever but I suspect we won’t know until later books in this series. The other problem is there’s a lot of foreshadowing of future plots laid down in this book, it simply doesn’t leave as much room for the romance of Seth and Anastasia to work itself out.

Like other Langlais books this one provides lots of action, adventure, steamy romance and her trademark snarkish humor. Unlike other entries in this series the hero does not need to rediscover his humanity. On the other hand, Anastasia seems to be pretty much of a user which makes me wonder how much humanity she ever had… Basically? I loved Seth (who wouldn’t) but Anastasia not so much.

Can you read this book without reading the previous ones? Yes – but I really don’t recommend it. At least read the first and second one, you’ll get a better grounding in the situation and meet Seth before Anastasia, and find out more about why he is different. As a part of the series (and I have read them all) I would give this a 5 because it is a fun read and the series gives context to the story. If you’re trying to read it as a standalone probably you’d go with a 4, at least you would if you prefer HEA to HFN endings…

Note: one of the things I really liked about this one? The hero has a name, not just a number, in the title! And the tease which appears at the end of the story for the next book in the series? Just evil since the book isn’t out yet…

Cyborgs: More Than Machines series

#1 - C791
#2 - F814
#3 - B785 
#4 - Aramus
#5 - Seth


Copy received from Netgalley and publisher for an honest review.









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