The Akseli

Simone has hunted and slain psychotic vampires night after night for hundreds of years and desperately needs a change. When the leader of the Immortal Guardians offers her an opportunity to guard ten mortal women who are venturing to another planet, she dives right in and finds traveling into space and meeting amazing alien races just as exciting as she'd hoped… until an enemy attacks. Simone saves everyone she can before she's thrust into an escape pod and the ship explodes. Alone, fearing some—if not all—of her friends have been killed, she vows to seek vengeance.

Despite his fierce reputation and propensity for violating the law, Janwar has formed a friendship with strait-laced Prince Taelon of Lasara. When the prince's ship is destroyed, Janwar joins the massive Aldebarian Alliance-wide search and rescue mission and soon locates the Gathendien ship that launched the attack. An odd thing happens, however, as he and his crew stealthily approach it. The lifeforms inside begin to perish, two or three at a time in quick succession. Much to his surprise, someone else has reached the ship first: one of the very Earth women he hoped to rescue.

Fascinatingly fierce, Simone bands together with Janwar and his crew to search for her missing friends and wreak havoc upon those who wish to harm them. She also widens eyes, drops jaws, and sparks laughter and mischief as she banishes the warriors' world-weariness and makes each day seem like a new adventure. The friendship that grows between Janwar and Simone swiftly deepens into love. But the enemy warriors they face are tenacious and boast more weapons in their arsenal than the alliance knows. Can Janwar, Simone, and such a small crew vanquish them?

Book source ~ ARC

My review is voluntary and honest.

The Akseli

Aldebarian Alliance, #4

Diane Duvall

11 October 2022

Sci-Fi | Paranormal | Romance

401 Pages

My Rating ~ 5 bites

Simone is an Immortal Guardian who was asked to accompany Prince Taelon, Lisa, and their baby Abby back to his home world of Lasara. With her are 4 more Immortal Guardians and 10 gifted ones. The gifted ones hope to find love matches amongst the Lasarans and help repopulate their world after a virus released by the Gathendiens makes them sterile instead of killing them. Something the asshats had tried to do on Earth but instead of dying, the virus caused some humans to become vampires and others (gifted ones) to become Immortal Guardians. When the Gathendians attack the ship, Simone and all of her friends are scattered in escape pods. Simone promises revenge and that’s when the Tangata with Janwar and his crew show up. Let the fun begin.

Oh, holy shit. I love all the books in this series and the Immortal Guardians, but Simone may just be my favorite character yet. And that’s saying something. Dianne Duvall crafts books that bring all the emotions to the table. There’s the excitement of battle, tension, steaminess, friendship, love, grief, and vengeance with delightful humor expertly threaded through it all. I never tire of the variety of situations that come up in each book, but there are two in this one that I just had to read several times and I’m sure I’ll go back and read several more. The characters are so life-like I expect them to step off the page. The dialogue flows smoothly, the plot is tight, and each book in the series can be read as a stand alone. But why would you deny yourself the sublime pleasure of hours of entertainment obtained by reading the books that came before? You wouldn’t so I know you’ll take my advice and start with Darkness Dawns and work your way all through the line up. Lose yourself in these worlds and don’t look back. Trust me.