“Ravyn Verdier, a telecommunications expert, is part of the Colonization Assessment Team assigned to determine the habitability of Jarved Nine, a planet far from her native Earth. Ravyn is no stranger to death. Her parents had been on the front line of the latest wars to rock their world. Her father had died when she was just a child. Her stepfather Gil had been a Spec Ops Officer, and her mother had been a frontline nurse. She and her stepbrother, now a Spec Ops Colonel, had lost them to an unexpected civilian disaster, but nothing compared to the horror she had just witnessed. She had emerged into the common room with a birthday gift for a member of the team, to find all nineteen brutally slain, soundlessly, and with no sign of a struggle.
Damon Brody, commander of a Spec Ops team on a routine training mission on the far side of the planet, responds immediately when an emergency distress signal is received from the CAT headquarters. What the team finds is shockingly grim. Damon goes alone in search for the twentieth victim, and finds Ravyn alive, cowering in shock behind her door.
Damon has a terrible premonition when Ravyn declares she'd not been the one activate the distress beacon. His worst fears are realized when he finds the rest of his squad mutilated in the same manner as the CAT team. He now knew that whatever had killed here had tremendous power and strength. Like the CAT victims, his highly trained combat unit had died without a fight. It is only then that Damon realizes that the victims had been laid out in a specific pattern. They were dealing with a fanatic, a ritual killer.
Knowing that they are not safe here, the two decide to take sanctuary in the abandoned Old City. It is a long and arduous journey, during which the pair quickly learns to respect each other's abilities. Ravyn is surprisingly strong, skilled, determined. Her endurance goes beyond his expectations. So why, when he senses evil stalking them at every turn, does a highly trained warrior like Damon find himself being distracted by her? Well okay, he knows the answer to that question. He's in love, and it appears Rayvn's shares his feelings, but are they real or the result of their situation? Can he afford to give into his desires when he knows that his choices could mean the difference between life and death? What were they facing? Would they find the answers in the Old City? What had become of the people who'd lived there? Could they hold out until help arrived?
Amazing! Lots of risks were taken in the telling of this tale, which I believe ultimately will give it broad appeal. This remarkable debut by Ms. O'Shea takes the genre to new levels. It is labeled futuristic, no doubt due to the romance content, which was engrossing in itself, but personally I would categorize it as romantic science fiction, and recommend it without hesitation to lovers of the SF genre. RAVYN'S FLIGHT should also appeal to readers of military, and romantic suspense. I think the plot would even hold the attention of hard-core horror lovers, but is well balanced enough to keep more squeamish readers (like myself) firmly in its thrall. The protagonists, both main and secondary, were strong, believable role models. The conclusion was well drawn and extremely satisfying Bravo! I can't wait for Ms. O'Shea's next book.
Reviewed for PNR Reviews”