After Kine Raelne and his crew came to Quarn on a desperate mission to save their people, they weren’t expecting things to go so badly wrong. Now stranded on the planet, hated by the natives for the deaths and heartbreak they inadvertently caused, and saddled with the knowledge that their failure means the death of their own people, Kine and the other two members of the crew left are facing the consequences of their actions.

Suaj qel Gwan knows what it is to be different and to be looked at with distrust. He is one of the rare genetic throwbacks and carries more of the Angel DNA than most of his race. He is also a telepath and while he is required to work with Kine Raelne it doesn’t mean he has to like it or even be nice about it.

What neither men expected or even wanted was to find common bonds and the feelings that are slowly building between them. But what can an ostracized man and a condemned man from an invading alien force have in common and will it be enough to survive the hurdles that are thrown in their path?

I really liked the first book in this series. I liked this one too but I didn’t feel the relationships as intensely this time around. The characters were well written and the emotions were palpable but I sometimes felt like it was just a case of Kine Raelne just settling for what he had because he had no other choice. Not to say he didn’t have choices but the one thing he truly wanted was out of his grasp and he was limited by that. I wish I could say more but that would ruin a major plot point. Other than this minor quibble the story was great. I like seeing things from the viewpoint of the “bad” guys from the previous group. Sometimes things aren’t as cut and dry as they appear on the surface and Ann Somerville has deftly written a touching novel that clearly shows this. Suaj qel Gwan was a very interesting character, not a typical hero of a book really. But the choice of him for a lead interest quickly becomes apparent. I am eagerly looking forward to the next installment in this series!

Reviewed by: Hayley