I see in the "Readers Also Enjoyed" section of the Viehl page that Ann Aguirre's Sirantha Jax series is listed. Have you read those? I just got #4 and can't wait to read it but I'm probably going to do a reread of the first three before I get to it. I haven't read any of her other books but I did buy a couple more this last go round at Amazon (I really should get stock options, as much as I buy from them).