Revenge by Dani Hoots – 4 Star Book Review

It has been three years since Elvira “Ellie” Ryder was betrayed by her best friend Cor and watched as her hometown of Kaus was leveled by invaders from a different Zone. Now sworn to seek revenge on him, Ellie has teamed up with her old friend Zach to find their long lost friend.

Welcome to one of the December 8th stops on the blog tour for Revenge by Dani Hoots with XPresso Book Tours. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, exclusive content, and a giveaway! #Bibliophile #Bookshelf #BookClub #Bookish #Booksy #BookNerd #BookWorm #Scifi #Western #LGBTQA #XpressoTours

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About the Book

Revenge
by Dani Hoots

Publishing 16 November 2021
FoxTales Press

Genre: LGBTQIA+ SciFi Western
Page Count: 259
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

It has been three years since Elvira “Ellie” Ryder was betrayed by her best friend Cor and watched as her hometown of Kaus was leveled by invaders from a different Zone. Now sworn to seek revenge on him, Ellie has teamed up with her old friend Zach to find their long lost friend.

After getting offered a bounty hunting job—really an assassination job—they find out that part of their payment is the whereabouts of Cor. Without hesitation Ellie and Zach take the job and make their way to the Human Zone to assassinate their target. As they make their way through the desert, and through the Human Zone, they are up against the prejudice of their kind—Kausian, a race that can shapeshift but always stand out with their golden eyes. Nevertheless, they never miss a mark—that is, unless they find out the truth about who destroyed their kind and how their target is right in the middle of it all.

Will Ellie be able to forgive Cor after learning the truth? Or will she forever hold on to that hatred?

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My Review

My Rating: 4 Stars
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I was granted complimentary access to Revenge as part of a blog tour for this title with XPresso Book Tours. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

Revenge is a scifi western full of LGBTQIA+ representation and a very twisty, turny plot that depends deeply on the connections, relationships, and conflicts between its characters. It gives us multiple POVs and I think my favourite character to read was Ellie. She’s a badass and not at all afraid of showing her true self to the world.

This book is full of great LGBTQIA+ representation, and not just the run of the mill L/G/T monogamous stuff. There’s a loud and proud aro/ace character, there’s polyamory and open relationships, everything! That’s refreshing to see. I think all of these different identities and orientations thrown together in one cast was handled very well.

In terms of the plot beyond the characters, that’s where this one loses a star for me. We’ve got lots of different humanoid species living together, a race called Kausians are facing extreme discrimination, and the main cast has players on both sides of the anti-Kausians, pro-Kausians battle. Other than that, I finished this book a couple of hours ago and I don’t remember much. The characters won my heart and I love a good character-driven book so it still gets a high rating, but the finer points of the plot did not stick at all. I’m not sure if that’s the book or the fact that I don’t normally go for westerns, but if this is scifi western it’s one of the best examples of the genre.

If scifi westerns are your thing, get in here! If you want a good character-driven book with the less-represented LGBTQIA+ minorities on full display, also get in here! This book is different, in a good way, and I think it’s worth a shot.

About the Author

Dani Hoots is a science fiction, fantasy, romance, and young adult author who loves anything with a story. She has a B.S. in Anthropology, a Masters of Urban and Environmental Planning, a Certificate in Novel Writing from Arizona State University, and a BS in Herbal Science from Bastyr University.

Currently she is working on a YA urban fantasy series called Daughter of Hades, a YA urban fantasy series called The Wonderland Chronicles, a historic fantasy vampire series called A World of Vampires, and a YA sci-fi series called Sanshlian Series. She has also started up an indie publishing company called FoxTales Press. She also works with Anthill Studios in creating comics through Antik Comics.

Her hobbies include reading, watching anime, cooking, studying different languages, wire walking, hula hoop, and working with plants. She is also an herbalist and sells her concoctions on FoxCraft Apothecary. She lives in Phoenix with her husband and visits Seattle often.

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