Book Review: The Recovery Man's Bargain by Kristine Kathryn Rusch


The Recovery Man's Bargain by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟 (3 stars)
Publisher: WMG Publishing

This is one more novella from the Retrieval Artist series that I realized I'd not read. There's nothing new here as it relates to the larger story. The story is told from the POV of Hadad Yu who takes a job from the Gyonnese to bring in Rhonda Flint Shindo. They want her to answer for her conviction for a major loss of life on their planet.

Rhonda happens to be Miles Flint's ex-wife and mother of their deceased daughter, Emmaline. And so too, she's the mother of Talia, the cloned sister of Emmeline. And about five other cloned versions of Emmeline, as it happens. That whole thread of story comes up here and reminded me of how much I enjoyed it in the main series. I was also reminded that for the life of me I can't figure out how Miles and Rhonda ever got together. She comes off as the most calculating, craven human being and her brilliance does not make up for it. While I accept that Miles and Talia loved her, I have never been convinced of her love for them. It rankles. So when Hadad does his recovery of her, there's not a lot of sympathy for Rhonda. For Hadad and this reader, all the sympathy goes to Talia. The story ties up well enough and unsurprisingly for readers of the series. I'm glad I read it but if this one is skipped in a reading of the series, nothing is missed.



Summary: Hadad Yu “recovers” things for a living. Things, not people, not animals. Things. Until he gets in trouble and must work for the alien Gyonnese. They want a person to answer for her crimes, and they want to use Yu to get her. He reluctantly agrees, and sets off events that will change his life and the lives around him forever. A companion piece to Recovery Man, The Recovery Man’s Bargain explores the motivations of one of the stranger characters in the Retrieval Artist universe.



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