Ascendent (Executive Power #1) by Tal Bauer

Ascendent (Tal Bauer)

SUMMARY

Sasha Andreyev grew up on the wrong side of nowhere, dreaming of starlight as he strangled a secret. He fled, enlisting in the Russian Army, and worked his way up the ranks. Years later, after surviving a beating and being left for dead, he found a new life in Moscow, working with President Sergey Puchkov. 

And then, he fell in love. 

Desperate to avoid his runaway heart, crippled with a shame that infected his soul, and ravaged by demons haunting his memories, Sasha ran. 

But he could never escape Sergey, or the gravitational pull of their love. 

Nightmares trail behind his every step and weary ghosts live in the hollow chambers of his soul. He’s spent a lifetime brutally eviscerating the parts of himself he despises, and he’s an empty, shattered shell, struggling to be the man worthy of Sergey’s love. 

The pieces of his soul he cut out are the very ones he needs in order to become the man he yearns to be. He’ll need to face himself, and his past, on a journey into the frozen heart of Russia, and into the midnight depths of the dead lands. 

Only then can he ascend from the darkness, and be the man Sergey needs at his side. 

MY REVIEW

“Will you help me find my soul?” 

Shocking to say the least, Sasha and Sergey were not one of my favourite couples (lovers-to-be) in series “The Executive Office”. It took me a few books to warm up to them, especially to President Sergey Puchkov. And again I could live without their side story that made me lose my focus from my Ethan's desperate love.

Sergey and Sasha did not look like a believable couple and somehow for me their love/lust was forced and too sudden and too fast.

I definitely felt sorry for both of them. Sasha had to endure a lot as a gay military man in conservative and harsh Russia. Sergey was too lonely and confused with his unfulfilled urges.
But still I could not feel any magical sparkle between them.
Not like the way I could feel it with Ethan and Jack and their hopeless, devastating love or with Faisal and Adam and their poetic, karmic love.

So, when I started Ascendent, it felt a little bit awkward. How could a book (series?) with Sergey and Sasha as the main protagonists work? To be honest, the beginning of the book did not help my concerns. It did not have the natural flow most books by Tal Bauer have. It felt like the story started somewhere in the middle of another story (which it did really, but it could be done in a smoother way).

If I hadn't read The Executive Office series (especiallythe last book “Enemy within”, I wouldn't understand what is going on.

Also I am afraid that if someone else hadn't read The Executive Office series, maybe he/she wouldn't care or be curious of how this story proceeds.

We are asleep until we fall in Love. 

And that would have been a huge mistake!

The story of Sasha and Sergey in this book is proven to be beautiful and unique. It is a May-December romance story and the book is highly erotic. I think it has more erotic scenes if you compare it to a standard book by the author although it has less pages than a standard book.
But still this is not just a simply erotica book.

It is a deeply poetic book with hidden magic and erotism.
But still it is not just a romance book with a few supernatural elements and psychedelic trips.

In the beginning the mainly focuses on Sasha's attempts to accept all of himself.

“You must let yourself heal,” Dr. Voronov had said. “You must, or you will break. Do you want to break apart in the stars?” 

Sasha has grown up as a different boy in a dead frozen town in the middle of nowhere in Siberia who did not want to work in the mines and who did not want to become a crime lord.
He was dreaming of visiting the far away stars and kissing other boys.

“No one leaves Norilsk, Moskal. No one.” 

Sasha has escaped from a destiny that nobody has escaped before him. But now he is totally broken and cold. If he wants to become whole again, his will need to start a trip of self discovery and a visit to his hometown and down memory lane.

“You should not have come. If you die here, your souls will know no peace. There is no rest for you in these lands, Russky.”
“I am dying.” He could barely see. He was so cold.
“You’re soul sick. You’re out of balance.”
“I’m cold.” He was shivering again, shaking and trembling. 

Who are the people who hurt him?
What happened to them?
Who hurt him the most?
How much different is he now in comparison to his childhood years?

In order to become whole, he will need a guide and a compass. And the perfect compass have always been the stars, the constellations.


Still it is not just a book of self discovery.

As the book proceeds it will become obvious that something dangerous and scary is building up:
1.Will there be a Biological warfare at some point? Botulism. Plague. Anthrax. Hemorrhagic Fever. Someone has stolen the ultimate weapons and he will use them.
2. Is an old enemy still present? What happened to Moroshkin? Is he truly dead?
3. Has a new enemy appeared? Lots of highly influential people may envy Sergey's position as the president of Russia who is also willing to change obsolete ideas and practices.

The book stops with a Happy For Now feeling, but definitely nothing is resolved.
I am so looking forward to the next undoubtedly amazing book in the series!