Lord of the Storm

Damn, that's good. It's a ridiculous premise, but one I usually enjoy despite its ridiculousness - a love slave in a science fiction universe. But Justine Davis managed to make both the premise and the people in it very real. Shaylah and Wolf/Dare make sense in their actions, behaviors, and beliefs (though I'm glad Wolf explained himself, late in the game - I didn't know why he was so resistant). Of course, it also uses the misunderstanding trope, which I hate, but they had better reasons for misunderstanding one another than usual. It would have been one hell of a story without the romance - with it, this is magnificent. I'll be reading it again, I'm sure. Oh, and according to LibraryThing there's another book! Gotta find that. I do show more love Justine Davis - her characters always come to life, and the silliest premises make sense. This one is unusually good even for her, though. Excuse me while I wipe my eyes and blow my nose...
Rereading - I remembered the really stupid thing she did early on, and this time I realized just how stupid it was. So I was very slow reading the first part, wincing away from what I knew was coming. Finally got through it and it's still a good story, but it's only the fact that this is a romance (with all the appropriate tropes) that lets them get past that complete error. She screws up again later, but by that time he's screwed up with her a couple times too so it's less of an utter stupidity. I really don't like the misunderstanding trope - and here, the misunderstandings are as much within as between them, so they're even worse. It's still good, still enjoyable - but more so as an SF story (neat universe, interesting people, fascinating events) than as a romance (a bit too much to believe, that it would still work, for me). show less

Once upon a time the heroine wanted nothing more than the adventure and honor of captaining a ship for the coalition. But time and war and her beliefs have warn her down and she's beginning to finally understand the deeply flawed culture of her people. Always she admired the ease and devotion of the enemy. Her parents were bonded and dedicated to one another and this is something that she's always desired for herself even if this is against the way of her people who use sex as just a release and nothing more. While on leave and staying at a friends estate, she meets a man who will change her life forever. She never could stomach the idea of slaves and to see such a beautiful vibrant man in chains makes her sick. He's given to her by her show more 'friend' and even though she could never live with the idea of using him is such a way, she soons realizes that to turn him away will see him severely punished. So, she takes him into her room. There she informs him that he is no longer a slave while in her presence and for the few weeks afterwards they talk and communicate as if they were friends. But the hero isn't so easy to put his trust in a woman who's supposed to be the enemy and though he makes improvements to cease casting his eyes down or repeating' as you demand' to all her suggestions, the heroine knows that he still holds a lot of himself from her. The heroine has become quite attached to him, maybe in her mind longing for that connection her parents had on top of wanting him to know a taste of the freedom he'll never have but either way, she's hurt when she learns that he's already had a wife and lost her in the war. She uses this memory of his beloved as an excuse to use the slave controller on him for the first and only time. She sleeps him with, tries to convince him she's his wife but forgets to implants the memory that it had all been a dream. When the hero wakes, he's angered by her betrayal and they part ways on bad terms. Called away on a mission, the heroine returns a few months later to discover he's been sold to a slave trader. She risks her career, her reputation and her life to break him out. She secrets him onto her ship and takes them into the dead of space. There the two reacquaint themselves with the passion they once had in her quarters all those months ago. But still the distrust, they betrayal and stubbornness remain between them. The heroine can't understand why her true feelings aren't broadcasting clearly to him and he still persists on thinking the worse of her at every turn. She can only assume that what she was and who she worked for will always keep them apart and thought breaks her heart. She frees him of his collar, vows to see him wherever he wants to go and even though it will sever something inside of her, she'll then leave him life forever. But the tables turn, on his home planet, she becomes the slave, the prisoner. And when she learns who he truly is, she realizes that if their relationship wasn't doomed before it's certainly impossible now. I loved this story. The heroine was such a lovely mixture of vulnerable and courageous. Though she's a bad ass space pilot, it's obvious from the jump she's a prisoner to her emotions. She feels too deeply and too quickly and the fact that she's kept in the dark about the hero's feels throughout the book causes her to think the worse about herself. Though she makes stupid choices at times, especially when it comes to how she makes choices for the hero, she always does everything from a place of love. The fact that the author has written the story only from the heroine's POV just deepens the sense of mystery towards the hero. He was very good at not revealing what he was thinking or what he was feeling. And this results in a whole bunch of misunderstands that could have been avoided if he had only told the heroine what was on his mind. And the same goes to the heroine. She says she is against slaves but at no point did she ask him his trust name, calling him by the name given to him by his masters. And she unconsciously treated him as a slave if only by making decisions for him. But I can say that I was hooked from the first page to the last and was 100% along for the roller-coaster ride that was their growing relationship. This was so not the cheesy romance as the cover might suggest. I found it to be a angst ridden story about learning to trust and how one earns that trust. Lovely book. show less

