flamekrafter's review
5.0
"In Discretion" is a thrilling, fast-paced tale of secrets, sabotage, and romance. What I love about the Ylendrian stories is the unique world-building and the complex, interesting characters, and this novella is no exception. The story of Thanson and Kazra grabs you from the very beginning and pulls you through the expanse of an ailing space station at the perfect pace. More aspects of the vast Ylendrian Empire are revealed, most fascinating to me was the rich and complicated role of discretionaries like Thanson in Ylendrian society. All told, another fun, fascinating, and clever addition to the Ylendrian pantheon. I can't wait for more tales set in this universe.
the_novel_approach's review
4.0
Reesa Herberth has written an action-packed Sci-Fi drama that’s part space thriller, part political intrigue, and part reunion between Discretionary, Thanson Nez, and his ex, Kazra Ferdow, as the men fight the past, as well as for their lives, aboard a crippled space station in the farthest reaches of the Empire..
See the entire review at The Novel Approach: http://thenovelapproachreviews.com/2014/01/02/in-discretion-is-an-action-filled-sci-fi-drama/
See the entire review at The Novel Approach: http://thenovelapproachreviews.com/2014/01/02/in-discretion-is-an-action-filled-sci-fi-drama/
weweresotired's review
3.0
In Discretion takes place in deep space and is part of a larger series/universe of books, although it stands on its own well enough. Our main character, Thanson, is a Discretionary, which is kind of like a cross between an escort and a secret keeper. You can imagine that he's heard all sorts of things, so the fact that something has spooked him enough to abandon his job at the beginning of the book means that something big is going to go down.
Things get complicated when Thanson finds his ex, Kazra, on the space station he's stuck on. Their backstory comes out slowly -- starting off, all you know is that they separated under less than wonderful circumstances. Their reunion was kind of bittersweet, because neither of them think that they've got a chance to patch things back up -- their lives are very different now, and besides, their lives are in danger, thanks to Thanson's secrets. I had mixed feelings about not knowing all of their backstory at first, because it really felt like I had started reading in the middle of a book, like I was expected to know already what broke Thanson and Kazra up. The slow reveal worked, though, and the moments where both men let their guard down to tell the truth behind their parting were really effective and emotional.
In Discretion is only about 100 pages long, and things move along at a pretty fast clip. Sometimes things felt like they moved too fast, though. Maybe it's just me, but I kept getting confused as to why things were happening or where the characters were, and I feel like if maybe a little more time had been given to establishing scenes and character motivations, it would have been less of a bumpy ride. Like I mentioned, the book can be read as a stand-alone, although I'd be interested to check out the rest of the universe to better put this one in context.
Things get complicated when Thanson finds his ex, Kazra, on the space station he's stuck on. Their backstory comes out slowly -- starting off, all you know is that they separated under less than wonderful circumstances. Their reunion was kind of bittersweet, because neither of them think that they've got a chance to patch things back up -- their lives are very different now, and besides, their lives are in danger, thanks to Thanson's secrets. I had mixed feelings about not knowing all of their backstory at first, because it really felt like I had started reading in the middle of a book, like I was expected to know already what broke Thanson and Kazra up. The slow reveal worked, though, and the moments where both men let their guard down to tell the truth behind their parting were really effective and emotional.
In Discretion is only about 100 pages long, and things move along at a pretty fast clip. Sometimes things felt like they moved too fast, though. Maybe it's just me, but I kept getting confused as to why things were happening or where the characters were, and I feel like if maybe a little more time had been given to establishing scenes and character motivations, it would have been less of a bumpy ride. Like I mentioned, the book can be read as a stand-alone, although I'd be interested to check out the rest of the universe to better put this one in context.
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