Dark Edge of Honor
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Title: Dark Edge of Honor
Author: Aleksandr Voinov, Rhianon Etzweiler
Format: Novel (Kindle)
Length: 96,000
Status: Complete
Rating: Mature
Warnings: dub-con, torture
Summary: Sergei Stolkov is a faithful officer, though his deepest desires go against the Doctrine. A captain with the invading Coalition forces, he believes that self-sacrifice is the most heroic act and his own needs are only valid if they serve the state.
Mike, an operative planted within Cirokko’s rebels, has been ordered to seduce Sergei and pry from him the Coalition’s military secrets. His mission is a success, but as he captures Sergei’s heart, Mike is tempted by his own charade and falls in love.
When the hostile natives of the planet Cirokko make their move, all seems lost. Can Mike and Sergei survive when the Coalition’s internal affairs division takes an interest in what happened in the dusty mountains of Zasidka Pass…?
Review:
I have always followed Aleksandr Voinov, as he is one of the few men writing m/m and his works are phenomenal. I went into this number with high expectations, expected to love it just as I loved all his other books.
Unfortunately he seems to have made a not-too-great choice in a writing partner, or maybe the stars aren't in alignment. The sex is scorching hot and brilliantly gritty, just as I've come to expect from him, but the intervening moments of angst were hard to trudge through. Later in the book, the sex is gone entirely, to be replaced by none-too-interesting military action that I found difficult to keep track of. I can't really tell what's going on, who's doing what, and why they are doing what they do, but maybe military or sci-fi buffs will have an easier time with it. I liked the characters well enough but felt Sergei was too naive to be an experienced soldier, and Mike too prone to emotional weakness for a seasoned covert intelligence operative.
What truly disappointed me was the racial and cultural erasure.
Voinov and Etzweiler chose to make this book military sci-fi, a genre I'm not too familiar with and I can't comment on that part of the book. The setting is a planet that's analogous to Afganistan. Here's the thing, I have some interest in the Middle East, including the war on which this book is loosely based. Roughly speaking, the Doctrine in this book is the Soviets, and the Alliance is the US. It could make for a highly charged, high-strung situation for an M/M romance... if all the factors were taken into account, and the local culture depicted with some respect and sensitivity. I was shocked at how thinly written Cirokkans are, how none of them ever has a role in the novel or the plot and how they're just around to be a background to Mike's and Sergei's budding relationship. Literally they never speak! I don't even know what they look like beyond suggestions that they're brown-skinned and dark-haired. While they aren't actual Afghans it's troubling how the authors used what amounts to ethnic analogues of real people as props/decorations, as if the destruction of their world and their culture has no importance at all next to Sergei and Mike. It cheapens the feel of the whole book and comes across as more than a little racist.
Along with an uninteresting second half, it made the whole experience a letdown for me.
Title: Dark Edge of Honor
Author: Aleksandr Voinov, Rhianon Etzweiler
Format: Novel (Kindle)
Length: 96,000
Status: Complete
Rating: Mature
Warnings: dub-con, torture
Summary: Sergei Stolkov is a faithful officer, though his deepest desires go against the Doctrine. A captain with the invading Coalition forces, he believes that self-sacrifice is the most heroic act and his own needs are only valid if they serve the state.
Mike, an operative planted within Cirokko’s rebels, has been ordered to seduce Sergei and pry from him the Coalition’s military secrets. His mission is a success, but as he captures Sergei’s heart, Mike is tempted by his own charade and falls in love.
When the hostile natives of the planet Cirokko make their move, all seems lost. Can Mike and Sergei survive when the Coalition’s internal affairs division takes an interest in what happened in the dusty mountains of Zasidka Pass…?
Review:
I have always followed Aleksandr Voinov, as he is one of the few men writing m/m and his works are phenomenal. I went into this number with high expectations, expected to love it just as I loved all his other books.
Unfortunately he seems to have made a not-too-great choice in a writing partner, or maybe the stars aren't in alignment. The sex is scorching hot and brilliantly gritty, just as I've come to expect from him, but the intervening moments of angst were hard to trudge through. Later in the book, the sex is gone entirely, to be replaced by none-too-interesting military action that I found difficult to keep track of. I can't really tell what's going on, who's doing what, and why they are doing what they do, but maybe military or sci-fi buffs will have an easier time with it. I liked the characters well enough but felt Sergei was too naive to be an experienced soldier, and Mike too prone to emotional weakness for a seasoned covert intelligence operative.
What truly disappointed me was the racial and cultural erasure.
Voinov and Etzweiler chose to make this book military sci-fi, a genre I'm not too familiar with and I can't comment on that part of the book. The setting is a planet that's analogous to Afganistan. Here's the thing, I have some interest in the Middle East, including the war on which this book is loosely based. Roughly speaking, the Doctrine in this book is the Soviets, and the Alliance is the US. It could make for a highly charged, high-strung situation for an M/M romance... if all the factors were taken into account, and the local culture depicted with some respect and sensitivity. I was shocked at how thinly written Cirokkans are, how none of them ever has a role in the novel or the plot and how they're just around to be a background to Mike's and Sergei's budding relationship. Literally they never speak! I don't even know what they look like beyond suggestions that they're brown-skinned and dark-haired. While they aren't actual Afghans it's troubling how the authors used what amounts to ethnic analogues of real people as props/decorations, as if the destruction of their world and their culture has no importance at all next to Sergei and Mike. It cheapens the feel of the whole book and comes across as more than a little racist.
Along with an uninteresting second half, it made the whole experience a letdown for me.