Ravyn's Flight

Having read Day of Fire by Kathleen Nance and The Legend of Banzai Maguire by Susan Grant, I immediately pre-ordered Shadow Chasers by Liz Maverick, Grant's finale to Dorchester's 2176 series, The Scarlet Empress, and the fifth in the series,The Power of Two by Patti O'Shea. While I ordered, I noticed I had somehow missed O'Shea's debut book Ravyn's Flight, so I had to have it. If this is a preview of her style of writing, I cannot wait to get to her book in the 2176 series. This novel is amazing. There is such great talent in the Futuristic Romance genre, Robin D. Owen, C.J. Barry, Grant, but these new voices such as Robin T. Popp and Patti O'Shea are sounding they are a force that is here to stay. I just finished Popp's Too Close To The Sun and she blew me away. After reading such a great book as that, it's harder to come on the heels and impress me as much. Yet from page one that is precisely what O'Shea's book did! It's a strong story with such great female characters, but the males are just as vividly created, formed with such insight and emotion. The main story centers on Ravyn Vedier. She is the communication expert on a team of 20 CAT specials - they go in and investigate if a planet is uninhabitable - or so they believe. They were sent to Jarved Nine, which is strangely like Earth in terrain, air etc. The only thing keeping this planet from being labeled a prime target for human habitation is the Old City. A town built for about 20,000 to 50,000 people, perfect in every way, but no people. When Ravyn visited the Old City, she found it in pristine condition, just as if the people walked off. The intriguing riddle soon takes second place in her mind as she faces mind-bending horror. She is down in the subbasement of the CAT facility, no more than 45 minutes, and returns to find her 19 CAT mates slaughter in a gruesome fashion and grotesquely arrange in the pattern of a flower. Damon Brody and his team of six Special Ops force are on the other side of the Jarved Nine when the distress call comes from the CAT team. They arrive, discovers the slaughter, and fear all are dead. Damon finds a terrified Ravyn covered in blood and hiding in under her bed. He sets his men to secure to building while he tries to get answers out of Ravyn. Damon makes her a cup of tea and finally gets a few shaky replies from her, immediately going on alert when Ravyn insists she did not set off the emergency distress beacon. They rush to find his men, and come upon what Damon fears. His team is slaughtered in the same fashion as the other 19, this time arranged like a lightning bolt. Grabbing what they can carry to survive, they are left on their for three weeks until a military rescue mission is launched to find them. The only place left for protection is the Old City. They have to get there before the killer stalking them runs them to ground. It's their growing to trust of the other, which makes the grueling pace bearable. Colonel Alex Sullivan is Ravyn'

In her wonderfully inventive futuristic romance, Ravyn's Flight, Patty O'Shea creates compelling, complex characters, an action-packed plot and steamy romance. Ravyn Verdier is a highly trained CAT (Colonization Assessment Team) communications expert on the earthlike planet Jarved Nine. Her whole team is murdered by a mysterious alien life form, and when a nearby Western Alliance Special Operations team comes to the rescue, they too are murdered. Only their captain, Damon Brody, and Ravyn manage to escape the slaughter. As they try to outrun the killer and head toward the planet's magical Old City, their skills, character and emotions are tested to the limit. It is fascinating to watch the very sensual and realistic development of Ravyn and Damon's relationship. It is also fun to watch the fireworks between Ravyn's brother Alex and her best friend Stacey as the two lock horns while their team and ship race to Jarved Nine to find out what is wrong.With excellent writing and very intriguing plot twists around Ravyn and Damon harnessing and using the energy of Jarved Nine both to develop themselves psychically and to trap the killer, Ravyn's Flight soars above similar stories. It is a complex and emotional ride to which any plot summary cannot begin to do justice. Whether you normally like futuristic romance or not, this stellar novel is well worth your time.

Oh what coward. If her brother, Alex, could see her now, he would be so ashamed. First, the whole Colonization Assessment Team was killed right under her nose, and she did nothing. Then the leader of the Spec Ops team found her under her bunk. Then all of his men were killed too. Now there are just the two of them left on Jarved Nine, and the hope of rescue is weeks away. The thoughts that pounded through Rayvn Verdier were full of self-recrimination and self-loathing. Her brother had trained her far better than any of the training that the CAT members received, and she did nothing to protect them.She felt Very much like an unworthy burden. Yeah, she could pull her own weight, but how long before the danger returned and she crumbled into uselessness again? How long until her fear caused her to fail Captain Brody? For eight months everything was going well, but now the rest of the team is dead. The horrible nightmares won't stop, and they are draining any strength she might have possessed. It is just she and Captain Brody alone on this planet, and not only is she battered by fear, but also by this compulsive attraction to her rescuer. But then, maybe they are not totally alone. After all, there is a killer stalking them. Damon Brody is a survivor. A highly trained member of the Alliance's elite Special Operations, he is a soldier of impeccable reputation. He has been well trained and disciplined. Through all the battles he has been in he has never faced, or been prepared for what he has found here. The distress beacon called him and his men from the far side of Jarved Nine, but they were too late. Nineteen members of the CAT project are dead, brutally murdered and mutilated. One lone female has survived. Making matters much worse, his men are gone too, murdered just like the CAT team.Complicating matters even more, he is starting to feel a very unsettling attraction for the survivor, Rayvn. He needs to protect her, to keep them both safe and alive until help can arrive from Earth...that help may be a minimum of at least three weeks away. Three weeks, and then only if Earth heard the emergency beacon. He doesn't need any emotional entanglements now, or ever. He isn't a trustworthy person, he's made too many bad decisions in the past, and the guilt weighs heavily on his conscience. The Old City is their best bet for safety and he is determined to get them there. What he doesn't understand is this feeling, this compulsion, to get to the Old City. He doesn't understand the strange dreams either... Welcome to the world of Patti O'Shea. Earth has been in a global struggle and has been divided into two factions, who seem to fight at the drop of a hat. The military is under funded, and has taken to space to try to find advanced technology to finally win the wars, and they use the civilian colonization teams as their cover. For those of us who enjoy futuristic romance, you will find Rayvn's Flight to be a top notch read. Patti has built a world of exceptio

Even readers who don't normally go for futuristics (like me) will be completely drawn into this story from the very first page and will (also like me) be unable to put it down. Fast-paced, vivid and original, Ravyn's Flight is the very best that the genre has to offer. The elemental conflict of one couple versus an unknown killer is riveting-- I bit my fingernails to nubs during the first couple of chapters! Ms. O'Shea has a gift for narration; her characters are charming and believable; you can't help but fall in love with them. I can't believe this is her first book!

If you like futuristic romance, you're going to love this book! Ravyn Verdier is alone on Jarved Nine - all her co-workers have been mysteriously and brutally murdered. A Special Ops team headed by Damon Brody arrives to assist - and the same unknown killer strikes all but Damon. Ravyn and Damon must flee before it's too late. Heading for an abandoned city, they come to realize that their only hope for survival is each other - and that only by working together will they be able to defeat this menace. This debut book ROCKS. I have never read a more completely entertaining futuristic. I recommend it highly and will be watching for Ms. O'Shea's future works with great impatience.