If you enjoy well realized world and character building in a scifi setting then sit back and strap yourself in for a fantastic ride. Scifi is not at the top of my list of faves, more towards the middle, and yet I thoroughly enjoyed every damn word of this read. Short but packed with substance. No fluff (as expected with Voinov). Every scene counts. Come along with Kyle and find out what it's like to truly be yourself ;) ( )

Incursion by Aleksandr Voinov is the story of Kyle Juenger an ex-Hunter in the military who has been crippled by a disruptor created by the Glyrinny. Kyle is paralyzed from the waist down and uses prosthetic braces to help him get around. Since the time of the injury Kyle has become more bitter, resentful, and has lost hope. He knows that no one would want a cripple and so he barely exists from day to day dreaming of one day getting back to his home world of Tamene. He is given that opportunity by the Sector Commissar if he tracks down and brings in dead or alive a Glyrinny spy. And so Kyle boards a heavily modified Morning Star class ship now used by mercenaries. Under the guise of a petty criminal, Kyle heads into space with the excuse he’s heading to Ganesh to restore his legs with cybernetics. Kyle is intrigued by Grimm, the pilot and captain of the ship, and Grimm is very obvious with his interest in Kyle. But Kyle is too tangled up in his self-pity and bitterness to seriously return the interest. That doesn’t stop Grimm and slowly Grimm starts to chip away at the defenses and anger that have encased Kyle’s heart and mind.

Obvious spoilers inside. Don’t read if you don’t want to know.



This story’s theme seems to be telling us that no matter what you look like on the outside, or how much you change that look on the outside, you will be the same person on the inside. It also tells us that you can’t limit what you achieve with your life because of how you look or what cards you are dealt by Fate or the Universe. You become whatever you wish to become.

I haven’t read sci-fi in quite some time and I forgot that they often have many unusual twists and turns in their stories compared to contemporary fic. And Incursion was no different. The world building was fantastic, as were the descriptions. The pace was a bit slow at the beginning until Kyle went to the space port but it remained at a nice steady clip. However I do think the ending was a bit rushed and didn’t have as much emotional impact as I would have liked.

Kyle seemed a realistic type of human, very flawed and it was obvious how he had built a tough protective shell over time. He was someone who was barely hanging on to life even though he wasn’t really living. Whereas Grimm, I’m not sure if we were supposed to see him as a nice guy or what. He’d act like a nice guy at times, sometimes with a lot of wisdom. But then he’d do or say things that told me that he wasn’t really a nice guy at all. I wasn’t sure where the author was trying to lead the readers into thinking Grimm was good, but in the end I didn’t like the character much. I liked Kyle because of his realness, his character growth and at the end, his joy.

There was some alien and human sex, but I have to be honest and say it didn’t do a thing for me. I didn’t find it emotionally or mentally fulfilling. I think because it’s alien sex and different from how a human would feel that there’s no real way to relate to what Kyle would be feeling. I also think that Kyle’s internal thoughts about Grimm and the obvious verbal responses from Grimm that he knew exactly what Kyle was thinking and feeling, distracted me from the sex scene. I suppose it could have been meant to enhance the encounter, but it didn’t for me.

I liked reading how Grimm was able to say things in response to what Kyle was thinking or feeling, but since Kyle didn’t know how Glyrinny behaved or sensed, he had no idea that Grimm was answering to Kyle’s inner thoughts and emotions. We find out that Glyrinny feel vibrations and ‘taste’ those vibrations and this is how they sense what a human is like or feeling and they can also take on the memories of a human. Glyrinny are also capable of manipulating feelings of humans, but they can’t make someone feel something that isn’t real. The shape shifting ability of the Glyrinny reminded me of Odo a Changeling of the Founders from Deep Space Nine. Although Odo merely mimicked the look of a human without the deeper link that Glyrinny could achieve.

I enjoyed this story mostly because it was so well written and because of the world building. But there were a few things that left me wanting at the end. There was an implied connection that Grimm and Kyle were falling for each other throughout the story. But at the end, all I felt was that Grimm saw Kyle as a human with much potential and that he liked him, more on the level of a f**k buddy and someone interesting. Also that Grimm was motivated by his guilt to help Kyle (I won’t tell you why Grimm felt guilty). So for me Grimm had other motivations in his interest for Kyle and liking Kyle was about the extent of it. Kyle may have felt something more than just liking Grimm however, but that could be linked to the fact that he was now free of his paralyzed legs and his past history. But I just didn’t feel the love or emotional connection between these two, it fell flat for me and in a way I feel cheated with their relationship.

In the end I have to give Incursion 4 stars. It was a well written book, but I felt no intense connection between the two MCs. I also didn’t like the fluctuating personality of Grimm; it made the character less enjoyable for me with his random acts of violence and talk of violence. I did however enjoy the world building.


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Incursion by Aleksandr Voinov is a fast-paced, space-opera thriller told from the single, third-person perspective of a damaged hero. Kyle is unpretentious, tough yet vulnerable, and shrewd yet outmatched. At first, he seems flinty and understated, but his appeal increases with each page. The author has a talent for conveying the complexity of Kyle’s personality and his futuristic surroundings with no more than the smallest touch, such as a vivid phrase or image. There is no info-dump anywhere. Instead, I felt as if I were watching a movie, paying close attention as plot threads unfolded in unexpected ways.

The story opens with Kyle, a former pilot, soldier, and bounty hunter who is recruited by a ruthless commissar to hunt down a shape-changing alien. The alien fugitive is attempting to get off-planet, hidden aboard a space vessel crewed by some colorful mercenaries. Kyle can’t afford to turn down the mission. If successful, he can afford neurological surgery to enable him to walk again. Not long ago, he was wounded in combat and paralyzed from the waist down. Now, he must fit in with the mercenaries and search the ship as he evades the sexual advances of the highly attractive pilot.

Val for AReCafe ( )

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A very clever book, with a very clever title.


Kyle is every human.

Grimm is potential.

Every human needs potential.


This is a profound and profoundly beautiful effort by a masterful writer, who has time and again caused me to look within and discover new truths about myself and humanity. Damn Voinov for his incursion of me.

I had a long, descriptive review typed out for this book, but it just isn’t necessary. My review is simply to tell anyone, who will listen, to read-this-book. For yourself.


"He understood it then. The potential, the utter, unbelievable freedom to be whoever existed underneath his skin."

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This book is my favourite sci-fi this year. I love how easy it was to fall into this world, and to get caught up in Kyle's mission. And the twists. Oh how I love them. (and I won't say *anything* about them. No spoilers here.) I do hope Aleksandr writes a sequel. It's crying out for one. Oh, wait... no, that's me. Crying out for a sequel. Please? :) ( )