[BOTM] - INDIE PICK - Dakiti by E.J. Fisch

[Anna]

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

Our INDIE PICK for December is Dakiti by E.J. Fisch.



"The distant world of Haphez is located on the edge of populated space. The planet's native superhuman race is feared and respected by neighboring civilizations. Their military and police forces are unmatched.

Lieutenant Aroska Tarbic is an agent with the revered Haphezian Special Police. He’s lost a lot in a short period of time; the other members of his squad were killed in a tragic accident, and his younger brother was wrongfully convicted and executed for a crime he didn’t commit. Just when Aroska thinks he’s starting to piece his life back together, he’s assigned to a joint task force with a special operations team. It seems like a unique opportunity, at least until he learns that his new commander is none other than Ziva Payvan, HSP’s finest operative… and the assassin who killed his brother.

Ziva is good at her job, a business that requires her to ignore her feelings and carry out her missions without question. She’s confident in her own abilities to complete the assignment, but Aroska is a wildcard. When their team stumbles across a young human during a routine investigation, they soon realize that the situation isn't what it seems. The boy has unwittingly uncovered an age-old plot, one that could put the entire Haphezian race in jeopardy.

Now the lines between friend and foe have become blurred, and no one can be trusted. United by the imminent threat, Ziva and Aroska must set their differences aside in order to save their people… and maybe even each other.

All roads lead to… DAKITI..."

Are you reading Dakiti? Shout it out in the comments thread below to find out who else is reading it and discuss what you think about the book. Just remember to be kind ...use the spoiler .html (view spoiler)[so you don't ruin the fun for other people (hide spoiler)] or open your own spoiler-filled discussion thread in the Book Buddies Club folder located w-a-y at the bottom of the main community page where you can discuss the book in spoilery goodness.


And you can read E.J. Fisch's author interview HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[E.J.]

*gasp*

How incredibly awesome! I'd definitely be happy to answer any questions anyone has. It would be great to have some new readers - the Kindle book is currently only $.99 on Amazon if anyone who doesn't have a copy wants to pick one up and participate.

[Anna]

Hi E.J. - since I've got your attention, I'm going to BUG you to fill out our SOF Author Interview so I can cross-post it and for community members to enjoy?

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[E.J.]

Anna wrote: "Hi E.J. - since I've got your attention, I'm going to BUG you to fill out our SOF Author Interview so I can cross-post it and for community members to enjoy?

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1..."

I just got a message with my answers sent off to you! :)

[G.S.]

Excellent choice, Dakiti is an awesome novel :).

[Sarah]

I have read this one and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact I just purchased the second one in the series yesterday. Can't wait to read it!

[E.J.]

Awesome to hear, Sarah! I hope you enjoy it.

[T.A.]

Hooray! I love this book. Anyone who is looking for an exciting sci-fi adventure with great characters should give Dakiti a try. And then go ahead and read the second book, because it's also amazing!

[Anna]

***************************************************************

COME READ E.J. FISCH's author interview!!! Hot off the presses!!!

HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

******************************************************************

[E.J.]

Okay here's something I always want to know after people have read the book. As a reader, do you like Ziva or Aroska's character better? I'll admit I've always tried to write them in such a way that you should like a certain one better, but after asking some of my other readers, I've learned that it's not always the case.

And for those of you who have read / are reading Nexus, try to shut out everything you know and think about what your opinion would have been right after finishing Dakiti ;)

[Sarah]

E.J. wrote: "Okay here's something I always want to know after people have read the book. As a reader, do you like Ziva or Aroska's character better? I'll admit I've always tried to write them in such a way tha..."

While I liked both main characters, I'd have to say that Ziva was the one that intrigued me the most. She has a little more mystery surrounding her and even though she comes off as a little heartless at the beginning, you can't help but feel that there is more to her than meets the eye. I also love that she's a little volatile. Those types of characters always fascinate me because you are never quite sure what is going to set them off and what the results will be. It keeps a book really interesting and the reader in a constant state of anticipation. Aroska's character played the perfect opposite to Ziva's and I love that it also keeps the reader engrossed to find out how they will play off each other and where the story will take them. Both characters are great but for me, Ziva is the driving force of the story. Other characters play a vital role but in my opinion, she is the one that really creates the interest and sets the tone.

[T.A.]

E.J. wrote: "Okay here's something I always want to know after people have read the book. As a reader, do you like Ziva or Aroska's character better? I'll admit I've always tried to write them in such a way tha..."
I like Aroska better. I always have and maybe always will. It's a lot easier for me to relate to him and understand him. Ziva, meanwhile, is just...sometimes she's just horrible. She's an intriguing character and I like the complexity she has as a character. She's certainly interesting. But as a person, she seems very difficult and I doubt I would get along with her. She has kind of grown on me as I've come to understand her better, though at times I still think she could do with a good solid punch in the face. But Aroska has grown on me too and he's still my favorite of the two.
(And yes, I've already finished Nexus so it's a little hard to put that out of my mind. But I think the gap between how much I like Aroska and how much I like Ziva was a lot wider after finishing Dakiti alone than it is now.)

