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Mercenary Instinct
(The Mandrake Company #1)
by
Skulking around in the ruins on a planet swarming with treasure hunters, slavers, and bounty hunters isn’t good for one’s health. But Ankari Markovich needs a few archaeological samples for her latest business venture, a venture that might prove lucrative enough to move her family off the impoverished planet where she grew up. Unfortunately, she has no sooner collected her
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Start your review of Mercenary Instinct (Mandrake Company, #1)
Captain Grumpy... LOL
A really, really fun and action packed story!
Ankari, an enterprising girl, with her two friends/business associates, is captured by mercenaries after a bounty issued by a Finance Lord.
The leader of mercenaries is the hot grumpy captain, Victor.
As we came to expect from SF romance stories, Victor is attracted to Ankari. He’s a honorable man trying to remain honorable even in his new profession and he “rules” his crew with the same attitude.
Ankari is a very determinate to mak ...more
A really, really fun and action packed story!
Ankari, an enterprising girl, with her two friends/business associates, is captured by mercenaries after a bounty issued by a Finance Lord.
The leader of mercenaries is the hot grumpy captain, Victor.
As we came to expect from SF romance stories, Victor is attracted to Ankari. He’s a honorable man trying to remain honorable even in his new profession and he “rules” his crew with the same attitude.
Ankari is a very determinate to mak ...more
3.5 STARS!
It was maybe a little too long in parts, and with all the 'adventuring', the romance took a bit of a backseat, but overall a very decent read.
"Letting you go when there's such a sizable bounty on your head would be . . . problematic."Lots of fun! If you like sci-fi adventure, you should check this one out. It made for some entertaining, easy reading - and best of all, Ruby Lionsdrake is a very decent writer.
It was maybe a little too long in parts, and with all the 'adventuring', the romance took a bit of a backseat, but overall a very decent read.
If you take Romance as the main genre and Sci-fi as a qualifier, you'll do okay with your expectations of this story. I had a bit of a cheat going in, as I already know I liked the author from a separate penname and thus had my expectations set more or less squarely. And I wasn't disappointed.
I liked Ankari pretty much immediately. She's determined, courageous, and capable and a good leader for her mismatched team. She's trying to turn an idea into a business and willing to take some risks along ...more
I liked Ankari pretty much immediately. She's determined, courageous, and capable and a good leader for her mismatched team. She's trying to turn an idea into a business and willing to take some risks along ...more
Definitely a meh experience. A very thin plot, cardboard characters, evil mustache-twirling cartoonish villain, instalove.
Skimmed a few paragraphs.
Skimmed a few paragraphs.
Jun 20, 2020
ⒶH-ℳℰⒾ ♔♚♛Queen Of The Fat Cats♛♚♔
marked it as to-read
♥Freebie to own even without KU♥
and rest of series is KU
♥*kisses kindle unlimited app*♥
Guys! You don't need to own an Kindle, just download the app to your tablet or phone.
and rest of series is KU
♥*kisses kindle unlimited app*♥
Guys! You don't need to own an Kindle, just download the app to your tablet or phone.
New series for a favorite author under a new name...Lindsay Buroker is now writing adult alien scifi fantasy under the name Ruby Lionsdrake. Come to find out I had already owned 2 of the books, so I decided to check them out and am loving this new series.
The Mandrake Company is a mercenary ship for hirer. In Mercenary Instinct, Captain Viktor Mandrake collects the bounty on Ankari Markovich and her fellow crewmates. But Viktor quickly discovers that the women in his care can't be wanted for the ...more
The Mandrake Company is a mercenary ship for hirer. In Mercenary Instinct, Captain Viktor Mandrake collects the bounty on Ankari Markovich and her fellow crewmates. But Viktor quickly discovers that the women in his care can't be wanted for the ...more
3.5/5; 4 stars; B+
This was a fun kind of space adventure with humour, romance and action. I enjoyed the characters and the plot. I am looking forward to reading more in the series.
Thanks to my GR friend Mei for the recommendation!
This was a fun kind of space adventure with humour, romance and action. I enjoyed the characters and the plot. I am looking forward to reading more in the series.
Thanks to my GR friend Mei for the recommendation!
This book is sci-first light. No deep emotions, no deep mystery, no deep explanations, simplistic world-building. It is superficial which makes it difficult to care very much for these characters.
