Sithe by Starla Night

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s a routine mission. Hunt down the ones who dared – dared – steal our sacred procreation metal from us, the rulers of the empire.
The Arrisans conquered Earth in a day. They smashed into our helpless planet like a wrecking ball, and overnight, everything changed.
That’s what our history books say.
The truth is, I’ve never seen an Arrisan face-to-face. But when my lone medical ship is attacked by ruthless pirates, the nightmare that hunts them down is no hero. Cloaked in assassin’s gray, metal scythes fused to his wrist-bones, he is the grim reaper of the conquerors. The Arrisan elite special forces. A blade.
Luckily for me, he’s in a good mood now that he’s the last man standing in the blood-soaked ruins of my bridge, so he lets me live. After all, I’m just a lesser. Clearly I’m no threat.
Until his body starts reacting to mine…
*** From the author of the Lords of Atlantis and Onyx Dragons comes a dazzling new series full of unique alien shifters, fierce passion, and loyal warriors who find their fated mates in the stars. Each full-length book is a complete romance with an epic happily-ever-after. Claim your conqueror today!

Sithe

An Alien Empire Unlike Any I’ve Read Before

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💚💜
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌎🌍🌏🌎
Character development: 😠🙃😍🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

Character Backgrounds and Plot Summary

Sithe was unlike the majority of alien romances I’ve listened to, and that was what grabbed my attention right away. Caterine is living with a devastating condition that has completely taken over her life. Her overwhelming compulsions have destroyed her hopes for the future, forced her away from the men in her family, and ultimately convinced her that leaving home is the only way her parents can finally have peace again. Watching her board the cruiser with other women suffering from the same disease felt heartbreaking because she isn’t chasing adventure. She is simply desperate for a cure before she completely loses herself.

Things spiral out of control when the cruiser is attacked by Arubisan pirates. The evacuation becomes chaos, and Caterine ends up trapped inside a damaged escape pod while the ship is overrun. That entire sequence builds tension well because you know she’s completely helpless. When Sithe arrives, he is hunting the same parasitic pirates and wipes them out with the efficiency you’d expect from one of the Arrisan Empire’s elite Blades. I will admit that I really disliked the scene where Caterine is found surrounded by the Arubisans during their mating frenzy. It was uncomfortable to listen to and easily my least favorite part of the book.

What interested me far more was everything that came afterward. Sithe initially comes across as the ultimate deadly warrior, but the story gradually reveals that despite all his combat ability, he has almost no personal freedom. Every aspect of his life is dictated by the Arrisan Empire, making him feel more like a perfectly engineered weapon than an individual. I found that dynamic fascinating because once he decides he wants to protect Caterine and keep her with him, the biggest obstacle is not another enemy but the rigid system controlling every decision he is allowed to make.

Highlights and Limitations

The world building was what made this story stand out for me. Instead of relying on the familiar fated mates trope that so many alien romances use, Starla Night creates a society built around duty, hierarchy, and obedience. Sithe is incredibly powerful on the battlefield, yet he has surprisingly little control over his own future. That contradiction made him much more interesting than the typical unstoppable alien hero.

I also appreciated that Caterine never instantly becomes fearless just because a powerful warrior saves her. She carries years of shame, loneliness, and uncertainty with her, and those emotional scars influence many of her choices. Her longing to feel whole gave the romance an emotional foundation beyond physical attraction.

The pirate attack and rescue sequence was exciting, but the Arubisan mating scene simply did not work for me. I understood why it was included in the story, but it was difficult to get through and pulled me out of the experience instead of adding emotional weight. Thankfully, once the story shifts toward Sithe and Caterine trying to navigate the restrictions of Arrisan society, I became invested again.

Narration

This audiobook uses dual points of view with dual narration, which fit the story very well. Lance Greenfield gives Sithe a commanding presence while still letting his quieter moments reveal the character’s growing internal conflict. As Sithe begins questioning the role he has always accepted, Lance adds enough emotion to make those changes believable.

Cindy Kay was equally enjoyable as Caterine. Her slightly deeper voice suited a heroine who has endured years of emotional exhaustion, and she captured both Caterine’s vulnerability and determination without making her sound weak.

Connor Crais only has a special appearance, but as expected, he makes an impression. His performance adds another layer of polish to an already strong production.

Final Opinion

This ended up being a surprisingly memorable start to the Blades of Arris series. I expected another possessive alien warrior romance, but instead I found a story that focused just as much on duty, control, and freedom as it did on the romance itself. Sithe’s struggle against the machine-like structure of his own civilization was every bit as compelling as his relationship with Caterine.

Even with one scene that I genuinely did not enjoy, I finished the audiobook wanting to learn more about the Arrisan Empire and where these characters were headed next. If you enjoy alien romance but want something that breaks away from the usual formula of instant mates and predictable world building, Sithe is definitely worth checking out. The combination of an unusual setting, emotionally damaged but likable leads, and excellent narration made this a series opener that left me eager for the next installment.

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