Forged in Shadow

Dark Planet Warriors Series, Book 5

By: Anna Carven

Narrated by: Jillian Macie

Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

Sergeant Arin Varga has a problem on her hands. She's supposed to be in charge of a squad of peacekeepers. That's something she would normally handle with ease, except that now her people are stuck in Earth's orbit on a doomed superfreighter.

To make things worse, they're being held hostage by a group of very threatening, very menacing silver-skinned Kordolians, who are insistent that all they want is safe passage to Earth to kill oversized insects.

One particular alien, who goes by the name of Rykal, seems be constantly getting inside her personal space. He isn't just threatening, he's friendly and threatening, and if Arin isn't careful, that could become a major problem.

Contains mature themes.

©2016 Anna Carven (P)2018 Tantor

Great story but its not Rickle its RY-kal!!!!

Her mispronouncing his name the entire book drove me crazy! I would have given it 5 stars but that's a huge faux pas. I downloaded this book as part of the audible escape for free and did not use a credit or purchase it. The story would be worth a credit IF I didn't have to hear the narrator butcher Rykals name over 100 times while listening. Rykal is a bad ass elite warrior and Rickle sounds like pickle and that's sooo not hardcore or badass. After hearing the general call Rykal's name in such a reverent and commanding way, hearing him called a name sounding like pickle made the entire story like nails on a chalkboard. If I were the author I would demand it be re narrated with the correct pronouncing of the name, if she did I would give it a 5 star and actually purchase it, The story is credit worthy but the narration is a deal breaker,

I want better writing for characters

This story involves Rykal and Sgt Arin Varga, also characters from book 1, Dark Planet Warriors. I really liked both Arin and Rykel as characters, but was totally frustrated with parts of the story that were just too ridiculous- which pushed this down to my least favorite book in the series:( I’m sorry, but Arin and Rykal having a serious moment in the cargo hold when they needed to rush back to the docking bay for evacuation and when the Xargek are on the loose!?! I was shouting at them internally and it ruined any closeness for me. (I also had to speed through the grand love scene in the escape capsule.) Macie’s basic narration was just ok on this one - I still think that Rykal should be pronounced as Rye-kul NOT Rick-ul, with Ry (Rye) for a nickname. I’ve read the series multiple times and can still recommend it.

Arin & Rykal.

This book follows right after Out of Darkness but before Terek and Abby come back from the dark planet. It is kinda of weird how these are out of order in the overall series. Although I am glad the other soldier Kordolians have their stories. This book was full of action and romance. In a way it is a very romantic version of Aliens (which I love too) only milder without the horror. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. Narrator is good, but I am also confused why they teased us with the male reader for only Terek and Abby’s stories. I would have liked to have them both for the whole series.

So good!

Forged in Shadow is a great book from one of my favorite series. Rykal is a Kordolian first division warrior. Think sexy, flirty, super scary badass elf warrior with fangs and brilliant amber eyes. Erin is a peacekeeper- military born and bred, spine of steel, with her career on a spiral from bad to worse due to the Kordolian/Zargek fiasco. Did I mention the six foot tall alien cockroach like creatures that only Kordolians can kill? The world that Anna Carven creates with this Dark Planet Warrior series is amazingly detailed, enticingly attractive, and intense in the struggles and challenges. This book brings togethertwo amazingly crafted souls- Rykal, who can joke in the midst of sheer agony, and Erin, who stays true to herself and her beliefs. These two have quite the journey, and I loved every minute of it! I highly recommend this book. The audiobook is very good too, although I prefer to say Rykal with a long i sound, (r-eye-kal) and the audiobook pronounces it R-ih-kal (with a short i) and I don’t like that as much.

I love this series . But I do have a complaint,

in the other books they pronounce the Male mc name Rye-Kill in this version it is pronounced Rickle . I know it's a small thing but it annoyed me. Listened to the first books with my romance package but I enjoyed so much I purchased the next ones.

Another great sci-fi romance!

This fourth audiobook in this series was very entertaining. The heroine Erin was a Peacekeeper on Fortuna Tau. The hero is a Cordolian who becomes attracted to her. He has no memories of his younger years and is prone to odd flashbacks that make him uncomfortable. While escaping, they encounter obstacles like unhappy human crew members who try to ambush him and a hitchhiking Zarjek Red Stripe, the deadliest of all. Can they ever make it safely to Earth? Narration was good, but I’m still missing a male voice to bring the hero’s character in focus.

captaving story

Loved the book. listening to the story gives it a new depth. Can't wait next.

A Peace Keeper and A Warrior

Aron, introduced in a prior book, is a peacekeeper and logical, and becomes involved with Rykal one of the warriors. An interesting and new type of couple..loving how it builds the relationship of the couple..each book has someone new..interesting and yet romantic. A great narrator and I will look forward to more of the series.

Better than the last!

this book was definitely better than the last. however it was not as good as the first book in the series because the narrations kind of boring and very robotic. The plots good enough that you can ignore the bad narration. however it's disappointing that she writes such strong females yet puts them in situations where they have to be rescued and not very realistically. it's a good read and I recommend that you try it.

Great story!

I really enjoyed this story. The only reason I gave it four out five stars is because I had trouble focusing enough to listen to the story, I had trouble getting into it. Now, that is probably just me and the fact that so much craziness is going on right now. (Covid-19 lockdown) As for the story itself, if I discount all the times I had to take a break, the story is really good. Arin and Rykal are really great characters. I would have preferred it if the relationship between had had a bit more time to develop but that just me. The author and the narrator did wonderful jobs at bringing another story to life in this fantastic space/earth series. I've always found that space/alien stories take a certain finesse to make them good and this author has taken the time to make each story in the series good. Well done to the author and the narrator. I'm looking forward to listening to the next story.

Great series maybe getting a bit tired now

Any additional comments?

Really enjoyed the first few in this series. I did still enjoy this but it’s all getting a bit repetitive as each storyline seems very similar to the last. That said, the characters were engaging and I did care about the outcome.