OVERLORD (Outcasts #6) by Cyndi Friberg-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 6, 2019.

Determined to bring meaningful change to her people, Lady Eza of the Sarronti seeks out the leader of the Outcasts and proposes a daring alliance. She expects to negotiate with a barbarian. Instead, Overlord Kage Razel awakens longings that have nothing to do with the rebellion. He intrigues and attracts her, making her ache for the consuming passion she has only experienced in his arms. Yet Kage also frightens Eza. She senses secrets in him, portions of his being he will not share with anyone. There is no doubt Eza wants him, but can she trust this mysterious stranger, or will he use his unique abilities to gain control over her world?

••••••••••••

REVIEW: OVERLORD is the sixth instalment in Cyndi Friberg’s adult, sci-fi OUTCAST fantasy, romance series. This is the leader of the Outcasts Overlord Kage Razel, and Lady Eza of the Sarronti. OVERLORD can be read as a stand alone but I recommend reading the series in order as there is an ongoing plot throughout.

SOME BACKGROUND: The humanoid aliens known as Rodytes needed a home and settled on two planets they believed were uninhabited. Without any available mates, the male only Rodytes sent teams of Outcasts to kidnap any and all human females in an attempt to repopulate and find mates for their struggling males but procreation came at a price including the need for genetically matched DNA, a mutual metamorphosis, and magical intervention. A test for compatibility is filed and there may be as many as five males matched to a single female DNA. Outcasts were battle born; their mothers were Bilarrian prisoners forced to breed, with their Rodyte captors, in the hopes of restoring magic to the Rodyte people. To complicate matters, the planet they now inhabit hides a secret deep beneath the planet’s surface, a secret that is determined to take back what once belonged.

Told from several third person perspectives including Kage and Eza OVERLORD follows the building relationship between Rodyte Overlord Kage Razel, and Lady Eza of the Sarronti. The Sarronti is a race of elf-like people who live underground, a people who are preparing to go to war with the Outcasts but not before going to war with their own. In exchange for her nephew’s freedom from the Outcast people, Lady Eza offers herself as a prisoner but a prisoner who will find herself falling for the Outcast’s leader. Enter Overlord Kage Razel, and the man with whom Eza will fall in love. What ensues is the building relationship between Kage and Eza, and the potential fall-out as Lady Isolaund of the Sarronti is determined to take control, at all costs.

The relationship between Kage and Eza is one of immediate attraction. Kage knows Eza is his mate and convincing Eza was straightforward and painless but Eza struggles with placing Kage in danger should the Sarroniti declare war with the people on the surface.As Eza moves between the surface and underground, she will discover that not all is well with the world below. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top,sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters. The author has chosen to focus much of the story on the Sarronti people, who are about to integrate into the society above ground.

OVERLORD is an infinitely detailed and intricate story that breaks down the social order and hierarchy of the Sarronti people. At times overwhelming, the amount of information disclosed adds to the ongoing world building including the logic and reasoning of a people whose groupings alienate their own people into castes and status. The premise is revealing and engaging; the romance is captivating and seductive.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Heretic
Marauder:Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO /
Tracker:Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N
Assassin
Warlord
Overlord

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy