Saved (Garrison Earth 4) by V.K. Ludwig

4 Stars

The writing was gorgeous and clean, with pretty sentences in the ARC version of the manuscript. The world building was vibrant, with the culture and environment of the brothel and drug lab coming to grim life. The characterization was top-notch, with a vibrant, complex picture drawn of the behaviors of an addict and a young woman forced into sexual slavery. Where the novel failed for me was in the development of the romance between these characters. I think I would have had an easier time seeing the hero as a believable romantic partner if he had gone clean and dried out much earlier in the novel, so that I as the reader could get more of a handle on his true personality under the drug addiction. Was this a masterfully written dark sci-fi novel? Absolutely. However, for me, it did not quite succeed as a romance novel because of the lack of space given to the characters' recovery and triumph over their trauma. The plot and pacing was exciting, making me turn the pages rapidly to find out what was going to happen next for these two. The angst was epically high, but it was also thoroughly justified, so I was able to enjoy it somewhat. I will admit to enjoying this novel the least out of the four in the series because the angst was so incredibly high with very little break. The stakes were very high, so I thoroughly enjoyed that. This novel used the Enemies to Lovers trope and the Fated Mates trope, which tends to be one of my favorite trope combinations. It also used the Mars Needs Women trope. The world building, plot and pacing were all five stars. The characterization was also five stars. The development of the romance, however, rated three stars for me. The combined score of this novel was therefore four stars. This novel ended on a Happy Ever After instead of a cliffhanger, so that is a big plus to the whole series so far. I recommend this novel to readers who enjoy angsty dark romance. I will eagerly read the next book in this series, even though this novel was my least favorite of the series so far. It was still excellently written, even if it did not quite personally work for me. I plan to buy myself a keeper copy of this novel, because I have loved the rest of the series so much.

I received an advance reader copy of this book, and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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