If I had known what this book was about, I probably wouldn’t have read it. Yeah, that’s kind of harsh, but this isn’t a normal book. The first book of this series, “Legend” by Christopher Woods, was what I expected and what I had expected this book to continue to be about. It wasn’t and I should have known that since the authors were totally different. My bad. But, if you’re going to have the same series title, then I think you should continue with that story-line and not jump so far astray.
The only reason I finished this book, is because the writing was very, very good! And that is the most surprising thing about the book. If you choose to read this book, look at the cover picture very closely. That’s what the book is about. You’ll see a small furry thing sitting on a giant spider. That furry thing looking like a cross between a cat and a wombat, is a Flatar and the giant spider is a Tortantula, we ran across one of those in the first book. And that’s what this whole story is about! This isn’t anything resembling a human military science fiction story, but it is kind of good.
It starts in the beginning as every book should, where the Flatar, who’s name is Sadek and the Tortantula, who’s name is Azah are both babies, very intelligent babies. Their initial home is the nesting place of Azah. Her nest mother and her siblings are there and they are making it a difficult time for Azah. See, Azah is a runt, the smallest of the brood and one that probably should have been destroyed at birth. But she wasn’t so now she has to start out just like any other Tortantula and that mean pairing off with a Flatar. Sadek kind of knows what he’s supposed to do, but Azah is just hungry. She’s attacked by one of her sisters and immediately finds out she knows how to kill. She thinks nothing of killing her sister and then eating what remains, in fact, Tortantulas will eat just about anything of flesh and blood!
So, Sadek and Azah form a team which is how these two aliens normally live. They form a strong bond since they are thrown together at birth and are taught from that moment on how to act as a team in everything they do. They go to special schools later in live and learn how to read and write and to do other things including how to fight with weapons. It turns out that both the Flatar and Tortantula are a mercenary alien species. Fighting as a pair is their speciality and they are very, very dangerous. Even the humans don’t want to tangle with this pair no matter how much armor the human may be wearing. Still, they can be killed so one looks out for the other. Their bond grows over time so much so that they can’t be without each other for long periods. You’ll read about this bonding and the entire life of a Flatar and Tortantula pair in all it’s gory details. Still, the writing is very good because it kept me interested along enough that I finished a book I would otherwise never have started.
I’m going to make sure I read the previous of any more Four Horsemen Tails.