Star Navigator by Naomi Lucas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“It’s different because of Atlas,” she whispered, wholeheartedly feeling the truth of that statement. 

“I can say the most terribly erotic things in your ear,” Atlas warned hotly from behind her. 

Reina stopped caring, and she doesn’t know why. 

After years of working for the Earthian Space Fleet, spending her days in quiet anticipation as a back-up pilot, doing her work well, if indifferently, she comes face-to-face with an alien warrior who tries to bargain away her free will and make her his own. Furious and unsure whether she should fight for a life when she was just going through the motions, Reina is approached by her superiors and asked to captain the last mission into the abyss, drastically altering the course of her life. 

What does a Cyborg do when he has the power of the entire network? When his actions could alter the course of the universe? And his only obstacle is a woman in desperate need of his help? 

Atlas is consumed with rage. 

He is the best navigator for The Earthian Council and has been working for them for decades in hopes that they will free him. But when the Council forces his hand, the now sentient intelligence must undertake a mission that could irrevocably destroy his conscious mind. A mission that could force him to transcend his half-life state in order to protect the beautiful, lost captain that he would risk a second-death to claim; and to feel under his fingertips.

Deep Space

A harrowing journey to deep space!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🩵🖤❤️💜💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: ☺️😍🥰😁😘

The heroine: Reina – she recently got a cybernetic arm. She was one of the few women left in the Earthian space fleet and the only female pilot. It has been more than Sixty years since the war with the Trentians, and most of the Trentian women are now sterile. It is well known that Trentians and humans can interbreed, so it is dangerous for single women to be in jobs where Trentian males can easily get to them. Reina has had a crush on her boss, but the Earthian council wants her to take on a new mission.

The Story: Reina’s mission is to go into deep space at the edge of the Galaxy to a place called Abyss-105, where many ships have been lost since the end of the war. Her’s is not the first mission to research the disappearances and every mission before hers has failed. If her ship is lost, then both Earthian and Trentian council will take steps to add perimeter and radar blockades to make sure nobody travels through those sectors again and to make sure whatever is destroying those that pass doesn’t come any closer. If Reina is successful and returns, her ship which is specialized to be paired with her cybernetic arm will become part of the fleet with her as commander.

The Hero: Atlas (a.k.a. Automated Transport and Logistical Aid System) – he is a sentient intelligence and will be the co-captain and navigator on Reina’s mission. He was once a cyborg that got shot directly in the heart and his consciousness was uploaded to the network and where still lives. He works for the Earthian council, but just wants to be free, now he is being sent on what could amount to a suicide mission. He considers the ship his since he helped design it and since his rank is higher than Reina’s. Though Reina was told that he was her subordinate.

One thing I don’t quite understand about both this book and some of the cyborg shifter books in the related series, is when a cyborg or an intelligence that is connected to the network and has the ability to get information and data like a computer, how they can not be good a hacking. I mean if the intelligence can learn something in milliseconds, why haven’t they learned how to hack? It just makes no sense to me.

I didn’t think I would like this one at all, because even though Atlas is sentient, he doesn’t have a body. I figured that even if Reina got along with Atlas, and developed a rapport with him, how could there be a romance? But then I found out that he does have a body, that is in cryostasis on the ship. The council is using his body and the promise of returning Atlas to his body as insurance that he and Reina will return. Though I had serious doubts about the council ever letting either of them go even if they did return from the mission. This story took some turns I wasn’t expecting at all and left some questions hanging, but overall it was very good and held my interest throughout.

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