#Review - Dance with the Devil by Kit Rocha #SyFy #Dystopian

Series: Mercenary Librarians # 3
Format: Paperback, 352 pages
Release Date: August 16, 2022
Publisher: Tor Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Science Fiction

The Mercenary Librarians and the Silver Devils are back in the explosive conclusion to USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Kit Rocha’s post-apocalyptic action/romance, with hints of Orphan Black and the Avengers

POWER IS NEVER GIVEN, ONLY TAKEN

Tobias Richter, the fearsome VP of Security of the TechCorps, is dead. The puppetmaster is gone and the organization is scrambling to maintain control by ruthlessly limiting Atlanta's access to resources, hoping to quell rebellion. Our band of mercenary librarians have decided that the time for revolution has come.

Maya uses her wealth of secrets to weaken the TechCorps from within. Dani strikes from the shadows, picking off the chain of command, one ambush at a time. And Nina is organizing their community—not just to survive, but to fight back. When Maya needs to make contact with a sympathetic insider, Dani and Rafe are the only ones with the skill-set and experience to infiltrate the highest levels of the TechCorps. They'll go deep undercover in the decadent, luxury-soaked penthouses on the Hill.

Bringing Dani face-to-face with the man who turned her into a killer. And forcing Rafe to decide how far he'll go to protect both of his families—the one he was born to, and the one he made for himself.

Victory will break the back of Power. Failure will destroy Atlanta.

Dance with the Devil is the third installment in author Kit Rocha's Mercenary Librarians. A trio of information brokers led by Nina, have joined forces with a squad of elite super-soldiers led by Knox and his Silver Devil Squad (Conall, Rafe, Gray, and Mace), to use their knowledge to help the hopeless in a dystopian post-apocalyptic United States (mostly Atlanta) ruled by a corporate autocracy. Nina and her friends Maya and Dani were part of a government program specializing in clones and genetic modification to be Executive Security operatives.

Maya, who never forgets anything she learns, uses her wealth of secrets to weaken the TechCorps from within. Maya has a huge bounty on her head because she knows some damaging secrets. Dani strikes from the shadows, picking off the chain of command, one ambush at a time. Dani is a walking weapon who shouldn't be taken lightly. And Nina is organizing their community—not just to survive, but to fight back with help from people like Jaden Montgomery, and Savitri.  

Knox's Silver Devils are now considered Rogue by TechCorps who has tried hard to take them down. As with the previous installments, this book features two characters, while also including a rash of other characters. Danijela (Dani) Volkova and Rafe Morales are the primary characters, while the rest of the Silver Devils as well as Maya and Nina all play their parts. Dani is a character who I have been waiting to learn more about. Dani was genetically engineered in a clone facility to be the perfect warrior. 

From the first moment she was introduced, it was explained that she could not feel pain, and that she was nearly untouchable and has been on a mission to destroy various aspects of the Protectorate. It was presumed that she had a heart as cold as ice, but this story tries hard to fix that. Rafe was military intelligence who has had a biochemical implant planted in his brain who finds Dani to be a challenge that he aims to solve. Rafe is smart and he absolutely knows that by pushing Dani she might not ever let her walls down. 

Now that Tobias has been removed from the equation, there are others who are itching to take his place including Helen Anderson and the Professor. When Maya needs to make contact with a sympathetic insider, Dani and Rafe are the only ones with the skill-set and experience to infiltrate the highest levels of the TechCorps. They'll go deep undercover in the decadent, luxury-soaked penthouses on the Hill. This book has a few additional characters that have apparently joined with Nina's group since they are all basically clones. 

Those like Ava who is Nina's sister, Beth, and Phoenix who helps Dani and Rafe when they agree to go on an undercover mission to get closer to who is now pulling the plug at Techcorps. If you've read this series from the beginning, you know that Ava is not an easy character to like. There are those like Mace who would love to see if he can get through her shields. Beth is a creme puff who is always smiling and it seems as though nothing bothers her. She is a helluva fighter though. Then comes Phoenix who has her fingers in many pies all at once. When all is said and done, Phoenix proves she can be a team player. Then comes Rainbow. Rainbow is adorable and not to be ignored. 

Even though the synopsis claims this is the final installment in the series, why would the authors leave a open ended cliffhanger which really needs to be addressed.  

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#Review - The Devil You Know by Kit Rocha #SyFy #Dystopian

Series: Mercenary Librarians (#2)
Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Release Date: August 31, 2021
Publisher: Tor Books
Source: Library
Genre: Science Fiction

The Mercenary Librarians and the Silver Devils are back in USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Kit Rocha’s post-apocalyptic action/romance, with hints of Orphan Black and the Avengers

Maya has had a price on her head from the day she escaped the TechCorps. Genetically engineered for genius and trained for revolution, there’s only one thing she can’t do—forget.

Gray has finally broken free of the Protectorate, but he can’t escape the time bomb in his head. His body is rejecting his modifications and his months are numbered.

When Maya’s team uncovers an operation trading in genetically enhanced children, she’ll do anything to stop them. Even risk falling back into the hands of the TechCorps.

And Gray has found a purpose for his final days: keeping Maya safe.

The Devil You Know is the second installment in authors Kit Rocha's Mercenary Librarians trilogy. Kit Rocha is the pen name for the writing duo of Bree Bridges and Donna Herren who started out writing as Moira Rogers. The time period of this story is somewhere around the year 2081 or thereabouts based on the information between chapters. The Silver Devils (Gray, Conall, Knox, and Garrett) and the Librarians (Maya, Nina, and Dani) are starting to get the hang of working together—but then a job goes sideways. 

