LOST IN SPACE
Dark Deeds
Class 5 Series
By Michelle Diener
Science Fiction
Romance
Mystery
Kickin' Female Lead
Fiona Russell was abducted from her home on Earth and held captive on an alien ship then handed off as a slave to work in the cargo bay of another ship whose crew were more interested in kicking her when she's down than feeding her a decent meal. Two months into her captivity she is freed by the space force of the Grih and set free, or so it seems. She is finally free to be herself and assert her needs and feelings without fear of injury, but it doesn't take much for her to begin to understand that she has landed herself in a political hot pot with reports of another human woman from Earth having been found too.
She is carefully watched and monitored until the intriguing Battleship Captain Hal Vakeri is able to deliver her safely to his commanders in another system, but it is very obvious to Fiona that she might not be as safe in the hands of the Grih as appears, and it all has something to do with a super space ship called a Class 5 and her being a human from Earth.
Exotic space stations, crazy kidnappings, self-aware AI Eazi, hidden underground enemy bunkers on alien planets, handsome Grih captains and a cheeky macaw parrot all lead this to be one great science fiction adventure.
I enjoyed Dark Deeds but found the story line and the main characters to be very similar to the first in the series. Dark Deeds runs almost along side of Rose McKenzie's story in Dark Horse and at times it felt a little deja-vu. Where Dark Horse was a unique story that told of Rose McKenzie's experience being a rather unusual sentient being in amongst advanced alien races, Fiona Russell was almost cookie cutter in the second book. There was little new material that Fiona's character brings to the world of the story and this is the biggest disappointment as I thoroughly enjoyed the first story. Although the characters were similar, the story diverged to include planet side adventures and space station accidents.
I still loved reading Dark Deeds but would have loved to have seen more difference with the main characters.
4 stars out of 5 for the second in the Class 5 series.
