Fetch Your Copy Mission To Mahjundar Engineered By Veronica Scott Offered As Publication

really been enjoying the Sectors series The heroes are intelligent smart and very good at their jobs They aren't alphas but they are natural leaders The heroines are strong willed and intelligent thrust into circumstances beyond their control and doing the best they canIn this book two men who are burnt out on their Sectors military service have been pressed into one last mission to retrieve whatever has survived a ship going down on a technologically closed planet People on the planet know about the Sectors but apparently have chosen not to get involved or they just haven't developed high enough technology for the transition Either way Mike and his cousin Johnny don't have to worry about explaining where they're from They are sensitive to avoiding use of their advanced technology too much especially weaponsThe heroine is a princess who suffered a trauma as a child and has been blind ever since The empress not her mother hates her and her father the emperor is dying She is vulnerable and concerned about her safety as she travels to the countryside to be married She suffers from some nasty surprises but does her best to keep her head high and her wits about her She also has a special connection to an out of favor goddess who is apparently interested in current events The two meet unintentionally and have an immediate attraction to each other However neither is open to anything leading from it As they end up traveling together the attraction grows but doesn't lead to anything Then everything starts going very wrong There are some supernatural scenes that really freak out Mike and Johnny who do their best to deal with the unexpected to their best advantage I enjoyed these scenes a great dealOverall things go from bad to worse with some injuries and violence as well as interaction with truly creepy pre Colombian type tribes However the romance is sweet and once they talk openly the two are committed and don't turn back This was a really enjoyable SFR jungle adventure story More likestarsFirst of all I have to state that I won this book in a giveaway Although I did really like this story I'm still giving it onlybecause on a comparative scale with all the other books I awardedseems fairer to me thanThis story begins in medias res with the hero rescuing and falling in love with the heroine It's love at first sight and in my opinion they go at it uite uickly too uickly but then it's a romance novel so I should have known What I really love about this story is the co existence of technology and magic The first does not preclude the second It is not in my opinion pure SciFi Its like the perfect mix of Fantasy and SciFi Ive always thought that in a highly technologized world there was no room for any kind of magic The “magic” of older times was discovered as being only tricks of science which the people learned when they evolved It never occurred to me that in such a world a realistic one than Fantasy there could exist true magic Coupled with religious legend all of this makes the story truly special and interesting The only thing which surprised me was that the male hero coming from such a technological advanced world did not have doubts about the reality of magic This to me logical struggle was not really mentioned and explored Given the authors writing style the background and history of this imagined world were never really explained The reader needs to pick the details on how the world works from characters comments or from in between the lines In the beginning I was uite confused but in the course of the story everything which needed to be known was kind of indirectly explained I a person who is not only interested in the immediate storyline and its heroes missed this kind of detailed explanation which could have been given in the form of the male hero explaining his world to the female hero In my opinion the authors imaginary world is already a fascinating story in itself Especially interesting would have been the reason for the existence of closed worlds and about the villainous race of the Mawreg What are they and why are they so bad And of course the little detail of the heros retirement plans How can it be that in such an advanced technological world cattle is still herded by cowboys on horses Major Mike Varone and his cousin Johnny have been pulled out of retirement for one mission to Mahjundar A ship has gone down in the mountains and the crew needs rescue Seems simple enough but simple doesnt make a very compelling read does it Their first day planetside adds several complications The crash course in language and culture doesnt cover the current political climate or help them interpret the nervous twitches of their guide The bomb in a public plaza is a obvious marker of civil unrestThe bomb is an assassination attempt the apparent target the current empress Caught in the blast radius is a princess of the blood Shalira Mike rescues the princess discovering in the process that shes blind and has been since a previous assassination attempt fifteen years before His gallantry is awarded with ceremony a useless dagger and a task he is asked to escort the princess into the mountains to meet her betrothed Acceding to the emperors reuest will delay their own mission Its made clear that refusing will result in permanent deferral a withdrawal of permission to venture outside the cityThe journey into the mountains reveals the farce of Shaliras impending marriage and uncovers a deeper plot that lies at the core of the political unrest on the planet Mike and Johnny are drawn into events at first unwillingly and then because of the growing attraction between Mike and Shalira On a remote and somewhat barbaric planet Mike has found the woman of his dreams Shalira has found someone who doesnt consider her blindness an imperfection For his part Johnny is simply a good man and loyal to his cousinI really enjoyed author Veronica Scotts world building Mission to Mahjundar reads almost like fantasy The planet of Mahjundar has a rich culture and history yet there are subtle reminders were in a future either our own or one of Scotts making Technology is woven in with the magic giving the reader the sense this planet has been inhabited for so long and has drifted so far