***2020 Realm Award Winner, Science Fiction******2020 Alliance Award Winner, Reader’s Choice*** There’s a price on her head, and it has everything to do with the brand on her arm.Tertian Space Coalition has blessed every planet in the quadrants with high technology, save one: Drosero. But in spite of their tenuous treaty with the ruling clans, TSC has plans for the backward planet. And they’re … ruling clans, TSC has plans for the backward planet. And they’re not alone.
After a catastrophic explosion, Kersei Dragoumis awakens in a derelict shuttle, alone, injured, and ignorant of the forbidden technology that has swept her into a nightmare. The brand she’s borne since childhood burns mysteriously, but the pain is nothing to that when she learns her family is dead and she is accused of their murders.
Across the quadrants, Marco Dusan responds to the call of a holy order—not to join them, but to seek a bounty. Gifted—or cursed—with abilities that mark him a Kynigos, a tracker sworn to bring interplanetary fugitives to justice, Marco discovers this particular bounty has nothing to do with justice and everything to do with prophecy. One that involves the hunter as much as the hunted.
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Brand of Light by Ronie Kendig is the first book in her Droseran saga. The Tertian Space Coalition is violating their treaties with other planets and are about to start a galactic war. Kersei Dragoumis awakes after a terrible explosion on her world to find that she is accused of mass murder. Marcos Dusan, a Kynigos tracker is sent to bring Kersei in. He finds that they both have the same brand on their arm and that it’s tied to an ancient prophecy. As with starting any new series you must get familiar with the characters and the setting to be able to follow the story-line. It took a few chapters for this to happen. Once everything was figured out the story exploded and it was none stop all the way to the end. It was as if I was in a sci-fi movie. This story ranks right up there with Star Trek and Stargate SG-1. Just a warning, the book ends on a cliff hanger so you’ll be on pins and needles until the next one comes out!
DISCLAIMER: I would consider this book for mature audiences. There were sexual references, innuendo, touching and kissing. It didn’t go all the way in depth but there were a few scenes that could have been left out that wouldn’t have affected the storyline.
I received this book from Celebrate-Lit for my honest review.
What a great read! Intrigue in a sci-fi world, with lots of action and, most important, characters that feel like real people. Whether they are protagonists, side characters, or villains, they all have realistic motives behind their actions. I highly recommend this book.
I was first introduced to Ronie Kendig’s work through Trinity, part of her A Breed Apart series featuring military war dogs. I was captivated by her intense battle sequences, but also the very real characters who populated those scenes, and that led me to read more books written by her through the years.
With those compelling stories in my head, I decided to try something different from anything else I have read by her: science fiction. I grew up on Star Trek, and with teen readers in the house who enjoy action, this seemed like a branch worth exploring. I am glad I did.
Some things are similar. There are still very intense battle scenes and characters who, though very different from myself, seem no less flesh and blood than I. These characters come from different worlds and are different from each other, too, an impressive feat given the number of them within these pages.
And some things are different. The technology (or lack thereof), the unfamiliar terminology, complex cultures foreign to my own, and the completely alien concepts took me about thirty pages to really feel like I was understanding the story. My teens will likely pick up on it more quickly, but it is disconcerting for a bit.
Interestingly enough, that helped me relate better to Kersei, who is part of Drosera and completely unfamiliar with any kind of technology. She finds herself in an unfamiliar environment, stripped of everyone and everything she has ever known in a brutal fashion. She is a land dweller now in space, rather like a fish out of water, and she has a very steep learning curve.
This book is perfect for the science fiction or action fan, but it will take a bit of time to really get into it—I would advise patience, because the story is really worth it. I recommend it for mid-teens and up for some intense battle scenes, but if a reader is comfortable with Kendig’s military suspense, this will be a nice complement, and it remains clean of language, which can sometimes be hard to find in either action or sci-fi genres.
