Alien Ascension by Tracy Lauren [Review]

Alien Ascension (Alien #3) by Tracy Lauren
Format: ebook
Source: borrowed through Kindle Unlimited

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: September 6, 2020

Alien
1. Alien Instinct
2. Alien Bride
3. Alien Ascension - Paperback | Kindle
4. Alien Gift
5. Alien Bond
6. Alien Surrender
7. Alien Attraction
8. Alien Holiday
9. Alien Prison

Tracy Lauren
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Vivian
I’m the last person who should have ever been abducted by aliens. For me, this new life is a death sentence. I’m no hero like the other women I was abducted with. No, I’m a coward. They’ll do whatever it takes to help each other and I’ll simply do whatever it takes to survive, no matter what the cost. But there’s one alien who refuses to accept my outlook on life. As a matter of fact, he’s determined to change my mind.

Dax
I know I am the only male who will be able to pull Vivian from the darkness consuming her. Finding an opportunity, I decide to steal her away from the others, if only for a short while. What she needs is adventure, a little fun and excitement to remind her of all the beauty there is in life. I try to tell myself this is all just a game to lift the human’s spirits, but deep in my core I know my feelings for Vivian will change me forever.

Dax and Vivian begin their journey with an innocent enough adventure, but just as they start to find love in one another, an evil crime lord rips the pair apart. Without Dax to light her way, Vivian plunges back into darkness. Her alien mate’s life hangs in the balance and she is forced to fight for both his survival and her own. What lengths will Vivian go to to protect the male she loves? And will her actions prove her to be the true monster in this tale of ALIEN ASCENSION.

Thoughts on Alien Ascension: I am super torn on how I feel about this book. While I can appreciate the journey Vivian had to go through to shed the trappings of her old life (and, quite frankly, to come to terms with her new reality among the stars), I DID NOT like how she was forced into it. I'm not talking about Dax taking her on an adventure without telling her the whys or wheres. I'm talking about what was done to her by the Oscillion.

I get the feeling we're supposed to think of him as some sort of hidden hero because he's fighting the good fight (or something?), but I just can't. The body mods that were forced on her without her consent (or with consent only given because she was trying to keep Dax alive) felt akin to sexual assault. She didn't ask for it and she only accepted it because the alternative (Dax being killed if she refused) was something she couldn't stomach.

She was forced to kill and maim and the Oscillion didn't seem to care that she was unprepared for any of it and, in fact, seemed surprised that she'd pulled off her missions at all. (No lie, if he ever does get a book, both he and Narron are going to have to jump through hoops to get me on board with them as quasi-decent dudes. Hoops. Flaming hoops. So many flaming hoops.)

As for Vivian, I had no problem with her being so afraid she was willing to leave everybody behind in the beginning, but it sort of bothers me that she didn't really try to rescue Dax at any point after the bad stuff started happening. While I totally get that she wasn't a strategist and she'd been told he'd be killed if she attempted escape of any kind, she just kind of shrugged her shoulders and did the training thing and went along with what she was told to do instead of even trying to formulate a plan of action.

When I really think about it, I think the thing that bothers me is that SO MUCH could have gone wrong with the Oscillion's plan. Vivian barely survived several things that happened to her and... I don't know. Like, why invest so much into someone or thing when the chance of her ending up dead or permanently damaged is so high? (Clearly, the whole thing going on here bothers me since I keep coming back to it.)

Despite my grousing, I do like the Vendari and their quests to find their mates. Maybe because a chunk of this book didn't involve Dax and Vivian figuring out things as a team and a couple, I feel like their story isn't done. They had an adventure and then their time together turned into separate nightmares which they both had to individually escape from. There wasn't a whole lot of THEM at the end and I think that's what I wanted.