31 posts tagged “science fiction”
I'd never read any of Lois McMaster Bujold's work before but was told that this is a science fiction author I'd probably like. Cordelia's Honor is an omnibus with Shards of Honor and Barrayar in it. They were published in the late 80's and are the prequels to Bujold's longer Miles Vorkosigan series.
The Premise: Cordelia Naismith is on a survey mission on a previously unexplored planet when suddenly she and her companion realize that their base camp is on fire. They rush back to see their survey ship flying off without them and one of the other members of their team dead. Cordelia realizes they've been ambushed by the Barrayarans, but not all of the enemy race is in accordance. She's stumbled into a mutiny in the ranks and soon is a well-treated hostage in the hands of Captain Aral Vorkosigan who has a stash of supplies hidden some distance away.
My Thoughts: I hadn't realized that Bujold's work had romantic elements although I was familiar with her name. This book reminded me a little of Linnea Sinclair's Finder's Keepers, because the two books feature a hero and heroine meet while stranded on a planet together and work as a team to survive. I like that situation -- throwing two different people together and seeing what happens :) . In this book, Naismith quickly realizes who Vorkosigan is -- also known as The Butcher of Komarr, who is reviled amongst the galaxy, and her academically-inclined world of Beta Colony, so of course, her initial reaction is not favorable, but as they warm to each other she finds out the real story behind his name and a romance soon blossoms. But their time alone together is interrupted by military skirmishes between their two planets as the Barrayarans make a bid for another planet's resources.
What I liked about this book was that the couple was a little bit older and neither Cordelia or Vorkosigan expected to find someone at that point in their lives. They had both been burned in some way by past relationships and had become accustomed to the idea of being alone for the rest of their lives when they happened to stumble on each other. I thought that their experiences and age meant the protagonists had a dignified air in their declarations and they were both aware of who they were and what others would think of their union. Cordelia is particularly practical about it, but at the same time, the depth of their feelings is not small and I really wanted them to have a happy ending.
I liked Cordelia's character. She has a calmness in the face of calamity that I enjoyed reading. It's Vorkosigan who first points it in the book, and afterwards I had to agree. Sometimes she surprised me with her quick thinking, and there is plenty of action going on in this book where she has to use it. Vorkosigan is likeable too but is less a focus. My impression is of an honorable military leader and member of the ruling class who is good at what he does and isn't always popular with the politicians in his homeland.
There was plenty of quiet moments between the hero and heroine, but then there are also military skirmishes, space flights, chases and escapes. It is full of action and moves forward without me feeling either bored or too flooded by action; there was an excellent balance which made the plot engrossing. There is also some interesting ideas about politics and war and some grey areas like how perception may be skewed by expectations and prior beliefs, then compounded by limited knowledge of the truth. The science fiction aspects are also there in terms of medical advances, transportation, weapons and transportation, but it doesn't either overwhelm the reader. It's part of the setting and used in daily life, and as in our lives, some places are more technologically advanced than others.
Overall: Recommended for SFR fans. If all Bujold's books are like this, I think I've found another SFR author to glom onto. There's a perfect balance between action and character development that I like, and I plan to make my way through the rest of this omnibus and then onto the Miles Vorkosigan saga.
Other reviews:
Jo Walton @ Tor.com (positive. She has a series of posts on this saga)
Guest review at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books (B)
Guest review at Dear Author (A)
Links:
Interview with Lois McMaster Bujold about writing the Vorkosigan Saga @ Tor.com
Danger Gal Friday: Captain Cordelia Naismith @ Lisa Paitz Spindler's blog
First sale story at Dear Author
Doubleblind is the third book in the Sirantha Jax series:
Book 1: Grimspace (review: LJ | vox)
Book 2: Wanderlust (review: LJ | vox)
The Premise: Sirantha Jax is finally on Ithiss-Tor, feeling way over her head as an ambassador for the Conglomerate. The Conglomerate needs her to bring the bug-like aliens, the Ithtorians to their side because they need an ally against increased attacks by the Morgut (a species of violent, frenzied eaters that see everyone as food). The Ithtorians are the only species the Morgut have ever respected. A "jumper" and former party-girl, Jax doesn't feel in her element as someone responsible for such an important task, and March, who has always been at her side isn't himself to help her.
Excerpt of Chapter 1
My Thoughts: I would have finished this much faster if it weren't for those pesky things like parents coming to visit, going to work, eating, sleeping, blah blah. All I wanted to do was read this book. I love space opera and science fiction romance. This is one of my favorite series. I think I've been anticipating it so much that by the time I got it I was getting lightheaded with giddiness and enthusiasm and I had a feeling that perhaps I was talking too much about it. You know that feeling where - internally you're saying to yourself, why are you still talking, you idiot, now they know you're crazy and Ann Aguirre will run away from you?! Yes, that was me on twitter this week. Ahem. So instead of doing what I briefly considered (just writing "SQUEE" in big, bold, underlined letters as a review), I'm going to try to be rational.
