“Fortune’s Pawn” by Rachel Bach
Another short review so I can catch up with reviews faster. Warning: mild spoilers.
Fortune’s Pawn follows Devi Morris, an armoured mercenary who is impatient about the pace that her career is progressing at. She takes a security job with the Glorious Fool, a ship where a one year assignment equals five years anywhere else. However, there’s a reason for this, and even Devi might be way in over her head.
This book was a lot of fun to read. The worldbuilding is immersive, the pacing is breakneck, and Devi is a great protagonist – smart, loyal, and sometimes so impatient/impulsive that you want to yell at her.
The one major thing I didn’t like about the book was the romantic interest – I generally don’t care for love-at-first-sight (lust is fine!), and the whole “I’m too dangerous; stay away from me” thing felt cliched and terrible. Plus, Devi has to be rescued by him a couple of times, and it makes her look bad – everyone (including her) is always talking about what a good mercenary she is, but she seems to fail at everything just so she can be rescued by Rupert.
I’m looking forward to the next book – Honor’s Knight – hopefully there will be more Devi being badass and less mysterious/dangerous love interest cliches!