Malfunction (Dark Desires Origins #1)
Nina Croft
Published: Jan. 20, 2020 (Entangled)
Purchase: Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review
Reviewed by: Margaret
Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars
Logan is a military investigator. His new partner Katia is a cat shifter. Her boss is a vampire. And they’re all investigating a series of suspicious deaths. Sounds like a typical urban fantasy set up, right? Except that Malfunction is set 500 years in the future. In space. I do love a genre mashup!
In the not too distant future, the Earth is dying. Several thousand people escape in a fleet of space ships in search of a new home planet. Five hundred years later, they’re still searching. Supplies are running low and the surviving ships in the fleet are starting to fall apart. Then a suspicious malfunction is discovered in several of the cryo-pods housing the survivors. Logan and Katia are awakened from their own pods to look into the malfunctions, and determine whether the aging technology is to blame or if in fact, it’s a serial killer. As a series of more “malfunctions” threatens their lives, the latter seems increasingly likely.
It took me a little while to get into Malfunction, but that could just be a mood thing. Once I got to the halfway point I was engrossed in the mystery, though I felt like I figured it out too easily. I enjoyed the chemistry between Logan and Katia, as well as the fact that their backstories are set more or less in the present. I also thought it was interesting that even in the future, humans weren’t aware of the supernatural creatures sharing their ship. My biggest complaint is that the ending, though it was exciting, was maybe less than heroic.
Malfunction is actually a prequel to Croft’s Dark Desires series, and is set about 500 years prior. Rio, the hero in book one of that series, plays a significant role in this book, as does the hero from book three. I haven’t read either of those but I’m curious enough about the world that I’ll probably pick them up. I’d also be willing to read more in this prequel series to see how the world evolves. I’d especially like to see more of the werewolf pack, a few members of which are introduced here.
Content: graphic sex, references to child molestation and rape
I like the idea of the genre mashup. Thanks for sharing your thoughts
They’re the best! Though I’m not sure if authors always mean to do it.
This one has been on my radar, but I wasn’t sure about it. Your review definitely makes me want to check it out.
Yay! Writing actually are me want to read the original series too.