Dark Horse

Class 5 Series, Book 1

Some secrets carry the weight of the world.

Rose McKenzie may be far from Earth with no way back, but she's made a powerful ally - a fellow prisoner with whom she's formed a strong bond. Sazo's an artificial intelligence. He's saved her from captivity and torture, but he's also put her in the middle of a conflict, leaving Rose with her loyalties divided.

Captain Dav Jallan doesn't know why he and his crew have stumbled across an almost legendary Class 5 battleship, but he's not going to complain. The only problem is, all its crew are dead - all except for one strange, new alien being.

She calls herself Rose. She seems small and harmless, but less and less about her story is adding up, and Dav has a bad feeling his crew, and maybe even the four planets, are in jeopardy. The Class 5's owners, the Tecran, look set to start a war to get it back and Dav suspects Rose isn't the only alien being who survived what happened on the Class 5. And whatever else is out there is playing its own games.

In this race for the truth, he's going to have to go against his leaders and trust the dark horse.

Winner of a SFR Galaxy Award 2016 and the Prism Award 2016 for Best Futuristic.

©2016 Michelle Diener (P)2016 Podium Audio

Excellent Epic Story

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dark Horse?

The Narrator

What does Christina Delaine bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I am so glad I did the audio along with reading. It brought the story to life. It was narrated by Christina Delaine, and her performance was excellent. She had different species and IA to represent and she did it with ease. She even sang for a few scenes and that made it even better.

Any additional comments?

This was an Epic read for me. And, of all my 5 star reads this year this story was the most outstanding of them all. The writing was superb, and as I said the plot was epic. The smidgen of romance and sex was enough to keep my libido interested. That alone is a rare find for me. The species characters and the galaxies creation kept me intrigued. The thrilling adventure was beyond anything I’ve read in a long time. In the beginning the artificial intelligence scared me, so it had angst. Then, I came to love the same artificial intelligence. The heroine and hero represented all we want in our couples and their love story. What most impressed me about this author’s writing and the story was the amount of dialogue. It was meaty with conversations and not just narrative. That’s also a rare find for me. All of these examples are what made this an over the top read for me.

A surprisingly great story

This book is the first time I have tried the author Michelle Diener, and I am glad I did. The story had every thing , Fun Science Fiction, great characters and a wonderful plot. The narration by Audible made it golden. Can’t wait for the following stories.

Great for a first book in the series

Dark Horse is an excellent science fiction romance. The characters are likable, and the author did a great job of balancing the plot with the development of the romance. I thought that both of the leads were great separately as well as together, and I love the relationship that Rose develops with her AI, which really is far more complicated than I thought it was going to be. If I had any complaint, I think that the Grih are a bit too much like humans, so I think the inclusion of races that are vastly different helps to mitigate that a bit.

The narrator has a good voice, and though it's a bit lower than I thought Rose's voice would be, she does a good job. The only critique I would have is that when Rose gets upset, the narrator's voice changes so drastically when she acts out these parts that it's a bit jarring. Otherwise, the narration is solid, and her male voices are some of the best I've heard.

Captivating and complex

Difficult to tear myself away. Self aware AI and strong female lead without the over the top snark in so many popular stories today. Robust universe, alien coalition,and an underdog don’t underestimate a human we will surprise you and come out on top vibe. Can’t wait to read the next installment in the series! I have both read and listened to this book. Glad I listened!

Love!

Loved the story and the narrator, read the first two books, ready for the next!