Lauren's Barbarian (Icehome #1) by Ruby Dixon

This is a new series in the same world as Ice Planet Barbarians with new tribes and an adventure that begins for Lauren in a much hotter section of the world.

The setup of this book is very similar to that of Ice Planet Barbarian #1 (Georgie’s book), but somehow this one didn’t land as well for me. There is nakedness, hot blue (and in this case four-armed) aliens, and a language barrier, but where IPB #1 made me want to keep reading, this book, made me want to skip to the “good parts”.

The connection between Khtar and Lauren was not a strong one, I didn’t understand a lot of her motivations, and many of her decisions are about him. Her inner monologue would not pass the Bechdel test if this were a movie.

I also felt like I had to have read all the previous books as many of the characters and their backstories were dropped into this book without a previous explanation, including Lauren herself.

This series sets up the possibilities for many more pairings, but unlike IPB #1 I am not sure I am so excited to look for them right away. -Sky