urlphantomhive's review against another edition
3.0
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One lesson to be learned from Mercury in Retrograde: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Aralyn, just released from the galaxy's worst prison, gets an offer she can't resist. One more job as a smuggler and she will be able to retire. That is, if the job won't retire her first...
Mercury in Retrograde was an okay book. It had a bit of everything in it, which was probably also why I couldn't connect to the story as much as I'd liked. The characters are just too busy running from one thing to another, there's no time for any development. Even from Aralyn subjective POV it is immediately clear who will be the good guys. I've complained at length before about throwing everything in a book instead of really making one thing good in a book, so I will resist the urge to do it here. It got me out of my flow though, and when they were on the run for the nth time, I admit I started looking how much of the book was left and how long it would take me to read it.
I think it had more potential, what with the prison planet and the world in general. But quite a bit of it seemed as the surroundings for the romance plot, unfortunately. I'd expected a bit more.
Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
One lesson to be learned from Mercury in Retrograde: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Aralyn, just released from the galaxy's worst prison, gets an offer she can't resist. One more job as a smuggler and she will be able to retire. That is, if the job won't retire her first...
Mercury in Retrograde was an okay book. It had a bit of everything in it, which was probably also why I couldn't connect to the story as much as I'd liked. The characters are just too busy running from one thing to another, there's no time for any development. Even from Aralyn subjective POV it is immediately clear who will be the good guys. I've complained at length before about throwing everything in a book instead of really making one thing good in a book, so I will resist the urge to do it here. It got me out of my flow though, and when they were on the run for the nth time, I admit I started looking how much of the book was left and how long it would take me to read it.
I think it had more potential, what with the prison planet and the world in general. But quite a bit of it seemed as the surroundings for the romance plot, unfortunately. I'd expected a bit more.
Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
samanthabryant's review against another edition
4.0
Mercury in Retrograde was a very enjoyable book that did a good job setting up the series to come. We've got an engaging main character in Aralyn with an interesting past to pull from (disowned by parents, broken heart that might be healed, a career in smuggling, and jail time). The three characters in the supporting cast were not as fully developed, but I'm hoping for that in future volumes. They, too, have interesting histories that can feed the series.
It was nice that Aralyn and Caden were re-meeting instead of meeting for the first time. That made the speed of the romance storyline more believable for me. Less believable were some of the coincidences: sharing a jail cell with just the right person to help her do what she needs to do, the inconsistency of security and authority who were blind at the right moments and one step ahead when it served the plot, etc. But I was able to forgive these as I read, since there was enough tension to keep me moving forward and worrying about how they'd get out of this one.
All in all, I'd say it's a solid read and the series has great potential. I'll be interested to see what comes next.
It was nice that Aralyn and Caden were re-meeting instead of meeting for the first time. That made the speed of the romance storyline more believable for me. Less believable were some of the coincidences: sharing a jail cell with just the right person to help her do what she needs to do, the inconsistency of security and authority who were blind at the right moments and one step ahead when it served the plot, etc. But I was able to forgive these as I read, since there was enough tension to keep me moving forward and worrying about how they'd get out of this one.
All in all, I'd say it's a solid read and the series has great potential. I'll be interested to see what comes next.
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