Family Based Space Opera

I adored the first book in this series and felt that this second book was slightly less enjoyable, though it good book. I listened to the audio version, as I did the first book and had the same problems with the narrator, Emily Woo Zeller. She is a gifted narrator and gives personality to her characters but she does insist on using voices that only come across as caricatures, especially the mens’ voices. I feel that her ability to narrate would be better served by avoiding this ‘acting’ part of her narration. She’s good at sounding natural in her delivery and it’s a shame that the voices distract from the story. This hasn’t stopped me buying the third book in the series as an audio version.

Lady Bianca is the third born child of the Von Hasenberg House of the three ruling High Houses of the Consortium. She is very private and rebels in her own secret way against her father who rules his children with an iron fist. Bianca only managed to escape her abusive arranged marriage when her husband died and was sent back home with no assets from her marriage. Though there is no love between father and children, this is not the case between the siblings who are all very close and extremely loyal. When Ferdinand the heir to the House is kidnapped the prime information gatherer of the House, Bianca, starts to search the hidden networks and information sources for news of her brother. When she reaches a dead end, she leaves the safety of Earth, against explicit orders, to find more leads.

Ian, is head of security for House Von Hasenberg, and is exceptional at his job. He takes it as a direct insult when Ferdinand is taken and then Bianca escaping off-planet. When Ian finally catches up with Bianca, they have to find a way to work together to find Ferdinand before time runs out.

This story was a bit more predictable than the first in the series, probably because the reader has more information about the family and the universe in which they live. There was less world building, but there was more detail about the way the Houses operate. There was still plenty of action, just not as much because Bianca is a much more cerebral character than Ada, her sister. I actually felt like there should be more about Ian and Bianca and I hope that they make an appearance in the next book, because the ending was very abrupt and everything has kind of been left hanging. There is a HFN, but it could easily be undone, so I hope that is handled in the next book. Other than that, it was an enjoyable book and I look forward to reading the next one.

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