jbronderbookreviews

Kidnap (Part 1 of Guy Erma and the Son of Empire)

by Sally Ann Melia

(Excerpt from Goodreads) I don’t want to go… Do I have to go?

13-year-old Prince Teodor of Freyne knows his duty to the memory of his father and his kingdom. Always, he must help those less fortunate than himself. Yet a frightening nightmare fills him with foreboding, but still he must do – into the Dome.

13-year-old Guy Erma lives in the shadow of the Dome, he has no father and no mother and his future is uncertain, he must start earning a living when he turns 14. He knows not where he will live or even how he will eat, and his only dream is to enter the military academy – at the heart of the Dome.

Two boys as different as any two boys might be. One act of cruelty will throw their lives together, but who dare they trust?

Author

Sally Ann Melia is life-long Science Fiction fan. She was Star Wars as a child and has loved Space Opera fiction and tales of huge Galactic Empires such as Frank Herbert’s Dune series and Iain M. Banks Culture. Guy Erma and the Son of Empire is her first full-length novel to be published.

She lives in Farnham, Surrey with husband David, and has two children and 3 gerbils.

Review

5 stars

Prince Teodor, Teo, would rather racve groans, giant cats, and practice with the blades that the Dome Guards use than perform official duties. Teo lives in the shadow of the Dome, a facility for training and teaching young children to be Dome Guards, a special force that is used to protect Teo and his family. But Teo has has a nightmare about the Dome and is really worried about it.

Guy is basically an orphan from one of the fashion houses that specialize in overly expensive clothing for the rich of the universe. Guy has a dream of being a Dome Guard but because of his questionable parentage he faces the risk that he may not get in. Guy is performs in odd jobs to make money.

These boys are going to be thrown together when Dome Cyborgs attack a rehearsal and kidnap Teo. But this is not just a simple kidnapping. There are many different political players that can benefit or lose from the kidnapping. It seems that powers are going to try and use Teo against his mother’s rule to get their way. The key factor seems to be if they find Teo in time for elections.

This takes place in an alternate universe that took me a little to get figured out. But once I did I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. I felt bad for Teo losing part of his family but I could understand his difficult time doing the princely tasks that he doesn’t want to do. I admit at first I didn’t like Guy, he seems a bit arrogant and rubbed me the wrong way. But once I got to know him and his situation I could understand his actions.

This is a great story that leaves you at one heck of a cliff hanger. I can’t wait to see what happens in Part 2: Hunter.

For more information on Kidnap or Sally Ann Melia, be sure to check out Amazon, Goodreads, and Sally’s website.

I received this book from iRead Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.