Releasing Rage (Cyborg Sizzle, #1) in Some Like It Hot!

Sep 28, 2015 Rosebud rated it liked it

Shelves: aliens, m-f, science-fiction, futuristic, action-adventure, erotic-romance, suspense, romantic-suspense, military, abuse

It's a man's world and no one knows that better than female engineer Joan Tull. Assigned to a outpost battle station, Joan is one step away from being assigned her own cyborg, her only obstacle being an all male staff who don't want women engineers in their ranks. Finally getting a chance to prove herself, Joan is assigned to cyborg model C899321.

Rage, half man half machine, is an early cyborg model known for violent tendencies on and off the battle field, making him one of the most lethal yet It's a man's world and no one knows that better than female engineer Joan Tull. Assigned to a outpost battle station, Joan is one step away from being assigned her own cyborg, her only obstacle being an all male staff who don't want women engineers in their ranks. Finally getting a chance to prove herself, Joan is assigned to cyborg model C899321.

Rage, half man half machine, is an early cyborg model known for violent tendencies on and off the battle field, making him one of the most lethal yet valuable cyborg warriors known to mankind. Having killed all engineers assigned to him, C899321 doesn't know what to make of the female claiming to be his new handler. Killing her would be too easy so why not allow her to service him until he and his fellow cyborgs escape their chains. He can always kill her as his destination, Homeland, does not allow humans and would terminate any who try.

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This has a strong resemblance to the Cyborgs: More Than Machines series to the point I found myself repeatedly comparing the parallel similarities. That being said the overall series premise is that mankind has created cyborgs as rank and file soldiers. The cyborgs themselves are treated as machines/robots, disposable when no longer needed, however, the cyborgs are much more intellectual than their handlers give them credit for. Thus the series is born.

For the most part I appreciated the core romance and D/s relationship between the main characters. The author kept to a realistic concept and reasonable characterization of a cyborg/human romance. The adult content scenes were smokin' HAWT with graphic scenes. Does get the heart a flutterin' when an alpha male character knows what to do and does it. Repeatedly. ;)

The cast of secondary characters were a hit/miss. As I'm a pro cyborg lover I definitely had favorites but in my opinion the author didn't expend a lot of energy developing the bad guy characters to the extent that it worked. I had a hard time rationalizing a whole population is guilty just because a sample number are evil. Vague isn't it but I follow a non spoiler code so there you go. End result though is I'm not gonna accept that premise unless/until it has a basis of reality.

The story line was problematic for me in that the world building was incomplete. I had questions regarding Mantidae, nanocybotics, and why Joan wasn't more skilled to handle herself in a male dominated profession. Seriously, if I was in a remote outpost without any support system to deal with discrimination and sexism, you can bet I'd become very very interested in martial arts, weaponry, and logging in any and all incident. Further, if monitoring and cameras had lapses I don't feel that would be ignored or investigate for the who/what/when/where/how. Again. Vague observations but....

Lastly. I do want to include for those readers having triggers with non/dub con. There is an off black scene regarding rape that some may find disturbing. If you fall under that category, do proceed with caution depending on your specific trigger because that subject and a scene does revolve around that.

This is a SFR that I enjoyed for the most part and recommend for fellow cyborg lovers. Can't wait for a couple follow up installments. Go Vector!!!!! ...more

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Oct 14, 2015 Cam rated it it was ok

Shelves: erotica, d-s, genre-sci-fi, part-of-series, heroine-raped, species-cyborgs, rape, insta-lust, y-2015-read, y-2015-freebie

I had hopes this would be another good cyborg story but I didn't like how it started, Joan who is supposed to be this very brave and eager engineer who wants to work on the cyborgs because one of them saved her. On their first meeting, she kneels, submits, gets naked, and does sexual acts with Rage, the primitive cyborg who just killed his last handler. It was just too fast. Then there's (view spoiler) ...more

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Jan 28, 2016 Shan ~A~ rated it it was ok

Shelves: erotic, sci-fi, 1st-in-series

Rage is a C model cyborg, which I believes makes him 3rd generation cyborg, who was built for fighting and breeding. After much mistreatment by the humans they were made to protect, the cyborgs are ready to rebel. Rage included.

