Rogue's Christmas (Deep Sky Pirates #1) by Ryssa Edwards

Rogue's Christmas (Deep Sky Pirates #1) Reviews

• 
  Tam

  This review can be found at
  Brief Encounters Reviews
  
  This futuristic sci-fi story is set in a not too distant time, where the oceans have been poisoned during a world war and chemical’s put in the water leading to “meth children” who have paranormal powers. Nakhoda is on the run, facing probably certain death in custody, however a dirty cop hooks him up with the pirate Harlon. Harlon smuggles goods and runs a pleasure ship, a sky ship. He agrees to buy Nakhoda warrant, and after five years time, Nakoda will be a free man, if he can handle being the personal play thing of the captain for that time. Nakhota figures something’s up as the deal seems too good to be true, but his only other choice is prison, which means certain death.
  
  Harlon is not quite what Nakhoda expects. He’s one of the most feared pirates on earth and yet he’s kind to Nakhoda, not allowing the cop to threaten him and basically giving him a pretty cushy life if he follows some simple rules. The setting is futuristic enough to get the point, without huge info dumps although there is some background to explain the poisoned oceans and Nakhoda’s ”talent” which he really can’t control and which got him in trouble in the first place. When they leave during a rain storm, the action is tense due to the weather and Nakoda’s fear of being out in the rain in a taxi and then a helicopter, then his uncertainty on the ship in a new environment on top of the storm. It was really well done and I appreciated that the people on the ship were willing to share information with him to make his life easier. The attraction the two men feel for each other is also evident. Nakoda is a bit confused, he’s never felt so strongly about a man before, and Harlon comes across as totally smitten.
  
  Which is where my issues with this story lay. The men were together less than 24 hours, when Harlon asks him to stay forever and Nakohta has the most perfect life ever, the end. I would really have appreciated a much more happy for now ending rather than what felt like a forced happy ever after which just didn’t seem believable. I know it’s a short story, but I would much rather have seen a bit of Nakohta getting himself in a bit of trouble and the two men learning to live together rather than insta-love in order to fit a happy Christmas theme. I was also a bit confused at the end with the whole issue of why Harlon paid what he did and it seems he intended to sell Nakohta, then decided to keep him, or maybe he always meant to keep him. It was a bit of a roundabout conversation that left me feeling a bit lost.
  
  So I was really caught up in the world and enjoying the story until nearer the end when it raced too quickly to a perfect end for me. I think because of the interesting world building with pirates, and a hinted underground railroad type system for Meth people, I would have loved to see all that explored in a longer format, along with a slower build to the love of Harlon and Nakhoda. However I thought the writing was strong, I liked both men although you only get Nakhoda’s point of view. For fans who like a little sci-fi in their reading I think it’s a very good choice, if you don’t let the rushed HEA ending bother you. I still recommend it.
• 
  Serena Yates

  This is a futuristic story which begins to build quite an interesting world. I say ‘begin’ only because it is so short, and I wanted to see more. Luckily, it looks like it will become a series. The vision of the future isn’t entirely positive, and the few glimpses I got sounded depressingly realistic. The type of men able to survive and thrive in an environment like that will be fascinating to observe.
  
  Khoda, some kind of convict, tells this first story, He has some sort of psychic abilities and is wanted by the law. When his ‘contract’ gets bought by a ‘sky pirate’, his entire world changes and he doesn’t know what to expect. I learned as he did, and this definitely kept my interest. He is insecure and scared but has an irrepressible curiosity and a big mouth. Both get him into more trouble than fits into one short story and I hope he’ll be back in the next volume.
  
  Harlon is a big, bad pirate, with a body and attitude to match. He clearly has some dark secrets in his past as well, and Khoda keeps digging for them. Harlon however, will only reveal so much. For now. One of the biggest surprises is his need for intimacy and he is clearly willing to compromise with Khoda (up to a point) to get what he wants. A willing partner. The ending was surprisingly sweet.
  
  If you like futuristic stories and want to read about people driven into corners, if you like interesting, somewhat dark men, if a bit of mystery and trying to figure out what is going on appeals to you, and, oh, yes, if you have a soft spot for pirates, you will probably like this story.
  
