Heidi Ruby Miller

Boy, I was so not expecting this book to hit me over the head. I really really like it, and I'm officially on sci-fi binge after Silver Shark as you can see.

First of all, the imagery of the book doesn't deserve this plastic cover. I imagine more of Cliff Neilsen luminous art to describe the look of Sara Mendoza.

I can't believe this book was written as a thesis work on sci-fi. Delightfully twisted world. There is no clarity of Ilona Andrews in it, more of hazy madness of Blade Runner.



Sara show more starts up as a naive debutante who only thinks about her marriage to Chen, her Rogue partner. Then couple of pages after she is on the run from the government agents being set up by Chen and left to fend for herself.

She spends a month tortured, scarred beyond any recognition and tripping out of her mind on strongest hallucinogens in the hands of an evil female contractor, Faya, all because a mad Sovereign thinks she conspired against him with the Fraggers (rebels).

Then he decides to blackmail her into becoming his spy on a ship suspected in fraggers activity.. She undergoes reconstructive surgery and becomes one of the Embassy's Ambasadoras - diplomats with beautiful live light designs on their arms.

The rest is an absolutely wild and brutal ride rigged with layers of intrigues, betrayals, assassins and fight to survive and regain Sara's sanity.

There are quite a few main characters - Sara, Sean - the ship's tech, David - ex-military and the ship's captain, enigmatic contractor Rainer and many more. They are engaging and different, - none of them are there to just fill the space.

There is also no romance the way we used to it. Instead there are two paranoid and scarred individuals who become close to each other. There are also plenty relationships around them.

I'm being as cagey as possible because I don't want to give away more than I already have, but this is a book certainly worth reading if you love a dash through space with laser guns and totally alien reality. Wonderful sci-fi. I'm in love! show less

4.5/5
Greenshift is a novella which I've enjoyed just as much as Heidi's full novel Ambasadora.

We know David and Mari from Ambasadora, and I've never particularly liked Mari or understood what David saw in her... However, her character is very charming, youthful and brave in her own story.

Mari hails from a poor mining planet as an 18-year-old scientist, some sort of environmentalist who creates greenshift - arranges for sustainable food sources, gardens on the ships in space. She is a perky, show more naive blonde who talks too much and who falls head over heels for the captain of her ship, ex-military, tall Armadan, David.

The couple begins their slow courtship, but Mari attracts the attention of a slaver who trades in girls with some sort of genetic abnormalities to one badass, sadistic buyer, and it will take literally all the resources and knowledge David and Mari have got to stop him.

What I love is how resourceful our heroine becomes in all sorts of tricky situations! By the end of novella I felt nothing short of admiration for her. Don't expect to find a damsel in distress, but a brave young girl whose appearance is very deceiving.

Plenty of action, a healthy dose of humour and genuine sparks of attraction. Recommended. show less

Ambasadora has everything written into one package. Gritty to the core with hope, love, pain, rage and violence weaved into and around. Gripped with emotion, I enjoyed this title and then some some.

Sara is a heroine for the history books. She is an unexpected hero and by no choice of hers. Thrown into a disastrous situation and left to hold together shattered pieces that was once her life. Sara is a survivor and what she embarks on changes the lives of many. In a world where deception and show more personal gain is everyone's game who is Sara to turn to?

While reading, I was emotionally invested in Ambasadora's story. I was really hoping for one particular man to step up to the plate but the saying 'too little too late' applies here. I've found myself wishing the worse possible fate for a few characters. I could not stop reading and wanted to see Sara through. Heidi Ruby Miller is an outstanding writer and story teller. Heidi writes full force giving her readers the whole story. Violence and love- both equally written to be felt.

All in all, I would recommend this novel to adult readers who love riveting story lines like urban fantasy readers. This novel is Science Fiction Fantasy and contains a whole new world just waiting to be discovered. show less

Ambasadora is classed as a science fiction romance book written by Heidi Ruby Miller. It features an Upper caste socialite called Sara Mendoza. In Sara’s world which is run by Sovereign Simon Prollixer head of the Embassy a caste system operates. In this system there are various castes such as Uppers who are beautiful people who have better educations and jobs, Lowers who do less glamorous jobs that involve labour, Contractors who enforce the Embassy’s rule, Armadans who are warriors and show more Fraggers who are the rebels against everything that is the Embassy. Life is different in Sara’s world everything revolves around your lineage and passing on your genes by having children, nothing is more important than this. If you are sterile people host a party where they will commit suicide rather than bring shame on their family by not carrying on their line. People also have more than one partner or amours as they are called and it is quite normal to have six partners and have children with each one of them. It is at one of the suicide parties where Ambasadora begins. Sara has been brought to a party by her future amour Chen, she is very excited as he has just given her a piece of obsidian jewellery which shows that they are to become amours. Life is perfect and brilliant for Sara then suddenly everything goes to hell and she finds herself being accused of downloading data. After months of torture by the Embassy Sara is transformed onto an Ambasadora and is forced into hunting down the downloaded data or face not being able to carry her line by having her fertility taken from her.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked Sara a lot and it was wonderful to see her change and grow throughout the book. She starts out a socialite whose only concern is her looks and lineage into a fighter who will gladly give away her lineage for the safety of her friends. We are introduced to other characters two of which are Sean who I didn’t warm to at first but loved him at the end and Rainer who I did like at first but then….well I’ll let you find out for yourself. There are parts in the beginning of the book that dragged a little for me and this was when the story turned to Sean’s pov but then there were other parts mainly involving Sara that were so exciting I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. I did struggle at the beginning of the book trying to understand the caste system but I eventually got there. The science part of it was just right for me not too light and not too difficult to understand. There was lots of action, great world building and some romance which I think was tastefully done. Whilst the story was resolved the ending is left open so maybe we will Ambasadora two. All in all a very good read and I would like to give this book 4 out of 5 stars. show less