[Fiannawolf]

Well about to start reading the sequel so stay tuned for character updates. So far though I like these characters because they are complex. My reaction to Ziva was akin to my reaction with Morrigan from Dragon Age. Morrigan hid her true emotions by lashing out at other people via sarcasm but once you got under that prickly exterior there was a true friend underneath it all. Don't know how events will change Ziva yet but I certainly want find out.

Edit: Really disliked Ziva at first but she's grown on me. Maybe I'm too chaotic good.

[E.J.]

Awesome insights! I haven't played any of the DA games (yet!) but from what I've gathered about Morrigan throughout my internet browsing, it seems like she and Ziva probably have a lot in common! Also Claudia Black's voice acting is flawless.

Anyway, let the record show that I've always purposely tried to write Ziva to be unpleasant and awful, so I always expect readers to dislike her at the beginning, even though she's the main character. Aroska was definitely engineered to be the "fan favorite" just from a personality and reader empathy standpoint (and I don't know about anyone else but he's also super attractive in my head!). In spite of all this, I've found that the majority of readers actually prefer Ziva, and it's usually because - like Sarah mentioned - of the mystery and intrigue surrounding her. And of course that's fine and all - it's just not what I as the author ever expected!

I've gotten to wondering whether all my readers are just "too chaotic good" as well and that's why they end up liking Ziva (although I've personally always thought of her as more of a True Neutral) or whether people start to warm up to her as the other characters - particularly Aroska - warm up to her.

[[deleted user]]

Congrats on getting Book of the Month! I can't believe I'm just now seeing this. Sitting down to read the first few chapters of Nexus tonight ;)

Isn't the alignment system fascinating? I just read a little from that "True Neutral" link and, based what I've seen of Ziva so far, I'd have to agree that it fits her really well. My god, she made me so mad at the beginning of Dakiti. It seems like you described her as "manipulative" at some point and that's such a perfect word to describe her. But at the same time, I almost feel like she's using that a s a defense mechanism. It's a way for her to keep everyone at arm's reach. So like some of the other readers, I really hated Ziva at first because she was so unpleasant and treated Aroska so poorly, but I began to warm up to her as I got to know her character. I'm looking forward to learning more about their back story and what really happened with his brother.

P.S. Aroska is pretty good-looking in my head too ;)

[Sarah]

Personally, I think that Ziva and Aroska are written perfectly when it comes to each of them drawing out the best of each other. Each of the characters makes me like the other more. Due to Ziva's temperament and harsher personality, we get to see more into Aroska as he puts up with her and gradually recognizes that there is more to Ziva than what he originally thought. It's one of the things I enjoyed most about his character - that in spite of knowing what happened with his brother, he still struggles to see past that and see the good. And because of that, we in turn, get to see Ziva soften a bit and slowly find out more of what makes her tick. Even though she's hardened, I love her character - something about overcoming adversity and having to struggle through. But regardless of which character you prefer, I think having both really enhances the story as each character offsets the other. Even though Ziva was initially unlikeable, I like that she was written in such a way that the reader suspected there was more to her. I like her depth and the grittiness she brings to the story.

[E.J.]

It's so exciting for me to know that you guys are all getting this much out of the story! Gotta love in-depth character discussions! It's always interesting for me to hear/read other people's thoughts too because I stop and think "Wow, did I mean to do that?" I think when I started writing the story, I just sort of wrote what came naturally, and I subconsciously started to recognize that building-off-of-each-other pattern and continued following it. So glad it seems to be working!

I've mentioned before that when I first created Aroska, his role was never meant to last past the end of Dakiti, except for maybe a cameo or minor background role later on. When I started writing Dakiti, the story was strictly about Ziva and her team, and Aroska just happened to be the secondary character introduced for that particular story (back then, the whole backstory with killing Soren wasn't nearly as developed as it is now, so this worked out better than you might think). By the time I finished, I liked him so much that I decided to keep him around, and I wanted him to have larger roles in the next stories to come. I was a little mad at myself because I was still caught up in the idea of wanting Ziva and Skeet and Zinni to be the main focus of the plot, and I felt like I was really deviating from that. So then when I decided I wanted to publish, I went back and tweaked Dakiti so it matched up better with the character dynamics in Nexus, and I'm SO glad I was able to do that. The story is now, at its heart, about Ziva and Aroska, and I think that's what I subconsciously wanted from the beginning. I've really been able to dig deeper and explore these dynamics you all have been talking about in this thread, and it's a lot of fun.

[Betsy]

I finally got around to reading this, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Probably the best part is the characters. But I think more world-building back story would have improved the book. I will probably read the next one in the series, but may not re-read this one. Here is my review.