Loved it 😍

I h we read every book to date in the Infinite City series and each is unique with compelling characters and stories. Some people didn’t like this one as much because it took place off planet and are usual cast of characters did t chine in until the end. I think it was the way the story needed to be told Thagen is a Votgal an orc like being damaged from fighting is many many wars for his people. His kind have a sixth sense they calm rage that helps them become the deadly warriors they are known to be. Thargen has had to subdue and control his In a way others have not. When he goes out to let off some of his rage he never thought he would meet the perfect female for him. Yuri is a Terran who has moved to the infinite city with her brother. She tends bar at a local place and one night a Vorgal steps in and changes her world. Circumstances beyond their control and the idiocy of others find them hijacked and on their way to being sold into slavery. What the slavers don’t know is that Yuri and Thargen developed a bond that only grows stronger the longer they are together. And they don’t know the justice they’ve unleashed when the one person the vorgal has come to love is in danger. The off planet adventure allows the story of how his rage works and what happens when it takes over. I do t think it would have been as effective else where. It’s a fabulous story and Jamie Treselyan is one of the best voice actors / narrators I’ve ever listened to. The way he creates the unique vocals for each character bring not only the person to life but the story itself. He is k e if my all time favorites and I’ll be listening to more. Highly recommend ❤️❤️

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The Infinite City but not in the city

I love Tiffany Roberts books - I adore the Spider's Mate Trilogy and the Kraken series. I also enjoy the infinite city books, but I find them more hit and miss. For me, this is in my bottom 3 out of the 7 books in the series so far, which doesn't mean it's bad, it just isn't as good as the others, in my opinion.
In this book, we follow Thargen as he is captured by slavers who end up crashing on a planet inhabited by aliens that like eating people. This book is thus largely a survival scenario romance, with Thargen falling in love with a human woman who was enslaved with him. The tone of this book is thus very different than the other infinite city books, which tend to take place in the infinite city. This also means the found family aspect that makes the series so charming is largely absent from this book. I'm totally down for this overall plot, and it's really smaller plot elements and things that annoy me that take this book down a notch for me.

The main thing that annoyed me is the trope where both people really like each other, but one has some sort of issue that's all in their head and the issue is resolved when they simply choose not to care about that any more. I prefer more external barriers to the relationship. If that isn't a trope that bothers you, you will probably enjoy this book more than me.

My second issue that annoyed me is tied to the first. Part of what is holding Thargen back is an incident in the past where he accidentally hurts someone during a sexual encounter. This is a very serious issue, and he feels very guilty about it, as he should. I don't know what he should have done to make up for it, but I felt the argument the FMC gave him really was insufficient. 'Oh, you SA'd someone by accident? that's very regrettable, but don't worry, that won't happen between us because we like each other.' I understand why this background was necessary to support his mental hurdle to having a relationship, but it felt like it was too big of a strike against him to be kind of brushed aside and made me not like Thargen as much as I wanted to.

My next issue is entirely audio based. This book introduces Kier and Kayle, some of my favorite characters in the series, and I was really looking forward to meeting them. The voices for them do not disappoint - the issue appears not when the characters are speaking but rather during narration. The narrator has an accent that doesn't have hard Rs, so whenever he says Kier's name while not as a character, the name sounds like "Kia" and drove me bonkers. I read the ebooks, so I know his name is Kier, but if you only listened to the audio, you would be confused about his name.

All this to say, this book is fine, it just has a plot trope that always annoys me, and I feel Thargen's past was handled a bit to heavy handed, I wish that was done a bit differently, but it wasn't enough to make me rage quit or anything. The next book in the series is Kier and Kayle's book, so I'm very much looking forward to listening to that next.

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Favorite in the series!

I love the dynamics between the two in this book - I found earlier books not as satisfying or interesting as this one. Fun story and will probably re-listen in the future.

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A fun listen

I loved reading this story, and being able to listen to it while I'm on the daily grind is now an absolute bonus. The performance was fun and entertaining. looking forward to the next one.

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a good addition to the infinite city series!

Jamie Treselyan has quickly become one of my favorite narrators, but the male lead's voice in this book is not my favorite. To be fair, he established it in a previous book and stuck with it, which I don't blame him for. He still did a good job of varying the voices, and he brought emotion to his delivery.
The story was great. It was moving and had lots of action but left room for the romance. I absolutely can't wait for the nest bo l book to come out on audible!!

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Love this series

The great build up, love the captured trope. A rough bimbo, and while she was “innocent” she was not nervous.

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Thargen fu***ng Skullreaver!!

Another incredible performance by Mr. Treselyan!

The book starts with our MCs meeting at a bar where Yuri, our FMC, works as a bartender. Thargen, our MMC, is immediately drawn to her but just so happens she is as well and this is where things got interesting for me because they’re both experiencing scorching desire for each other (not even exaggerating, it is SIZZLING)!
Yuri is not shy about her attraction towards Thargen and Thargen isn’t shy about his attraction towards Yuri either, see where I’m getting at? Well, things go downhill from there and they’re both kidnapped (yes, both) by a trafficking faction/gang and taken on a ship to be sold off.
This is probably the first book in The Infinite City series that isn’t spent on Arthos but on a completely different and wild alien planet, where our MCs are trying to survive and escape not only said planet but their very violent circumstances as well. New, and quite interesting characters are introduced and old ones make an appearance as well.

Yuri is extremely easy going, brave and adapts to her circumstances quite well while Thargen, well, is Thargen! No, but seriously, he is a bit more complex than your raging vorgal/”orc”. You see, our big boy is dealing with a lot of literal damage and has a few ghosts of his own which makes him refuse to get physical with Yuri, but Yuri knows exactly how to deal with Thargen and they both learn to connect with each other on a deeper level than just physical. It’s a wonderful development!

As for Mr. Treselyan’s performance, it’s once again top-notch! Every character has a different accent, cadence; they’re distinct and actually FUN to listen to. I’ve described him as a “voice wizard” in a previous review and I stand by it! Even his female voices differ from each other, which is no easy feat.
Thargen is obviously the star of the show and I can tell he had a blast voicing him! There are grunts and war cries and purrs and it’s just so entertaining. Mr. Treselyan doesn’t hold back and it’s very refreshing to actually listen to an audiobook that is thoroughly acted out, not just read.

Even if sci-fi romance isn’t your cup of tea, his performance alone should make you give The Infinite City series a chance, because it is just THAT entertaining.

I, for one, love me some well balanced romance and kickass fights (look, violence can be fun, especially if it’s with Thargen), so I was very much into this book. 11 outta 10 for me. ;)

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Thargen is intense!

I'm glad we inadvertently got a back story for Urgand as well. I figured he wouldn't have his own story because he isn't mated to a human but I still wanted to know. Back to this story's characters, I LOVE Yuri. And I like how this played out. Ok, I'm done!

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