WARLORD (Outcasts #5) by Cyndi Friberg- a review
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 4, 2019
When Shivon Roxtin tries to incite a rebellion among the human females on the Outcasts’ planet, she’s sent to the Relentless. The ship’s commander, Warlord Torak Payne, thrives on challenge, so he’s looking forward to taming the fiery human. Still, war with the Sarronti is creeping ever closer, and the last thing he needs is an unruly mate. Tempers flare, and sparks fly from the moment the couple first meets. Their battle of wills is quickly surpassed by their consuming need for each other, but can they channel the emotional intensity into something constructive before they’re consumed by the flames?
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REVIEW: WARLORD is the fifth instalment in Cyndi Friberg’s OUTCAST sci-fi, fantasy romance series. This is human female Shivon Roxtin, and Warlord Torak Payne’s story line. WARLORD can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and cohesion.
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 Shivon and Torak WARLORD follows the building relationship between fated mates human female Shivon Roxtin, and Warlord Torak Payne. Shivon Roxtin found herself part of a group of rebels struggling with their place on the planet OP3- a group of unmated females who have yet to be matched with a compatible member of the Rodyte male population. Hearing that many of the females would rather return to their home planet of Earth, Overlord Kage Razel places Shivon in a position that will bring her face to face with her fated male. Enter Warlord Torak Payne, the man with whom Shivon will fall in love. What ensues is the building relationship between Shivon and Torak, and the potential fall-out when Shivon ‘volunteers to work along side her future mate in an effort to ferret out information from the enemy below.
Shivon Roxtin is a warrior at heart; a former interrogator with the US military who is struggling with the lack of positions for females on the planet she is about to call home. Torak Payne knows Shivon Roxtin is his fated mate but convincing Shivon to place her trust in Torak is met with trepidation and the possibility that working together threatens Torak’s need to protect the woman with whom he will fall in love.
Meanwhile Ezalondra ‘Eza’ Alonov, a Council member of the underground Sarronti, will come to the surface in an effort to align with the invaders known as the Outcasts. Meeting Kage Razel sparks something deep within Eza Alonov, something worth risking her own life in return for that of her imprisoned nephew Farlo.
The relationship between Torak and Shivon is one of fated mates; a genetic match based upon DNA but a match that Shivon struggles to accept based on past experience, and a lifetime of hardship and rejection. Hoping to prove Shivon is worthy to be his mate, Torak begins a slow seduction of the woman he loves. 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 including Torrin and his mate Arrista, Arrista’s sister Merella, mistress Lady Isolaund, and Farlo Alonov.
The world building continues to focus on the search for mates; the political structure of the Sarronti Underground; and the preparations for battle with the enemy below.
WARLORD is a story of conflict and authority; struggle and acceptance; trust, honor, respect and love. The premise is intriguing and engaging; the romance is seductive and energetic; the characters spirited and strong. WARLORD is a wonderful, fast paced and captivating entry into Cyndi Friberg’s OUTCAST series.
Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Heretic
Marauder: Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO /
Tracker: Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N
Assassin
Warlord
Copy supplied by Netgalley
Reviewed by Sandy
