Encrypted is the first of a pair of fantasy adventures by Lindsay Buroker. Set in the same universe as the Emperor’s Edge series, this is heavily endowed with cryptography and clean romance. I got both Encrypted books in a Storybundle, and it supplies the E of my Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge.

encrypted lindsay buroker

Encrypted (Forgotten Ages/Encrypted #1)

by Lindsay Buroker

Professor Tikaya Komitopis isn’t a great beauty, a fearless warrior, or even someone who can walk and chew chicle at the same time, but her cryptography skills earn her wartime notoriety. When enemy marines show up at her family’s plantation, she expects the worst. 

But they’re not there to kill her. They need her to decode mysterious runes, and they ask for help in the manner typical of a conquering empire: they kidnap her, threaten her family, and throw her in the brig of their fastest steamship. 

Her only ally is a fellow prisoner who charms her with a passion for academics as great as her own. Together, they must decipher mind-altering alchemical artifacts, deadly poison rockets, and malevolent technological constructs, all while dodging assassination attempts from a rival power determined the expedition should fail. As if the situation weren’t treacherous enough, this new “ally” may turn out to be the last person Tikaya should trust. Those runes cloak more than mysteries, however, and he’s the only one who can help her unravel them before their secrets destroy the world. (goodreads)

My Review

When I last read/reviewed a Buroker book, I said something like “maybe I’ve read too many of her books”. I’ll amend that to “too many of her scifi books”. I am still a complete fan of the Turgonian world, the setting for The Emperor’s Edge series and several others, including this. Yes, her heroines and heroes tend to follow a pattern. You’d be hard pressed to tell them apart. Although Sicarius shows up in this one as a young man, and he’s not got any soft sides at this stage!

Tikaya is kidnapped from her balmy island paradise and forced north. Something nasty awaits in the ice and snows and ice mountains. Sometimes the cold seeps through the pages, but it disappears once they enter the tunnels; I’m not sure whether that’s intentional or not. There are plenty of extremely complex puzzles to sort out, and a lovely development of alien thought processes and communications. It comes down to some fairly simple concepts though, so it seems these long gone aliens share human mentality. Or maybe they gave it to us?

Several great twists accompany the turns of the pages. Archaic weapons built from scratch by an Admiral of the Fleet. Such talent the Turgonians waste on their wars! Buroker has truly done her homework on the technologies of the past to update them into this possibly alternate future.

This is another great adventure and entertaining rollercoaster. I’m looking forward to the follow-up, Decrypted.

Book Review | Encrypted by Lindsay Buroker @GoblinWriter "another great adventure and entertaining rollercoaster" #fantasy #turgonia Click To Tweet

……. PERSONAL APPEARANCE! …… Don’t forget, if you’re in Hampshire, UK, today, come to Romsey Town Hall between 10 and 4 to see me, buy my books, and get them signed with a dedication of your choice! Romsey Town Hall is on the market place, and close to Romsey Abbey. Plenty of low cost parking nearby!

Book Review | Encrypted by Lindsay Buroker @GoblinWriter
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