"Warrior," Angela Knight

Pros: Imaginative, riveting, sexy
Cons: Could have been even longer… can’t wait to read more!
Rating: 5 out of 5

Review book (uncorrected proof) courtesy of Penguin Group.
Expected publication date: 7/1/2008.
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Galar is a genetically engineered Warlord and a member of the 23d century Temporal Enforcement Agency. It’s his job to stop time travelers from committing crimes in other times. His current assignment is to go back to 2008 to protect artist Jessica from being murdered—if, in fact, she truly was killed by a time traveler. When the assassin arrives, however, he’s no simple art thief; instead, he’s a powerful, fanatical, and highly dangerous Xeran soldier who will stop at nothing to kill Jessica.

Instead of turning Jessica over to rehab for adjustment to her new life in the future, Galar finds himself assigned personally to protect her. He’s more than happy to give in to his attraction to her, but it’s the other feelings that seem to be arising between them that trouble him. He can’t afford to become distracted while searching for the traitor in the agency’s midst. And when Jessica starts to develop strange abilities of her own, he fears that the traitor could be the very woman he was assigned to protect.

Time travel is a tough sub-genre to tackle, but I enjoyed Angela Knight’s approach to it. A group like the Temporal Enforcement Agency could easy veer off into cheesiness, but she sketches in enough details for her futuristic world that it’s just fun and fascinating instead. Things have changed quite a bit over the next couple hundred years, introducing genetic engineering, cyborgs, information downloads for the brain, aliens, time travel, and more. It hasn’t been so long, however, that the basic laws of attraction and love between individuals have changed.

The Agency is filled with interesting characters, from Galar, with his ice-cold reputation, to his young helper Riane and her partner, an intelligent wolf. There are traitors to be found, and the vicious Xeran to be protected against. Plenty of tension and action lace through Warrior, and I found the book went by in the blink of an eye.

Warrior is clearly part of an ongoing storyline involving mysterious aliens and strange powers. Not every plot line is wrapped up in this book (by the end we still don’t know who one of the traitors is), but enough draws to a close that it feels satisfying and stands well enough on its own. There are some ways in which the ongoing storyline could end up veering into trite territory, but the rest of this book was so good that I’m satisfied to wait and see how Ms. Knight carries it off.

Knight’s Warrior is almost more adventure novel than science fiction, despite the time travel and advanced weaponry. The character chemistry is gorgeous; the sex (explicit and for adults only) is searing hot; the world is fascinating and a joy to explore. All in all, a great book—I can’t wait to read more!