I received a review copy of this book through Celebrate Lit but was under no obligation to post a positive review. The opinions expressed are both honest and my own.
Wow! What a story! This is one of those sagas that wraps itself around you and pulls you into its realm. I generally don’t read science fiction or space operas, so it took me a little while to figure out the the jargon and set up for this amazingly creative world. But, once I did, and once some major events took place, I couldn’t look away. I had to know what happened.
This author is so good at creating worlds and making me feel as if these people and places actually exist, no matter how different their world is from mine. The characters have incredible depth, the story is packed with action, intrigue, and adventure, and there is some seriously sigh worthy romance, as well. I am on edge to know what happens next in this adventure!
I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Welcome to a world that collides with the likes of Star Wars and Star Trek. The imagination the author displays is exceptional. I wasn’t sure I would like the book since I’m not a big science fiction reader. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised by the story. It does have its flaws though. The beginning is very slow and the language was something I had to get used to. Like most science fiction /space movies I’ve seen, they all have a particular language only know to their own species. I did wonder at times if they were cursing or if I was taking the sayings out of context. There were so many characters floating around I had a hard time keeping up.
Now for all the good parts of the book. Without a doubt Kersei is a great character. She can defend herself and doesn’t back down from a fight. She is someone you would want on your side. The most predominate part of the story centers around the kidnapping of Kersei. The torture she goes through is hard to read and I felt like there was an unnecessary amount of harm done to her. I would liked to have seen that toned down a little. I did think her rescuing went on far too long and good have been shortened by several chapters.
Now for my favorite character who is none other than Marco. He is determined to rescue Kersei and has gifts that will help him free her from her captors. His bravery does come with danger and this is where the story really gets good. I loved the scenes when he outsmarted the captors and stayed one step ahead of them. The book does not lack for action or bad guys because there is an abundance of both. I have heard the book referred to as a Space Opera. That does intrigue me and I look forward to the next book in the series.
I received a copy of the book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.
Oh, where do I even start?
This book was everything I hoped it would be plus so much more. I personally do not usually read sci-fi genre books because they (usually) take God out of the equation or put in a bunch of gods. When Ronie Kendig started advertising that she felt God calling her to write a sci-fi book I was intrigued to see what God had put on her heart for this genre. Even having little to no experience with this genre I believe Ronie Kendig hit a home run with this book.
The characters were very well laid out, they did not contradict themselves and were easy to get along with. The first few chapters Ronie Kendig showed us some great strengths and weaknesses in all her main characters. Technically, there are probably only two main characters, however, I would argue that there could technically be three main characters. I will let you decide on that. The characters interacted seamlessly together, and by the end of this book, I was captivated by the plights of the characters. The only character I would have liked to see more of was Kersei, I never saw her thoughts on the events that took place come through. However, this is only the first book so who knows what will come next.
Since this is book one in a series, there are several plots with threads interwoven. Nothing overt or distracting, just there on the fringes waiting. The plot is laid out in an easy to follow way, after the first couple of chapters where you connect the dots. Ronie Kendig certainly took me on a roller coaster in this book. I laughed, I stressed, and I almost cried at the ending (You will see why when you read it). I think that because of the way this plot was written it could easily become a complicated and confusing story, but it was not. Ronie Kendig did a good job of laying out the story in a way that I could readily understand; all the different words were explained in a way that seemed natural in the storyline.
This being my first sci-fi opera book I truly did not know what to expect going in. I loved the characters, the plot, and being immersed in a world so different from the one we live in. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars for the creativity that went into coming up with all this, the well-developed and easy to follow characters, as well as the ending I am still reeling from. All that to say I was very emotionally invested in this story and now I can not wait to read the next book in this series.