Joan is a human, and she is also an engineer who is assigned to Rage. She is nothing like the rest of the humans on her battle station, for one she is the only female, and she is also very compassionate and passionate about making sure the cyborgs are treated well.

Rage d ...more

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Feb 02, 2021 Fiona McGier rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-romance, cyborg-romance

This appears to be the start of a series, since it's the Cyborg Sizzle, #1. The author has created a brave new world populated by the scientists who created cyborgs, which are grown in a lab to have an accelerated growth rate, so that within a year or two, the cyborgs are fully-grown adult warriors. Engineers have to work on them, to increase the efficiency and strength of the somewhat human warriors. But many humans see them as merely machines, despite their having self-awareness and consciousn This appears to be the start of a series, since it's the Cyborg Sizzle, #1. The author has created a brave new world populated by the scientists who created cyborgs, which are grown in a lab to have an accelerated growth rate, so that within a year or two, the cyborgs are fully-grown adult warriors. Engineers have to work on them, to increase the efficiency and strength of the somewhat human warriors. But many humans see them as merely machines, despite their having self-awareness and consciousness.

In this story, Joan Tull is the first female engineer on a battle station, which means she gets insulted by all of the men who call her "Tits," taking their lead from the commander, who despises women. When she's assigned to have a cyborg of her own to tend to, she's thrilled. When she discovers it's a C-level cyborg, with grey skin and only the rudimentary programming essential for battle and breeding, she's even more happy, even though he's called Rage because he's a killing machine who is often violent and angry.

When she was only 11 she lived on an agri-planet that was attacked by aliens who were stopped only by the cyborgs sent by the Human Alliance. The cyborg who rescued Joan after her entire family was slaughtered, was a C-level cyborg. This is her chance to repay that kindness with her own. So she's dismayed to discover that the other engineers have been torturing the cyborgs, presumably for "fun." The cyborgs' programming doesn't allow them to communicate with each other while on the battle station, and the engineer-handlers have weapons that can neutralize a cyborg, so they have to obey. But that doesn't mean they have to like it--and a cyborg has a very long memory when he or she has been abused.

The story is about how Joan is able to convince Rage that not all humans want to hurt him, and he does indeed deserve respect for serving the Human Alliance so well for so long--despite the inevitability that they will decommission him at some point, and keep him alive while they remove all of his "parts" for reuse in other cyborgs. And Joan learns that the huge C-level cyborg is indeed more human and humane than his creators and handlers.

Note: there is a violent multiple rape that isn't described, but alluded to about 2/3 of the way into the book. I wasn't prepared for it--I almost didn't want to finish the book because of it. Then there is a scene where Rage brutally tortures the commander--we all despise him, but I didn't feel good about myself cheering for his death. But I'm glad I kept reading, because once Rage uses his nanocybotics to heal Joan, and she proves to be stronger than most humans, life gets much better. And she gets to have her HEA with her grey C-level cyborg. ...more

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Aug 30, 2015 Tina rated it really liked it

Shelves: alpha-male, ebook, apocalyptic, crime, cop-miliary-special-forces, erotica, eccentric-hero, hot-geek, dark-subject-matter

Ok this premise reminded me of dohners series but story did veer off into its own story. I must say that the men On these ships were plan evil! I liked the chemistry and the different model numbers explained how they were different. The homeworld angle was different too as was the ending of the story although that they didn't figure it out was a little unbelievable. I will definitely read more in this series! ...more

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Aug 04, 2016 namericanwordcat rated it it was ok

Shelves: tortured-heroine, tortured-hero, erotic-romance, bbw, cyborg-android, male-rape, escape, freebie, rape, women-s-rights

This is a mess of a book with women hating, betrayal, rape (not by the hero) of all kinds. The world is ugly.

The heroine is kickass and a sexual submissive. Her submissive nature gets a bit silly as her real brave personality comes out really away from the hero. He falls in love with her unconditional love.

And yet even though many parts of this book made me uncomfortable in its brutality and lack of nuance, there are parts of that idea of loving someone for exactly who there are that made me wil ...more

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