This book was written from a dual perspective, switching back-and-forth between the main male and female characters. Written in first person by Iona Strom, SILVER SOLACE is the 4th book in Warriors of Valose Saga, and follows the Valosian alien Aggar and his human mate Jane Doe.
Jane Doe wasn't Jane's real name. It was the name she gave herself since she lost her memory and couldn't remember much about her life on Earth, just that she had one. As the book progressed, she remembered bits and pieces about herself, but we never did discover her real name. We did learn that she was a homicide detective before she was abducted by the Gretolic aliens, (along with several other human femals). Her deaf little sister (and the reason Jane knew sign language) Amelia was eight when she disappeared and was never found, which was what influenced her to become a detective. Jane's captors crash landed on a dangerous planet called Valose, near the city of Huren. While the other women were rescued by Jakkar and his warriors, Jane escaped Aggar's grasp and remained hidden inside the massive spacecraft. She was finally caught after Aggar returned to the craft a second time to forage. He gave her a translator, and the rest was history.
Aggar was a seventy-two year old warrior who was exiled from the city of Huren along side the males who chose to stand with their Sia Jakkar. They took refuge inside a settlement they created from the ruins of Huren that was destroyed during the last war with the Nuttaki, a tribe of primitive assholes that laid waste to Huren and half the Valosian people, including their former ruler. He and his men initially ventured to the crashed space ship in seek of a power source and whatever else they could scavenge for survival. What they found instead was a bunch of compatible females, one of which being Jane, who was Aggar's spirit mate. Another similarity that bonded the two was the loss of his sister Nevva to the illness that killed all the Valosian females.
Valosians resembled elves in human folklore, with long white hair and pointed pronounced ears, but with fangs and camouflaged scales instead of skin.
Jane was Aggar's spirit mate (soulmate) verified by his thrumming and his second heart beating. Spirit mates were complementing spirits. Once they find each other, the need to couple becomes an urgency impossible to ignore. Thrumming was a song of the souls, a rhythmic vibration of enticement to let the female know the male was ready to begin the bond. After her touch, his ancillary heart beat for the first time and Aggar had been "awakened."
The couple officially had sex in chapter 13, at the 64% mark, which was (yet again) way to damn long of a wait. I read this genre of books specifically for the raunch. Delaying sexual intercorse anytime after the 48% mark is like dangling the cheese so long it molds. After first intercourse, the spirits of the mates would coalesce, and matching marks (called a shawra) would appear over their hearts. It was like a swirling tattoo of silver that glowed from within, and they could feel each other's emotions. The shawra was the portal where their spirits came together, forming an eternal bond that would reunite the two in the spirit world (afterlife).
Valose was full of dangers, such as carnivorous predators and hostile enemies. There's the man-sized locusts known as the Nuttaki horde, carnivorous venus fly traps (floratrap), saber-toothed cats (patooga), Dragons (wetlock), huge sea creatures that could swallow a human whole (squidlin) and T-Rexes (rexose) to name a few. The exhiles had relocated inside the ancient caves in book 3, and this book had them relocating again due to the caves being compromised and no longer safe. On their way back to the caves, Jane and Aggar were shot down from their stolen spacecraft by Clan Jurigon. Sia Jakkar and his group were intercepted from the same clan on their way to the Trisess Forest. With the help of Sia Xennox, we learn that the Gretolics were being commanded by an alien species known as the Grites. The Grites had a scout ship that crashed in the side of Xennox's mountain. When Xennox armed the Nuttaki and sent them into Huren, they were supposed to only attack the Gretolics, but wound up killing everyone instead. The Gretolics have another enemy known as Yulineons, who were the ones that shot down the craft carrying the humans in the first book. In a nutshell, we've learned that there is a galactic war being fought on Valose. The Gretolics had been on the planet much longer than everyone realized, plotting and scheming. They spread the rubella virus on purpose, for reasons unknown. They're breeding humans and Valosians, for reasons unknown. They're selling both humans and Valosian warriors in exchange for something called kript. And they have the ability to control the minds of Valosians that haven't found their spirit mate, but not humans or those who have bonded with their mates. There was a lot going on in this book, a lot of which I didn't cover, so you will have to read it and discover the adventure for yourself. 🤪
Truth be told, the plot has become almost too convoluted, making it too confusing and difficult of a story line to follow at points. Sometimes, it feels like the author changed her mind regarding facts that had already been established in prior books, so she just changed them and wrote some half-assed excuse for the change.
I guess this series is worth the read if this genre of books is in your wheelhouse. It has the perfect balance of adventure and romance, so long as you are able to follow the confusing plot line. I can't wait to dive into the next book in the series, mainly so I can finish it and move onto the next one. 🫶