Loved it! I've read a lot of Justine Davis's books but I had never read one of her fantasies. I'll be reading more of them too. Shaylah is a great kick-ass heroine. Wolf is mysterious and sexy. I thought it really fascinating how Justine Davis was able to characterize Wolf so well without going into his viewpoint. Great read!

Captain Shaylah Graymist is a fighter pilot for the Coalition on R & R after destroying 3 enemy airships. At the spa she is offered a sexual slave, Wolf, to attend her every desire. Shaylah refuses the slave, who is controlled by a collar surgically attached to his brain. She is opposed to slavery and abhors the part she plays in defeating worlds from which these slaves come. When she discovers that the beautiful male she rejected was brutally punished for not satisfying her, she demands his services for the length of her stay and allows him as much freedom as possible in her suite. During this time they get to know each other but not to really understand the other. When she goes back into space, he reacts violently to returning to show more servitude and ends up brutalized and sent to the slave auctions. Guilt and the attraction she feels for him send her to his rescue and into defiance of the Coalition. Can she save him, get him to freedom and find a place for herself out of the Coalition where she can live with a clear conscience? This was a highly adventurous tale of space and romance. Although the description of the plot indicates sexual slavery and the sex scenes are fairly graphic, this is not erotica. show less

Shaylah is an ace fighter pilot for the Coalition, a futuristic government with a stronghold on the universe. Wolf is a slave who was taken from his planet after the Coalition conquered and destroyed his people. Shaylah does not approve of the Coalition's slave policies and will have to make tough choices after meeting Wolf.

I liked Lord of the Storm, but I didn't love it. I read it after seeing it on The Romance Reader's (www.theromancereader.com) Top 100 Romances list. It's listed as No. 81.

The story's interesting and it's a fast, fun read. You can label this "A BIG MISUNDERSTANDING" book, which, like many romance lovers, I find irritating. This time the cliche plays well. I get why these two characters don't communicate well and I show more get why they can't get over themselves and spit it out already. It makes sense given the context. So the cliche didn't bother me this time around. It was actually sorta fun.

I did have a problem with a mistake Shaylah makes in the beginning. She behaves in a way that I believe goes against how the character would have behaved and so I think the author wrote it to toss some sex in early. I believe what she does is rape, plain and simple. Another reviewer on Amazon.com saw this same problem, so I'm not alone. If you don't like rape used as a plot device in romance novels, you'll have a problem early with Lord of the Storm. If you don't mind it, you won't mind this rape scene. It's not the worst of its kind; that's for certain.

So. Fun story. Rape scene. Big misunderstandings. Liked it, didn't love it. show less

Sci Fi Romance. Coalition Rebellion 1. Shaylah Graymist, ace fighter pilot for the intergalactic Coalition, is given a slave as a reward for heroism in battle. Wolf wears a collar which controls him completely. While Shaylah is away, Wolf rebels and is sold to a prison colony where she finds and frees him. OK-

30/12 - WHY did I not find this 6 months ago. I've been looking for this for years (ever since I read 'The Skypirate') I'm definitely anticipating this read