Fb2 The Medusa Game (Silhouette Intrigue) (Silhouette Intrigue) ePub

This is a fast paced adventure/romance with military aspects. I highly recommend it.
Because of the "politically correct" comments of some reviewers, I increased my stars to raise the books average to closer to my opinion of an appropriate rating for a BOOK. This book involves religiously inspired extremist actions and plots. It appears to me to properly ascribe the motivation and accurately portray the anti-female aspects of the religion espoused by the characters in the book. I am sorry if naming that religion is offensive to some, but REALLY, get a grip. No religion, including Christianity, is completely devoid of differences of opinions or approaches to the religion.
Back to the BOOK: my normal rating would be four stars, as I think that the author allowed the Heroine not to figure out an aspect of the plot which was incredibly apparent, involving the ice re-surfacing. And I felt that the Heroine's physical abilities were just a touch over-the-top.
But I did find the book to be realistic in its handling of women coming into a male-dominated field WHERE that field is thought to be something women cannot handle. Well done!
So. This is a DO BUY recommendation.

A very difficult book for me to rate. It has a brilliant plot that includes ice skating, science, terrorism, Special Ops, Delta Force, action, suspense, and romance. It has about everything exciting. I especially liked how the author herself has actual experience with some of the crime stuff she has written. However, this was the first time I came across a romantic suspense or Silhouette that uses one of the two main characters to present a negative opinion of another religion or culture. In this case, the usual Islam was the focus. Some of the parts are very uncomfortable and offensive though some readers might just look at it as someone sharing their opinion. I was very upset with the remarks made and even thought of giving up on the book, but I was very intrigued about the general plot so continued on.

It would have been a 5 for me if the author hadn’t shown a negative opinion of Islam or a culture and instead just stated or described a fact. And I use the word culture because a lot of the things mentioned are actually not just part of the Islamic religion but many cultures.
The Medusas, a Special-Ops Unit, are a group of highly trained women, each of which has a diverse set of experience and knowledge such as in combat, flying planes, knowing different languages, etc. They’re a wonderful example of independent women fighting next to men. They have struggled to show that their group is worth forming and even in this book it takes seeing them in action for the men to fully see their abilities.

They are assigned to provide protection to Anya Khalid, a Muslim skater who has people after her for wearing revealing clothes and performing in front of men. The Medusas work with Delta Force, their boss being Commander Dexter Thorpe. He and the main female lead Isabella are perfect for each other. Both are strong, competent, witty, and fun to read about. Great chemistry! I love how they tease and pick on each other. The romance developed at a very nice pace. Some reviewers have mentioned that the romance was not really there, and in a way that is true. Most of the book is about the terrorist plan being made against Anya. But I liked how we are given hints here and there of their feelings. In this way we are able to see these feelings grow deeper. We are not given Dex’s point of view but the reader can see clearly what Dex is thinking.

The Bad Points:

- There wasn’t enough focus on the actual skating. I had thought there would be more action as Anya skated but the skating was just sort of the location or setting where the action takes place.

- Isabella has given up and is neutral to both her Iranian Muslim background from her mom’s side and the Mexican Catholic on her dad’s side. This was fine but she has a specific hatred towards the idea of women staying home, cooking, cleaning, and raising the kids. I wish in this book that women who have chosen that way of life were not dishonored or sort of referred to as not having any backbone and lowered next to women like Isabella who are out fighting. And though it wasn’t specifically stated that Isabella was referring to Muslim women, with her disgust toward a lot of the Islamic beliefs shown through her thoughts and actions, it was as if she was saying that only Muslim women choose that route.

- Isabella’s hatred towards the veil was so strong that I feel that she wouldn’t be friendly if her charge was a Muslim woman wearing a veil instead of the clothes Anya wore. Another Medusa makes a joke about the veil saying that no wonder women can’t drive (as is the law in some country’s) because they can’t see through the veil. I didn’t appreciate this joke in general because of the fun it’s making of another culture’s belief. Also, in some countries women are allowed to drive as long as they wear gloves. And, I think a more detailed reference was needed for the veil. Islam requires that women be covered from head to toe, with their feet and face not needing to be covered. So a headscarf would be a hijab, the full covering where eyes are not even shown is the burka, if a long covering (abaya) is worn with a hijab, eyes showing, nose and mouth covered, that is called a nikaab. In this book it seemed as if the full burka was being referred to as the required covering but that is not true.

