By: Cara Lynn, guest reviewer
I wasn't going to review this book, but figured, what the hey!
First, I didn't like the book.
Island Heat by Susan Kearney had a lot of possibilities. I figured it would have some military tones as the guy on the cover looks like he could be military.
He is, but he's from another planet.
OK, that could be seriously interesting. Sort of like time travel with a twist. After all, they are more advanced than us and had to travel a long time to get here.
But while the author maintains the fantasy with words she has made up, like 'quait' for the ability to mentally influence the actions of another, or like 'underfirst' to delineate all those who aren't Firstborn, the story is unpalatable in parts.
Cade Archer literally falls into the sea in front of Shara Weston's remote island retreat. His ship is destroyed, but he falls without a parachute and recovers faster than you'd expect. That is because he isn't strictly human. He is able to use this power to save himself and those that are with him as he is avoiding being murdered.
It's all tied into the story of the underfirsts needing salt to gain their strength. (She develops this nicely.) On his planet, only the Firstborn are given salt. This also gives them their quait which they use in horrific ways, basically enslaving the underfirsts. (You never see life on this planet, only as told by Cade as the story unfolds or as you see actions of his Firstborn brother, Jamal.)
Cade is shot down by Jamal who is dead set on killing him however he has to do it. Cade had thought his mission was secret, but somehow Jamal knew.
Throw in a psychic who has real powers to foresee the future, some of which can be changed by one's actions, and a reporter, and a volcano expert, and a security officer, and you have a story that could have been quite interesting.
But Jamal has a malicious streak a mile wide as is shown off page when he kills a Polynesian woman he has taken and 'trained' -- but not trained so well that she doesn't try to exhibit her individuality. The more troubling scenes are the sadistic ones involving mental (and physical) rape, torture and blood that he is capable of. And that he takes pleasure in it even though he already has the information he was seeking.
Of course Cade and Shara fall in love. Jamal is killed (I expected him to recover and the scene to go on). Cade finds he gains quait powers, even as Jamal's powers diminish slightly, but Cade is disturbed by his powers knowing how it corrupts the user, and asks that Shara kill him after his mission, if necessary. And the earth is saved.
There were huge sections of this book that I glossed over or went back to see what happened without taking it in.
I give it a 1/2 star. But for originality, it could be a 2. But I'd even take some of that away because of the troubling scenes. They make you think how you would be able to break a mind hold, or if you would be able to. Like hypnotism, is it not something that you could decide NOT to go under? Evidently not. Ugh.
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Originally posted 2008-11-26 09:52:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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