Sara's Review: The Chalice by P.L. Parker
APC
PUBLISHER: New Concepts Publishing
RELEASED: March 1, 2012
GENRE: PARANORMAL, ROMANCE
LENGTH: 277 pages
FORMAT: EBOOK
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Decimated by the savage Deg’Nara and teetering on the brink of extinction, the last surviving males of the once great Chiagan-Se embark on a quest to salvage what is left of their civilization. They send their remaining seeker ships into the void, searching for genetically compatible females. Time is running out, but in the far reaches of the universe, on an obscure and primitive planet, a match is discovered. One thousand panic-stricken women awaken two hundred years in the future, captives aboard an unmanned alien spacecraft bound for parts unknown! How had they gotten there and why? The males thought they came willingly. The females believed they’d been kidnapped. Full of hopeful expectation, the Chiagan-Se prepare for the arrival of their new mates. Terrified and furious at the inexplicable abduction, the women prepare for combat! And when the two sides meet, the battle commences.
4.5 (FIVE) BOUNDLESS STARS
So, the weirdest thing happened with this novel. Parker offered me the second book in the series Breeder Slave. I was like, great, but can I also read the first? She obliged and sent both copies. There I am reading, thinking to myself, I know this plot. It is familiar. That or I am crazy, which is always a possibility. When you read 200 books a year, plots tend to blend in the mind.
The first thing I did when I looked up The Chalice was I checked Amazon, I rely on Amazon to tell me if I’ve purchased a book before, it failed me. My bad, I didn’t check my Goodreads account. It turns out I am not so crazy and the reason why the plot was so achingly familiar was I read The Chalice back in 2012!
I am not sure if Parker re-released, however, The Chalice seemed more fully realized the second time around reading it. The characters had more depth and there was more insight into what drove each of them. There are a lot of characters and I never got lost. Each is given their own personality and they were fully realized. The world the woman find themselves in is frightening and overwhelming, but they struggle and get through it, working together. I will admit I laughed out loud quite a bit at some of the antics.
The Chiagan-Se race, are a proud warrior race that has been brought to their knees and the brink of extinction by their enemy Deg’Nara. Reading their heartbreak and passion for moving on and to rebuild was moving, to say the least. They have honor, and dignity in the face of annihilation.
Parker wrote true heroes, with perfect heroines to go with them. I am giving The Chalice 4.5 Boundless Stars, I really, really enjoyed reading it the second time around. The only downfall I saw with the story is the author writing in what I consider “stereotypes” and referring to Denesha as Dread the entire book.