Thursday, October 28, 2021

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Devil You Know by Kit Rocha

 




The Devil You Know is the second book in Kit Rocha's* "Mercenary Librarians" series of Dystopian Science Fiction Romance novels, after last year's "Deal with the Devil" (My review here).  I really enjoyed Deal with the Devil, with the world being fun (with great dialogue), the characters - four mechanically augmented men and three bio-engineered women - being great, and the romance having some really great moments.  The book even made me check out and consume pretty much all of Rocha's erotic romance series, Beyond, which they self published previously.  So I was eagerly anticipating The Devil You Know, and had preordered it a while back.  

*Kit Rocha is a pseudonym for authors Donna Herren and Bree Bridges*

And the Devil You Know is still pretty damn great, as it switches the focus from Nina and Knox - the leaders of the two (now one) groups of former corporate military experiments - to Maya and Gray, a much more withdrawn pair...and thus one that more appeals to me.  Maya was engineered to have perfect memory, but finds herself frustratingly limited in combat....and fears getting close to anyone due to what happened in her past, and of course due to how her brain is engineered to shut down after being overstimulated - while Gray is the calm sniper whose calm face betrays hidden emotions (and is dying).  The two make a great pairing and this a really enjoyable book, even if there's only one sex scene and it isn't quite as good as the last book (although I may just be spoiled by the Beyond series - this is a typical romance, not an erotic romance series).  

Trigger Warning: Physical Torture, PTSD
----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Maya has always felt like the odd woman out of the Mercenary Librarians.  Sure she was genetically engineered to have a perfect memory and was trained for revolution, but what good is that now that she's free - and technically a "dead" woman - from the TechCorps?  Sure she can help the team help the local people of Atlanta make their own lives better...without the poisoned strings of the TechCorps, but when it comes to really fighting, she's nothing special compared to her supersoldier teammates Dani and Nina...her memory is just a party trick.  

And then there's Gray, the mechanically augmented sniper of the protectorate whose voice makes her break out in shivers, the man who her mentor once thought must have been a serial killer, the one who comforted her on their last journey when she was triggered by too much stimuli.  Maya knows she could easily drown in Gray if given the chance...but given what happened to the last time she fell in love, she won't dare take that chance.  And Gray, well, Gray would absolutely be happy to be with Maya....except for one small problem: he's dying of implant rejection and doesn't have much time left.  

But Gray and Maya will be forced together by fate, as their team discovers a genetically engineered child smuggling operation, one they are desperate to stop.....but which will bring them back to the attention of the TechCorps, and the notorious security head and torturer Richter.  For Gray and the rest of the Silver Devils, being rediscovered means their torture and death.  

But for Maya, being rediscovered would be far far worse.....
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Like pretty much every Kit Rocha book (both the Beyond ones and this series at least) the story is told mainly from the perspectives of its main couple - in this case Maya and Gray - with occasional chapters told from the perspectives of side characters along the way...both to enhance this story and to tease future developments and relationships.  The book also, like its predecessor, features short bits from various reports talking about the pasts of Maya and Gray....and these short bits essentially tell the story of Maya, Gray and Maya's mentor Birgette, whose story is really enjoyable.  

But the star of the show is its main couple, Maya and Gray, because of course this is a romance at its heart, even with the post-apocalyptic action sequences being fun alongside it.  Gray isn't quite as interesting as Maya to be honest - the lone wolf sniper who has always kept his emotions in because he felt unwanted, who always felt like he was just killing time till he died, who finds in Maya something to live for in his last few days....a girl he can help realize her true potential, her true worth, and who he will never fail until the day he dies.  He's enjoyable and fine, but he's not very special, even if his chemistry with Maya is incredible (his defining feature at the start being his sexy voice doesn't help, since it's not like the reader can hear it).  

Fortunately, Maya is amazing and I love her so much.  She reminds me a bit of one of my favorite Beyond characters, Mia, in that she's a hyper-competent woman with skills that aren't simply being kick-ass, but are behind the scenes....she has a bioengineered perfect memory, but she uses that memory to help people constantly get exactly what they need.  She's introverted - at least to the extent anyone is in this series - even if not fully by choice (overstimulus can cause her brain to shut down she believes), and is desperate for love, but desperately afraid of reaching for it given her past, and she's constantly thinking down on her own capabilities in comparison to her new family.  Her inner and outer dialogue is amazing and often hilarious, and again her chemistry with Gray brings out the best in her, as it makes her realize over the course of the plot just how special she truly is.  

And of course this story still has action (Gray and Maya's flirting at one point takes the form of Gray teaching Maya to use her memory to become a deadly shot/fighter in the dark), and sex - with one fairly good sex scene....although not up to the level of the Beyond series (well duh) or even that of the last book (a bit more disappointing).  The banter, dialogue, and relationship building of the other characters also works incredibly well, whether that be the final book's inevitable pairing of Dani/Rafe, or even a new potential pairing with some odd ones out in the two teams that surprised me and I hope is developed further.  The book does feature torture as a plot point, but doesn't linger on it, nor does it let that plot point fester....with the resolution of that plot point coming mercifully swift and logically...although it does lead to a last act conflict which isn't quite adequately telegraphed.  

Basically I love Maya so much that it only made me mildly disappointed that this book only features one sex scene and it doesn't quite measure up to the last book (which basically had two).  But everything else is great, and I can't wait till next August for book 3.  

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