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Dark Lands #5
Ghost in Her Heart
Every man has a little beast inside...every woman longs to tame him. Where will you be when the beast roars for you?
The quintessential geek, Vana had never had a lover. The ultimate warrior, Dagon had never had a wife. Thanks to a rift in space, she's about to become both.
The quintessential geek, Vana had never had a lover. The ultimate warrior, Dagon had never had a wife. Thanks to a rift in space, she's about to become both.
176 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2005
30 people are currently reading
387 people want to read
About the author
Autumn Dawn
56 books335 followersAbout me:
I'm a stay at home mom with three kids, a dog and an active imagination. I spent the first 34 years of my life in Alaska, land of the midnight sun, but these days I'm located in Washington, and am enjoying a much warmer sun :) I'm married to my high school sweetheart, John, who is known to bring me flowers "just because".
My leisure time is filled with gardening, crochet, knitting, sewing, art and reading.
I'm a stay at home mom with three kids, a dog and an active imagination. I spent the first 34 years of my life in Alaska, land of the midnight sun, but these days I'm located in Washington, and am enjoying a much warmer sun :) I'm married to my high school sweetheart, John, who is known to bring me flowers "just because".
My leisure time is filled with gardening, crochet, knitting, sewing, art and reading.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 1, 2016
I'm not entirely sure what to make of this book. Its apparently the 6th in a series, which I think I have an earlier one of, but the editing is really poor. I'll forgive grammar ('cause lord knows I'm not good with it), but spelling? And improper word usage (dinner! you eat at dinner and IN a DINER, not the other way around!). Old words inexplicably thrown in (wroth? that's a 1000 years out of date).
This doesn't even touch on the somewhat baffling turn of character personalities at times. Vana goes from a fairly level-headed, spirited young woman to...a sex fiend pretty quickly. Her token attempts at still standing up for the women are waylaid by a few smoldering glances. Dagon meanwhile jumps between brooding, to lusting, to being sulky to being demanding, to being confused quite a few times.
The sudden shift of focus a couple times helped even less--in the middle a character from the first chapter is re-introduced and suddenly the novel is being split between that storyline, Vana's storyline and Dagon's. The inclusion of that person seemed to only fuel two things: create unnecessary conflict for Dagon/Vana and conveniently hand her someone loyal to her first and foremost. Vana doesn't really build relationships with the other women--the closest is Jen and that's after using her as a hostage. And she fades to the background after a while.
In the end this novel made me uneasy with how gender relationships and roles are handled. Inequality is definitely an issue--though Dagon's people claim women are highly revered, the two we see (not from Earth) don't seem to have very much to live for and aren't stellar examples of what the Earth women may turn into if treated the same way.
And let's not talk about the handling of same-sex partnerships. The entire subplot was disturbing and given the broadest of strokes to explain WHY it was considered a huge taboo. Also Dagon came off very self-righteous and had his jackass hat on when he briefly talked about it.
This doesn't even touch on the somewhat baffling turn of character personalities at times. Vana goes from a fairly level-headed, spirited young woman to...a sex fiend pretty quickly. Her token attempts at still standing up for the women are waylaid by a few smoldering glances. Dagon meanwhile jumps between brooding, to lusting, to being sulky to being demanding, to being confused quite a few times.
The sudden shift of focus a couple times helped even less--in the middle a character from the first chapter is re-introduced and suddenly the novel is being split between that storyline, Vana's storyline and Dagon's. The inclusion of that person seemed to only fuel two things: create unnecessary conflict for Dagon/Vana and conveniently hand her someone loyal to her first and foremost. Vana doesn't really build relationships with the other women--the closest is Jen and that's after using her as a hostage. And she fades to the background after a while.
In the end this novel made me uneasy with how gender relationships and roles are handled. Inequality is definitely an issue--though Dagon's people claim women are highly revered, the two we see (not from Earth) don't seem to have very much to live for and aren't stellar examples of what the Earth women may turn into if treated the same way.
And let's not talk about the handling of same-sex partnerships. The entire subplot was disturbing and given the broadest of strokes to explain WHY it was considered a huge taboo. Also Dagon came off very self-righteous and had his jackass hat on when he briefly talked about it.
