Rating: 3.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Addison Hunt is looking forward to an easy mission. His shoulder still twinges plenty from the last one, so an escort job should be nice and simple. And if his passenger just happens to be a living deity, well that should at least make for interesting conversation.
Deveral, Sacred Kin to the Fyrians, has never been far from home. He’s been sheltered most of his life and while he isn’t exactly looking forward to traveling, he knows it’s his duty. And Addison Hunt is certainly easy on the eyes, so the journey won’t be too difficult.
But when their small transport ship is shot down on an unknown and probably hostile planet, Deveral and Addison must depend on one another to survive. In the midst of chaos and danger, there’s attraction too, but Addison knows that Deveral is too good for him and there can’t be anything between them. Their enemy is unknown and keeping Deveral alive is the only thing that matters. And if Addison and Deveral end up breaking one another’s hearts, then maybe that will be the price of peace.
Modified and Sacred is one of those books that succeeds in some ways and fails in others and ends up being a bit frustrating as a result. Let’s talk about the positives first. The book is decently paced and tends to move smoothly, never lingering too long or getting bogged down in unnecessary information. The world building is a bit lackluster, but there was enough that as a reader I could imagine at least some of what was happening on page. I’d say that Addy is fairly well developed and a relatively strong character. His history of illegal modifications is clearly a defining aspect of his character and I would have liked to see a more in depth exploration of this. We’re told people with mods are looked down upon by many cultures, but they also seem fairly common, so a bit more development would have been great.
I wanted to like Deveral more than I ultimately did. My biggest issue with his character involves his role as a spiritual leader. I got the impression he’s something akin to the Dalai Lama, a mortal but believed to possess a divine nature (this is the best comparison I could think of but it’s not exact). But he never struck as me as either spiritual or much of a leader. There was just no substance to him and it was hard to understand why Addy was so enamored of him or why he was supposed to be so important. Additionally, while the plot is consistent moving, it didn’t always seem sure of what it was moving towards. Once Addy and Deveral crash land, their actions become rather formulaic and uninspired. Everything felt predictable and, like Deveral, it’s as though the author wanted there to be more intensity, but somehow it just didn’t translate.
Modified and Sacred has some interesting moments and a major character that felt fleshed out and intriguing. The book has some problems as well, but they didn’t completely detract from the overall story. There’s still enough here to interest those of you who enjoy space adventures and crash landing escape stories.
