Jessie Kwak contacted me through the blog and offered me her latest book, Double Edged, in exchange for an honest review. After reading the blurb, I jumped at the chance as I enjoy reading Science Fiction. The bonus is that she is an independent author.

Genre: Romance, Women’s Fiction, Contemporary Fiction

Blurb:

Thala Coeur—Blackheart—is dead.

Willem Jaantzen has been waiting to hear those words for almost twenty years. But he was also hoping they’d hold more satisfaction. Because it turns out his arch enemy has died as she lived—sowing chaos and destruction—and when a mysterious package arrives on his doorstep, he realizes she’s sent him one last puzzle from beyond the grave. 

As Jaantzen and his crew are plunged back into a game he thought they’d left far behind, one thing becomes painfully clear: Solving Coeur’s puzzle could be key to preventing the city from crumbling back into another civil war—or it could be the thing that destroys them all. 

Because this secret isn’t just worth killing for. It’s worth coming back from the dead for.

The Bulari Saga series is part of Jessie Kwak’s Durga System universe, a fast-paced series of gangster sci-fi stories set in a far-future world where humans may have left their home planet to populate the stars, but they haven’t managed to leave behind their vices. And that’s very good for business.

My thoughts:

I love the cover art of this novel, don’t you? And while I was reading the story, I realised that the art suited the tale perfectly. The cover art and the words inside give a sense of another world – another world which is just as gritty as ours can be and which also contains people that are greedy and power seekers.

Double Edged is a story that is fast-paced – but not so fast-paced that we are not given the time to get to know the characters. We are shown an insight into the Bulari world with dialogue that is not superfluous, and with writing that cuts to the chase. Kwak has delivered the imagery of a world that reminds me so much of the science-fiction literature and film that I have enjoyed in the past. While reading her words, I could see in my mind’s eye people using technology that hasn’t been invented yet set in worlds that have yet to be discovered.

I enjoyed meeting Kwak’s characters. They have a humanity to them that breathes from the pages. They are imperfect, yet loyal. They are confident, yet uncertain. I will read the second novel in the saga when it becomes available. And in the meantime? I will consider dipping into the novellas.

I give this novel ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars

© Colline Kook-Chun, 2019

(This novel was the 47th in my book pledge for 2019)