Mercenary Instinct

The Mandrake Company Series, Book 1

By: Ruby Lionsdrake

Narrated by: Jill Redfield

Skulking around in the ruins on a planet swarming with treasure hunters, slavers, and bounty hunters isn't good for one's health.

But Ankari Markovich needs a few archaeological samples for her latest business venture, a venture that might prove lucrative enough to move her family off the impoverished planet where she grew up. Unfortunately, she has no sooner collected her samples than she's captured by a band of brawny mercenaries. The captain might be handsome, but he's intent on turning her over to some finance lord who has, for reasons unknown, put a bounty on her head, a ridiculously large one at that. If she can't figure out a way to escape before she's delivered to the lord's home world, she could be forced into a life of indentured servitude—or worse.

Captain Viktor Mandrake doesn't usually take on piddling bounty hunting gigs, but when his intelligence officer informs him of a criminal on a nearby planet, he decides it wouldn't hurt to take a shuttle down to collect the woman. But Ankari Markovich is trouble from the start, nearly eluding his elite forces, then fighting and tricking his people left and right. He finds himself admiring her spirit, but according to her warrant, she's a criminal. The safest thing is to keep her in the brig and ignore her until she can be handed off to the man who wants her.

But the situation grows more complicated when other bounty hunters show up, wanting to claim Ankari for themselves. Thanks to this woman, Viktor's ship is in danger, his crew members are going missing, and he's fighting enemies he never asked for in a jungle in the middle of a hurricane. He's going to either strangle Ankari or fall in love. Either scenario could get him killed.

©2016 Ruby Lionsdrake (P)2016 Podium Audio

Good ideas, mediocre execution...

Overall the book was fine. Had an interesting plot but I didn't like some of the narrative choices. Viktor falls for some pretty dumb ruses for a man who's supposed to be a trained soldier. By the end I didn't like Ankari. She began feeling way too much like a grifter, always offering people "shares in the company" (take a shot every time that phrase is said...) It takes a while to actually explain what their business idea is and once it's revealed, it's kind of a "yep these things happen don't question it." I felt that way when all of the sudden the antagonist has kill bots in the final battle when there were barely any robots mentioned previously. I also really disliked the name Ankari. It just felt out of place with her associates being Laura and Jamie. Either give them all sci-fi weird names or normal ones. Ankari has some plot armor that's never explained. She knows a secret martial art and is a skilled pickpocket to the point that she's able to steal scissors from someone's coat while her hands are tied to a table. The explanation is that she grew up poor and lived on the streets and her dad taught her how to fight. No further depth. A tiny writing pet peeve I had was when the author used the phrase "gold-gilded." GILDED MEANS GOLD IT'S REDUNDANT! Unfortunately the narrator was the worst part of this book. It was just the tiniest bit too slow and I had to listen on 1.1x speed. She chooses odd times to take breaths which adds pauses in sentences where there shouldn't be one. This happens literally in the first sentence. Half the time when she was saying "Viktor" it sounded like "Biktor" and I had to rewind and make sure I heard correctly. In its entirety, the book is just okay, and I don't think I'll be listening to the sequel.

Fun story

I would have liked it better without the explict sex scenes. But the story and characters were engaging.

Good plot!

Love the story, but not my favorite narrator. But I'm curious to see what comes next in the series!

Pleasantly Surprised!

Love a really good space opera that mixes action, romance, humor and great characters, and Ruby Lionsdrake delivered them all!

The lead female character, Ankari, is strong, spunky, confident but finds herself in one sticky situation right after the other. She loathes being captured by the exasperating, good looking, always in control Captain Victor Mandrake and his crew. While she tries to convince him she's innocent, she's using her pickpocketing skills and marital art moves to try to escape. The captain can't help but to admire her tenacity; however, he's also determine to cash in on his bounty. After all, she and her associates have a high price on their heads, but the more time he spends around her, the more he questions the truth of the accusations.

The story was well written, creative, and had a great pace. The main characters as well as the secondary characters were developed and had distinct personalities. I loved how the H/h relationship evolved naturally and wasn't forced. There are a few sex scenes in the second half of the story but are more on the sweet side.

Jill Redfield delivered a stellar performance, and does an amazing job with both the female and male characters. Not all female narrators can pull off male characters like Jill, and make them sound not only believable but give them a sexy bedroom voice. She's one talented narrator who really brought this story to life!

All in all, Mercenary Instinct was fun to listen too, kept me engaged, and was another great KU/whispersync find. I will definitely be looking out for more stories in this series to be released in audio. (I really hope Jill narrates the rest of the series ;-) !)

A great space opera series!

I love books by Ruby Lionsdrake! Try her books under "Lindsay Buroker" as well! Great author!