The thing is, it is so hard to stay quiet while reading this book, because there's these elements you just want to talk to *someone* about. For me it was character development and the twists in the plot. I think Ann Aguirre has an evil streak. First of all, she wrote Wanderlust and ended it the way she did Iif you read Wanderlust, you know what I mean). What she puts her characters through has me looking around desperately for someone so I can discuss what I just read.
First of all, you would think that by now, the third book, March and Jax's relationship would be stable. But Aguirre did something that was the equivalent of pressing the "reset" button, and it is delicious. Neither March or Jax are the same people they were at the start of this series. In fact, I'd say that what they've been through has pretty much reversed their roles, although their old selves are in there somewhere. The first half of the book had me hanging on to every word or gesture between the two of them. I kept saying "intense", because that was the word to describe it (besides "AHHH!!"). It was kind of torture, yet I was happy. It was well worth going through the wringer in Wanderlust and here to come out the other side. There was one particular scene early in the book where March and Jax talk that had me completely involved and.. well I just don't have the words.
Aguirre seems to excel at character growth. Since we're on Vel's home planet and diplomacy is the reason for being there, Vel has the biggest role besides Jax, who is the narrator. I was really interested in finding out more about Vel in Wanderlust so I was pleased with learning more about him through Jax. The others were around less often (they weren't needed for all the negotiations that Jax attended), but everyone in Jax's circle is multi-faceted, and you catch a glimpse of inner depth in Jael, Dina, Hit, and Doc. If you're familiar with Ann Aguirre, you know these aren't always happy people either. Jax has a past full of scandal and self-preservation, and March is a psychic and soldier who had to do horrible things.
One of my favorite tropes is a stranger in a strange land or a culture-clash story, which we have here as Jax navigates the Ithtorians, some of who don't consider humans very smart. They remember an earlier delegation which had disastrous results. There are many Ithtorians who would like Jax to fail in her talks, even enough to kill her. That's why Vel is so important, explaining to Jax subtle gestures such as meaning to a bow. The story also covers what foods to eat, what markings on caripaces mean, and Ithtorian politics. I loved this. I also liked the description of the lush, tropical world the Ithtorians' surrounded themselves in, which is nicely illustrated on the cover by Scott M. Fischer.
Overall: The best installment yet. If you read Wanderlust, you really *need* to read Doubleblind. And if you haven't read this series and you like space opera/science fiction romance, I think you should pick it up. Every successive book is better than the last.
Buy: Amazon | B&N
Other review:
Genrereviews gave it 4 1/2 pints of blood (I thought this review was spot on).
Also: I LOVE LOVE LOVE these covers. So pretty and convey that it is science fiction, and the portal in the pictures must represent an ouroboros. The artwork is by Donato Giancola.
*** There may be mild spoilers for book 1 from this point ***
The Premise: It's soon after the events of The Outback Stars and our hero and heroine Jodenny Scott and Terry Myell are settling into their new jobs. Terry had decided to not volunteer for chef's initiation, which means he's getting flack for that at work. The both of them decided not to get involved with the Wondjina Transport System, but they've recently been approached by people asking for their help - the system stopped working and a team of six who were using it are now missing.
My Thoughts: The writing is much the same as the last book, which means I had no problems with the pacing and could read quickly for stretches of 100 pages at a time without feeling like it was a chore. What is different though is that Terry and Jodenny are apart for a lot of this book. They each have their own separate story arcs, which I didn't really like because I love them together, but it did keep me reading, wanting their stories to intersect again. Unfortunately we don't get to see them very happy because of forces beyond their control.
There's also more focus on the Wondjina Transport System and Terry's strange mystic connection with it. This was there in the first book as well, but this time the theme is expanded. At times the book got really out there, especially in the second half of the book. I couldn't tell if I was reading some out of body experience or something that was really happening.
There's hints about the ending of this book right in the prologue. It made my heart drop and so the closer to the end of the book I got, the slower I read. I was just afraid to get there. In my mind what we have is a cliffhanger. I'm hoping things turn out okay for Jodenny and Terry in the conclusion of this series, and I kind of think they will, but in the meantime I'm thankful I read this book when book three is also out. I also have a warning: DO NOT read the blurb for book three because it pretty much spoils this book!!! You can read it AFTER reading this book, but don't do it before.
