I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Deal With the Devil by Kit Rocha Series: Mercenary Librarians #1
Published by Tor Books on July 28 2020
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 336
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A fast and furious sci-fi adventure/romance with plenty of action and even some emotional character development.
Who can resist a cover with a bad-ass female mercenary standing on a pile of books while the world falls to pieces behind her? Certainly not me, which is one reason I was excited to pick up Deal with the Devil. And while it didn’t deliver at all with the whole “mercenary librarians” set-up—and I’ll get into that later in my review-—it was such an unexpectedly fun read and a great combination of futuristic elements, nail-biting suspense, and yes, romance. I devoured this in only a couple of days and I’m already looking forward to the next book in the series.
The story takes place in the year 2086, following a catastrophic event called the Flares. When a solar flare hit North America, it decimated cities and left an already crumbling society in ruins and chaos. Fast forward to the present, where our story revolves around two groups of rogue soldiers living in Atlanta. Nina, Maya and Dani are information brokers and run an underground library, focused on their mission to help the less fortunate. Nina was once part of a trio of clones, created by the Franklin Center for Genetic Research. When her clone sisters Zoey and Ava died in combat, Nina escaped and found Maya and Dani.
Knox is an ex-soldier and used to be part of an elite group called TechCorps, run by the Protectorate. Now he’s captain of the Silver Devils, a rogue team for hire that includes his TechCorps teammates Rafe, Conall and Gray. Just days before, Knox and his team left the Protectorate and went rogue, cutting out their embedded trackers so the Protectorate can’t find them. Without TechCorps to help them control the chemical mix they’ve been given to make them stronger, Knox desperately needs a biochem hacker named Luna to help keep them alive. But Knox has a big problem. Luna has been kidnapped, and in order to get her back, Knox and his friends must deliver Nina to the kidnapper, unharmed.
Knox convinces Nina and her team to “help” them procure some dangerous information, and in exchange, Knox promises Nina access to the mythical Rogue Library of Congress. Using a road trip as a set-up and a way to get Nina to the designated drop off location, Nina and her team reluctantly agree to the plan, tempted by the prospect of the RLOC and the opportunity to sell it off for a tidy profit. But Knox is starting to like Nina and her friends, and now he’s wondering if he’ll be able to complete the mission.
This is basically a road trip story, one of my favorite tropes, and I thought it worked really well. Sometimes the pacing can suffer with these sorts of stories if the author doesn’t do their job, but Rocha manages to keep the tension going—not only because of the dangerous terrain the characters have to cross to get to their destination, but because when you throw a group of four hot guys and three hot women together in tight quarters, you can bet there’s going to be some sexual tension as well. Rocha includes a couple of side adventures before the group gets to the final meeting place, and I thought they were a lot of fun.
As far as the setting goes, most sci-fi readers will find the world-building elements familiar. In other words, Rocha isn’t really breaking any new ground here. Super soldiers with chemical implants that make them faster and stronger, check. Characters who have been used and abused by the government and have gone rogue and are hiding from them, check. A post apocalyptic world without rules, check. But despite a lot of familiar tropes, the author manages to pull them all together to create an exciting and engaging story.
What really made Deal with the Devil work for me were the interactions among all the characters. Rocha gives each one a fairly detailed backstory—although Nina and Knox are fleshed out the most, and since I would consider them the “main characters,” that isn’t surprising. Most of the tension comes from a big moral dilemma—Knox soon realizes that he’s developing feelings for Nina, but he’s still obligated to turn her over to the kidnapper in order to save Luna. The ongoing tension of “will he fess up or not” kept me on the edge of my seat and was far more interesting than all the gunfights and action scenes. And yes, there is some sizzling sexual tension going on, and because this is billed as a romance, expect a couple of obligatory sex scenes—which thankfully, do not take over the story. But I quite liked the way the seven characters started developing friendships on the road, as they are forced into some very dangerous situations and have to start trusting each other.
Now let’s talk about the whole “mercenary librarian” thing. This was probably the biggest disappointment for me. There are a couple of paragraphs in the beginning of the story that mention how Nina, Maya and Dani are able to print real books and share them, but once that tempting statement is made, there isn’t a single other mention of their work as “librarians” until the end of the book. So that cover with piles of books? Never happened, I’m sorry to say.