Originally published at Reading Reality
Some of the reviews compare Mercenary Instinct to Firefly, and it's a pretty fair starting point. Possibly an alternate universe Firefly. It's not that Mal Reynolds couldn't end up as cynical and universe-weary as Victor Mandrake (he pretty much did) but that I can't imagine Mal creating or leading a successful mercenary company with 200+ people on its payroll. He wasn't that organized, nor did he want to be in charge of quite that much. (Zoe, on the other ...more
Some of the reviews compare Mercenary Instinct to Firefly, and it's a pretty fair starting point. Possibly an alternate universe Firefly. It's not that Mal Reynolds couldn't end up as cynical and universe-weary as Victor Mandrake (he pretty much did) but that I can't imagine Mal creating or leading a successful mercenary company with 200+ people on its payroll. He wasn't that organized, nor did he want to be in charge of quite that much. (Zoe, on the other ...more
🎁 FREE on Amazon today (6/19/2020)! 🎁
This was a fun adventure where a group of feisty woman intersect with some guns-for-hire with unexpected results. There was a good amount of snark, and a fair bit of smexy scenes too (could have been hotter). The intrigue and fighting scenes were above average, and no one did anything stupid - except the bad guy, he was a bit lame.
This is the first in a series from an author I enjoy, so I'll be reading the next one.
This is the first in a series from an author I enjoy, so I'll be reading the next one.
Fun space opera romp. But some of the early half of the book was a little uncomfortable on the whole how to treat female prisoners front.
This is actually a fun, frothy sci-fi romance, but I would have enjoyed it far more if I hadn't read just about every single thing Ruby Lionsdrake had written under her other name, Lindsay Buroker. I'm not sure whether it's fair to the book or not, since the bulk of my criticisms have to do with its similarities to the author's other works under a different name, but I simply can't avoid the comparisons.
The fact that I've loved almost everything Lindsay Buroker had written is why I tried this d ...more
The fact that I've loved almost everything Lindsay Buroker had written is why I tried this d ...more
This was the inaugural pick for the Smart Podcast Trashy Books book club. Let's hope the next selection is a better fit for me. Lots of plot holes, poor character development, and the world-building needed more development. Power dynamics desperately needed to be addressed and never were. And I could have done without the sexism and gender stereotypes. I ended up doing a lot of skimming because it either didn't make sense or it wasn't holding my attention. If you're able to completely suspend di
...more
This was a fun read and I did enjoy it, but I found a few too many similarities between Akarai and Mandrake and some of the author's other characters written under her other pen name. Also, some of the settings and the action seemed familiar. I guess when one has devoured every other book an author has ever written that it is inevitable that there will be some crossover of plots. I will read the rest of the series.
This was probably the best free book I've ever downloaded. I don't read a lot of scifi but not for any real reason other than I don't hear of too many. I loved the H in this book. Viktor was a complete badass. The h, Ankari, was full of surprises and definitely wasn't a weakling waiting to be rescued. I plan on continuing with this series.
I'd seen quite a few good reviews of this and I'm a big fan of sci-fi with a strong romance angle. This however did not work for me. I didn't really like the characters and I found myself putting it down and not really interested in picking it up again.
A fun read, but a whole lot of build up for a kinda meh ending.
Mehh... Didn't really dig it. Although the characters al seemed to have complicated back stories, they themselves seemed one dimensional.
Wow! This book is action packed! I actually had to put it down at about the 70% mark because it was getting too intense for me and I needed a mindless historical romance for a bit. Two weeks later, I remembered that I needed to finish it and I was on the edge of my seat for the remainder of the book. I was afraid of a cliffhanger but they did wrap things up pretty quickly after another big, intense action scene.
Quick Rundown: In a future where other planets are now inhabited and Earth no longer ...more
Quick Rundown: In a future where other planets are now inhabited and Earth no longer ...more
It was a fun surprise, how much I have enjoyed this book. It was fun, packed with real-life like characters, well defined from the get-go coupled with an interesting plot.
Ankari and the rest of the group are truly interesting characters and the addition of the Mandrake Company crew just make it all more remarkable.
But it does come with some caveats:
- I felt like the way they dealt with the antagonist, albeit spectacular and with a bit of a twist, was slightly rushed. I admit that this is due t ...more
Ankari and the rest of the group are truly interesting characters and the addition of the Mandrake Company crew just make it all more remarkable.