Overall: Still loving this series, but this one goes some places I didn't really like, so I really have to read book three, The Stars Blue Yonder now.
Links:
I know this is a book blog, but I think it's known by those who read it that I'm a fan of space operas and science fiction romance, and thanks to calico_reaction, I found out about a new show on ABC which I've started watching and like so far. It has a few recognizable faces in it: Ron Livingston from the movie Office Space, Paula Garcés from the Harold and Kumar movies, and Christina Cox from TV's Blood Ties.
ABC's Defying Gravity follows eight astronauts who were handpicked for an incredible six-year journey exploring Venus and other planets in the solar system. Adventures await the crew as they quickly discover their lives and destinies to be intertwined and carefully directed, not only by Mission Control officials on Earth, but also by an unseen force which is much closer and far more powerful.
So far only a few episodes have aired (there's a 2 hour premiere which hulu calls pilot and episode 1), and you can watch them at hulu here and catch up. The show is on Sunday nights at 10 on ABC.
The show is a relationship drama - there are 8 astronauts on the ship, stuck together for 6 years, and a couple of them left spouses behind who are watching them from Mission Control. It's being described as "Grey's Anatomy in space", but I hope it's not QUITE like Grey's Anatomy because I got sick of the partner-swapping there really quickly. Anyway, I want more people to watch it!
The Galaxy Express - Defying Gravity: Has SFR Landed on Network TV?
Despite the teetering TBR pile, I went ahead and bought Ilona Andrews' latest (a short story from Samhain) as soon as I thought I'd made a wee dent in my reading. The price is $2.50 at the Samhain website but a helpful commenter (_ocelott_ from genrereviews) let me know it was cheaper at Books on Board. As of this review, the price there is $1.74, and its $2.00 at Amazon.
This is a short story in a world that isn't the same as that of the Kate Daniels series or the upcoming On the Edge series. And.. its a science fiction romance!! *happy dance*.
The Premise: In a futuristic world in which powerful families control much of the world because of their biological and technological enhancements, Meli Galdes is an assassin who was excised from her family so that she could carry out killings without being connected to them. Meli has just gone into retirement when her kinsmen ask for one more kill: Celino Carvanna, the man responsible for ruining her life. It's been twelve years since the event, and Celino doesn't recognize her, but Meli hasn't forgotten the pain he caused and plans to exact her revenge.
My Thoughts: I like the way that the world building is related in this one. In the space of a few short pages I understood the concept of families with enhanced biological traits and financial power. A futuristic society is presented through DNA scanners, robot security, ereaders, plasti-paper, and other day-to-day objects. Meli and Celino are also conveyed in quick strokes. In 41 pages, their characters had more depth than I've seen in full length novels. Celino is a ruthless business genius who is impatient and powerful, and sometimes overlooks things because he moves too fast. Meli is just as smart, just as lethal, feminine, and much more observant. She's aware of his deficiencies and knows how to counteract them. Of course, she knows a lot about Celino, and the back story of why is fascinating.
You know, after pondering about it, I realized that this is like a Harlequin Presents novel (my favorite Harlequin line by the way). It's got a businessman mogul and rival companies and an engagement for the sake of business strategy. Of course, in this case the Billionaire businessman is a preternaturally fast knife expert. And the rival's daughter is an assassin who wants revenge on him. I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into the story by coming up with this, but if it was a deliberate spin on a popular trope, I'm delighted.
Unlike the Kate Daniel's books out so far, this story does contain sex. It's done nicely and although I was surprised at first how quickly it happens, fits in with the revenge plot. The romance is more than just physical attraction, there's a mental connection as well (the discussion of books in particular, some titles I googled and now want to read, was a touch I loved). The couple also have a history, which means the romance really spanned a longer time period than what the short story focused on. I wasn't sure how the author was going to pull of this story with a satisfying HEA but they managed to do it!
Overall: I liked it a lot! I recommend it, but I will read anything and everything by this author so it's probably not a shock to those who regularly read my blog. I spent a nice hour or so reading this story in bed. Well worth the money and my time, and if this ever comes out in print, I'd buy it all over again. In an Ilona Andrews short story collection perhaps? I'd die of happiness!
If you want an idea of how well Ilona Andrew's short stories are written, I suggest reading her freebies on her website. I noticed that the idea of powerful, mafia like families is something the writer likes to play with; it also shows up in one of my other favorite short stories - Days of Swine and Roses.
Wen Spencer is among the Authors I Stalk. Yes, she is on my list. Therefore I have been eagerly anticipating Endless Blue since I knew it was coming out. Unfortunately it came out in hardcover, and I'm a paperback girl, so I waited another few months for the paperback copy to be released. Finally I bought it last week and although it's about 495 pages, I inhaled it. Ah, sweet space opera!