January 14, 2012
What to say about this one? First off it's really futuristic rather than sci fi. Earth women get abducted through a gate to an alien planet as brides for a culture whose women have been killed by a virus. There you go, end of any sci fi ness. I kind of felt like this story didn't have its feet on the ground. There was nothing real holding it up. As far as I could tell, this society had one building, a big castle. No industry other than practicing for war, peeling potatoes or being medical technicians.
They make sure to only take virgins who are also orphans from Earth. Then the heroine keeps saying she's mad and wants to go back to Earth which didn't make any sense because she was already falling in love plus her life on Earth sucked and she had made a commitment to adopt 4 orphan boys on the new planet. Really it just felt like the author thought she should throw that 'I want to return to Earth angst' in sometimes rather than it really being part of the story. I won't list more inanities because upon reflection the whole thing was pretty inane and nonsensicle as to plot.
I've read better by this author. Maybe she pulled something old out of the back of the closet eh?
They make sure to only take virgins who are also orphans from Earth. Then the heroine keeps saying she's mad and wants to go back to Earth which didn't make any sense because she was already falling in love plus her life on Earth sucked and she had made a commitment to adopt 4 orphan boys on the new planet. Really it just felt like the author thought she should throw that 'I want to return to Earth angst' in sometimes rather than it really being part of the story. I won't list more inanities because upon reflection the whole thing was pretty inane and nonsensicle as to plot.
I've read better by this author. Maybe she pulled something old out of the back of the closet eh?
May 22, 2024
I am very disappointed in this author and this world
I have read and enjoyed other works by this author and had thought her a such wordsmith that I would enjoy all her stories.
This book is absolutely disgusting. The author slut shames women, and denigrates homosexuality.
This book is representative of a female Hitler.
1. They chose young girls with specific physical appearances.
2. Virgins- which they called "pure"
These women lose all their personal dreams and have all their choices taken from them.
The men are sex trafficking, manipulative, dishonourable pieces of crap that should have shot themselves in the head and wiped themselves out.
A writer, with unlimited options in world building, chooses to create a world where
- forced imprisonment is normal
- a patriarchal society where women have no rights
- where women are turned into nothing but automated wombs.
Even worse she writes a FMC whom is supposedly educated to not only accept this but endorses and enforces it on other women.
Literature is a way to educate and shape minds.
Fiction is using lies to tell the truth.
To the author
1. Have you read your own work?
2. What message do you think your sending?
3. Do you think it helps women?
Your world is similar to the "The Handmaiden", the primary difference, the women get to read in your world. At least the women in the Handmaiden are fighting for their lives, their choices and their children. They are fighting for a better world.
To the author, shame on you.
I have read and enjoyed other works by this author and had thought her a such wordsmith that I would enjoy all her stories.
This book is absolutely disgusting. The author slut shames women, and denigrates homosexuality.
This book is representative of a female Hitler.
1. They chose young girls with specific physical appearances.
2. Virgins- which they called "pure"
These women lose all their personal dreams and have all their choices taken from them.
The men are sex trafficking, manipulative, dishonourable pieces of crap that should have shot themselves in the head and wiped themselves out.
A writer, with unlimited options in world building, chooses to create a world where
- forced imprisonment is normal
- a patriarchal society where women have no rights
- where women are turned into nothing but automated wombs.
Even worse she writes a FMC whom is supposedly educated to not only accept this but endorses and enforces it on other women.
Literature is a way to educate and shape minds.
Fiction is using lies to tell the truth.
To the author
1. Have you read your own work?
2. What message do you think your sending?
3. Do you think it helps women?
Your world is similar to the "The Handmaiden", the primary difference, the women get to read in your world. At least the women in the Handmaiden are fighting for their lives, their choices and their children. They are fighting for a better world.
To the author, shame on you.
April 2, 2024
This is an enjoyable Science Fiction Romance.
This was an easy but predictable story.
The characters were strong and well developed, with moment in the story that made me chuckle out loud.
If you would like a light romance this could be for you.
This was an easy but predictable story.
The characters were strong and well developed, with moment in the story that made me chuckle out loud.
If you would like a light romance this could be for you.
July 15, 2021
Apple Books
May 18, 2024
Not what I expected
It's not my favorite book by Autumn Dawn. The premise sounded good, but it fell a little flat for me.
It's not my favorite book by Autumn Dawn. The premise sounded good, but it fell a little flat for me.