*I received a copy of this book in return for my honest opinion. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
I’m not a big fan of science fiction novels, but I LOVE Ronie Kendig’s ability to tell a story, so I was really excited to read Brand of Light. I had no idea what I was stepping into when I read this novel. Kendig accomplishes the high fast pace of her novels in this book too. She starts the novel with an exciting incident with Kersei and then follows with destruction. The story made me want to keep reading. I wanted to know why Kersei ended up in the situation she was in. Why was it so important? Besides seeing her point of view, Kendig introduces readers to Tigo and Marco. I wandered what they had to do with the overall story. So I kept reading. They do play important parts. There is a hint of romance between Kersei and some guy, no spoilers here. There are a bunch of twists in the last ten percent of the novel, begging me to come back and read book two, which I definitely will be doing. Overall, Brand of Light by Ronie Kendig may take place on unfamiliar planets with different codes than Earth, but I still enjoy the ride to see what was happening and why. I believe fans of Kendig’s wriitng should pick up this book. It was a joy to spend time with.
I received a complimentary copy of Brand of Light by Ronie Kendig through Celebrate Lit tours, but the opinions stated are all my own.
Space Opera is a new genre for me. Was not sure how I was going to like it, but am a huge fan of Ronie Kendig so I had to give it a try and loved it!! The story takes off like rocket blasting into space and the ride never slows down. Now I’m sure I missed what some of the space jargon was, but it did not detract from the story. Characters are so well written that you come to love or hate them. The only part that was hard was how Ms. Kendig leaves you hanging at the end of the book. Can not wait for the next installment in this series!!
The author takes us into a world that is almost hard to imagine for this historical fiction lover. However, the deep and complex characters grabbed me and made me a part of their world! The adventure, and travel to different worlds exposes the reader to beauty that you can almost see. I was most fascinated by the symbolism of one world being technology free and another unable to exist without it. A lesson for all of us to learn, I expect.
The story of good versus evil, moral actions versus immoral behavior, even truth versus lies kept me on the edge of my seat wondering if our heroine, Kersei, would survive her experiences. Marco, the hunter, is easy to love as is Tigo, who has trouble following orders and yet continues to follow a high moral code. I’m quite sure the next installment of the Droseran Saga will take us further into this wonderful world!
I received this ebook through Enclave Publishing and CelebrateLit. The impressions and comments are my own.
Wow! No words for all the feels I had in this book. It’s a roller coaster ride through space full of mystery, adventure, and romance that had me begging for the next book. If you have any doubts about reading Ronie Kendig’s novel set in Outer Space…let me tell you, everything you love about her books is here x10!!! ! I was completely blown away…if there is one book you read this year, this is it!
Masterfully woven storytelling, artistically gorgeous from the front cover to the very ending. This is an epic series in the making that will stay long with me through the years. I do not say this lightly… It just surpassed my expectations and flew to the top of my list of best reads. If you read one book this year this is it! Yeah, it’s that good!
I purchased the hardcover, because it is fantastic! However, I also received an advanced reader copy from the author and publisher. All opinions are my own.
This story is BRILLIANT! The worldbuilding, the characters, the storyline, the pacing, it is EPIC!! I was sucked in from chapter one and I barely put the book down. And when the story ended? I may have shouted “Nooooo!” I was not ready for it to be over and I really need book 2, right now! I’m not sure that I have ever wanted to read a sequel as badly as I want to read this one! I am dying to see what happens next!
I loved so many things about this story, but I’ll keep this review about my two favorite characters, mainly because of spoilers. Marco…you really just can’t help but love everything about him! He’s a bounty hunter who has a heightened sense of smell, so much so that he can smell emotions, like fear or happiness. And, boy oh boy does this set us up for some really…intense situations, especially with Kersei! Speaking of Kersei, she is fierce, tough, immensely likable and perfect for Marco. Some of the things she goes through will just break your heart. I really want to say so much more, but I can’t or I will definitely head into spoiler territory.
Do yourself a favor and pick up this story! It is beautifully written, impossible to put down, and you will be sucked into this incredible world of which you will not want to leave!
I received a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.