REVIEW: Taken to the Limit by Nico Rosso
Dear Mr. Rosso,
Though it’s not a genre I read often, every now and then I’m in the mood for a SF story. This one, with its female ER doctor heroine, caught my attention as I wondered what an alien fighter would do with her. Answer: lots of sexing and saving the world.
"Welcome to the Limit War." E.R. Doctor Korina Antonakis thinks she has mastered the chaos of her work and life. In a flash of light, everything changes. A man appears, a soldier from another world. Sergeant Morrow is a Nightfighter, an elite soldier who always battles alone. But he needs an ally on Earth, a doctor. In the dark of night, he opens Korina’s eyes to The Limit War. And Earth is on the front lines. More amazing than the interstellar war, is the soldier before her. He is strong and stoic, a veteran, but beneath the armor, Korina finds the heart of a man. And in Korina, Sergeant Morrow finds the soul of a warrior to match his own. Their lives had started light-years apart, but the attraction between them pulls like destiny. Their desire is real, but the enemy needs to be driven from Earth. Can Korina and Sergeant Morrow’s passion survive in the Limit War?
Methinks the blurb is slightly misleading in that Morrow wasn’t seeking an ally. Korina gets caught up in the action by accident but once she’s “seen the light” so to speak, she’s onboard full blast to save planet earth from the nasties who want to use us as fertilizer for their food. Eeuuw, what a way to end up.
The story is short in length so I can see why you need to jump start the romance and use the old “I can immediately see that you’re the only one for me” plot. Yes, of all the thousands of people both have ever known, and for Morrow that’s across light years of space, he and she are soulmates for life. Okay, fine. But that’s about as deep as the romance part of the story goes.
The SF part takes the majority of the word count with shape changing armor and weapons and vague references to what I guess to be some interplanetary alliance that battles the nasties. The world building is definitely on the lite side here. Two other things which bothered me are the fact that Korina is a doctor who is sworn to save lives but she takes to killing like a duck to water and I don’t buy that it’s her Greek warrior blood rising to the occasion. Also, she has no qualms leaving earth and all she’s ever known behind to join Morrow. Come on, not even a few thoughts or second guessing?
Overall, there is little romance here to satisfy those looking for it and only cursory SF depth for those looking for that. The story moves right along, I kept reading to find out how our duo would save the world as we know it but I can’t help but feel that this is more like an outline for a longer book. C
~Jayne
Book Link | Kindle
Sounds like it didn’t live up to its promise. Perhaps the shortness of the story contributed to its failure to deliver.
Okay, so I saw the post title and kept thinking, where have I seen this before? Have I read it already and forgot about it? Then I realized I’d seen a review for this story at Smart Bitches. Now I’m doubly curious to read this, if only for the shape changing armor. Haven’t come across that before in an SFR. Too bad the rest of it doesn’t sound quite as good.
Thanks for the review!
I just read this one..while I think the action is done well and this book is entertaining and interesting to read – the romance and the “I love you” is really abrupt. It was too short for the romance to work in that fashion.
But I do like the world he built – I would definitely read a longer book by him.
@Jane: This could and should, IMO, definitely have been filled out some. Very short word count=lack of details=C grade.
@Heather Massey: The shape changing armor AND shape changing weapons are cool. Voice activated kickassery as SB Sarah says.
@Mandi Schreiner: I totally agree. I wish the worldbuilding had been expanded on because I liked it too. Maybe there are future books in store.
So what *is* the length of this story?
@v: Liquid Silver lists the word count as 34565.