Official Review: Taken (Callisto Series - Book 1)

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[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Taken (Callisto Series - Book 1)" by Erica Conroy.]

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Taken, by Erica Conroy, is the first book in the Callisto series. It follows ambassador Viktor Jacobs on his mission to work out a peace treaty with the Lyrissians, an alien species. He has to deal with trying to speak their language and avoid various cultural faux pas, in addition to getting along with the Lyrissian ambassador Tarn and his daughter S’rea. Since this is also a romance novel, Viktor and S’rea have a good deal of sexual tension between them. However, because the sexual tension often felt more tense than sexual, I can only give Taken 2 out of 4 stars.

The story itself is quite good. Viktor has to deal not only with negotiating a peace treaty to convince the Lyrissians to join the Alliance of Worlds (which seems to be the same as just about every other collection of worlds in science fiction) but also with helping to stop the Lyrissians from working out a treaty with another race, the Orka, who will likely destroy the Lyrissians completely. I was glad that Viktor had to work to learn the Lyrissian language and that the first scene is him accidentally insulting Tarn’s parentage. The language barrier is cleared up quickly, making room for the plot, but it was enjoyable to see it played out.

What I would have liked to see is more description. I didn’t get a feel for what any of the characters really looked like, and the best description I got of the Lyrissians is that they have ridges along their body that have various purposes in mating. I would have liked to see Viktor and S’rea through each other’s eyes, in addition to experiencing their feelings for each other evolving through the story. I got a sense of this, but not enough of one for the romance between them to feel completely natural. There was a beta couple, generally used to show a foil for the main couple, but they had very little time together on the page, and while I did get a sense of who they were as characters, I thought their time around was far too brief.

There are no chapter breaks in Taken; the book is a collection of scenes stitched together to form a story. Unfortunately, it feels like nothing more than a collection of scenes stitched together, hopping from one point of view to the next simply to show us what’s in that character’s head while only giving a little plot advancement. The characters, too, felt stitched together. I will admit that I don’t necessarily expect the same level of complexity from romance novels as I do from other genres, but I would like the characters to feel real. I didn’t get that feeling from Taken, and I had trouble adapting to world and to people about whom I knew very little aside from their place in the novel and some minor details about their pasts.

If the book had been better constructed, I think I would have enjoyed it immensely. After all, romantic political science fiction is an underappreciated genre and can be wonderful when done right. The story itself is still good, and there were moments that I genuinely enjoyed, but overall, I felt that the book didn’t live up to its potential.

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