Book Review: Sacrifice by Kate Pearce

Title: Sacrifice
Series: Tribute, Book 1
Author: Kate Pearce
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy provided via NetGalley
Published: September 7, 2015 by Riptide

Awaiting execution on a foreign planet, Anna Lee has nothing left to lose—until Commander Rehz Akran offers her a chance to escape her fate. Anything is better than death, but when her training for Akran’s mysterious mission begins, the brutality is hard to take . . . especially since Anna has no idea what the workouts, beatings, and endless sexual demands are preparing her for.

Rehz Akran doesn’t deal with failure. He’s determined that his last trainee will survive her immersion in an unimaginably alien world and return alive—even if it means she’ll hate him forever. He needs to stay detached, but his new recruit makes that impossible. Soon he’s willing to defy his own training for a chance to forge a true connection with Anna.

It’s Rehz’s job to teach Anna to survive as a Tribute. And if she does, it’s his task to help her overcome the trauma of the experience. But this time he isn’t doing it to save his planet. This time he’s doing it for love.

Reader discretion advised. This title contains the following sensitive themes: Dubious Consent, Non-Consent, Explicit Violence, Heavy Kink

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Reviewed by: Crissy

Why I Read This Book: I have a big weakness for sci-fi and new worlds and imagination. I also have it big for strong, dominant men and women who can hold their own. So I had to take a peek at this one.

In A Nutshell: This story is not for the faint of heart. I still waver between loving it and not. But for the most part it’s fantastic world building with complex characters and a story arc I can’t wait to read the rest of.

The Setup: In exchange for her freedom, Anna Lee must suffer the worst experience since she was dropped on the godforsaken planet. Even worse than that, Anna hates Rehz. Rehz is set to train Anna Lee to earn back his freedom as well. Neither intended to fall in love.

What I Liked: As I mentioned earlier, this world is vast and sprawling. It’s both cringe-worthy and promising. I laugh at the alien race who doesn’t believe that humans or Earth exist. These guys don’t believe much past their own world exists—except the Ungrich. The backstory, the cities, the dimensions—the entire world is intricate and creative and exciting.

What I Also Liked: Anna Lee and Rehz are… complicated. Anna, I love for her strength and determination. And Rehz, I love for his will. He wants her to survive, but he also wants her to not hate him, which is damn difficult by the end. These guys are at odds throughout so much of the book; I wasn’t sure they would make it to the end. There is so much struggle and pain in such a short novella that I worried for the connection. But it’s there. Beneath the inner turmoil and mistrust, there’s a bond that keeps these two coming back for more. A bond that kept me coming back for more.

What I Didn’t Like: I mentioned my wavering. I’m of two minds with this book. I’ve never really minded the dub-con/non-con stories as long as those scenes had purpose. And within this story, there are bucket loads of purpose, but at one point, I began to wonder if it was too much. Part of me wants to agree that, yes, too much is too much. But the other part—the part of me that wanted to keep reading, found that the plot point the non-con was striving towards may not have been as strong without it. So, still, I don’t know. Was I uncomfortable? Yes. Did I cringe? Yes. Was the endgame made better? Yes. I guess it’s six of one, a half dozen of the other, in this case.

Also, I hate Palk. (You’ll understand when you read it.)

In My Opinion: As uncomfortable as some parts made me, this story was beyond smexy and intriguing. In the end I enjoyed it and I’m dying for the next book.

Crissy’s Rating: