Review of "The Warrior's Shade" by Ingrid Moon

Paperback Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
Audiobook Score: 95+/100 (9.5+ out of 10)

The Warrior's Shade is the second book in the Saxen Saga and one of the most anticipated sequels in the history of our contests! WE LOVED the first book, The Handler's Gambit. It marked a return to epic science fiction with interesting and compelling characters, cool technology, a lot of tension, suspense, and fabulous world-building.

But above all, the first book made us fall in love with its core characters, especially the enigmatic Elyon, a living superweapon and (in a sense) a mutant from an already-overpowered humanoid-alien race known as Saxens.

The Saxens are key to this series, also being the race of one of the other major characters, Reia ("Domina"--a bit of a space queen or duchess of her own domain) and Vindik, a deceased warlord and the ruthless villain of the first book.

In all honesty, this book is sorely missing Vindik. The threat and menace he posed was one of the things that really made the first book great.

It really does feel like a doughnut. A really tasty, frosted doughnut with sprinkles, but a doughnut none the less, complete with a big, huge hole in the middle. Vindik's absence is immeasurably felt. In fact, many of the other characters still reference and talk about him as if he's still a major influence and factor in their lives. That's how impactful a character he was!

He was basically the plot equivalent of a Texas-sized asteroid dropped into the middle of the Atlantic.

Anyway, this book more prominently features Reia, a Saxen Domina with a short temper and exceptional "gravity" powers. While she's not necessarily villainous and evil like Vindik clearly was, she exists in a morally gray area. She's not beyond exploiting and manipulating Elyon and Boone in various ways to get what she wants. You know who she reminded us of? A combination of Divatox (the space pirate queen from Power Rangers) and President Coin from The Hunger Games series. She's flamboyant and funny (at times) like Divatox but also a dark political force like Coin proved to be.

Speaking of "funny", one of our favorite scenes was when Reia got so mad that she started generating heat and static electricity that follows her. We just kept imagining this really hysterical woman with smoke coming out of her ears and her hair sticking up.

And let's not forget the series' main protagonist, Turner Boone.
Now, Boone was a mixed bag for us in the previous book. Part of that was how he was playing a lot of the other characters in the book, feigning loyalty while basically serving his own goals. He also made some really risky, head-scratching decisions like putting Elyon in danger with the idea that this would prompt her to unleash her phenomenal powers. But Boone is cunning and intelligent, especially for his relatively young age. He's a commander who was prized and highly sought-after for his talents by both Vindik and Reia during their power struggle (we're just gonna choose to call it that for simplicity's sake).

The best way we can describe him is that he's a prodigy, especially for his high position. He is in charge of a floatilla of warships centered around his storied flagship, the Makellan, which is sort of like the Starship Enterprise or Millennium Falcon of this book. A lot of the book takes place on or around the Makellan.

Boone is clearly a more humanized character in this book. What makes us say that? Well, in the previous book, he was very cutthroat in the things he did and the way he acted. Like we said, he kept putting Elyon in danger and just kept trusting she'd respond appropriately with her powers. He also served Vindik, not a very good guy, and Reia, an only-slightly-better person. Being in such a role probably forced Boone to be more stoic and cold, especially knowing that Vindik could come down on him at any moment for showing hesitation, reluctance, or compassion.

In this book, Boone's conscience is constantly torn. This is critical as a plot device because he has to make a lot of difficult decisions—at an ethical, moral, and tactical level—that could have a range of consequences. We see him hesitate, second-guess, and even feel guilt over the lives lost under his command. His compassion, once buried, surfaces in quiet moments where he puts his crew’s safety over victory. He also has to balance the wants and machinations of what might be an untrustworthy and possibly even sinister client.

And that leads us to mention the all-important "client" in this story, Chelani.

Keep your eyes peeled for this guy! This "client" may not be so benevolent after all.

Anyway, this book shines in a variety of ways. The world-building is impressive. There are a lot of different locations, people, races, and factions in this series.

Something we really appreciated was the technology. We loved how there was a naturally progression and advancement in the technology. For example, the "relic" is described as having older-styled retractacle cannons. We're told that modern cannons use a different mechanism. That's a nice touch. It makes you feel like this world/universe has been lived in and has its own history.

Elyon is a highlight again. She's so cool!
One of the first scenes with her features her taking out nine trained soldiers at once like she's Young Vegeta fighting Saibamen or something. She is referred to as "the galaxy's biological bomb." How freakin' awesome is that? Apparently, if she dies, she releases some kind of mega-virus (Sa-Xe) or something that infects everyone like the bubonic plague.

Another highlight is this other character named Greming.
Greming was an antagonist yet gray force in the previous book who was serving Vindik with moral reservations, somewhat like Boone was. They're actually mirrors of each other, in a sense. This is extra interesting because we learn that Greming was actually Vindik's childhood best-friend. He saw Vindik's descent into power-hungriness, paranoia, and madness following the trauma they experienced.

Greming has this really impactful quote when questioned by Boone about if he would've destroyed an entire spacecraft with innocent people on board if Vindik ordered it. He responds: “I would have done whatever he wished. But I wouldn't have liked it.”

It's also notable that, from what remember, Boone and Greming had almost identical experiences with the Coalition Academy. Essentially, they both went their own ways due to issues with the Coalition Academy. Greming is a bit of a mentor to Boone. Outside of Elyon, he's really the one whom Boone seems to fall back on the most.

Speaking of Boone and Elyon, their relationship has developed a lot. They crave being in each other's presence and long for each other. It's... kind of cute, kind of beautiful, and kind of weird. Well, what makes it weird?

Well, Elyon is sometimes referred to as a "kid" or a teenager. She's actually 17 years old, which would still technically make her underage in Earth terms, unless the "telomere" years used by the Coaltion and people in this universe mean something entirely different. Layer on top that Boone’s been a protector/guardian/authority figure for her, and you get an age/power-imbalance that makes their closeness feel… complicated. Also, since the previous book, she was described as being a very strikingly attractive female person with bright eyes and hair. It was pretty clear in the previous book that Boone had an almost big-brother or paternal feeling toward her. However, this book seems to imply (if not outright forward the idea of) some romantic feelings and romantic tension between the two.

For example:

“She slid into bed… inching toward his warmth. Elyon took a long breath, taking in his pheromones… She was nearly asleep when Boone’s arm dropped around her… She placed her head on his shoulder and fell asleep.”

"Boone sat back, watching more than listening. Elyon’s lithe body was her instrument, and she controlled it for whatever purpose suited her. Her words held no interest right now. His eyes wandered over her bare, rounded shoulders, the creamy blue tint of her skin, the curves beneath the shimmering blue dress, the long, athletic arms that undulated with each motion. As if seeing her for the first time, his pulse quickened, and his thoughts grew foggy."

Yeah, that's not a big-brother/little-sister relationship, that's venturing into an intimate or romantic one.

Now, in all fairness, they are very close in age. Boone is 19 and Elyon is 17. It's not like Boone is robbing the cradle. This is essentially like a college freshman dating a high school senior. And, in all honesty, they clearly have chemistry. It's just the knowledge that he was just nurturing her like a little sister or a daughter in the previous book that makes things a bit awkward.

Beside Elyon, there are a few other super cool superweapons like the EM driver (rail cannon) and the relic—a "world-breaker" air-to-surface beam emitter that's apparently capable of terraforming whole planets!

One thing we really need to say is that the audiobook is excellent, especially in terms of the performance by the narrator. This is arguably the best audiobook performance we've experienced since Sir Michael Caine's book, Deadly Game (which was narrated by Eddie Marsan).

Scott Allen, the narrator of both The Warrior's Shade and The Handler's Gambit, is absolutely PHENOMENAL! If he isn't one of the best audiobook narrators, we want to know who is!

He gives each and every single characters a unique voice!
Female characters too!

We get a range of different accents, tones, and voices in here.

We couldn't be more impressed!

It should briefly be noted that there is one genuine female voice in here, we think of a character named Cantara. We're not exactly sure why she was given a different voice actor/actress from all the other characters (maybe it was an inside thing), but they do an ok enough job.

This book and audiobook succeed in a lot of ways. One issue we'll bring up is that there are some pacing issues in the second half. It DRAGS. This book meanders a lot longer than it needed to around 3/5ths of the way in, but the majority of our thoughts toward this book lean positive.

Check it out on Amazon!