Driven by Eve Klein

Raina Bowen is a trucker racing to deliver food to a remote town in the Northern Waste. She needs to win the race in order to get the money she needs to protect her younger sister. After years of being drilled by her paranoid father Raina is very aware that in order to remain safe and have any chance of winning she needs to stay focused and mind her own business. In spite of her determination not get involved with other people's problems she can't resist saving Wizard when she sees him get into a fight that's sure to get him killed. Raina quickly figures out that there's something very odd about Wizard, but she's attracted to him any way. Soon the two are traveling together through difficult terrain facing rival truckers, ice pirates, rebels and one extremely scary guy with a grudge.


Driven is set at some unspecified point in the future, after the Second Noble War has killed a third of the global population and left a large part of the northern hemisphere a bleak, frozen waste. The global government is corrupt and small bands of rebels have taken up arms against it, but most people are just struggling to survive.

This book had a lot going for it. The action is engrossing and moves along at a brisk pace. Raina is a kickass heroine with a nicely developed soft side and Wizard is one of the most unique heroes I've read in a long time. They make an interesting couple, and their sex scenes are pretty hot. They have both had very difficult lives and I'm a total sucker for seeing people who have suffered finally get their HEA.

There were also problems with the book. The world building is interesting, but a bit vague. Anyone used to reading straight scifi is probably going to find it underdeveloped and a little frustrating. Because the world building was incomplete it was often difficult for me to figure out which information was significant and which wasn't.

In spite of those issues I found the book a fun, interesting read. I intend to pick up the sequel, Hidden, but this definitely wasn't a DIK for me.

Grade: B