Review: Deacon by Kit Rocha
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Title: Deacon (Gideon's Riders #2)
Author: Kit Rocha
Genre/Themes: Dystopia, Romance
Release Date: 29 Aug 2017
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My rating: 3.5 Stars
Blurb
Ana has trained most of her life to achieve one goal: to prove that anything men can do, she can do better. Now she’s Sector One’s first female Rider, and being the best is the only way to ensure she won’t be its last. Distractions aren’t allowed--especially not her painful attraction to the reserved but demanding leader whose stern, grumpy demeanor has already gotten into her head.
Deacon has spent the last twenty years trying to atone for his past, but the blood he spilled as a mercenary and assassin will never wash away entirely. If his Riders knew the extent of his sins, he’d lose their trust and respect. It’s easier to keep them all at arm’s length, especially Ana. But his newest recruit’s stubbornness is starting to crack his defenses.
And their sparring matches are driving him wild.
The passion sparking between them can’t be denied, but neither can the vengeance barreling toward Deacon. When his old squad comes back to punish him for his betrayal, Ana and the Riders are squarely in the line of fire. The only way to save his people may be to make the ultimate sacrifice.
But first, he has to convince Ana not to follow him straight into hell.
Review
This is the second book in the spinoff of the Beyond series which I haven't read but I did read Ashwin (Gideon's Riders #1) and quite enjoyed it.
Deacon continues where Ashwin left off timewise and gives the reader more details about the life and people in Sector. This is the story of two Riders, Ana and Deacon, coming together and it's passionate, intense, with strong action/suspense elements which made for an exciting and quick read.
While I overall enjoyed it, the story brought into focus some things that I had missed in the first book but which I had hard time with here.
I admit I loved Ana and thought she is a great heroine - strong, dedicated, a great soldier, committed to the Riders and their mission. Being the only female in the team she is working twice as hard as the the men to prove herself but also putting herself under enormous stress to be perfect, to live as an example for the young girls looking up to her. Following her journey in the story we see her coming to realize that's not possible, she is only human, with human flaws and desires.
Deacon was harder for me to like. He was ready to sacrifice himself for the Riders and the Rios family and he did read as hell-bend on dying at times. I was uncomfortable with this whole living saint/martyr vibe going on through the his arc. I did like the realization that having everyone looking up to you is a double-edged sword and you need room to make mistakes, to be weak, to need comfort and support.
The story delves deep in the life of the Riders and learn a lot about everyone of them and of their life as team. I liked the sense of camaraderie among all the Riders, their interactions were brilliant, both fun and serious giving the story a rich background and setting up the scene for future books.
What I found troubling was the sense of religious cult/community I got from Sector 1. It's a place where they worship love (and the Rios family) above all and we see multi-partner relationships between people of all genders as the norm. It appears to be all about peace and love and happiness but giving Gideon and his family a God-like status and treating the Riders as martyrs for the safety of their community didn't sit well with me. We do see Gideon trying to bring change and make it all less cult-like, but the blind loyalty to one person/family was still at the core of Sector 1 and it bothered me.
Overall, it's a fast-paced, enjoyable read and I believe fans of the Beyond series will like it, probably more than I did.
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