But it does come with some caveats:
- I felt like the way they dealt with the antagonist, albeit spectacular and with a bit of a twist, was slightly rushed. I admit that this is due t ...more
Interesting premise, problems too easily resolved
I liked the setup - three women from a microbiology startup falsely accused and grabbed by bounty hunter, and the fact that the hero and main heroine were both from doomed planets. Most everything after that was too easy - her attraction to him, the constant escapes by the three women, the mercenaries agreeing to go after the evil overlord type who offered their bounty, and the destruction of said overlord. No big problems, no real cost, only two ...more
I liked the setup - three women from a microbiology startup falsely accused and grabbed by bounty hunter, and the fact that the hero and main heroine were both from doomed planets. Most everything after that was too easy - her attraction to him, the constant escapes by the three women, the mercenaries agreeing to go after the evil overlord type who offered their bounty, and the destruction of said overlord. No big problems, no real cost, only two ...more
This had everything. It was well written, had a likable heroine, an absolutely great hero, a solid story, atmosphere, interesting and funny side characters, romance, action and humor.
What I especially loved: the development of the romance part. This was so well done!
It had some attraction, but the progress of this was shown in increments - no stupid misunderstandings, no insta-something.
And it made me smile - it had that kind of dry sense of humor that I love most.
I am very happy right now, ...more
What I especially loved: the development of the romance part. This was so well done!
It had some attraction, but the progress of this was shown in increments - no stupid misunderstandings, no insta-something.
And it made me smile - it had that kind of dry sense of humor that I love most.
I am very happy right now, ...more
3.5 stars. This was a space opera about a woman trying to start up her own business and running into a few setbacks which included mercenaries and bad guys. The adventure kept me interested as well as some humor and a couple scenes of romance. The writing had a few minor issues with repetitive words and phrases but everything else was great. I plan on reading more by this author.
Light scifi romance. Enjoyable but not much depth. I skimmed a little.
Again, I can't help but wish that Goodreads allowed for 1/2 *s. This wasn't quite a 3 for me, but it didn't quite make a 4 either.
I thought the balance between sci-fi action and romance was decent, and I enjoyed how realistically the majority of the characters behaved. I liked that it didn't *entirely* feel like instalove. For the most part, the action plot was intriguing, and I was pretty curious about what was up. Towards the end though, it felt like it switched gears from mostly-serious with ...more
I thought the balance between sci-fi action and romance was decent, and I enjoyed how realistically the majority of the characters behaved. I liked that it didn't *entirely* feel like instalove. For the most part, the action plot was intriguing, and I was pretty curious about what was up. Towards the end though, it felt like it switched gears from mostly-serious with ...more
Mercenary Instinct was entertaining, but not all I'd hoped it would be. Parts of the plot felt far fetched and didn't always make sense to me. (view spoiler) The overall plot wasn't bad, and parts of the book were very exciting, but it still somehow lacked the "wow" factor.
That said, there are relatively few scifi-rom books out there and ...more
That said, there are relatively few scifi-rom books out there and ...more
2.5 stars
Meh. Not bad, just mostly boring and not as fun as advertised. I was told by friends this was a space-opera adventure with a side of romance. What I got was a romance with some space and adventure stuff thrown in for effects.
Meh. Not bad, just mostly boring and not as fun as advertised. I was told by friends this was a space-opera adventure with a side of romance. What I got was a romance with some space and adventure stuff thrown in for effects.
Read this a few years ago, forgot to mark it as read, don't remember much about it but I liked it enough to read more in the series.
Seemed like a lot more than 248 pages.
This was almost a good story. There’s just wasn’t enough dialogue. Someone would say something then it would go on and on with the descriptions of the ship they were on or the forest they were trudging through or the mountain that was in front of them or the temple they were heading for. So many descriptions of everything except the characters in the story. I couldn’t tell you what anyone looked like, really.
I know Ankari, Jamie and Lauren were almost indes ...more
This was almost a good story. There’s just wasn’t enough dialogue. Someone would say something then it would go on and on with the descriptions of the ship they were on or the forest they were trudging through or the mountain that was in front of them or the temple they were heading for. So many descriptions of everything except the characters in the story. I couldn’t tell you what anyone looked like, really.
I know Ankari, Jamie and Lauren were almost indes ...more
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“Viktor tried a smile. He wasn’t very good at them—he had been told they looked more like bear snarls than signs of friendliness or pleasure.”
—
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“This is the planet with the dinosaurs?"
"It's a moon," Hazel said.
"Fine, this the moon with the dinosaurs?”
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More quotes…
"It's a moon," Hazel said.
"Fine, this the moon with the dinosaurs?”