September 21, 2016
Full review can also be found on: Paein and Ms4Tune’s Book Blog
This...What is this?! How is this number 5? How does it relate? What's going on? Is this tons of years in the future or what? They've got Rain's tech but that's all that seems to be the same.
There's mass kidnapping in this one and it's fully creepy now. It's not as though they were taking the women to keep them safe this time so it's not as almost ok as the others. Different advertising would have made it a little better. 'Escape it all' etc. OR alternatively, move to earth for a bit, find a girl, fall in love, bring her home...
This lack of choice has been presented to the women as a limited choice. But it's no choice at all. They have to accept a husband from those presented to them. The younger women - girls even - don't get to choose from males their own ages either. It's pretty different to the other books and has begun to fully highlight the things that was wrong in them too.
The obsessions over virginity and 'pure' and the emphasis on the first time pain for the women is beyond ridiculous now. Where as before it was almost and interesting species quirk that actual sex bound them for life but foreplay was an acceptable past time between consenting adults, this doesn't seem to be the case any more. And anyway, it doesn't need to be painful! Even those rare few who weren't virgins still found it painful. If it's painful it's being done wrong, end of story.
It's really a shame, this world was getting fascinating and it was just shy of annoying me with stupid and un-logical/ exact-same-pattern plots like the Dark series by Christine Feehan, then it sort of jumped way over that line it was skirting and I'm not going to read any more - especially as it seems the last book has no relation again! Also, this book is pretty scathing against same sex relations (Shouldn't past biology mean that those guys are now married?!) and while it's possibly due to the fact that their activities are not creating daughters, it's unlikely to be explained/resolved/expanded on in the next book which just seem nasty.
Also, having thought about it, should it not be the MALES taking the medication? Considering it's up to the male's contribution to determine the gender of the baby...? Doesn't that then mean that the males should be the ones affected?
Ok, so I looked at the reviews of the last book and I discovered that this one is actually about the other side. There's the Haunt, then the Symbionts and then these guys who are the Beast people who the Symbionts were at war with in the last book that made more than a passing sense. But going into this I had no idea and now I'm even more confused about what's going on. Of course, it explains why they are suddenly more able to procreate with humans. It's not something they're grown out of, it's something they never had!
I'm feeling a tiny bit less angry at this book now, but the whole rapey way of getting their rocks off and making sure there's women for everyone is still leaving a nasty taste, as are their pure/anti-same sex views. I doubt all the questions I have left will be answered in the last book, besides I've already deleted it. All of them actually - luckily there was a quote for this one on Goodreads!
I'm disappointed such a potential filled world crashed and burned quite this badly.
December 30, 2011
This book's writing was not terrible, it would probably warrant a 2 star on it's own. The story is pretty much, "modern day ladies dragged against their will into a regressive world where they are treasured as a rarity (fertile women) as well as subjected to patriarchal rules and norms. They are forced to marry hunky, dreamy warrior men."
Ok, that sounds like a pretty common/believable fantasy for women to have, so I wasn't going to critique or judge the book for reinforcing stereotypical gender norms or sexism. I don't see fictional fantasy fulfillment as particularly troublesome or anything.
But... for some reason the author decided, toward the end, to just suddenly attack gay men. Yeah. This isn't Christian fic (Or seemingly any other religious-based fiction) so why the attack on homosexuals? And, lest the readers of this review be anti-homosexual, let me explain even further why it sickened me. It was not so much that the author attacked homosexuality---but that she wrote that forcing women into prostitution was not as bad as men choosing to consensually have sex with each other. Yeah. I'm not okay with that. Even if you think homosexuality is wrong, at least the people engaging in it are making that choice and facing the consequences willingly. To say that women being forced into prostitution, essentially raped, is not as bad as men turning to each other to have consensual sex.... WTF is wrong with this author? The hero's culture was supposedly good and healthy; so it had no bi/homosexuals in it or situational homosexuality :/ (yeah I think someone needs to explain to Autumn Dawn how homosexuality actually works...) the culture with homosexuals, however, was completely obliterated.
That honestly just sickened me when I read it. I was also squicked when the author wrote that men who had engaged in same-sex acts would not be allowed to have 'pure women' given to them.
From the book: "'Just because they're learned to debase their bodies doesn't mean they won't desire women, if they are offered. Unfortunately for them, they won't get the chance. Our laws and beliefs won't tolerate giving pure women to a twisted culture.'"
