Book Review: Incursion by Aleksandr Voinov

Title: Incursion
Author: Aleksandr Voinov
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian, Science Fiction, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy from publisher via NetGalley
Published: July 2012 by Riptide Publishing

When the local authorities ask Kyle Juenger to hunt a shape-shifting Glyrinny spy, he can’t refuse. After all, he can use the reward to replace his paralyzed legs with cyberware, and maybe even to return to his home planet. Besides, he hates the morphs—those invasive, brain-eating monstrosities whose weapons cost him his legs.

Kyle’s best lead is the Scorpion, a mercenary ship armed to the teeth. Grimm, the Scorpion’s pilot and captain, fascinates Kyle. He’s everything Kyle lost with his legs, and he’s from the same home world. He’s also of the warrior caste—half priest, half savior. But Grimm’s been twisted by life as a merc, and Kyle’s stuck undercover as a criminal on the run.

That doesn’t stop Grimm from coming on to Kyle, or from insisting he’s more than the sum of his past and his useless legs. But Kyle has other concerns—like tracking a dangerous morph who could be wearing anyone’s face. And as if things weren’t complicated enough, Kyle can’t tell if Grimm is part of the solution . . . or part of the problem.

Reviewed By: J9

In a Nutshell: A better space adventure than a romance but still decent.

The Set Up: Kyle has clunky cyberware to be able to move his paralyzed legs. The military offer him one more chance at better prosthetics but he has to hunt a morph, a shape shifter spy. So Kyle boards a mercenary ship to find the spy but is attracted to the ship’s pilot, Grimm.

Why I Read this Book: I’m a sucker for space adventures so when I saw this on NetGalley I had to read it.

What I Liked: The ending is great. Obviously I can’t tell you what it is but I didn’t see it coming. It came quickly and with good intrigue, mostly for Kyle’s mission but also for the romance a bit. This short novella has great space ambiance, like the temperature and the lack of water. It also has unique details like the stress of take-off on Kyle. I really like this sci-fi world.

What I Didn’t Like: As much as I liked the world, I read this because it was a romance and on that level it wasn’t great. There is very, very little emotional intimacy that isn’t related to Kyle paralysis and his sense of vulnerability and none on Grimm’s part until the very end. The sex was one sort of strange scene since Kyle couldn’t feel much below his waist until Grimm does something mental to Kyle. All in all, this romance was lukewarm at best.

IMO: This isn’t a great romance but the world building makes up for it in this very quick read.

J9’s Rating: