I was looking for books with female cyborgs to compare to Starlight, and I ran across this gem of a book. Maybe more like a grenade of a book, actually. Pippa DaCosta’s Betrayal blasts you straight into the action and doesn’t stop–my favourite kind of sci-fi.
Betrayal is a dual POV story written alternately from the perspective of Number 1001, a cyborg with hints of human memory hidden inside, and Caleb, a fleet-captain-turned-smuggler who’ll do anything to hide his past, especially from himself. Imagine Murderbot is a girl and Han Solo is way more of a drunken womanizing asshole, and the two have a sordid romantic history–that’ll give you a good sense of the dynamic here.
All Caleb wants to do is keep under the radar, running drugs to pay the bills while he also smuggles high-tech weapons to a growing rebel army. But when he discovers stowaway Synth 1001 hiding on his ship, her expensive and top-secret presence draws the attention of both Fleet and Chitec corporation–the two entities he’s most desperate to avoid.
1001 has been sent to kill Caleb, but memories cause her to malfunction. Something inside her connects with Caleb, and she ends up helping him instead of killing him. As the story unfolds, so do her memories of a tragic past romance and a deadly secret that could take down Chitec corporation. But will the pain of past betrayal stop these two from working together to destroy the company that plans to take over the world?
Caleb is admittedly hard to love at first. His actions and thoughts are sometimes offensive, and he screws pretty much every female in sight. But the more you get to know about his past, the more you can’t help sympathizing with him. Even when you learn just how cowardly his actions truly are.
1001 makes for an interesting counterpart to Caleb, looking at human interaction from an objective, robotic perspective that allows her to see Caleb in a less judgemental way than the reader probably does. But as she discovers her own emotions and humanity along the way, her view of Caleb is challenged.
Besides her interesting personality, 1001 is a killing machine. If you know me, you know I love a kickass heroine, and 1001 is definitely that.
Caleb’s second mate, Fran, his goody-goody Fleet captain brother, and his favourite prostitute Jesse all make interesting secondary characters that add to the tense dynamic of the story. I’m impressed with the author’s ability to build so much depth into these characters and their relationships while still keeping the action going at such a breakneck pace.
This book overflows with everything I love in action sci-fi: ass kicking, short chapters, interesting character dynamics, and a hint of romance.
Betrayal is not for everyone, though. Pippa DaCosta warns that her series is “Rated R,” and I have to agree. There’s a lot of sex, a lot of gory murder, and some drug and alcohol use to boot. Plus, the story line is pretty darn dark.
With the dual POV and tragic backstory, I’m tempted to predict that this series becomes a second-chance romance with a happy ending. But Pippa DaCosta is known by her fans as an author who loves to torture her characters and buck reader expectations, so I probably shouldn’t get my hopes up.
Still, this story is so good I can’t help being tempted to read through the series.
This author has a knack for creating reader addiction. That’s probably why she lists Betrayal for free. She knows she’s going to hook you, and like me, you’ll probably be slinking back for more.
