Customer Reviews

The Archer

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Six trained agents have been assigned a mission to find and eliminate a mole in their agency. Thiago, Remy and Shawn are all Class One agents, quiet killers. Brandt is the group's explosives expert and a bit of a pyromaniac. Nikolaus is the computer savvy agent and Carl specializes in ammunitions. These six men are used to working alone. They find it extremely difficult to find common ground with one another or even begin to trust one another. But when things are amiss, they must work together to keep all alive and the one thing they can agree on is that they're all on the same side....or are they? When things explode, you are being fired upon, and part of your party had been kidnapped, it is hard to know whom to turn to.

The Archer is a plot intensive story. The main goal is to weed out the agency's mole and eliminate him, but along the way there are many twists and turns and it becomes tough to keep up at times. It was an excellent plot and Abigail Roux obviously put a lot of thought into it. For me, the conflict built up longer than I expected it to and then I found it to have been wrapped up very quickly at the end. The end is left open so there is no definite "...and they lived happily ever after". It could be considered a "happy for now" story but in my opinion you are left to wonder if all the male couples you wanted to end up together, do. There was only one M/M encounter that leaned towards an emotional encounter. Most of the M/M sex scenes are time killing or frustration release acts. If you like a suspenseful storyline that has men who are very rough around the edges and treat the ones they are with as such, then you will like The Archer. If you are more inclined to a M/M story with love and a sweet ending this story probably will not be a fulfilling read for you.

Raine
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I have been reading a lot of m/m fiction of late, mostly romance, finding it sorely lacking in plot and finesse. "The Archer" scratches the itch I had for a real story with real men.

It's about six highly-skilled undercover agents brought together for a mission to track a traitor, but its heart tells of friendship and male companionship and, yes, love and lust. There is a lot of sex, explicit, not graphic, but it weaves in and out of the plot and is not intrusive. Plus, the author, a female, avoids all the saccharin-sweet dialogue and sappy actions that plague so many gay romance novels today. (No more shampooing each other's hair, please!) The plot is fun and twisty with lots of dry humor and a bit of grit here and there, and you have to pay close attention to follow the twists and turns. It also has the best dialogue I have read in this genre.

It's hard to develop six main characters and breathe life into them all, but the author succeeded. The guys are all interesting and disturbingly likeable, but I fell in love with Remy, the young "Ragin' Cajun" who could morph from cold-blooded killer into innocent little boy in a heartbeat. He also managed to hook up with every one of his fellow agents without coming off like a slut. Shawn and Remy's relationship was intensely complex and maddening, making me want to reach out and thump them.

I read this as an e-book, then bought it in print from Amazon and read it again. That's how much I loved it.

I loved the book. Once i started I couldnt even put it down. It just keep me hooked there where so many twist and turns some i saw coming some I didnt. This book is so worth the price Im even going to get it in print just so my friends can read.(i dont let any one borrow my kindle dont care who they are). I really hope that there is a sequel or something because i would love to read it. I loved each of these guys especially remy he was my favorite charter. he was funny and sweet and could turn into a cold hearted killer at the drop of a hat.

I bought the digital version of this based on the synopsis - I dig action and adventure books, and the many good reviews. Eh... I was really into the book for the first 300 pages or so before I started getting bored with the incessant sex scenes and rather silly behavior of the six trained operatives. From page 300 I skipped to the last few pages and if I'd been able to figure out how the book ended from that peek I honestly would have put the book down and called it a day. As it turned out, I really did need to read the intervening 200+ pages for the end to make sense.

I expected action, explosions, chase scenes...and I guess I got all that, only in campy, zany form. I never felt that any of the protagonists were in danger, and after a while, was fairly certain no one would die in this goof-ball action novel. When death does come, it felt too late in the story for it to have the "umph" impact it should have had for me. The ongoing mystery of "who is the Archer" was interesting for the first few hundred pages, but after I lost my sense of anticipation and tension in the story, I also lost interest in trying to guess the identity.

Overall, this book is not bad or unreadable, and from the many positive reviews here you can tell that it does engage some readers. I'd compare the book to a Twix bar, yummy sweet goodness to some and a terrible nutritional misstep to others. I felt shortchanged because the six operatives, after a while, stopped feeling like top trained military men and more like hormonally charged teenagers with their constant pairing offs, wisecracks and general wackiness. I would have rather had less sex (felt like there was some sort of pairing every ten pages or so) and more character building.

All that said, I just finished another book this author co-wrote and I'm more than likely to try my luck again with another of her titles because I really do enjoy a good action novel, unfortunately, "The Archer" didn't quite scratch my itch.

