BLOODWIND - Charlotte Boyett-Compo
A Perfect 10
WindDemon, Book 1
New Concepts - www.newconceptspublishing.com
ISBNs: Ebook: 1-58608-961-7 -
Trade Paperback: 978-1-60394-003-0
June 2007
Science Fiction/Fantasy Romance

Cairghrian Galaxy and Earth - the Future

A product of years of political machinations and biological tampering, Reaper Kamerone Cree has surrendered himself to the Rysalian Lords who sit on the Bench of the Court of Military Inquiry even though he has no idea what he has done to warrant such a summons.

Kamerone is not guilty of anything other than following orders. But 'Justices' Ruan, Onar, Cul, Barif, and Lona have long wished to have a reason to discipline Kamerone. Jealousy and fear of the powerful Reaper have set them on a course to maliciously torture Kamerone without allowing him any chance to speak or to be apprised of the charges against him. For his attempts at speaking up for himself, he has the extra charge of insubordination levied against him. He is sentenced to active Reinforcement -- a series of brutal, drug-induced tortures followed by hard labor on Helios Twelve. When he is again free, Kamerone will ferret out the ones responsible for turning him over to the sadists.

The biological blundering has decimated the entire female Rysalian populace, so the males that are left have run raids on surrounding worlds, including Earth, for women. Dr. Bridget Dunne is one of those captives. She has been given the unenviable task -- with help from subliminals to be introduced during Kamerone's torture -- to seduce and turn the Iceman (Kamerone) to the side of the Resistance. But Bridget is still highly resentful of being taken from her home, and she has plans to be with another man. She has no desire to try to win over the soulless, conscienceless warrior she believes Kamerone to be. Bridget grimly carries out her part in the chemical readjustment of Kamerone's attitudes.

Even when he has served his graphically depicted, horribly gruesome sentence, there are still those who want him dead, and Kamerone and Bridget discover that they have both been set up.

Oh m'goodness!!! I have barely laid back the top layer of this exciting adventure. Plots within plots, danger behind every door, and reckless rescues carry along the action. Dozens of characters, friend and foe alike, inhabit the pages of BLOODWIND. We also get a complete account of how the Reapers were created. The writing is spectacularly splendid, the plotting is tight, plausible, and leaves the reader limp from all the emotions. There are some things, like the kind of love that Kamerone and Bridget learn to share, that malice cannot destroy. Reading Charlotte Boyett-Compo's Reaper Series is like being on wild, cosmic thrill rides. By my count, BLOODWIND is a Perfect 10, a space-opera fantasy at its finest.

Vi Janaway