Soothe The Burn

Title: Soothe The Burn
Author: T.A. Chase
Publisher: Amber Allure
Genre:  science fiction, suspense, futuristic, action adventure
Length: Novel (150 pages)
Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

THE BLURB

Captain Alvix has a secret. One he’s managed to keep hidden for years until a stranger comes to his rescue and shakes up Alvix’s perfect world. Suddenly, Alvix finds himself doing things he never imagined he would and revealing his deepest secret to a man made of metal.

Lieutenant Cooper is the leader of an elite group of military men. Their loyalty to the Galactic Military led them to volunteer for an experiment that changed their skin into titanium flesh. On a desperate rescue mission, Cooper enlists the help of Alvix and, with that one action, changes their lives forever.

Can a man made of metal and a man struggling to control the fire inside his soul find common ground? Or will their love burn to ashes before they ever have a chance to discover it?

THE REVIEW

Captain Alvix was trying to repair his spaceship and bemoaning his fate when a strange man came aboard the ship and offered to help. He wasn’t sure if the person was human or a machine since he looked like he was made of a dark metal however, since he gave Alvix a chance to escape from his deadly enemy Weldon who wanted to use him for his own nefarious purposes, Alvix had no choice but to accept the offer. Lieutenant Cooper was Commander of the most elite team of soldiers in the Galactic Military and when Weldon and his goons showed up later to demand payment for an outstanding debt,  or Alvix’s body in exchange, Cooper paid off the debt in return for a ride to rescue his remaining teammates who were being held by the Tongassians, a race of inhuman creatures made of fire. His team had been sent on a mission to Tongass by the GalMil with orders to eliminate the royal family, but when they balked at killing women and children they had been betrayed by their own people and three members of  his team had been captured. Thousands of GalMil soldiers had already been killed on doubtful missions and his team might be next. Cooper wanted Alvix to take him and the members of his team to Tongass in a rescue attempt.

Alvix wasn’t too keen to go to Tangass and he was proved right because as soon as  they arrived everyone was taken prisoner. Alvix was quite aware of the fate of prisoners on Tongass so he gave himself up to the Tongassian King in exchange for the release of all the soldiers. Cooper was loath to accept his sacrifice until Alvix told them he was a fire eater, probably the only one left on the planet, and would be a more valuable hostage for the King since he could endure the torture much better than they. Alvix didn’t expect to see them again because that was the way life had treated him up to this point, but Cooper and his teammates showed up a month later to rescue him in accordance with their policy of “no man left behind.”  Being abandoned was something Alvix was accustomed to in his short life so it took him by surprise that these soldiers, whom he barely knew, thought highly enough of him and his sacrifice to return to such a dangerous planet to bring him home. The best part of being rescued was that he would see Cooper again and pursue the attraction that he had felt for the man since they met, but to his chagrin Cooper’s face was now completely covered by metal. Cooper explained to him that he and his teammates were part of an experiment that went wrong; they were misled by their superiors who told them they would be testing an advanced type of armour. It was more than armor; the nano-mites that created the titanium fused the armor into a living part of Cooper’s body and he was literally becoming a man of steel each time they healed an injury. Eventually his entire body would be titanium except for his internal organs. Cooper’s biggest fear was that some day he would turn to metal completely and become a robot, obeying orders to kill without question.

Is a man made of titanium capable of love and loyalty? Cooper must prove to Alvix that he could trust him to always be there for him.

Not only is this a wonderful and imaginative book with well drawn characters, including the supporting cast, but it showed a completely different aspect of T.A. Chase’s writing, which keeps evolving. I loved his protagonists Captain Alvix and Lieutenant Cooper who could not be more different – one as cold as steel – all his skin replaced by flexible titanium sheets as a result of an experiment gone wrong, and the other burned hotter than the fires of hell. When they get together Alvix uses the opportunity to douse the internal flames burning up his body. For Cooper, Alvix not only warms his cold body but gives him something he never thought he would ever have, love and tenderness. These two men had a past a long time ago when Cooper was fully human and it was wonderful how this formed another thread in their new relationship.

The world building in Soothe the Burn – Tongass, home of the Fire King, and Tativ, a secret world where the soldiers recuperated from their injuries was very creative and the torture of Alvix and Pope, one of Cooper’s men who had been captured earlier on Tongass, was horrific and inventive. 

Cooper and his men soon realized that they were not safe even on Tativ which was supposed to be a haven, and that there were traitors everywhere who would sell their souls to take Alvix prisoner and use him as a  lab rat in scientific experiments. There is enough tension and adventure in the book to please any afficionado of science fiction and the secondary characters were fully three dimensional. All of the soldiders were unique from Callum, Apple, Pope, Steele and Rivers and there was a core of friendship, fun and respect in addition to the usual duty and honour relationship between Lieutenant Cooper and the men under his command which made their relationship even more dynamic and interesting. The secondary characters had traits that would serve them well should this develop into a series and I sense there may be untold stories about these men of metal and the fire eater. In addition, as their relationships evolved, the guys proved that love and sex could be found anywhere.

If you enjoy science fiction adventures Soothe The Burn is an excellent story that has the right amount of suspense, excitement, otherworldly creatures, as well as love and friendship to statisfy any fan of the genre.