The Premise: Mikhail Volkov is a clone of Peter the Great and heir apparent to the great Novaya Rus Empire. He's captain of the warship the Svobada, and helping the United Colonies fight off the alien Nefarim when it's requested that he investigate the sudden appearance of a warp drive from the long lost Fenrir. With the drive being covered in coral and sea life, it's apparently come from some body of water, but according to it's data, it's last jump was a misjump to location zero. Mikhail accepts the mission, jumps to the same location and crashes. His adopted brother Turk becomes separated from him in a world where they are surrounded by aliens and humans in the same situation and who never escaped.
My Thoughts: Wen Spencer is one of those authors with sometimes really complex ideas. I find I have to read about 100 pages in before what the characters are talking about begin to make sense. It's always worth my patience, because once I get it, it's smooth reading. In this case I had a hard time first understanding the world of the Sargasso Sea which Turk and Mikhail find themselves, and I had to understand what a Red was. To help others this is what I understood:
- A Red: is an "adapted" human. Basically, human genes were manipulated to create a super soldier who is faster, stronger and better at surviving harsh conditions, but they were also taught to obey and treated as second class citizens, like animals. Usually they are grown in batches and raised in a creche where they all undergo some behavioral imprinting.
- The Sargasso Sea: A world where spaceships disappear into when they misjump. Most of it is covered in water, gravity follows strange rules, and no one can figure out how to get out. To me it sounded like the inside of a very large egg, but don't ask me where the sun is, I still don't know.
After I got those two concepts, I felt comfortable enough with the world and what was going on, but there are still some complex ideas going on in here about communication and behavior and faith. There's also a LOT of ideas from japanese culture (Tinker also had this). In some ways it's refreshing to be expected to be able to follow these ideas, but it meant I couldn't read this book when I was really tired, my brain just wouldn't work. Anyway, the world building was awesome - boats, floating islands, minotaurs, cannibals, the list goes on, I really can't describe it. I think if you've read Tinker maybe you'd see what I mean, it can get very out there in a good way.
Wen Spencer writes well rounded, three dimensional characters too. Turk and Mikhail are leaders and quick thinkers but they have fears and problems. Mikhail suffers from depression, and Turk has issues with being a Red. Having a clone and a super-soldier as adopted brothers was an interesting twist on common science fiction tropes, plus we get to see the family dynamics, which seems to be a Wen Spencer trademark (see A Brother's Price). There are Turk and Mikhail, and then there are the Baileys, who have a huge extended and remarkable family. Their familial bonds felt realistic - you know what the pecking order is, who is better than this than who, what they always fight over, how siblings could easily guess their siblings reactions and thoughts. It was very well done. Of course comparing the Baileys and the Volkovs, there are some big differences in upbringing which had a big part in the book. The big difference seems to be Turk's status as a Red, and being treated like an animal in normal space. He can "fur up" and there's a contingent of people who call themselves "cat fanciers" and get off on the idea of sex with Reds. This brings a whole level of effed up to his psyche.
There is a nice romance going on here between Turk and one of the Baileys. Near the beginning of the book when Turk was separated from his brother, the narrative would go back and forth between Turk and Mikhail. I just wanted to skip ahead to all the parts with Turk (and the romance), and ignore Mikhail. Thankfully the narrative stopped bouncing back and forth before I become really impatient, and by then I'd become equally interested in both their stories.
The romance had some interesting problems on the way to the couple's HEA - race is one, having to choose between love or the world you came from is another. The way these problems were resolved were interesting, though one resolution felt a little implied and off screen. In some ways a lot of the romance is also off-screen, with very key scenes shown or mentioned to the reader. Which means it felt like I had missed something because the book would sometimes fast forward between the couple's relationship milestones. This was OK, but I did crave for a little more.
Overall: I really liked this one. At almost 500 pages long, it's a clunker, but it's a standalone with well written characters, and I thought it was worth the read. Recommend this one to space opera fans and fans of science fiction romance (although I'd say the romance is a secondary plot), with the warning that there's some complex plotting and ideas going on, but if you're willing to deal with a little thinking, you'll be rewarded.