from the mean that technology is magic Mikes thoughts and recollections keep us firmly in the present however The universe of The Sectors clearly exists outside the planet giving Mahjundar a place in the wholeThe action throughout the novel is thrilling and well written the choreography of every battle easy to follow The various tribes are different enough to be interesting rather than simply derivative I gained the sense of a vast and fascinating history leading up to the current eventsMy only uibble is the romance It moved a little too uickly for me I would have liked time spent on Mike and Shalira getting to know one another They fall awfully fast and the chemistry feels very heat of the moment The affection between them does feel genuine and there is a sense of destiny in their pairing I simply prefer a longer build The adventure and stakes are high throughout the novel so we dont get a sense of how these two will fare as a couple when their lives dont depend upon the actions of the otherDespite this little nitpick I enjoyed Mission To Mahjundar Its a fun read very fast paced and easy to follow with good adventure and excellent world building The love story is integral to the plot which is a plus for fans of romance Though secondary Johnny is a great character and Id love to see him revisited in a future book set in this universeWritten for SFCrowsnest The author Veronica Scott gave me a copy of this novel in exchange for my reviewScott wastes no time once the novel begins We meet Princess Shaliras stepmother When Mike meets her we see through his eyes an overdone and haughty woman convinced of her absolute control Also through his eyes we see the Princess unsure and clinging to her horse in a seeming metaphor to her approach for life Her control is limited and she clings to whatever she can They meet in an impossibly dangerous moment and one of the first in which Princess Shalira leans on him for both literal and metaphorical support in a tangible and believable trust built by a skilled author with record speed Mike is typical of Scotts male characters Hes a soldier with a soldiers mind and with a uick instinct to help those in his charge Mike wants to protect Princess Shalira but has the self awareness not to belabour the point He knows why he wants to do it and as it has as much to do with his admiration for her as his need to protect her Again the realism in this sort of storyline is important There has to be of a reason for the attraction than compatible private parts and Scott gives that to her readers without the overdone will they or wont they Can you have strong and decisive characters that an audience will believe if theyre not self aware That said theres a softness in each character rounding them out and further endearing them to the reader Scott writes wonderful action Her fight scenes are exuisitely framed and lead the reader on a fast paced wild ride Scotts settings are majestic In “Mission to Mahjundar readers are treated to an ancient world in the future ruled by gods and goddesses “Mission to Mahjundar is a beautiful read The book is a delightful treat to anyone with an unplanned afternoon and a cozy chairVeronica Scott is a wonderful author and with each novel only gets better Pick “Mission to Mahjundar” up today The third book in Veronica Scott's A Sector SF Romance Special Forces officer Mike Varone is sent to Mahjundar to locate a crashed ship and any possible survivors but when he saves the Princess Shalira from death his journey changes He is ordered to escort the princess to her future husband But there are those who wish the princess' death Will Mike succeed in keeping her aliveIn a society where perfection is desired Shalira's blindness makes her undesirable Shalira is now past her prime But her father the Emperor arranges a marriage for her in an attempt to save her life The Empress hates Shalira and she knows that once her sickly father dies she dies too unless she accepts the arrangementAnother good addition to the series The story grabbed me immediately It took me on an adventurous and exciting journey and I enjoyed the ride Right now I am onlythrough this book and already we have intrigue betrayal loyalty love and magic What can you ask forI am nowdone I'm going to take a break because if this was a movie I'd be sitting on the edge of my seat Shalira and Mike along with Johnny Saium and Everett were captured and turned over to people who are much like the ancient Aztec are reputed to have been even down to the human sacrifices by cutting out the beating heart They have escaped their prison but are now holed up in an astronomy tower I need a break so I'm going to go play a game This is the first book that I've read by Veronica Scott and I know for certain that it won't be the last Done All's well etc Whew You have to read this just remember that it is an HEA even though at times it seems unlikely Good reading An attempted assassination left Princess Shalira blind as a child and now that shes of marriageable age her prospects are not good because of her disability Shes resigned herself to an arranged marriage rather than face life under the thumb of her cold stepmother But then she meets Mike Varone a Sectors Special Forces officer sent to Mahjundar by the intergalactic government to retrieve a ship lost in her planets mountains After Mike

saves Shalira from another assassination attempt she arranges for him to escort her across the planet to her future husband Shes already falling hard for the deadly offworlder and knows she should deny herself the temptation he represents but taking Mike along to protect her is the only way shell live long enough to escape her ruthless stepmother Mike for his part resists his growing attraction to the princess he has a mission on this planet and rescuing the vulnerable but brave princess isnt it No matter how much he wishes it could be But what should have been an easy trek through Mahjundars peaceful lands swiftly turns into an ambush with danger around every turn Shaliras marriage begins to seem less like an arranged union and like yet another planned assassination The they work together to survive the harder it becomes to stop themselves from falling in love Caught in a race against time can they escape the hostile forces hunting them and make it off the planet.