Please be aware that this is updated with a professionally edited file from the originalcover art is a new temporary image I have made until the cited cover artist finished with the new professional cover.Sara First contact changed things on Earth. It opened possibilities that were never before possible. In what started as a trip to participate in an cooperative study, Sara found herself a test … cooperative study, Sara found herself a test subject for breeding compatibility by a species known as the Agraak. Determined that she would not submit to be bred and relocated to serve as a breeder for the rest of her life, she escaped into the wilds of a hostile subarctic planet. Not knowing who to trust, and almost dying on the ice flows, she is rescued by a male larger than life whom her body craves.
Vidok
A warrior-priest of the VaDorok, Vidok had long given up hope of finding his ulukska, his mate. When he finds a tiny female offworlder on the ice flows of the far northern territory who brings forth his mating heat, his life changes. To keep her, he not only has to help her save her companions, but must also risk their love facing repercussions among his tribe and the Intergalactic Council.
*trigger-warning: the first two chapters contain elements involving rape
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*WARNING* contains explicit adult sexual situations, violence, and rape
Sara got more than she bargained for when she signed up to leave Earth. Sara did NOT volunteer to be a pris and unwilling breeder to some disgusting aliens.
Vidok was out hunting when he heard the saddest most soul rendering cry he had ever heard. Vidok had to go see if there was anything he could do to help the poor creature that was so distressed.
This is such a great start to a series. The characters are wonderful. There are one that you’ll love to hate of course. The world building for the VaDorok is so good, you’ll want to shiver! I like this mostly because the way these aliens are described would make them seem vicious, but they are mostly peaceful. It’s the Earth leaders here that do the “highway robbery” in the end (go figure). This is also a beautiful story of how much beings will give up for love and far beings will go. RECOMMENDED!
Just how far are you willing to go for love and the freedom to choose?
THE BLURB
Sara volunteered to be involved in a cooperative study with aliens, only to quickly discover that the scientific endeavour was a ruse. She was captured and forced into a facility, learning that she was to become a breed mare for a highly aggressive alien species. She wasn’t willing to let her life end that way, so she took her one chance at escape. Finding herself in a winter scape, she becomes accidentally trapped on an ice flow. Freezing to death…
Vidok has become his clans warrior priest only he’s missing his ulukska, or mate. The other half of his soul. Years have passed him by and he’s given up hope of finding that one being that he will connect with. Until he stops a small creature collapsed on the ice. He’s instantly smitten. But it’s going to be harder to keep her than he realises.
TONE OF THE BOOK
The VaDorok is a neutral toned novel. There is little humour to lighten the mood. The first few chapters are the darkest, essentially encouraging the main characters to seek out change in their lives.
SENSITIVE TOPICS
The first few chapters introduces a number of highly sensitive scenes of captivity and rape.
There are a number of erotica (consensual) moments throughout the novel.
SERIES SYNOPSIS
The VaDorok is the first novel in The Mate Index series. As of mid-2021 there are nine published novels and several shorter novellas in the series.
The novel is 174 pages long, making it slightly shorter than the average romance novel (at 300 pages).
The VaDorok itself ends with a happily ever after for the heroes however the world-story continues over several novels, each of which features different couples. You can read more about the series at The Mate Index Series Review page.
REVIEW
I both enjoyed reading The VaDorok and had some aspects that I rather disliked.
The beginning begins somewhat tense, covering some sensitive topics such as a rape scene. For some readers it may be a bit tense, but truly highlights how skilled S. J. Sander’s is at writing high tension scenes.
Thankfully I found that the tension quickly drops off to leave a somewhat low tensioned middled of the book. It’s this part of the novel that I had some issues with; the lack of tension and pacing at this point left the book somewhat lacking and at a number of times I felt like it should have ended midway. The tension returns towards the end, but it took me some effort to keep reading at the midpoint.
The characters and world that Sander’s has created has some intricate depths that just invite you to explore more. Despite the story being set primarily in a frozen ice world, the environment is rich with life and danger. The native culture is complex and as a reader you get up close and personal with several unique laws and behaviours that you will both love and hate.