  
  
  NOTE: This book was provided by Silver Publishing for the purpose of a review on
  Rainbow Book Reviews
• 
  Jax

  There're only minimal references to Christmas and the unexplained insta-connection between the MCs was a little strange, but this was an interesting world and characters. It told us just enough not to be lost, but I felt like there was a lot more to learn. I would read more if the author ever returns to this world.
• 
  Plainbrownwrapper

  3.5 stars, rounding up
  
  Wow, this story comes out of left field. Meaning that it's original and not immediately identifiable with most tropes/cliches/stereotypes, and not part of a series.
  
  This one'll be confusing to summarize. Hmmm. Futuristic/dystopic/almost blade-runner-ish setting, after world wars and biological warfare has poisoned the Earth's oceans and caused "Meth" mutations in the human population giving some people powers (like firestarting). Airships/flying barges are now common, and are often used for piracy/smuggling. Our MC, Khoda, is an unregistered Meth who is on the run both for being unregistered and for having injured someone with his Meth ability (burning). He is sold by a corrupt cop to a sky pirate, Harlon, ostensibly to be a cabin boy/sex slave. But it turns out that Harlon is actually smuggling Meths to a hidden city sanctuary, where a rebellion is planned. Whew.
  
  Unfortunately, it *looks* like this author published lots of stuff in 2011 and not much of anything before or since. This story was short but quite vivid, with lots of good worldbuilding details, and it would be nice to see what she'd do with it.
  
  Oh, and Christmas? Khoda is sold just before Christmas. Harlon has a penchant for playing Christmas carols in his cabin, has a tiny Christmas tree, and on the holodeck (essentially, it's not called that) he has a favored beach on which artificial snow falls and a holographic Santa flies over with his reindeer. ;-)
• 
  Emily

  I enjoyed this story. It was set in an interesting world that I’d love to read more about. My only complaint was that I felt like I missed something. Like there was a book before this that I needed to read first. I was dropped into this fantastical world with all these different types of people and terms and was totally clueless. If there’s not an earlier book, than this book should have had a bit more explanation of the world. Most of the terms were explained, but you’d get the details a bit at a time or later on in the story, so you spend parts of the story confused until you get an explanation. The ending is a bit abrupt too, and definitely leaves it open for future stories. I would love to read more about this world and these characters and would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for an interesting read.
• 
  Lady*M

  3.5 stars
  
  The book barely scratched the world and the characters, but, as a teaser for the series, it worked very well. I liked both men and I wanted to know more about them. The forced happy end knocked down the rating - I could believe the men were feeling powerful lust, but for Harlon to ask and Nakhoda to accept to stay on-board forever? No.
  
  I already like this author's writing, but I also know she can do much better in the short story (for example: Spinner, Johnny V and the Razor). I liked the concept very much though and I will read more about this world if the author writes about it.
• 
  S

  Such an interesting concept. Kind of a sky-bound, Waterworld without the boats, dystopian short story. There is so much going on in this world that there is not nearly enough time to set it all up properly, so as the reader you're left with more questions than answers. But the idea and writing are strong, and the characters are engaging, so I'm really waiting to see what Ryssa Edwards does next with this world.
  
  Christmas story? Not so much. But who cares when the idea is this original?
• 
  Sadonna

  Interesting and completely unexpected. I don't really know how to describe it, but it's quite hot and romantic in it's own way. It's a dystopian, sci-fi type story - with Christmas kind of as an afterthought but who cares? I would love to read more about this world - really just scratches the surface here, but I like it!
• 
  Meggie

  The start into this new series was interesting and well written. The short plot pulled me into and I wished, it wouldn't be so short. Truth to be told, the characters were simply to undeveloped to make better judgment about them, but so far they were interesting. I hope we will see more about them.
• 
  Tamela

  Too bad this was a short story. I really like the idea of deep sky pirates. I'm going to have to see if there are more stories out there. Liked the characters but sorry there wasn't enough time to really get to know them.
• 
  MsMiz (Tina)

  I will definitely read more from this world. This story is a nice taste of things to come with our deep space pirates.
• 
  Adrianamae

  wanted more of this story
• 
  Mistral

  3.5 stars