C
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
I Am Ebony Strike has several elements that are pure catnip to me. It’s science fiction that includes multiple races and species, not all of which are humanoid in appearance. The main character is a female martial artist who is not young (she doesn’t state her age, but she makes it clear that she’s much older than her competitors, so I’m guessing she’s middle-aged).
As an added bonus, neither protagonist is white, which is a refreshing change from the “default to Caucasian skin tones” thing that a lot of science fiction has. Because of these factors and the extremely likeable main character, I was able to enjoy I Am Ebony Strike despite the fact that structurally it’s a mess, there are huge issues with consent, and the fact that it’s more of a prelude to a romance than an actual romance.
Here’s the deal: Ebony won a huge interplanetary martial arts tournament back in the day and now she’s a businesswoman who uses another name and identity. A person from her impoverished home planet begs her to return to competition in hopes that she’ll win enough money to save the planet from financial conquest. The last thing she wants is to be attracted to one of her competitors, but Aladen is gorgeous and charming – and seems to have some secrets of his own.
Structurally, this book is a mess. Seriously, it’s like a master class in how NOT to organize your narrative. The back-story is sort of penciled in even though surely some flashback chapters could have shown more of Ebony’s life before escaping her home planet. Major characters appear and disappear with no follow-up even though they could have had a significant impact on Ebony’s story and character arc. Plot threads that seem significant fall by the wayside and new plot threads randomly appear. The action is good but it’s also repetitive – Ebony faces various foes in the arena and although every fight is different in detail, the concept is the same – enter arena, suss out new opponent, beat them up, nurse wounds, repeat. The romance goes straight from contrived, barely consensual sex (the tournament runner gives them drugs which increase libido and decrease inhibition) to true love. The pacing and plotting is, frankly, pretty bizarre.
As far as the romance goes, it’s promising but abbreviated. Aladen is described as gorgeous, with dark brown skin, white hair, and muscles galore, and he fights like Ebony – without sadism or malice. However, it’s hard to discern his personality until his secret is revealed near the end of the book, and there’s a sudden jump from sex partners to true love that is totally disorienting. If the end were intended as a prelude to romance, like a lead in to a second book in which the romance would be developed further, I’d be all into it. They have tons of potential as a couple – I just feel that from the standpoint of narrative and character they skipped a few chapters in their courtship.
They have great sex, but even that is pretty problematic. The reason they have all this great sex is because, as I mentioned, the tournament runner drugs their food to lower inhibition and increase libido. They are required to have sex as part of the tournament, and Ebony is not happy about the general idea, although she does love the sex itself. It’s supposed to be erotic, and the sex itself is very well written, but I couldn’t get past the idea that arguably both Ebony and Aladen are rape victims (because they are being both explicitly coerced and covertly drugged by the tournament runner).
And yet, for the most part I enjoyed the book based purely on the fact that I adored Ebony. I like that she’s matter-of-fact and unsentimental, but also honorable. I like that she’s physically strong and that she WORKS at it. I’m so bored with training montages, but the part of the book set in a gym where she trains for the tournament were wonderful (and the fact that the characters at the gym weren’t developed further broke my readerly heart). The gym sequences showed how Ebony thinks and feels, and they made her martial arts abilities seem realistic and earned. They also showed how she treats other people – at a distance, but with respect.
Look, hard-bitten action sci-fi heroines are all over the place, but they tend to be white or multi-racial and young (Ebony herself points out the significant advantages of being young in a fight-to-the-death, no-rules arena battle). It’s refreshing to see a similar character with dark brown skin, and it’s refreshing to see a similar character who is “a woman of a certain age.” Ebony fights with her mind as much as with her body, and every fight showcases her physical skills and her mental strength while the aftermath of every fight makes the toll on her body clear. Every single fight, including training, results in at least mild injury, because she is playing hardcore. She’s not here to look pretty or be nice or be mean – she’s just here to get a job done and she’s really, really good at it.
I’m giving the book a C because overall it was a mess, but DAMN I loved the heroine and I would read any book, no matter how messy, with her as a character. Just please, no eroticizing a lack of free consent, OK? Just no.
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Thanks for the review Carrie! I think I’ll give it a try 🙂
Ooh, I think I’m gonna give this a try, too.