Stronghold

A Darkstar Mercenaries Novella (Dark Planet Warriors)

By: Anna Carven

Narrated by: Jillian Macie, Todd McLaren

Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Abbey's thrown in at the deep end.

Tarak creates an alliance with a furry being.

Ami has her father wrapped around her tiny little finger.

It's just another day in the life of our fearsome Kordolians and their human mates. A light-hearted peek into Tarak and Abbey's life on Earth.

Contains mature themes.

©2022 Anna Carven (P)2023 Tantor

I Think I Am Totally Smitten With Tarak!

Out of the hundreds of alien males imagined by authors seeking to create the perfect mate; those that my mind has come to know, none can compare to Tarek! He is the ultimate male--strong, intelligent, quick, agile, handsome, beautiful, stoic, loyal, romantic, sexy, demanding, controlling, giving, and so much more. Seemingly contradictory and yet a perfect whole. I want one for myself!

Good

I love following my favorite characters after a book has ended and was very happy to find a novella of Tarak Ami and his Abby love this family

Big problem fan and follower of this series

Completely love this this series. All time favorite is the interactions between Abby and Tarak.

Short and Sweet

I love Tarak’s voice, he is badass. I want to hear more about the Silent One; seems he will be quite the competitor. Narrators did a good job with characters. Will continue to follow series.

love this series so much

I am so happy to have the original narrators back again. I love to catch up with Tarrak & Abbie and their family.

100 Out of 10

Absolutely amazing. the storyline and characters are funny snarky and just all all around lovable. Anna Carven, Todd and Jillian absolutely phenomenal.

Big Bad

I love Abby and her Big Bad Kordolian. Their adventures and the love they share is something we all aspire to in real life. I loved how he would move heaven and earth for his family. The narration was good and I felt like I was right there with them. Hopefully, That new Silent One will get a book soon!

Condescending interlude

This won’t mean much unless you’ve read at least book 1 and 3 of the original Dark Planet Warriors series, which tells Tarak and Abby’s story. And, books 1-4 of that series are available in a collection, so it gives pretty good value. Finally, books 1 and 4 of that series are my favorite anyway, giving the best combination of feisty Earth gals and alpha aliens.

It would probably also help to have heard at least a few more in the original series, and then at least one or two in the subsequent series Dark Star Mercenaries. This is because there’s a lot of name dropping and 2-3 sentence recaps, but this novella doesn’t do enough to explain everything that’s come before. As someone who heard all of the first series, and stuck it out thru the first two of the next, I was still lost.

However, even being invested in Tarak and Abby, and enjoying the return of the original narrators (especially McLaren’s deep growly Kordolian voice),this was a mediocre listen. There’s little action and no complete story. Instead, this sets up new futures for the lead couple, teases possible H/hs for future books, and throws in one sex scene and some cute kid/pet stuff.

With the lackluster story, I spent most of my time being annoyed at the ultra-condescension of Tarak, the “super soldier” and “most powerful being in the nine galaxies” who solves Earth’s problems by bullying his way into the leader’s office, mob-style, and announcing his folks are going to be calling the shots.
Isn’t that exactly the ill advised behavior got his species to be hated/feared in those nine galaxies? I’m now remembering why I really only liked books 1 and 4 of the original series. Everything since is hyperbolic mumbo jumbo about greatest warriors ever and psychic links with damsel girls (the novella reminding us that Earth couldn’t handle even a single Silent One 🙄).