Instead of the package they expected to retrieve, they find a young girl and discover she is a modified clone… just one of many. TechnoCorps is cloning children, as well as abducting them. One of those girls, Rainbow, will later become part of the family. None of our group will stand for this. Each of them went through horrors as a child and are unwilling to have more children affected. With a the group finally working together like a well oiled machine, the authors bring in a new group of characters, and some older ones like Nina's sister, who have the means and information to help the crew take down their nemesis Tobias Richter who would love to pick Maya's brain apart and expose her secrets. 

This story revolves around a multitude of characters with Maya and Gray standing out for the most part. Maya is a data courier, which means she remembers everything she ever seen or heard. Gray has finally broken free of the Protectorate along with his friends Rafe, Knox, and Garrett, but he can’t escape the time bomb in his head. His body is rejecting his modifications and his months are numbered. The books best part was when Gray and Maya started training together and she picked up it quickly. Which is a good thing with what happens towards the end.

With the surprising appearance of Mason, who was supposed to be dead by Richter, things get a bit twisted. If you add Ava, Nina's sister who hired Knox to kidnap Nina and her friends, then you really have a twisted story with so many different possibilities. The story also ends on a wild cliffhanger ending which you would likely see coming if you paid attention to certain tertiary characters who were more than they seemed. It is fair to say that the third book, Dance With the Devil, will likely feature Dani and Rafe who have been dancing around each other from the first time they met.  

Definitely don’t start this series here: if you haven’t read it already, go back and read Deal With The Devil first, because if you try to dive in here you’re going to be pretty confused about who’s who and what’s going on.

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#Review - Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha #SyFy #Romance

Series: Mercenary Librarians (#1)
Format: Paperback, 336 pages
Release Date: July 28, 2020
Publisher: Tor Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Science Fiction / Romance

Orphan Black meets the post-apocalyptic Avengers by USA Today and New York Times bestselling author duo Kit Rocha

Nina is an information broker with a mission—she and her team of mercenary librarians use their knowledge to save the hopeless in a crumbling America.

Knox is the bitter, battle-weary captain of the Silver Devils. His squad of super-soldiers went AWOL to avoid slaughtering innocents, and now he's fighting to survive.

They’re on a deadly collision course, and the passion that flares between them only makes it more dangerous. They could burn down the world, destroying each other in the process…

Or they could do the impossible: team up.

Deal with the Devil is the first installment in author Kit Rocha's Mercenary Librarians. Kit Rocha is the dystopian-erotic-romance writing alter-ego of writing duo Moira Rogers. There are two key players in this story; Nina, and Knox. Nina is an information broker who tries to collect remnants of a forgotten country; Knox is a trained soldier of the Protectorate who took his team, the Silver Devils (Conall, Rafe & Gray), and went rogue after a mission they were sent on went badly. The time period of this story is somewhere around the year 2081 or thereabouts based on the information between chapters. 

The story actually begins in 2042 with the US plunged into darkness and chaos. A solar flare has basically crushed the US and now people must live under the oversight of various corporations that managed to survive and thrive. Into the void left by a fully-functioning government step the TechCorps. Recently merged technology and medical companies with all the latest and greatest. Generously they supplied solar power, water, food, medicine. Generously, they insinuate themselves into every aspect of lives until they had control. Now they sit, with an iron grip, on their domain. Not everyone conforms to their rules, however, and thus the Protectorate was created. Enhanced soldiers to protect the TechCorps interests.

Nina lives with two other women (Maya and Dani) doing things to make their neighborhood nicer and safer and a little less under the thumb of TechCorp and their hired guns. Tracking down lost books and information to be able to copy and reproduce them for everyone helps get her through the days after she suffered the devastating loss of her sisters. Nina, Maya and Dani are all modified in many ways. Nina is a trained soldier who can easily take out men twice her size without breaking a sweat; Maya has perfect auditory recall and has a huge bounty on her head; Dani has superhuman reflexes and reaction time but can't feel any pain. Nina and her crew pulled off one of the most important discoveries of a lifetime but they never once thought about quiting and retiring on their laurels. When approached by Knox about an even more important find, the legendary Library of Congress, she can't say no. After all, this haul might be even more impressive that what put them on the map. 

Knox squad are legendary killers who lost their medic as well as their tech expert Luna who may be able to reprogam their failing implants. But, Knox is at the mercy of an unknown enemy who doesn't want money as ransom. They want Nina. Knox has to convince Nina to come with him so he can trade her for Luna who is a biochem hacker who agreed to stabilize Knox and his team. Trust is one of those commodities in short supply. The two groups travel together and get to know one another during several encounters with groups of people preying on other people. But not every double cross works out and there is a bit of a surprise reveal.

Nina is the sunshine to Knox’s seriousness and they balance each other out. There is a huge reason why they shouldn’t get involved but of course they’re going to regardless of our opinions on the matter. Normally lie of omission plots annoy me to no end but I completely got why it happened here. Having had zero familiarity with Kit Rocha's previous series which apparently takes place in this same world. I took a chance on requesting and reading this story based mostly do to the the name of the series itself: Mercenary Librarians. 


It's a perfect name for what Nina, Maya and Dani have been doing since they joined forces. This book also takes time before each chapter to introduce specific notes from various people about Knox's team as well as Nina and her sisters. There are several romantic interludes in this story which shouldn't surprise anyone who has read the authors previous series. The ending sets up something big for the series arc and I have no doubt books will play a much larger role in the next book.

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