My other issue with the story is the final reveal with the kidnapper. After such a great set-up, I was hoping for something shocking when the crew finally makes it to the rendezvous point, but it sort of fizzled out and the reader doesn’t get a very good explanation for why the kidnapper wanted Nina in the first place. The second half wasn’t as strong as the first half, and events felt rushed near the end, something I find all too common in books these days. Oddly, after what felt like the natural climax and resolution, Rocha tacked on another fifty pages or so in order to give the reader an over-the-top, explosive ending. I know it was a set-up for the next book, but the natural rhythm of the story faltered a bit at this point.
Still, I had a lot of fun with this one. I’m definitely on board for the sequel, and I’m hoping for a deeper dive into the library and how it works. My suspicion is that the next book will focus on a different couple—Maya and Gray, according to the blurb for The Devil You Know—and I’m eager to learn more about both of them. Fans of action-packed sci-fi romance will definitely want to add this to your reading list.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
Your mention in a previous post of this story about mercenary librarians had piqued my interest, and even though that’s not the main focus of the novel, this post-apocalyptic world sounds intriguing and I might give it a spin, particularly considering your 4-star rating… 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…MR. MERCEDES (Bill Hodges Trilogy #1), by Stephen King
It’s worth reading for the entertainment value, for sure:-)
Aside from the librarian thing not really being mentioned more (maybe the sequel will have more about it?) but this does sound like a pretty awesome scifi book.
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…Review: Soothsayer by Kathryn Amurra
I really enjoyed it, and it definitely made me forget “real” life for a while:-)
Great review! Sounds exciting — and who doesn’t love a good librarian story?
It was a lot of fun:-)
Yeah objectively there were some issues but subjectively it was just a lot of fun. Excellent review!
Exactly! Thanks Anne:-)
Oh man, it’s odd and saddening to hear about the failure to develop the whole “mercenary librarian” thing. Glad the rest was pretty good though. Great review, Tammy! 🙂
Lashaan Balasingam recently posted…My Monthly Anticipation | August 2020
Thanks Lashaan!
Nice to hear how much you enjoyed this one even with the misleading cover. I hope the next book gets a little more into the books, as it were.
Yes me too. It’s really a fun idea that has lots of room for exploration:-)
Great review, Tammy. I’m really looking forward to reading this. 🙂
I hope you get to read it!
This sounds really interesting and I do love a good road trip story. That’s a bummer about the mercenary librarian idea being dropped though. It sounded cool.
It was surprising, especially when you see that cover and think “wow look at those piles of books!”
Oh no, that is a bummer about the mercenary librarian thing, I kind of feel like they cheated us and conned us into reading the book! Oh well, I still want to give it a try but at least I have been warned it’s not got cool librarians in it. 🙂
I’m hoping the librarian plot is a big part of the next book:-)
Oh yes, that’s the other thing! I was disappointed that they weren’t “real” librarians, lol! And the fact it played such a small part in their role and in the story. My review goes up Thursday, you definitely enjoyed this a bit more than me, but we had some of the same thoughts.
Yeah, that cover, I was so excited to see what that was all about, lol.
Glad this was fun overall even if there were a few disappointments. I’ve only read one or two of their books (in their romance section) and so I’ve been SUPER curious about this one. Thanks for your thoughts, Tammy!
Hey, it was fun and that’s what I was in the mood for:-)
Glad to see you enjoyed this one as it will be one of my next reads. I got behind with my July books due to my two week break so I’m now trying to catch up with lat month whilst not getting behind with this. Let ee how that goes.
Lynn 😀
this seems like something I’d enjoy, I’m really glad I read your review first because I’d be so mad at the lack of follow-through with the mercenary librarian premise! now I know to adjust expectations 🙂
An excellent review, Tammy! Glad this one was still an entertaining, action-packed read, despite not delivering on the mercenary librarians. Daft bit of marketing to make a feature of that, though… I’m tempted – but I have a PILE of books to get through. I’m still giving into tempting new, shiny books – rather than focusing on the ones I already have *sigh*.
Oh gosh, I still need to read this one! I’m so far behind. xD I’m so glad to see you enjoyed this so much! It sounds like the perfect book for me, and I’m so excited to give it a read. The fact that the mercenary librarians thing is a bit of a lie is kind of a bummer, if I’m honest, since that’s one of the big reasons I first picked it up. Sounds like it was a good read despite that, though, and maybe it’ll come up more in subsequent books.
I am sorry that the “mercenary librarian” part wasn’t so well developed (because it is a brilliant idea!!) and that the ending feel rushed, but all things considered it really seems a good book. I had this on my radar but now I am really really curious!!