TBR Challenge: Dianne Duvall - The Purveli

Ava has always been different. Born with strong telepathic abilities, she lives a very isolated life until she is offered a job with an obscure network that aids powerful Immortal Guardians in their quest to protect humanity from the psychotic vampires who prey upon them. Suddenly, she doesn't feel so different. For the first time in her life, Ava has found a place where she belongs. She's happy. Life is good. And when her employers invite her to join a group of other gifted ones and a handful of Immortal Guardians on a journey to another planet, it becomes absolutely fantastic.
In no time at all, she is speeding across the galaxy aboard a Lasaran warship manned by two amazing alien races. It's the dream of a lifetime... until a vicious attack by a mutual enemy of Lasara and Earth lands her alone in an escape pod with no habitable planet in sight and only one ship within range: one that carries the enemy who wants to know why the bioengineered virus they released on Earth long ago didn't exterminate humanity and leave the planet ripe for their claiming.
Jak'ri doesn't know how long he has been a prisoner aboard the Cebaun, but he fears the enemy's twisted experiments will soon lead them to a virus that will eradicate the Purveli people. Despair grips him until a female from Earth is taken captive and reaches out to him telepathically. The gift that Ava said caused her such misery in the past soon becomes his salvation as the two of them form a fast friendship. Determined to distract each other from the horrors of their existence, they immerse themselves in telepathic communion during the day, then seek solace and adventure together in shared dreams. As their friendship deepens into love, the two hatch a daring plot to escape their captors. But the enemy will not let them go without a fight.
Can Ava and Jak'ri stand against so many and emerge victorious?

Comment: We're back to another TBR Challenge post, half way through the year already...

This time, the theme is «love is love» which is quite vague...for me, it brought to mind the idea that love is seen as such in regards to anyone or any form and I went the road of "different type of love" kind of, with a sci fi romance with love between a human and an alien, I mean, why not?

In this story, the 3rd in a spin of series of the original Immortal Guardians series by Dianne Duvall, we keep following the adventures of a group of humans with special abilities (such as telekinesis, telepathy, etc) who have joined a network of several types of people where they aren't seen as different nor are mistreated. This book begins with human Ava escaping in a pod after the space ship where she and other people from Earth were traveling was destroyed. Sadly, Ava was captured by the enemy alien species of the planet which was her destination and now she knows she will be used as a guinea pig for the aliens investigations. However, she and a fellow alien prisoner escape and can only take refuge in a planet where no one knows they might travel to. They will have to hide from the possible enemies looking for them, but will they succeed?

For context: In the original series we learned thousands of years ago, an alien race (Gathendiens) infected the population in hopes to decimate the planet and then steal the resources. This resulted in people infected becoming ill, mentally unstable and violent (like vampires) or, if by chance of having a different genetic code, transformed into Immortal Guardians, with the new abilities but none of the mental illness. Then these people formed a community/network and help save other humans and now the aliens seem to might to come back due to other alien alliances.

I know this seems very, very weird and complicated therefore I must say: this book has a good structure but it makes way more sense if read in order of the series. Plus, the author has a certain tendency to write books which, sometimes, occur simultaneously to others and we get to see or have information of certain events in different POVs. I don't mind it, it always feels as if it's something new, but I can imagine that for a new reader, things might feel a little repetitive and confusing.

This aside, for me this book was quite appealing. In fact, this and the previous installment were much better than the first spin of book (The Lasaran) because the main couples and their relationships were much more appealing. I kind of like it the author has invented many details for the several alien races but to be a little fair, they are pretty much all humanoids so whatever adjustment humans - and we, as readers - have to do - is quite easy. I had a good time reading and wishing to know what would happen next, so even bearing in mind inconsistencies in the world building, I still liked reading this.

The plot is very simple, Ava and Jak'ri find themselves in the same alien ship, they are of interest for their scientists and tortured, along with Jak'ri's brother. The brother seems to make a sacrifice and Ava and Jak'ri escape in a pod and to run from those chasing them, hide in a planet with a convenient atmosphere. The bond they established on the ship and even in their shared dreams - Jak'ri and his brother, as well as their race, can talk telepathically, and Ava has that ability too - becomes stronger the more they interact and we already know that when they escape, Ava and Jak'ri already have feelings for one another.

I think this was done well enough, I could believe they felt happy and could trust the other. The shared experienced helped but I can say everything was still a bit too quick, after all, they were different enough that it would still mean to learn about their respective races. Of course, this does seem a lot easier to accomplish when they are running for their lives and hoping for a rescue. I still liked reading about what they faced on the planet and how things ended up positively for them. I can't say these books are that high on character complexity, true, but they are entertaining and fluid and I could feel myself interested in them and in what would happen.

Ava went through a transformation, since being a special type of human and then infected in the ship by the bad aliens, she is now an Immortal Guardian. I think the author could have done this a little better, everything feels too simple when we think about the process and how it had been done in the original series, but... it did advance a few plot points and I can't truly say it was that bad. I feel this was a handy way for the author to maintain expected information and "rules" in mind, in the big scheme of things.

I think the final part of the book was a bit rushed, after rescue happens and things become quieter, and all that, the what now part of how to deal with a new situation, to live with someone in anew place... I understand the romance of it, the fact the HEA is more important and it was a goal achieved, but my general interest in the world and in how everything is connected, makes me think some details were clearly overlooked.

Despite this, I did have a good time reading, like I said, and now I'm very curious to know what happened to other characters who, like Ava, escaped in pods. 

Grade: 8/10