Polaris Rising is a great sci-fi read!

I spent years reading Star Wars fanfiction but when picking my next read I always pick up fantasy or contemporaries. I enjoy reading science fiction novels, even the non-Star Wars kind, but I don’t spend a lot of time searching my next read in that genre. But when I found Polaris Rising By Jessie Mihalik and read the description, I was ready to ascend into space.

Summary:

Ada Von Hasenberg ran from an arranged marriage, only to get caught two years later and put in a cell with Marcus Loch, the most wanted man in the universe. Ada plans to escape, but then the ship is attacked by her ex-fiance, Richard Rockhurst. Ada hastily forges a deal with Loch, and they make a dangerous escape. Together they’ll outrun Rockhurst, unravel a conspiracy, and fall in love.

Thoughts:

 I won’t lie. I am a little sad that the rest of the Consortium Rebellion novels will not be in Ada’s perspective, but I think Polaris Rising’s conclusion was satisfying. I felt like I read three books in one. This book follows three main events: Ada and Loch escaping a ship, Ada escaping Richard, and Ada arriving home. 

Ada is a baddie and very much a Padma/Princess Leia type of character. She grew up wealthy and loyal to her family, but she also had a traumatic childhood. Because of her upbringing, Ada can switch from her public and private persona, which aids her when she’s on the run. Ada switches identities often, which is an impressive and frightening defense mechanism. And despite Ada’s strained relationship with her father, she continues to spy for him while on the run. Although she eventually uses the intel as leverage to save her friends, I thought it was crazy she grew up in such an environment. But that explains why Ada has a hard time learning to trust and forming relationships.

“My what big teeth you have,” I murmured.

“The better to eat you with, my dear” he replied without missing a beat.

Jessie Mihalik p.22

On the other hand, Marcus, Ada’s love interest, remains a mystery for most of this novel. He’s an ex-soldier and allegedly a murderer that Ada slowly learns to trust. However, he’s protective to a fault. Not in the possessive way but the dumb “I would jump out of the ship after you” kind of way. Coincidentally this ends up being Marcus’s downfall in the final arc of the story.

Besides Ada and Loch, there are some side characters who become lifelong friends to both heroes. However, I did notice that this novel had smut, romance, and action but lacked comedic moments. Which is an interesting choice. I would have preferred some, but it didn’t ruin my overall experience.

That said, this story sets up the rest of the series quite well! And I am curious to find out who the other protagonist in this series will be and where their journey will take them.

Polaris Rising was well written and includes the standard sci-fi vocab. This novel does have some graphic sex scenes as well as kidnapping, misogyny, and murder. The plot flirted the line between romance and action well. Jessie Mihalik writes urban and space opera-type romances, so I’m going to continue to read more of her books.

until next time book lovers I’ll be living in libros,

Gaby

Follow me on social media

• Instagram
• Goodreads
• Pinterest
• YouTube