Book Review | Drath verse Nos. 1 + 2 by Meyari McFarland

The Drath verse (series) is variously termed a Drath Romance Novel, Drath SF Novel and the Drath Universe. I’m not sure what title I got this trilogy as from Storybundle, but I put the three books in separately, which led me to Joining of Lines for my Alphabet Soup reading challenge. I enjoyed it so much, I went more or less straight back, to read the first. They both made it into my SpaceTime Reading Challenge, which was a big numbers boost!

Drath verse series – Books 1 and 2

• 

• 

Clash of Lines (Drath verse #1)

Running for his life was normal for Ru, just part of living in Hexal City. 

Running with Nthanda and uncovering a plot to destroy both Nthanda and Ru’s long-lost family? 

Not normal at all. 

Just meant Ru had to kick ass and fight for his future. And that the future might be brighter than Ru ever expected. 

Always providing he and Nthanda survived long enough to have a future together. 

Clash of Lines is an exciting adventure romance that will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end. Join Nthanda and Ru as they take on the universe and find true love together.(goodreads)

Joining of Lines (Drath verse #2)

Duty defined Jing Althus’ life. Duty to Nthanda, his cousin. To the Ceelen who expected him to lead if Nthanda fell. Someone had targeted the Ceelen for destruction. Only one person could help Jing discover them: Iman Hogarth, conman, genius and the most beautiful man Jing had ever met. If Iman would help. Jing’s only hope was to convince Iman that he was worth risking Iman’s life. (goodreads)

My Review

I’ll start with Joining of Lines, since I obviously enjoyed it. I was thrown into a world I knew nothing of, but that was a great deal of fun, learning about it through other eyes. Jing and Iman both have POV chapters, although I think Iman gets the lion’s share. Several other characters are involved, with various allegiances. There are plenty of plots around, and only Iman seems to have any handle on them. He is universally considered unreliable and a con-man, which bodes well for building trust. Yet Jing needs his skills, discovers he likes his company, and would even consider a long term relationship, if only he weren’t always fooled by Iman’s tricks. Iman simply has the hots for Jing, and would do just about anything to keep him safe.

The writing is pacy and the plotting devious. There are plenty of opportunities for Iman to prove his worth, but there is always somebody in the background reminding Jing not to trust him. Given the likelihood of plots to bump Jing off, Iman seems the least of all dangers. The story develops in unexpected ways, with sudden twists in a complex spacefaring society. The Drath are the ultimate arbiters. We get to meet them. They are utterly fab as aliens, and truly funny in Jing and Iman’s description.

A very satisfying romp through a brilliantly envisaged galaxy.

I wanted more.

So I went back to the first in the set I’d got as one file on my kindle. Here I found two of the characters Nthanda and Ru, who play a large part in Joining of Lines. No matter, I can cope with the story of their meeting.

It was a great start–fantastic chase up and down and in and out of a city-planet with several hundred levels. As we all know, high equals important and low equals near-destitute. Ru started low. Near-basement level. But Nthanda is searching for someone with the right bloodline to help him continue his Ceelen line. He just sees Ru and thinks he’s in need of help, despite Ru saving his life. So much help that he ends up taking him back to his ship for adoption. Cleaned up, he’s stunningly beautiful, and Nthanda immediately gets the hots for him. Ru has had the hots since the first second, and can’t believe his luck.

Again, a great plot with some really interesting battle scenes in the spaceship, and beyond. It’s just that, in this story, there’s no let up between the hots and the bulging–oh yes, the bulging–of the bodies in tight places (read that either way). This is not romance, it’s pretty much erotica. It really detracts from what is a really good story. I certainly wouldn’t have read Joining of Lines after this. I doubt I’ll read the third in the set, which is between two other characters we’ve met. Frankly, I don’t need to find out more about them.

I’d be happy to read more about Jing and Iman, though. But if I’d seen the cover of Clash of Lines, I might have realised. There are a lot more of this ‘verse’ listed, and they all have the Clash-style cover. So that’s it, for me.