Blood Ties

The Eurynome Code, Book 3

By: K. Gorman

Narrated by: Andrea Emmes

Together again, and ready to bring the system to its knees.

Karin Makos has spent the last two months running from one thing or another - but all that's about to change. Her sister's back, and Nomiki's ready to grab their problems by the horns, throw them on their backs, and rip into them with her modified carbon steel blades.

With the backing of the Fallon Empire and a promising new lead, the two are determined to reach down into the mystery of their past and pull out its secrets, once and for all.

But they aren't the only ones on the move. And looking may uncover more than even they could have bargained for.

The Eurynome Code space opera series continued with this unforgettable third installment. Buy your copy today!

©2020 Aethon Books (P)2020 Aethon Audio

This is one of the best Series I have ever read!!

Even though the first 2 books in the series where just brilliant, Blood Ties brings the quality of The Eurynome Code to a whole new level, which was not only stunning, but mind-blowing. At the end of Renegades, Karin and the Crew of the Nemina had managed to escape everyone attacking them with a bit of help from the Fallon Empire, but a single scout ship from the Fallon continued to chase them, and it was revealed that on the ship was Karin’s Sister, Nomiki – who they had been searching for. Karin has been building this mythology around Nomiki, about how she is a pure killing machine, and utterly terrifying if she is ‘Unleashed’ so to speak.
In this book – we get to see Nomiki Unleashed, and Karin was not only telling the truth, she probably underplayed it a bit, Nomiki is pure Death when she sets her mind to it.
Whilst Karin was created as Project Eos, and is able to produce the ‘Light’ that can kill the Shadow creatures, or heal ‘The Lost’, Nomiki was part of Project Enyo, part of the Greek War Pantheon, and was created as a supreme warrior, with agility, strength, and all these bonus abilities that an assassin would need.
In this book, the reunited Sisters finally start putting things together, and start to realise the magnitude of what has happened in the Sector, and also the involvement of those that were a part of the experiments on them. As things progress, Karin also starts to get her memories back, and the things she remembers are the stuff out of the worst nightmares.
With the resources of Fallon and now with the skills of Nomiki, Karin and the crew of the Nemina (No way that Soo-jin was leaving Karin to do this on her own!! And Marc didn’t even have to be asked, of course, Cookie had to be dragged, but once he learnt all the hacking he could do, he was in…), join forces, and set off to go and hunt Seirlin, and anyone that used to work for them.
The Sector of course is still ravaged by the ‘Shadow’ attack (and continued attacks – there is a link between everyone dreaming of the place with the rocks, and an attack by the Shadows), but even worse, with all the suspicion and anger, the Alliance and Fallon forces have started to attack each other, and are heading for an all out war.
This is an absolutely masterful piece of writing, the story has so many layers to it, with the Main Characters and their plot, then the minor characters, the sub-plots of Seirlin and not just the past, but the present and the future. There is the constant threat of the Shadows, as well as now a full blown war looming for an already devastated Sector that has a casualty rate of over 50% from the Shadow attack. This is an intensely complex storyline, with multiple plotlines all interwoven, and there is the very real risk of things getting mixed up, plotlines getting lost, or left open or just rushed to close them as the story gets confused (As we have seen in so many books).
However, Gorman has this incredible Maturity and intelligence to her writing style, that elevates her above a lot of the books I have read this year (or at all to be honest!), and she writes like a true Masterclass in creating a Sci-Fi Masterpiece, everything flows so expertly that you are totally mesmerised by this book(this series!), losing hours, as you just have to read one more chapter, mmm, ok, just one more chapter, and suddenly it is 3am in the morning.
Her Main Character, Karin Makos is just beautifully written, with this complex, psychologically flawed and damaged person, capable of amazing gifts, but who has been through such a tortured childhood that should never have even been thought of. Karin is a mix of truly incredible, courageous and powerful, and at the same time, a scared little girl, terrified, flawed, and to a large extent broken. Gorman has written her with such gritty realism, that it is almost like she is working from a case file, not her imagination.
Nomiki is another example of how inspired, and extraordinary Gorman’s writing talent is. This character is a piece of art in a way, created to be an almost perfect killing machine, she is exceptional, but again, she is so totally broken from her experiences, that apart from the fact she was already quite possibly homicidal, and psychotic, she is most certainly unhinged now. One of the only things that keeps her truly grounded in life is Karin.
The exploration of her character in this book is so utterly fascinating, and it would be an incredibly psychology paper, this is how ‘real’ these characters seem.
My favourite is easily the wise cracking, totally sarcastic Soo-jin, who is wonderful, and a great comic relief for some situations. Her character is just brilliant, and the relationship she has with both Sisters is another fascinating part of this story.
The title ‘Blood Ties’ relates to a lot of things in this book, relationships that are not only between the Sisters, but between a lot of different links to do with the Eurynome Code, making this an intriguing, fascinating, and totally exhilarating read. This series is just outstanding, and this third part has to be the best book so far, it is so thrilling, and totally captivating, I can’t wait to get into Part 4. Read this, regardless of what you like to read, you won’t be disappointed!!
Andrea Emmes continues to astound as the Narrator for this series, providing such wonderful voices to the characters. She is perfect for the Main character of Karin Makos, providing this beautiful, melodic voice, that is so easy to listen to (She really does have a beautiful voice, one of those voices you can just listen to for hours, as she talks, and it doesn’t grate on you (no offence to anyone – but if you listen to the same person for 10hrs, you need a break – but not with Andrea Emmes, I can just listen to her all day!) She is so real with creating the emotions of not just Karin, who she does with so much gritty realism, you feel like you are listening to the real person at times, but she does a masterful job with the other characters to, Soo-jin’s light, bubbly voice, until someone annoys her, and she gives them her trademark sarcasm, Nomiki, with that homicidal edge to her voice, like she is just on the tip of the spear, about to plunge one of her knives into someone – and enjoy it. And she does a skillful job with the male voices also, such as Marc, the strong Capt, and Cookie, the goofy hacker, who is a bit of an idiot, but brilliant at getting into anything IT.
She really brings this story to life, giving this characters a voice to tell their stories, and Emmes does it so well, that the Audiobook is the go to option, so much better than reading it, as you get so much more out of the experience!!

Good book, interesting story.

This was worth leaving a word review instead of just stars. This is book three and the series is still interesting. The narrator does a good job with the story. The audio was on spot and the editing seemed to be very well done to my untrained ears. Start with book one and enjoy this odd little romp.