Angie
Proceed With Caution:
This book contains mentions of death and violence.
The Basics:
This is the fourth book of the series, and yes you should read the previous books first. We're finding out what happened to Harlow when she disappeared in the previous book.
My Thoughts:
Barbarian Mine is my favorite of the series thus far! This is also the first book of a series about "barbarians" to have one of the said barbarians club his women over the head and drag her back to his cave. Yep, Rukh spots Harlow, resonates, and beats her over the head and refuses to let her go. Naturally, Harlow is freaked out at first, but then she believes Kira and the guys are dead and it's all her fault. How can she go back to the tribe and have everyone hate her? So she decides to stay with this strange man who appears to have been alone in the forest for his entire life.
Barbarian Mine definitely has strong Tarzan vibes. Rukh has trouble communicating with Harlow, and it's not a matter of a language barrier. He's been alone for so long that he's simply forgotten words completely. He's totally wild and all he really knows how to do is protect his woman from the "bad ones." I think it's pretty obvious who Rukh really is from the beginning, but that didn't make the reveal any less emotional. It's a confusing moment for him, since he was essentially brainwashed by his father. But as with all of the men so far, Rukh will do whatever it takes to take care of his mate, even if that means returning to civilization.
There is a one year time jump in the middle of Barbarian Mine, which does make sense after reading Liz and Raahosh's bonus novella where they mention Harlow after quite some time. I normally don't like massive time jumps, but it works here, since the sa-khui have extended pregnancies. It would take 20 books for any of them to give birth otherwise! There's a lot going on in this installment, but it all works together to advance the romance and build up this fascinating world. I am officially obsessed.