I have almost all of the books that Ms. Roux wrote with Ms. Urban and I am addicted to the Cut & Run series. Therefore, I was quite excited to take a crack at her solo work. But now, I wish I hadn't. The characters were underdeveloped, the sex was gratuitous and unimpactful and the plot was overly complicated. I lost interest early and did not finish the book. That being said, I think if the author got rid of a hundred or so pages and 3 or 4 points of view, there might actually be a tightly-plotted, well-written book in there somewhere. But unfortunately, sometimes more is just more and does not add value to the quality of the work. In the end, it all felt a little self-indulgent, like the author was having a great time at the expense of the reader's enjoyment. It was, however, fascinating to identify things that a liked about the Cut & Run series (and the author's writing) in such a different context. It was something like watching a car wreck, while noticing how lovely the car is. Ms. Roux is a talented writer in many ways, but is somewhat lacking in restraint. As a result, this book is a bit of a mess.

It is too bad really, because usually Abigail Roux with Urban are must buy for me. Cut and Run and Sticks and Stones? Loved. Caught running, yes, loved as well.

This book in my opinion is a bit of a mess. I would not have been too upset if Archer's identity being easy to spot would have been my only concern. After all the identity of the villain in Cut and Run was also not hard to guess, but I could not put that book down anyway. Larger than life characters and their fiery relationship made up for easy mystery in spades.

Here plot is just way too contrived for me and characters, well two dimensional and shallow and they just all feel like one character to me.

Really disappointed with this book. Loved Caught Running, and can't get enough of the Cut &Run series...addicted, so I tried this book, story sound like it would be good...way too long with nothing in it...the story kept going round & round, didn't really make sense, the sex was random & often unnecessary. I really can't see how anyone liked this book...makes me nervous, cause Madeline Urban is no longer writing the Cut & Run series, it will just be Abigail...please don't ruin Ty & Zane!!

Loved it. I'm just wondering if there's supposed to be a sequel? There are so many questions left unanswered. If cliff-hangers frustrate you as much as they do me I don't suggest you read this.

This would have been 5 stars if it wasn't for the final chapter. I never want to be left hanging when there is not a sequel. And with how long ago this book was released I am not holding my breath for one. Although I would buy it just to get a real ending.

The men are all hot, strong, and just a little crazy. I find myself liking that. I like to guess at the good guys or bad guys. This book did that very well and I didn't want to put it down until I know who Archer was.

But this book is long. And I have no complaint about that. I like longer books. But if I am going to read one book for 3 days I want my ending. This did not deliver.

What can I say? Epic!

I like mammoth books with lots of characters. If there were another 600 pages after this, I'd read them right now. I'll tell you: I was ok with the ending because I like open endings, but now I really want to read more! I'm so happy and frustrated at the same time!

The first half of the book was incredible, then it deflated a bit but picked up again at the end. The plot is twisted and since it's about an organization of secret agents there is not only double, but also triple and quadruple and n-tuple play. I have to admit that this part (the spy part) was probably not the best of the book and I can't believe these guys were so disorganized and impulsive (but they admitted it themselves).

What made me turn the pages were the personal relationships of the protagonists. The one-on-one dynamics was great but also the group dynamics was interesting (and also funny at times). All the characters border on some kind of insanity. All of them were at the same time insane and logical and rough and sweet and they went through all these phases constantly. The emotional sides of the personal relationships made everything unstable and it spilled over the mission. There was a lot of introspection and speculation because we watch the story develop through the eyes of every character and they all share their feelings and give their opinions on what's happening. There is also a lot of repetition, because every character sooner or later finds himself in the same position of one of their colleagues and has to justify his actions, to defend himself or one of the others.

In all this cast of characters I think the Archer was given the less development and he was a bit disappointing. His myth was larger than him as a person. I had all these expectations, but when he revealed his identity he lost all his charm and power for me. In the end he was a guy like everyone else, but probably that was what the author wanted. Or maybe, since it seemed the Archer found himself almost by chance in that role, he didn't really want to be that mythical agent. He is probably not the best agent and he is vulnerable like everyone else.

Sex was a mean for the men to bond, release pressure, communicate, exchange power, soothe each other, control each other and express themselves. It was not overly descriptive but it was really a part of the plot.

The book is complicated. But good. But if you don't have patience, don't read it. If you don't mind wanting to b!tch slap characters, read it. But if you don't like irrational behavior on the part of the characters, don't read it. If you want your books to be real, don't read it. But if you can concede the suspension of disbelief liberally when you're deep into a story, read it. But if I were you, I'd invest 600 pages of my time and read it.