Release Day Sci-Fi Romance Review: Dark Deeds by Michelle Diener

Dark Deeds by Michelle Diener (Class 5 #2)

Egalley thanks to the author

Synopsis from Goodreads

Fiona Russell has been snatched from Earth, imprisoned and used as slave labor, but nothing about her abduction makes sense. When she’s rescued by the Grih, she realizes there’s a much bigger game in play than she could ever have imagined, and she’s right in the middle of it.

Far from safe . . .

Battleship captain Hal Vakeri is chasing down pirates when he stumbles across a woman abducted from Earth. She’s the second one the Grih have found in two months, and her presence is potentially explosive in the Grih’s ongoing negotiations with their enemies, the Tecran. The Tecran and the Grih are on the cusp of war, and Fiona might just tip the balance.

Far from done . . .

Fiona has had to bide her time while she’s been a prisoner, pretending to be less than she is, but when the chance comes for her to forge her own destiny in this new world, she grabs it with both hands. After all, actions speak louder than words.

Amazon kindle US/UK

8.5/10

* * *

While Dark Deeds didn't feel quite as dramatic and groundbreaking as Dark Horse it was fabulous in its own way, and I enjoyed it very much, peeps.    


Fiona is just as plucky and resolute as Rose, but at the same time she is very different. She is abducted from Earth a month or so later than Rose, there is no experimentation done on her. Instead she is simply stashed away on a trading ship and forced to work in harsh and hostile conditions. She also doesn't know anything about class 5 thinking systems and only starts working with one much later in the book. While Rose is being celebrated, Fiona is saved by a war ship and the crew of it is much more distrustful and wary of her except for the lovely captain Hal, who gets attracted to the amazing "orange" and whose feelings are reciprocated.  

 I was so happy that this time Michelle Diener didn't rush the development of the attraction between two characters. Instead their affection for each other grows slowly and strongly due to extremely dangerous and stressful situations they are thrown in over and over again. There is no happily after as a goal, more like "okay, we like each other and let's find out where it leads" feeling which made me very happy with this book.

The pace also picks up from breezy to breathtaking two thirds of the way into the book, at which point my excitement grew exponentially and I was glued to the screen of my kindle until the very end.   

My second delight in the book is how very different the thinking systems were from each other. Just like any other sentient beings they had different characters, and Eazi was much less scarier and more fragile than Sazo. I actually liked him much more.   

At last, the setting of Larga Ways - the space way station where a lot of plot took part was breathtaking on its own from the colours  to architecture  and to food, and I was really happy that it would be featured in later books as a part of bigger world-building.  

So far the universe Miss Diener created has been absolutely amazing and I am looking forward to more books in this series. It was a blast, ladies and gents! Recommended.    

* * *

Я очень рада, что вторая книга серии "Класс 5" также хороша, как и первая. Темные Делишки может и не так драматична как Темная Лошадка, однака по своему сильна и свежа, и читала я эту книгу с огромным удовольствием.

Фиона как героиня отлична от Роуз, да и испытать ей пришлось другие трудности после того, как ее похитили с Земли. Если над Роуз проводили эсперименты, про Фиону просто забыли и оставили заниматься каторжным трудом на коммерческом корабле, пока ее не спасли военные Гри.      

По большей части она работает без помощи думающей системы первую часть книги, от чего ее характер только выигрывает. Сама система - Эазу очень отлична  характером от Сазо, чему я была рада, так как Сазо как персонаж был гораздо страшнее в книге первой.

Еще одним плюсом сюжета стало развитие отношений между милейшим капитаном Халом и Фионой. В этот раз Дьенэ сторонилась инста-любви, и оставила всё в самом начале влечения друг к другу - "счастья на сейчас" , что послужило героям и самому сюжету гораздо лучше.

Самым последним плюсом оказалась станция Путей Ларга, где происходила треть сюжета, и которая была шикарно выписана, начиная с архитектуры и заканчивая едой. Сам сюжет хоть и начался степенно, под последнюю треть книги набрал такой оборот, что оторваться от книги мне было невозможно.    

В общем, шикарный мир, прекрасно написано, очень советую! Молодец автор в новом для нее жанре, просто умничка!