The VaDorok is an excellent novel at introducing a universe filled with life, unique and diverse alien and animal species. Each face their own challenges and as a result have drastically differing cultures.
FINAL WORD
I both enjoyed and disliked The VaDorok, finding a strange pacing with the action and adventure. I found the first novel The VaDorok a strange let down to the entire series, which in itself is highly addictive. I highly recommend continuing the series, reading The VaDorok mostly as an introduction to the universe.
Definitely an intriguing universe and… just buy it!
First of all, I’ve read a lot of alien/human romance novels, especially of the abduction kind. Compared to contemporary romance novels, I have enjoyed the mate index genre more so because of the endless number of plot line possibilities if the authors choose to do so. That being said, writing about our interactions with extraterrestrials is far tougher than it seems. It’s not like you can easily write exposition based on personal experience (usually!) like me having lived and worked in interesting locations because of my job. (Damnation!) It takes far more research and imagination to create a universe with its own set of “rules” in which to operate in. The hardest part? Making it feel believable and realistic.
The biggest disappointment I had with this book is that one can’t always rely on a universal translator to get away with all sorts of Earther colloquialisms being used by extraterrestrials within their own thought processes. You can get away with words but clichés? Usually, the amount used in this book would had been a major turnoff… but surprisingly enough, this book had far more other redeeming qualities that didn’t make me “return” my KU borrowed book back into “circulation”, so to speak.
I’m always for big, furry, and horny (on more than one level) aliens that are female respectful-forward. In other words, females aren’t disposable. S.J. Sanders did an excellent job in writing credible extraterrestrials without sounding hokey and formulaic. She definitely spent time working on this planet and its culture. Imagine a race of beings that are Luddite Lite, preferring to keep things as natural as possible but not necessarily be ignorant of technology. It made me feel this race was far wiser than they would normally appear to outsiders, realizing what was inherently important to them and sticking with these convictions as closely as possible. This is not easy to write, believe you me.
I really liked the DaVorok race, Vodok, and Sara. They were very interesting characters to watch unfold personality-wise as I read this book. The DaVorok is an intriguing race, one that I’ve not seen done before, and S.J. Sanders maintained a solid realism that didn’t disrupt my suspension of disbelief which is very important in science fiction romance writing.
If there were some areas I wished could had been better addressed was the DaVorokian (is this your work, S.J.?) pantheon. I mean, if I had such a seriously ginormous spiritual revelation, I would have spent a little more time than just one paragraph regarding Sara’s moment of enlightenment, and I would have better examined how she managed to incorporate this new-found sense of honor and responsibility in her living and working life. I mean, most people only pay lip service to their religion. The DaVorok did what the Old Norse did – they lived it. Religion and spirituality do not need to be expressed as proselytizing but rather through revelation. This was definitely a miss but not enough to keep me from buying this book.
I was so impressed by this book that I automatically purchased it (rather than KU) as well as its following two ebooks because I knew I would enjoy them. I encourage you to do the same… at least, check them out if you have KU. I have gone back to this book and reread it twice (as well as the rest) because I enjoyed it that much.
First in series and first read by this author.
I really enjoyed this book, it was a great new story on a well used and well loved sci fintrope…abducted brides…to repopulate the many ‘femaleless’ species of the universe. Human women are discovered to be able to breed with most species and as a result are a hot commodity.
The authors spin on this, world building and writing style was a pure enjoyment and I really liked the yeti/cat/dragon-esq Vadorok. Who doesn’t like a Gruff furry beastie as a love interest.
My only grumble is a minor bug bear.. there was a lot of time jumps ( and happenings within that I would have loved to have ‘witnessed’) yes yes yes I know we can’t have every minutia… but I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for the human interviews with chancellor.
Trigger warnings for those who need them..and minor editing problems, that I found, didn’t impact on the story..as I was too engrossed in it to care.
I’m very much looking forward to continuing this series and reading more from this author.