Title: Volunteered to the Future
Series: The Secret Art of Failure #1
Author: H. B. Kurtzwilde
Genre: Science Fiction / Space Opera
ISBN: 978-1-62300-558-0
Length: Novel (256 pages)
Publisher: Loose Id (December 2nd, 2013)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3.5 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: Kourt Crowe, the last remaining Servitor assassin, also a shape-shifter, lives to restore the lost golden age of the Fellowship of Servitors. His first husband died over a century ago, and, since then, he’s been fighting his battles alone. This next battle may be more than he bargained for, as he finds himself head-to-head and body-to-body with a promising, but troubled human student.
Evicted from his college for broken vows, self-described five-star hottie Kato Giovanni isn’t ready to hang up his dreams. With his razor-sharp mind and native genius for theoretical mathematics, he convinces badass Master Kourt to take him on as a student. He wants to learn. Really, he does. But he can’t help testing all of his teacher’s boundaries.
Product Link: http://www.loose-id.com/the-secret-art-of-failure.html
Review: This is perhaps the most challenging book I’ve read on account to understanding terms and writing a review that does it justice. The blurb might seem easy as pie, but trust me this is a book that requires all of your attention, all of your imagination, and a great deal of general understanding of things. Trying to see this book and make sense of it with something that you’ve felt, lived, or seen before in your life, while doable, it’s quite difficult to do.
From my understanding, you must read the Guide to Survival series in order to comprehend a bit about Kourt’s previous life with his lover and the word/worlds in which he travels and exists.
As for this book, my comprehension of it comes down to the point that Servitors are in touch with their inner “chi” aka telsma. Others, who couldn’t reach the telsma, went on research and sources, reading and proofing every truth in life, and there are the ones in between. These people live their life in constant training and discipline in order to be true servitors of the greater good.
Adjusting this with our own reality, it makes me think of university nerds versus military guys. Books vs. activity, knowing vs. doing etc.
Vanni is a special human striving to be a Servitor. He can analyze and mathematically see truths. I can’t even say it in words now, but he is unique when it comes to one talent he has, that of Speech, that translates on Vanni being able to do all sorts of things, from talking with every creature he comes in contact with (even trees for crying out loud) to see the truth behind those words.
The universities tried to manipulate him into making a vow with a student so that he could pass that knowledge, but being not a Master yet he couldn’t make the false vow, hence it broke his own vow with his own college. Of course the masters didn’t want to take responsibility for being idiots and downright stupid, so they out-casted him, resulting to Vanni being taken by yet another extraordinary Master who is himself a bit of an outcast, or rebel as he claims. However, this new Master will challenge all of Vanni’s learning and end-up breaking everything in order to rebuild him from scratch the proper way of a Servitor.
I really, really am having trouble saying a summary of this book with my own words. Half of the book I had no idea what on earth was going on and that doesn’t help. Honestly, I only started making sense of some things from 50% onward. End result?
I liked the characters. I want more of them. I’m guessing I’ll have more of them when book #2 comes out.
Kourt was weird; he’s not human, but he can take the shape of one. His personality is all over the place and nowhere. He is so multi-dimensional I can’t begin to count. He’s still very charming in his complex, very alluring as a character. As I said, I want more and in the end, I felt as if this book ended right about the time I started making sense and understanding what’s going on.
Same goes with Vanni with the difference that I have a better image of him in my head. I can actually picture Vanni and say he’s one hot guy, though quite stupid in his genius. Ah! That’s the best description I have for him. He’s like this super talented, genius kid, that remains naïve as a kid. One moment you see him making leaps in learning, the next he’s having quite the trouble understanding simple things like emotion and letting go. Vanni also suffers for a great deal of brainwashing due to his training with Masters that were incapable to train him properly, therefore all his learning is by half.
The sex part here, surprise-surprise, confused and frustrated the heck out of me. Hot as it was, it was still in the same level of what-the-heck-is-going-on with the rest of the story and plot.
The only thing I can add to this review at this point is that this is the first book that was such a hardship reading it, yet I never wanted to stop and mostly when the end came, I got pissed because it ended. I feel like a masochist that can’t have enough of its punishment, because said punishment is so freaking good.