** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

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Experiment Number Six
Mina MacLeod
★★★☆☆
55 Pages

For a book of 55 pages, I was disappointed to find that there were no chapter headings. This may should a bit stupid, but I like to have a breather in between chapters, to write my notes. Plus, I feel like the way the story was presented would have benefited from chapters – such as a Prologue for the captivity aspect, and then the main story, especially when it came to instances where the timeline jumped. This wasn't done very clearly, and I think a simple chapter change, or a timeline notice of “so-many days later” would have really helped orientate me into the story. But, there were times when the timeline was so unclear that I didn't know if hours, days or weeks had passed, and there often wasn't any indication to help me figure it out.

As well as quite a vague timeline, the story was told in present tense, which isn't my favourite to begin with. However, I was able to follow this one, and I could appreciate why it was chosen for this kind of storytelling.

While the writing style was okay – it didn't put me off, but it didn't draw me in, either – I found there were inconsistencies throughout. There were some editing issues, as well as a missing scene break at one point, an inconsistent use of numbers and how they were written e.g. “120 over seventy”. I also wasn't quite prepared for the extensive and often graphic medical torture that was included in the story. From the blurb, it sounded more like we were going to see more of the after-effects than the captivity, but there was actually quite a lot of Jason's captivity shown in detail. It made it less interesting, later, when the trigger words were used, because we already knew what to expect and what was coming. If the captivity hadn't been shown so extensively, and that line repeated so often, I could easily have been surprised by the end of the story. Instead, it was a little predictable.

I thought the idea of a religious organisation being terrorists was an interesting one. It's certainly a unique take, compared to other books I've read, and I could see how much work had been put into researching and detailing it all. But, again, it was inconsistent. There was a lot of heavy emphasis on the military and captivity aspect of the story, but very little actual characterisation.

When it comes to the relationship aspect, I honestly wouldn't have minded if it wasn't there at all. It wasn't really necessary for the story, since it didn't end up being the one thing that snapped Jason out of his fugue state, like I thought. It felt a little forced and unnatural. I didn't buy the close connection between Jason and Eric, and I wasn't all that comfortable with the sex scene either, because it felt far too much like Eric taking advantage of Jason, especially when Jason said no and Eric literally talked him into it. It was only later that Jason admitted he did occasionally bottom for others, but that wasn't made clear and it felt too much like Eric pushing him into something he didn't want, using his position as an authority figure and the only stable thing in Jason's life, to coerce him.

Overall, while the story was interesting, I think the 55 pages really limited it. If it had been twice as long, it could have further explored the relationship between Jason and Eric, shown us a little of why Jason was so torn up about Kilik, and gone on beyond the ending to show us a conclusion to the whole Order business. As it is, the story ended far too abruptly, leaving a huge cliffhanger that feels like it requires another story, at least, to finish the plot.

3 stars

Synopsis: Jason is a sniper whose mission goes awry, and he is captured and tortured. When he is rescued months later, he has no recollection of what was done to him. The military isn't sure if Jason was lucky, or if he is the weapon. Eric is assigned to keep an eye on him, and in the process, they grow closer.

What I liked: the premise. I liked glimpsing what Jason was going through, and still not knowing if he was left behind on purpose or by accident. I liked that we got to see what Jason was like before he was captured, since he didn't remember what happened, and that, even though he was wary, Eric liked who Jason was.

What I didn't like: it was never really made clear as to whether or not this was happening in the future or in a slightly alternate world, since my first thought was "Huh, I didn't think any army could operate in their own country." I mean, I'm sure that the technology is there to change people with the help of drugs, so that wasn't really an indicator that this took place in the future. I also found it a little strange that the military, protecting a top secret safe house, didn't arrange to meet with a hypnotist outside of their base. I also didn't really buy the fact that Jason, in spite of not remembering his trauma, would be willing to form any attachments so quickly.

Overall impression: this felt like a prologue, and just didn't answer enough questions for me to be able to stand alone as a whole story. I would definitely read the book when it was written, though, because I enjoyed the characters.

*I received an ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

This is a MM ScFi short story. It was a really well written story with very developed characters and a very interesting plot. It contained many twist and turns so as the reader you never knew what would happen next. It was a really good fast read.

I found the first person, present-tense POV kind of weird and it took a while to get used to, but I liked the story. I thought the characters were fairly well developed, and there was no insta-love, which is an absolute no for me. I even liked the overall plot, though I did think that the background story of a secret military unit chasing some very vague supervillain organization needed more attention and detail. It felt very cookie-cutter to me, like some mix you pour out of a box and then add your own characters to.

The ending was far too abrupt and left me wanting to know more about Jason, his future in Grier’s army and his past with Kilik. I think it would be much improved with some fleshing out and could easily be a book instead of a novella, but I would read more about these characters if MacLeod continues the story.

If you are expecting a big romance in Experiment Number Six, you won’t find it. It focuses more on the whole mission stuff and getting Jason Slate to regain his memory. I had no problems with that fact, I liked it, but I have a problem with the fact that I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a prologue novella for an upcoming full book or not. Because I really wanted them to catch the bad, bad terrorists and the ending was just a bit too sudden for me. It was a novella so I can’t really expect much about character development and I didn’t, so that’s that.

The one thing I can say for sure is that I really enjoyed the writing style of Mina MacLeod, it hooked me from the first page.

That little twist near the ending was fun, a bit obvious, but fun nevertheless.

If you are looking for a quick afternoon read – took me 25 min – then you might give this a try, but don’t expect a big romance story.

Experiment Number Six didn’t blew me away, but it was an ok read to fill my afternoon for a few minutes. I blame the fact that it was only ok for me on the fact that I’m used to full length books. If this had been full lenghted I believe I would have liked it more.

Rating: 2,5 stars