Nocturnal Book Reviews: Ambasadora by Heidi Ruby Miller review

Ambasadora by Heidi Ruby Miller review

Tuesday, September 27, 2011 | Posted by kara-karina@Nocturnal Book Reviews

Ambasadora by Heidi Ruby Miller

won from the author at LovLivLife Reviews

Synopsis from Goodreads
If everyone told you love wasn't real, would you still be willing to die for it?

Citizens of a six-moon system in our arm of the Milky Way don't remember Earth, only the History of a generational worldship culture. In their multi-partner society a caste system rules tradition, but the governing body of the Embassy rules everything else. Obsessed with celebrity, beauty, and power, relationships and conceptions are based more on DNA than emotional ties...or should be.

What the citizenry can't escape are the human feelings of love and jealousy that turn the sterile to honorable suicide, force a couple to make the ultimate sacrifice, and allow rebels to spin their world into a violent revolution.

Ambasadora Sara Mendoza becomes the unwilling face of this revolution. Captured, tortured, and given a second chance at freedom, she proves that sacrifice for the man she loves is more honorable than sacrifice to a society's antiquated mores.
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Boy, I was so not expecting this book to hit me over the head. I really really like it, and I'm officially on sci-fi binge after Silver Shark as you can see.

First of all, the imagery of the book doesn't deserve this plastic cover. I imagine more of Cliff Neilsen luminous art to describe the look of Sara Mendoza.

I can't believe this book was written as a thesis work on sci-fi. Delightfully twisted world. There is no clarity of Ilona Andrews in it, more of hazy madness of Blade Runner.

Sara starts up as a naive debutante who only thinks about her marriage to Chen, her Rogue partner. Then couple of pages after she is on the run from the government agents being set up by Chen and left to fend for herself.

She spends a month tortured, scarred beyond any recognition and tripping out of her mind on strongest hallucinogens in the hands of an evil female contractor, Faya, all because a mad Sovereign thinks she conspired against him with the Fraggers (rebels).

Then he decides to blackmail her into becoming his spy on a ship suspected in fraggers activity.. She undergoes reconstructive surgery and becomes one of the Embassy's Ambasadoras - diplomats with beautiful live light designs on their arms.

The rest is an absolutely wild and brutal ride rigged with layers of intrigues, betrayals, assassins and fight to survive and regain Sara's sanity.

There are quite a few main characters - Sara, Sean - the ship's tech, David - ex-military and the ship's captain, enigmatic contractor Rainer and many more. They are engaging and different, - none of them are there to just fill the space.

There is also no romance the way we used to it. Instead there are two paranoid and scarred individuals who become close to each other. There are also plenty relationships around them.

I'm being as cagey as possible because I don't want to give away more than I already have, but this is a book certainly worth reading if you love a dash through space with laser guns and totally alien reality. Wonderful sci-fi. I'm in love!

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Классная научная фантастика! Её не сравнить с фокусом и чистотой мыслей Илоны и Гордона Эндрюс. Скорее это безумная гонка как у Васильева, с сумасшедшим сюжетом и совершенно ненормальными персонажами как в Бегущем по лезвию бритвы.

Очень интересно выписанный мир, о котором бы хотелось разузнать больше. Архаичные в чём-то обычаи, кастовая система и мятежники, тайно пытающиеся свергнуть безумного правящего Соверена.

Сара Мендоза, наивная деютантка, оказывается не в том месте не в то время, схвачена контрактниками Соверена, её пытают и над ней издеваются, обезображивают и накачивают сильнейшими галлюциногенами в течение месяца, пытаясь заставить признаться в связи с мятежниками (фраггерами).

Потом Соверен решает, что он всё равно её использует, даже если она невиновна. Ей наращивают с помощью востанавливающей хирургии новое красивое тело и дизайн из живых световых организмов на руку и объявляют Амбасадорой - неким дипломатом от Соверена. Её отправляют на один из кораблей с исследователями, чтобы выявить кто на нём фраггер.

Но единственная цель Сары - это выжить и сбежать от Соверена. Начинается сумасшедшая гонка с интригой на интриге, тайнами фраггеров, попытками её убить со стороны тех, кто её предал, одержимостью загадочного контрактора Рэйнера и робкими налаживающимися отношениями с техником корабля - Шоном...

Несмотря на безумие и брутальность книги, очень советую!

8.5/10