Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsit improves with age... slightly
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 May 2007
Like one of the other reviewers here, I didn't rate this on my first reading - so much so that it went straight onto the charity shop pile. But, ever the cautious one, I decided to have a quick flick through it, before actually taking it to the shop - started half way through, found myself reading to the end, then started at the beginning and read to the middle. An odd way to read a book I admit, but it's gone back onto the shelves.
What I didn't, and still don't like is the amount of hitting she does - yeah yeah, she's a martial arts whizz, but what she actually does is sock people (principally the alien she thinks is a baddie, but wants to bed). I just didn't believe that in a bout of fisticuffs a little stringy female will win. I certainly got the impression he let her "win", and could have flattened her whenever he wanted. And at the risk of outraging any feminists, there's no way a sub-5'5" female could out punch a trained, muscled 6'-plus man. Why she doesn't break bones in her hand I don't know...
I also disliked the tying to a bed and dressing in see-through dresses bit - I'm all for consensual play, but this wasn't.
So why have I kept it? I liked her co-workers - and had hoped she might revisit them. The synopsis of the next one in this "series" suggest not, still, I'll keep an eye open and maybe give her a try again.
For a kick-ass girl with attitude - try Lilith Saintcrow's Dante Valentine in Dead Man Rising and Working for the Devil - I stumbled across them by accident and love 'em.