Emotionall Unengaging: (2010-09-03)
Beyond the Rain begins with the heroine, Cyani, and her elite team of soldiers breaking into a slave compound for several specific prisoners, but then Cyani finds the hero, Soren, naked, badly beaten and chained to a wall. She can't leave him, which leads to her becoming separated from her team. But this man, Soren, is no ordinary slave. Soren is a member of an alien species who emit a strong aphrodisiac from their skin and other fluids when in the presence of their mate. Once they have bonded to their life-mate they need to be in constant physical contact with that person or their body stops producing the hormone and they die. Soren, when he was basically a teenager, was kidnapped from his family, and kept captive by men who forced him to artificially produce the hormone so it could be sold as an aphrodisiac drug on the black market.
The rest of the novel is basically about the struggle as Cyani tries to get Soren back to his home planet before he dies, because now that his captor's are no longer administering the drugs to stimulate his hormones, he is going into withdrawals, and will die within a week if he doesn't have physical contact with a mate.
One guess who his mate turns out to be.
I picked this book up because the sequel actually peaked my interest, and I hate starting a series in the middle, even though I'm pretty sure these books are mostly meant to stand alone. I had also seen a somewhat lukewarm review of this on the Dear Author site, which meant I approached this one with a bit of trepidation. I'm sorry to say I finished the book with much the same lukewarm feelings as the DA reviewer.
I did enjoy the angle of Soren's biology and the idea of basically milking him for his hormones. It was an interesting twist, a really creative bit of world-building. Although, I couldn't help thinking as I read along that it's a really bad adaptive trait for his species. What if the mate gets kidnapped? Or they end up in different vehicles or something? Or any of a million other ways that someone could get physically separated from another person. It seemed to me that it would be very easy to die when your life literally depends on another person's constant proximity.
More troubling than the world-building hiccups, I spent the first 1/4 of the book feeling really unengaged by the characters. Cyani, for example, keeps thinking that some mysterious "they" will kill her if they know she has physical contact with anyone. She is not supposed to have physical contact with anyone, "ever." It doesn't really become clear who this ominous "they" are until much later in the book, which frustrated me throughout. I didn't have any concrete idea who she was or what she was facing until probably halfway through the book, and by then it was kind of too late for me to bond with her.
Also, the rules for her touching people were never firmly established. It's mentioned in the book that all the women of Cyani's culture have to enter the military for a certain period of time, so how can it work that they aren't ever supposed to touch anyone? It struck me as highly impractical that she's a solider rescuing slaves, and she's been at it for years and yet she's still having these "Don't touch me" thoughts. I think she would have had to help cart off injured people before, or punch someone. The logistics of this issue were just never elaborated and it frustrated me with its seeming inconsistency.
I also had a big problem with the hero's "find a mate or I'll die" dilemma because that really made it seem that he had chosen Cyani out of desperation, and not because he really loved her. The ending mitigates this to some extent, but not enough, because he's basically thinking he wants to bond with Cyani right from the start. And not because he's going to die otherwise. His affection for her didn't really grow or evolve, he's just unconditionally in love with her from the start, and I didn't buy it.
Some of the cutesier aspects of the novel also bemused me. I failed to see the point, for instance, of Vicca, Cyani's scout fox, and later Bug, Cyn's mini super computer thing. It felt like they were just there to be cutesy sidekicks and provide the requisite comic relief. At times Vicca's stage action felt really intrusive, and if she were cut altogether I don't see how it would affect the book very much. Another thing that totally confused me was the unicorns:
"Two pure white horses, each with a single horn in the center of its forehead, stood in the clearing. The bigger male arched his neck as he touched his nose to the female's in a loving gesture."
This moment comes out of nowhere in the midst of the HEA epilogue, and I really don't get what the point of this was. Totally random and just made me shake my head in bemusement. It definitely yanked me out of the book. By the scruff of the neck. Hard.
I will say the book did pick up a bit at the halfway mark, and it really got rolling once Cyani's brother, Cyn, showed up. Cyn's the hero of the sequel, which does give me some hope I might enjoy it more.
But even the Cyn portion had its issues for me. There is a portion where Cyn and Soren go off on a little mini-adventure by themselves which felt totally random and out of place; like someone had crammed a chapter from another book into this one. I understand their escapade was there partially to help motivate some of Cyani and Soren's choices at the end, but I feel like those were already well enough established earlier in the book through her backstory so that this side trip really wasn't necessary...
Which brings me to the problematic ending. Cyani is all ready to set off and be a Big ol' Martyr heroine, Soren is ready to be alone and be a Big Ol' Lonely Martyr Alien. Then Cyn sweeps in as a big ol' Deus ex Machina and makes it all better.
