Synopsis
First entry in the second arc of the Hybrid Black Gold
Rohan doesn’t want to be famous, to be rich, or to rule over the galaxy with an iron fist. All he wants is a peaceful life towing ships, a decent cup of coffee, and time to pursue the woman of his dreams.
First he’ll have to tame or destroy a self-centered god, a sector-spanning evil empire, and a race of slumbering moon-sized vampiric cephalopods.
That will require new allies by his side and new tricks up the sleeves of his purple and yellow jumpsuit.
Allies like the il’Zkin, cat people who can’t leave their homeworld, or the kaiju of Toth 3, monsters he can’t control. Tricks like the mystical technique given to him by Spiral, his mentor, that seems completely incompatible with the Hybrid rage that has been his greatest strength.
When his friend Wei Li receives visitors from her own mysterious past, Rohan realizes they might hold the keys to helping him with several of those problems.
Those visitors seem to have other ideas.
Review
“I had heard there was a pathogen loose on the station, Rohan, causing an illness whose primary symptom was an uncontrollable compulsion to state obvious things. I am afraid you have been infected.”
This is the sixth book in the hybrid helix and is definitely another banger. I am notorious for only reading book 1s in a series and then not picking up the sequels and yet I cannot stop devouring this series. I did have a gap for picking up book #2 of this series as well but once I picked up book #2- I couldn’t stop and I’m in book #7 now. As I said in my previous review, 2025 is the year of J.C.M Berne for me and it should be for everyone who has not yet picked up these books.
Talking about the plot in the sixth book of a series is very difficult and will lead to spoilery stuff, so I’ll just say that this book is where Rohan the most number of antagonists or issues to deal with and unfortunately for him, this is the one book where he has to- yes, ‘suppress his powers.’ Joe pulls it off masterfully. There is not a single plot thread that is unresolved or resolved in a predictable fashion. He keeps the readers captivated throughout. Every installment brings something new to the world and in this one we have a martial arts tournament. Joe is a great action writer and in this one, he puts his martial arts background to great use. Each of the tournament fight scenes was excellent. Oh and also Rohan gets a new pet in this book and even long time fans of this series could not have predicted who the pet was.
I’m at the point in my reading journey where it is all about the characters for me. The characters drive the story and I need to connect with them to enjoy the book. Luckily, Joe has a whole host of amazing characters all throughout his book series and keeps adding new, interesting ones with each book. This is officially my most favorite found family in sff. I like the main character Rohan, so much that he’s like a friend now and I cannot stop rooting for him and see where he goes. Also while I really like Rohan and he’s the reason why I keep picking up the books, Wei Li is why I love the series. IYKYK.
I am not a fast reader and yet every time I pick up a book in the hybrid helix series- it only takes 3 or 4 days. For someone with my snail-like reading stamina, that is lightning fast. Anybody who’s going through Dungeon Crawler Carl withdrawal while waiting for book 8 and is looking for a series to binge – the Hybrid Helix is your answer.
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