The Thief of Mardu by Marie Harte

TITLE: The Thief of Mardu
AUTHOR: Marie Harte
PUBLISHER: New Concepts Publishing
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 40k)
GENRE: Sci-fi erotic romance
COST: $4.50

When a statesman is murdered, bounty hunter Catam of Mardu gets sucked into helping his peacemaker brother track down the thief who did it. What he doesn’t expect is the almost violent sexual attraction to thief Isa Araye, or her vehement protestations about her innocence. Her story sounds all too plausible, so together, they work to prove she was set up to take the fall. And have a little bit of fun while they do it.

Marie Harte is one of the handful of authors I’ve reviewed so far on this blog that interested me enough to go look at her other published works. When I couldn’t find a third new release that interested me enough to buy this week, I picked one of her older titles that sounded like I might enjoy it. The result was very interesting.

According to the copyright, the book’s two years old, and trust me, it shows. Where Tied and True was easy to read with few errors, The Thief of Mardu has distinct head-hopping throughout the book – almost always the mark of a beginner – and florid prose when writing sex scenes that make it look like the author’s trying too hard. Referring to a pussy as “woman’s fruit” is just too purple for me, though thankfully, she only used that one once or twice. On top of that, because the story is sci-fi/fantasy/futuristic-based, almost everybody has an unusual name. Catam. Nu Fas. Rantak. Then there’s all the place names she makes up. Ragga. Mardu. Nebe6. And yes, that’s a 6 in that name. Normally, this wouldn’t be a bad thing, but she throws all of them out there – without explanation most of the time – almost all at the same time. There’s little time to adjust, and for somebody coming into this universe she’s created for the first time, it’s too much. She has other stories set in this same milieu, but she doesn’t do herself any favors of coaxing new readers if she can’t make each one as easy as possible to understand.

When the sex isn’t weighed down with heavy-handed words, there are glimmers of the hot eroticism that her later work carries. Her heroine in this is just as likable as Lindsay in Tied and True, too. I do have to give Ms. Harte credit for learning as much as she has in the past two years. That’s the sign of an author who’s interested in a real career. It also means that the books I want to keep an eye on are the ones she’s got coming out in the future, not the ones she’s already written.

Readability	4/10 – Head-hopping, unclear terminology, and florid prose doesn’t make it the best read.
Heroine	7/10 – Spunky and likable.
Hero	6/10 – Heroes with enhanced sexual abilities have a tendency to turn me off. Catam was no exception.
Entertainment value	5/10 – I’m left with a feeling “meh” when I’m done
World building	4/10 – I’m sure this is a rich world she’s building, but there’s too much information in too short a book to make it work as a standalone.
TOTAL:	26/50