That just lost the story for me. Sorry, that's too much. It's just sickening and gross. Having my body reduced to punishment/reward for men because Dagon's culture hates homosexuals? Not sexy. There were some other problems; especially with the writing and character development. There were a lot of editing mistakes as well, but since they may be corrected in future editions I didn't take them into account in my rating.
Ok, that sounds like a pretty common/believable fantasy for women to have, so I wasn't going to critique or judge the book for reinforcing stereotypical gender norms or sexism. I don't see fictional fantasy fulfillment as particularly troublesome or anything.
But... for some reason the author decided, toward the end, to just suddenly attack gay men. Yeah. This isn't Christian fic (Or seemingly any other religious-based fiction) so why the attack on homosexuals? And, lest the readers of this review be anti-homosexual, let me explain even further why it sickened me. It was not so much that the author attacked homosexuality---but that she wrote that forcing women into prostitution was not as bad as men choosing to consensually have sex with each other. Yeah. I'm not okay with that. Even if you think homosexuality is wrong, at least the people engaging in it are making that choice and facing the consequences willingly. To say that women being forced into prostitution, essentially raped, is not as bad as men turning to each other to have consensual sex.... WTF is wrong with this author? The hero's culture was supposedly good and healthy; so it had no bi/homosexuals in it or situational homosexuality :/ (yeah I think someone needs to explain to Autumn Dawn how homosexuality actually works...) the culture with homosexuals, however, was completely obliterated.
That honestly just sickened me when I read it. I was also squicked when the author wrote that men who had engaged in same-sex acts would not be allowed to have 'pure women' given to them.
From the book: "'Just because they're learned to debase their bodies doesn't mean they won't desire women, if they are offered. Unfortunately for them, they won't get the chance. Our laws and beliefs won't tolerate giving pure women to a twisted culture.'"
That just lost the story for me. Sorry, that's too much. It's just sickening and gross. Having my body reduced to punishment/reward for men because Dagon's culture hates homosexuals? Not sexy. There were some other problems; especially with the writing and character development. There were a lot of editing mistakes as well, but since they may be corrected in future editions I didn't take them into account in my rating.
July 14, 2014
1.5*
The two-line synopsis is pretty crappy, so here's a quick overview:
The biggest problem I had with this book was the "good guys", Dagon specifically, being homophobic and misogynistic. I think what the author meant was that pedophilia and other non-consensual sex, which in this case was almost exclusively of a homosexual nature as there were almost no females available, is not cool, and I totally agree with that.
Unfortunately, the whole book came across as very homophobic. Dagon, says something to the effect of "We're better than our enemies because we don't have sex with other males, just because there were no available females to sate our needs." Another time, while negotiating with his (former) enemy, Dagon wants to make sure that "those who committed sodomy" were not going to be rewarded.
OK, so the enemy is known to rape just about everyone, and seem to have moved on to young, effeminate-looking boys because the female population has been decimated. But if that's the case, then say that! It would only take a couple sentences to explain, rather than making it appear as though male/male consensual sex is completely looked down on.
The two-line synopsis is pretty crappy, so here's a quick overview:
The biggest problem I had with this book was the "good guys", Dagon specifically, being homophobic and misogynistic. I think what the author meant was that pedophilia and other non-consensual sex, which in this case was almost exclusively of a homosexual nature as there were almost no females available, is not cool, and I totally agree with that.
Unfortunately, the whole book came across as very homophobic. Dagon, says something to the effect of "We're better than our enemies because we don't have sex with other males, just because there were no available females to sate our needs." Another time, while negotiating with his (former) enemy, Dagon wants to make sure that "those who committed sodomy" were not going to be rewarded.
OK, so the enemy is known to rape just about everyone, and seem to have moved on to young, effeminate-looking boys because the female population has been decimated. But if that's the case, then say that! It would only take a couple sentences to explain, rather than making it appear as though male/male consensual sex is completely looked down on.
June 23, 2012
I was happy that Autumn Dawn let me get to know these new characters more than in the past couple of books. Still a short story that could have had more, but I did find that I was investing in the main characters this time around.
I was excited to finally be introduced to the Beasts, who have been mentioned and feared in the previous books but kept a mystery. I'm anticipating the next book in the series to possibly bring all of these groups (Beasts, Haunts, Symbionts) together. The only problem I see in that is that I like all three species and wouldn't know who to cheer for if they were battling each other!