- There is one scene that was written in a totally unnecessary way. Isabella is keeping close watch on Anya, which is her duty for the winter games. In this particular scene Anya is talking to a boy, Lazlo, another skater, in a room. As she’s listening extra closely because the boy had physically hurt Anya not too long ago, she starts thinking that she is chaperoning the boy and the girl as would happen in the typical Muslim culture. And she’s disgusted that she’s doing something of this nature. She’s also thinking that Anya and Lazlo have started treating her as if she was a Muslim chaperone. How do we know that they are thinking that, we are not given any dialogue to show that. And although the boy and girl are Muslim, she’s watching them because she’s a Medusa, a bodyguard for Anya. I don’t know why this comparison was made when if she was watching two boys instead of a boy and girl, and one of the boys had hurt the other one, she would still be listening and watching closely because she’s responsible for the safety of her charge.

- I also didn’t like the description given on the clothing. Anya states that she shouldn’t have to talk about her clothing for skating whether it’s the abaya and the veil or a beautiful and tasteful dress for the competition. Having grown up in a city with a very large population of people from everywhere, abayas are considered beautiful by not only the Muslim community but people from all over. I have seen girls with hijabs and abayas being complimented all the time by Polish, Mecodonians, Africans, Christians, Catholics etc, for wearing very beautiful clothing. I would have preferred the author to have stated a description that was more factual instead of an opinion. It could have simply said that the veil is more covered or less revealing rather than saying the figure skating costume was more beautiful and tasteful.

Great I felt like I was fighting along side all the women in this story.

"The Medusa Game" is the second book I've read by Cindy Dees (I have also read "The Medusa Prophecy") and it's the second in the series (coming before "Prophecy" in the series timeline). Like the other book it's an enjoyable and light read with some interesting characters, situations and an engaging overall premise.

Isabella Torres is a member of the Medusas, a female-only Delta-force-type Special Operations group. The Medusas are working hard to be accepted by the men of different Special Ops groups; they know that they can't compete in strength with men but believe that there are other occasions where their all-female team might come in handy.

And they're exactly what is needed to guard a young Arab athlete at the winter Olympics. Anya Khalid has lived in Australia for the last ten year and isn't a practising muslim but her country are supporting her participation in the Olympics as a figure skater. Unfortunately the tradition figure-skater costume of a flimsy leotard doesn't work very well with the muslim requirement for a headscarf and other body coverings. The staff of the Olympics expect trouble but don't want to exacerbate it so the Medusas are taken on to provide bodyguarding duties for Anya but in a surreptitious way.

Isabella instantly finds herself in conflict with Major Dexter Thorpe, the Delta force operative in charge of the different security teams. As Anya starts to find herself the target of extremists and Isabella and the other Medusas uncover a more serious terrorist plot she has to work with Dexter Thorpe and try to convince him of the value of the Medusas.

Although a fairly short book this is a really enjoyable read. I loved the background information about ice skating - the hard work and athleticism involved, the ways in which the competitors relate to each other, the planning and training that is involved in producing a world-class skater. The special forces background details were also very interesting and the romance that takes place throughout the book is also rather nicely written. My only criticism is the author's worldview on Islam. The wearing of the veil is written throughout as a bad thing that Anya and Isabella need to avoid and there isn't really any discussion of the opposite view, that some muslim women find it liberating. It felt rather like "US good, Muslims bad" as an overall theme - which I am sure the author didn't strictly intend - and I found that sometimes rather uncomfortable. Especially as, of course, the terrorists in this book have to be muslim suicide bombers. Still it was a fun read and it's good to read about women who aren't simpering misses but who can work hard and professionally.