I do agree with Cyn that Cyani needed to stop living her life to protect him, but since Cyani had been clinging to this belief for years, her turnaround was a bit too quick for me, which made the ending feel kinda rushed. I also felt like having Cyn resolve everything really robbed Cyani of agency, and robbed her final choice of its potency. She doesn't choose to be with Soren, someone tells her that she can be after all, so she goes. She's still just following orders, and not making her own choices.
Overall, I thought there were some excellent world-building details, and I liked some of the secondary characters a LOT (*cough* Cyn *cough*), but the overall composition of the story, and the character arcs were very problematic for me. I don't think I'll ever reread this and I'm still on the fence about whether I'll try the sequel or not.
Grade: C
Great new paranormal romance author: (2010-05-18)
"Beyond the rain", the debut novel by Jess Granger, introduces the reader to a fascinating and cruel world full of great characters, love and hope.
Captain Cyani just has to survive one last brutal mission and then she can finally hope for a life of peace and silence. For years she was forced to fight by order of her scrupulous leader. Now she is dead tired and just wants to stop the fighting and killing. She and her men are ordered to free slaves from a hostile planet. When she meets and rescues captured Soren everything changes.
Soren has been held captive for years because he is from a race with extraordinary abilities and is worth a lot of money on the black market. He has been horribly humiliated and abused by his captors and lost the hope to ever be free again. Cyani gives him back his hope for a better life and after meeting her Soren wants more than his freedom. He wants her to be his beloved mate but Cyani thinks that's impossible because of her obligations to her home planet and the ruling class.
"Beyond the Rain" is an amazing book that made me hungry for more. The world that Jess Granger created is a cruel and unforgiving one but there is also hope for a better life. From the first page the story was easy to read and although the world is totally different from our own I was never confused by the different races and customs. The varied worlds and races are described in a very lively way and I could clearly see them in my imagination.
A lot of evil and gut-wrenching things happen in the book however I never felt too depressed and sad because there are people who actively fight for a better and fairer future. There are as well beautiful moments of peace and happiness and they are a good balance to the evil.
Cyani and Soren are just awesome. Both are survivors and in every scene you could feel their pain but also their amazing strength. Cyani's inner conflict is heart-breaking and I rarely met a heroine who deserves a happy-end more than she does. Soren is just perfect. IMO he represents the ideal combination of strength and kindness. The way he loves Cyani and is willing to give his life for her is just amazing and I was so happy with the way their journey ended.
Furthermore I loved the secondary characters and can't wait to read more of Cyani's brother Cyn and the mysterious Yara. I also hope that "Beyond the Shadows", the next book in the series, will bring some much needed peace for the lower classes on Cyani's home planet Azra.
So all in all I absolutly enjoyed reading "Beyond the Rain" and I'm excited to see how the story will continue.
Beyond the Rain-A Joyfully Recommended Title!!!: (2010-01-25)
Captain Cyani has literally worked her way from the ground up. Being a ground dweller is something that no one has ever let her forgot, but Cyani has clawed her way to the treetops now. In a world built around celibate female warriors, Cyani has become one of the best. Now she only has to complete this one last mission and she can go back to her world, Azra, and gain the rewards she has been working towards - being admitted to the temple. Cyani has had more than her ambition to help her along the way. Threats to those she loves also helped Cyani in the years since she had to leave her family. The Mission is almost complete; she just needs to see what has attracted her companion's attention away from their goal.
Soren is Byralen and was kidnapped for what his body can produce. Soren has no idea just how long he has been a captive but he is definitely going to follow the female warrior who arrives to get him out. Soren knows he is on borrowed time and will have to find a way to get back home before it's too late. However there is something about Cyani that captivates his attention almost from the beginning and makes him want to know her better.
Cyani, like the rest of the Union, knows very little about Byralens but she is on a fast learning curve to help Soren. Getting off this planet is not going to be easy, but Cyani soon learns that getting Soren home is going to be much harder. An unexpected crash on a wrong planet hurts them both but also gives them time to discover each other and maybe a new life. Just when Cyani and Soren accept what is to come, yet another change dares to tear them apart for good. Cyani's real past might just be the thing to tear her from Soren. Soren knows his very being depends on convincing Cyani just what their future can be - will it be enough?
A woman made to become a warrior discovers the beauty of love and peace. Beyond the Rain focuses on a new and exciting universe. Cyani has overcome all of her beginnings to become a warrior to save both her life and that of her loved ones. Soren was torn from his family and home just because of his genes. I was truly captivated while watching Cyani and Soren learn about each other, their planets and what made them as they are, only to then slowly tumble into friendship and then a strong and thriving love. The richness of description that covered all of the worlds along with the strengths and weaknesses of Cyani and Soren's characters were only two of the factors that had me finishing in one day. I also enjoyed the plot that surrounded everything. Beyond the Rain might by Jess Granger's debut novel, but I can say with certainty that it won't be her last. Beyond the Rain is a must read and became an instant keeper, also Joyfully Recommended by me. I am already waiting for the next book to come out and I know that you will be too.
Jo
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
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