It was refreshing when the main character, Vana, was questioned by her best friend about how she can be so sure she wanted to stay in the Darklands after such a short time. It was almost like a wink from the author, showing that she know these relationships are somewhat rushed but it's for the flow of the story. I mean, as much as I comment on how short the books have become, do I really want to read 500 pages of courting so the author can make it take months instead of weeks? I don't think so.
I believe the next book in the series is the last...or at least there are no more written as of yet. Again, it seems to be a short book so hopefully I'm not disappointed with another rushed ending like in the past.
I was excited to finally be introduced to the Beasts, who have been mentioned and feared in the previous books but kept a mystery. I'm anticipating the next book in the series to possibly bring all of these groups (Beasts, Haunts, Symbionts) together. The only problem I see in that is that I like all three species and wouldn't know who to cheer for if they were battling each other!
It was refreshing when the main character, Vana, was questioned by her best friend about how she can be so sure she wanted to stay in the Darklands after such a short time. It was almost like a wink from the author, showing that she know these relationships are somewhat rushed but it's for the flow of the story. I mean, as much as I comment on how short the books have become, do I really want to read 500 pages of courting so the author can make it take months instead of weeks? I don't think so.
I believe the next book in the series is the last...or at least there are no more written as of yet. Again, it seems to be a short book so hopefully I'm not disappointed with another rushed ending like in the past.
November 12, 2011
This is the 4th book in this series that I have read. I'm glad that they don't have to be read in any order. I have enjoyed the characters and the story a lot. I thought this one seemed to be written better and flowed a lot better than the other books I have read.
I have to say how disappointed I am with the way gay sex was approached in this book. I understand that this alien culture worships women and procreating to prolong their race and how this really was the main focus in this book. But a simple mention of out casting the men that don't go along with this ideal is enough. There really was no need to continue to mention how horrible these men and their beliefs are. I realize that there was maybe a handful of sentences on this ... but really one would have been enough ... after that it seemed like an idea was being pushed too hard on the reader, and it just made me angry. This does conveniently come at the end of the book and I can't say I remember much of the end after that.
I have to say how disappointed I am with the way gay sex was approached in this book. I understand that this alien culture worships women and procreating to prolong their race and how this really was the main focus in this book. But a simple mention of out casting the men that don't go along with this ideal is enough. There really was no need to continue to mention how horrible these men and their beliefs are. I realize that there was maybe a handful of sentences on this ... but really one would have been enough ... after that it seemed like an idea was being pushed too hard on the reader, and it just made me angry. This does conveniently come at the end of the book and I can't say I remember much of the end after that.
July 23, 2013
Again, not as good as I expected it to be, in the beginning, I didn't like the main girl character, Vana that much and there were a lot, of grammar mistakes, and I didn't like that the character, Kelsa was brought in, but through out the book it got better, and again the ending was rushed, but not as bad as "The Charmer" anyways, an ok book, not one of my favorites
May 16, 2019
Although there is something to this book that keeps me revisiting it from time to time, guilty conscience keeps bringing me back to this review. It doesn't matter how much I am fascinated with whatever that something is, this book is unforgivably homophobic and that trumps every other concern, especially since that bit of homophobia is completely self-serving and unnecessary.
January 27, 2012
Ghost in Her Heart follows the theme of all Autumn Dawn's books. Basically it's woman from Earth is kidnapped and taken to alien planet and falls in love with a beast. I'm quickly losing interest in this one.
November 28, 2011
132 pages of weird. The grammar and punctuation errors alone are enough to make you shake your head, but the story itself is just OUT THERE. Hard to believe this ever made it out of the authors hands.
May 10, 2015
A love/Sci-Fi combo, well worth the read.Well done to the author for the great storyline. Well written and funny in places. There was no depth in the characters, as its only a short story, but I'm glad that I found it.
September 22, 2011
For some reason I mistakenly thought that this was going to be a sci-fi / fantasy tale. It was not, got nearly half way thru before I gave up.
Romance is not for me.
November 24, 2011
Interesting
November 22, 2020
The characters are likable but that’s the extent.
April 26, 2016
Interesting read
May 22, 2016
The title comes from one sentence in the book. It is a carefully placed idea that brings a new path to our challenging lady. Dagon is definitely a strong character!
March 13, 2012
its really good
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews