The Assassin's Salvation

Mandrake Company, Book 3

By: Ruby Lionsdrake

Narrated by: Jill Redfield

Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

When Jamie Flipkens signed on as a pilot and engineer for a small medical research company, she never expected to end up on a mercenary ship full of hulking soldiers who want to make her their latest conquest. The captain has been good to her - it doesn't hurt that he's her boss' new beau - but she's on the verge of quitting when a strange man shows up at her shuttle door.

Sergei Zharkov claims to be an old friend of the captain's. He neglects to mention that he's also an assassin, a dangerous man even the hardened mercenaries avoid. Jamie should avoid him, too, but she's drawn to the charm that sometimes escapes from beneath his grim facade. She finds herself wanting to give him a reason to smile - and maybe a little more than that.

The problem? There's a fresh bounty on the captain's head, and it's possible Sergei is there to collect it.

Penned by USA Today best-selling author Ruby Lionsdrake, The Assassin's Salvation is a science fiction romance novel; it's part of the Mandrake Company series but can be enjoyed as a stand-alone. It is recommended for listeners who enjoy space-based adventure (such as Firefly) and steamy love stories (in the style of Linnea Sinclair).

©2014 Ruby Lionsdrake (P)2017 Podium Publishing

Best of the three so far

Looking forward to the fourth book! I loved both main characters and they are perfect for each other.

Great story!

Best part of my day. Ready for the next book. Great characters and engaging storyline.

Amazing book

Wonderful book, this is my favorite love story so far. The more of Ruby’s books I get through the more I fear finishing them all and having to find a new author. Her writing is amazing, always making me fall in love and care for the characters and the worlds.

Adventure, romance, and humor

This is a great series so far. Book 3 tells Jamie’s story. She finally comes into her own with this book.

thought I'd give this series one more try

Ruby Lionsdrake tends to write themes with strong threats of sexual assualt. I'm not a fan of that constant threat. if you can look past that, this book is not bad. and the characters are likable. But don't think I'll be reading anymore from this author do to the suggestive points mentioned above. Love the SciFi aspect, but fhe rest is not for me.

Weak installment. Wish I'd skipped it.

I'm loving this series, but THIS book is one long buildup to a too-long deflowering scene staring terrified teens. We get every sigh and whimper, every body position, every single thing spelled out in detail, in the most unsexy sex scene I've listened to this year.

My eyes, my eyes!!! They've come unmoored and are now rolling freely in their sockets!

Lionsdrake has so far kept her sex scenes sexy by NOT going into too much detail, but here she let's her stumbling freak flag fly, and it's a mess.

(Lindsey/Ruby, please don't try this again without the guidance of a professional.)

The plot starts out intriguing: A hardened assassin wounded by a painful past, who falls for the young, inexperienced shuttle pilot who ran away from home with her virginity in tact. Romance novels use this silly trope all the time, and it has been done well, just not this time.

This book should have hinged on the relationship between this couple being believable, but nothing about the entire plot of the book feels well thought out. There's too much going on. It's all kitchen sink and no dinner! Had he been allowed to have a sense of humor, it might have worked. But all the earnestness -- in that particular character, with his history? -- it's exhausting.

I can usually count on Lindsey Buroker/Ruby Lionsdrake for a good time. I'm a fan. However, I'm close to finishing this one, and it's making me dizzy. Too much drama, too scattered, and the whole cast of characters don't act like themselves. I don't know what the hell is going on!

I only hope it doesn't mean the rest of the series is going downhill.

It also doesn't help that Jill Redfield, who tends to read with a cutting edge of snark in her voice, makes believing the pairing of these two *innocent* characters impossible. Each line of the book is delivered heavily larded with sarcasm. Usually, it fits the story. Here -- not so much. It was hard enough to get through the sex scene as written (and I skipped over a lot of it), without that superior tone of judgement being used to describe what should have been an emotionally stirring, climactic moment.

Perhaps another narrator could have read this romance with the tenderness and sincerity required to sell it -- but clearly, Redfield only has one gear, and sincerity isn't it.

(Please note that Redfield's snark usually works great for this series, just not for these particular characters.)


Lower-case *r* recommended: But only if you have already purchased it, or have nothing else to read and are already hooked on the series. Otherwise, skip ahead and pray Ruby finds her way back home.

Inconsistent tone fizzles any sizzle

I so wanted this to be a sci-fi romance with a dangerous assassin and a plucky pilot. Unfortunately, this was an awkward, tame story, until jarringly explicit get-togethers that defied credulity. The non-romance plot about a threat to Captain Mandrake was a confusing mishmash of excuses to allow the H&h to bond during missions.

In terms of tone, this author’s books are usually on the YA end, but this one was full on high school cringe. Sergei is an assassin with over a hundred kills, but he’s a shy doormat with zero game as he pines for innocent Jamie, a sheltered girl who is constantly the victim of the author’s go-to danger device: leering men seeking to have their way with girls in peril. Jamie is constantly being groped, threatened with assault, or the subject of locker room talk.

Then, out of nowhere, he’s professing love and she’s going down on him and cue the saxophone because suddenly he’s alpha in the sheets and she’s on him like DonkeyKong. A lot. In detail. I wondered if I’d accidentally switched to a different book.

It’s possible I would have liked this better with a different narrator. Ms. Redfield is great for portraying strong, snarky women, like Ankari (book 1’s lady lead). But, her voice for Sergei is monotone and blander than bland; her voice for Jamie is strident and not anything like the innocent Ray of sunshine that Jamie is supposed to be.