Soldier Mine by Amber Kell

soldiermine_800Title: Soldier Mine

Series: The Thresl Chronicles #1

Author: Amber Kell

Genre: MM / Science Fiction

Length: Novella

Publisher: Total E-Bound

Reviewer: Thommie

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥4.5Hearts

Blurb: When Kreslan is attacked, little does he know the shapeshifting beast who saves him will completely change his life.

When Kreslan Piers is attacked in the cargo hold, he is rescued by a rare shape-shifting beast who transforms into the reincarnated leader of an entire planet. Will Kreslan be willing to give up his dream of being an ordinary soldier to partner with an extraordinary creature?

Vohne has been named by his human half, and the longer they’re together the more he’s remembering the details of their previous lives—lives he shared with Kreslan before watching him die. When they reach the Thresl home planet, Vohne has to break the news to his skittish mate that they not only does he belong to Vohne, but he is fated to be his other half for the rest of eternity.

Product Link: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=2018

Review: Whoa! Damn, what a fascinating book, what an idea and an incredible world has Ms. Kell created here. I abso-freaking-lutely loved this book.

Kreslan is a low ranking soldier who is having quite some difficulties in his current task as the spoiled, brat son of an Admiral keeps pushing his limits and abusing him every chance he got. It is like that Kreslan finds himself in another difficult position, when said brat along with two other friends of his tries to beat Kreslan to pulp, and all that would have happened but for a strange creature called a Thresl.

Thresls are cat-like creatures.  They bond with humans of their choice and when that happens they change form forever assimilating a more human-friendly one, creating a pair to be truly feared. Due to the rarity of their bonds they are highly wanted and at a great price, mostly for very rich people/politicians. When one of these creatures saves Kreslan from certain death, it quickly becomes obvious that his troubles have just begun. His military career is now over and Kreslan has to wrap his mind over the fact that he’ll never become a captain in a ship and have a normal life, a husband and well, whatever he has ever dreamed before is now over. He is now the mate of a Thresl who appears to be bigger and stronger than the others of his kind.

What Kreslan never imagined though is that the Thresl he is now bonded with is the very King of the all Thresls and he therefore he is the King-Mate. A very powerful position to be and an even more dangerous one, as many are willing not only to capture the King for their own agendas, but many want his death so they can take his place.

I can’t say how much in love I am with this book. I loved the Thresls as a species and more so Vohne, their king and Kreslan’s mate. The idea behind was that the species are in animalistic form until they bond with a human and shift to a human-like one, gain speech and can from there on evolve. The Thresl half not only shifts to his human’s needs but he also enhances and strengthens him. So we literally witness in this book how Vohne changes from a feral creature to a man who slowly loses that extreme violence and Kreslan on the other hand becomes stronger, more possessive and a bit more violent. The gradual transformation is perfectly balanced to the needs of the plot as things go more and more dangerous for this epic couple.

The background story is also very intriguing. The incarnations both Kreslan and Vohne have suffered over the millennia and the conspiracy behind the last hundred years that the King couldn’t reincarnate and claim his throne was fantastic. Personally I would’ve liked a bit more length in this book if only to allow some emotions to flow through. As it was, the entire story pace was bit too fast, too furious and left questions unanswered. It also left a serious hole in our pair’s relationship as they went from strangers to full-blown mates killing for each other in the blink of an eye, and I being I, wanted a bit more quality time for Vohne and Kreslan.

However Soldier Mine, being the first book in the series, was extremely hooking and the need to get all the rest of the books and inhale ‘em in one go is quite strong. So going on and recommending this book to you after all the above seem a bit unnecessary yet, if you love sci-fi and cat-like creatures, intelligent shifters and great action plot, there you go, this book has it all. Enjoy!

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