Games of Command
By Linnea Sinclair
Bantam - March 2007
Science Fiction Romance
The war between the United Coalition and the Triad is over. An Alliance, in its tenuous beginnings, has been formed. As part of the negotiations, crew members from each side were being reassigned and integrated together. Captain Tasha "Sass" Sebastian learns that she has been reassigned to join the crew of the Vaxxar. This would have been an exciting opportunity for Sass, until she finds out that Admiral Branden Kel-Paten had insisted on this.
Sass and Kel-Paten had had many run-ins over the past years. Not only in her position as Captain during the war, but also her undercover "Lady Sass" operations. It was possible that Kel-Paten had learned about her other identity, but it was impossible to tell with Kel-Paten. In fact, Kel-Paten had the ability to never betray his thoughts. He was, after all, the Triad's best warrior, engineered and programmed to be so. He was the Tin Soldier.
As a teenager, Branden Kel-Paten had been taken and changed into an abomination. His arms and legs were a meshing of wires, and artificial skin. He had the ability to plug in and interface directly with computers. He had been programmed with emotion inhibitors. He was a biocybernetic Admiral who should not have any vulnerabilities. Yet he did. And her name was Sebastian.
I absolutely fell in love with Games of Command, and especially Branden Kel-Paten. This book is steeped in Science Fiction. Kel-Paten and Sass are searching, and find Jace Serafino. When they do, Sass and her best friend Dr. Eden Fynn, who had come on the Vax with her, learn of a conspiracy that could threaten the Alliance, and Kel-Paten may be at the heart of it. Sass also worries that Jace could reveal her past to Kel-Paten.
It is the romance between Kel-Paten and Sass that is the true highlight of this story. Branden is the epitome of what I want from a hero in a romance novel. He is absolutely in love with his heroine, and has been for years. He is shy, and tentative in his approach to her, after all, he is not supposed to have feelings such as love. But he does, and if this were to be discovered by the wrong people, then the biggest threat would be to himself. Any reader who loves Science Fiction will love this story, hope that there may be more set in this "universe", and want to have a "furzel" of their own.
Note - Games of Command is a rewrite and combination of two books - the previously published Command Performance (Jace and Eden's story), and the never published Command Decision (Kel-Paten and Sass's story). Although the first half of the book follows Command Performance, Games of Command allows for the completion of the story. It'll appease readers of Command Performance who have been wanting Kel-Paten and Sass's story, and for new readers, they'll simply enjoy a fantastic read.
Kathy Andrico - ReaderToReader.com