- Gabriel's Ghost (my review pt 1, pt 2)
- Shades of Dark (my review)
The premise: In Hope's Folly, Chaz's ex-husband Admiral Philip Guthrie, who has converted to the side of the Rebel Alliance, is starting duties on a newly minted ship - Hope's Folly. Actually, this new ship is an old clunker but beggars can't be choosers. Philip must command the ship with a new, bare-bones crew, and when one calamity follows another it's hard to tell if it's because Hope's Folly is barely held together with chewing gum and duct tape, or because of deliberate sabotage. In the meantime, one of his new crew is someone Philip is attracted to - Rya Bennton. She's the daughter of his dead friend, Cory Bennton, a death Philip feels directly responsible for, but Rya doesn't know about his role in her father's death.
My Thoughts: I think you MAY be able to get away with reading this book without reading Gabriel's Ghost and Shades of Dark if you just understand that our hero and heroine are ex-Fleet and now rebels fighting against a corrupt Empire. They are also fighting against the Farosians who have their own agenda against the Empire (they support another - Sheldon Blaine, for the throne, but have no problem with capturing key rebels like Philip to use as collateral to free Blaine from the prison planet Moabar). I did a decent breakdown of enemy factions in my Shades of Dark review if you need reminding.
This book has about equal parts romance and intruigue/action (trying to discover if there's an enemy aboard ship while fighting off attackers and keeping it running). The reader discovers before Rya who is responsible for some of the problems on the ship, but there's a good reason for this (the clue is while she's off page), so she makes believable mistakes. I liked the action because it proved how good both of them were at their jobs - Philip as the Admiral of the ship and Rya as security. They have to work together and in the meantime they discover how much in they have common - particularly when it comes to guns (their gun conversations were too cute).
Of course another thing they have in common is Rya's father - Cory Bennton, an officer who Philip respected who was killed by the Empire because of close ties to Philip. Philip considers himself responsible and now worries about what Cory would think about Philip's interest in Rya. Rya on the other hand remembers meeting Philip when she was 9 and he 25. She was crushing on him then. Even now, she thinks of Philip as her "long-long always-forever dream hero" but isn't sure how serious he is about her, which made me laugh because meanwhile Philip's imagining her dad killing him and isn't sure how serious she is about him.
Overall: As usual, pure escapist fun that I have come to expect from this author. Either this or Shades of Dark could be my favorite on of the Dock five series, I haven't decided yet (I liked Shades of Dark for it's dark bits and Hope's Folly for it's light ones). I was interested to see how Philip would be portrayed when he got his own book - turns out he's learned to trust his instincts over "the rules" and has become better for it. I really liked Rya's character too, possibly one of my favorite Sinclair heroines - a tall, strong-minded, amazonian woman with a penchant for guns - really liked her.
News: I just peered at Linnea Sinclair's website and there's a fourth book under way with the working title Tracking Trouble! Yay! Looks like the protagonist will be Philip Guthrie's younger brother Devin. From her website:
"OUT OF OPTIONS…Devin Guthrie can’t forget Captain Makaiden Griggs even though it’s been two years since she was in his family’s employ. A Guthrie does not fall in love with a mere shuttle pilot. Going against his wealthy family’s wishes isn’t an option—not with the Empire in political upheaval, much of it caused by Devin’s renegade older brother, Admiral Philip Guthrie. The Guthries must solidify their standing—financially, politically and socially—or risk losing it all. But when the Guthrie heir—Devin’s nineteen-year old nephew— goes missing, Devin’s loyalty to his family’s values is put to the test. And suddenly the unthinkable becomes the only option available: Devin must break the rules and risk allying himself with the one woman he could never forget—and was forbidden to love."
This book was in my library's FOL sale area and I picked it up because I don't think I've ever seen anything by Subterranean Press used anywhere. They usually have limited edition runs and they are collector's items no? I picked up All Seated On the Ground by Connie Willis for a dollar. I was surprised to then find that this book sells for over $40 online. Maybe I will keep it now (but don't worry, you don't have to spend $40 to read the novella. It's all online at Asimov's here).
This is a small hardcover novella and at 126 pages it's a very quick read. The jacket blurb says that the author is "a huge fan of the holidays and their accompanying frivolity and nonsense, and has written a marvelous array of Christmas stories". This is one of them. The story starts off in Denver where a space ship has landed on the Denver University campus, and six aliens have gotten out. Instead of doing anything expected like trying to take over the world or kidnap Earth women, these aliens just glare at everyone in disapproval.
In an effort at communication, the goverment formed a commission "consisting of representatives from the Pentagon, the State Department, Homeland Security, the House, the Senate, and FEMA, to study them". Months pass by with little result, only more glares. When it failed, another commission was formed. Then another one when that failed. The third commission includes our narrator, Meg, who had written humorous newspaper columns about aliens before and after the arrival of these beings (by now called the Altairi). At this ppint, the fervor over the Altairi has died down and it's close to Christmas. The only thing the commission has figured out is how to get the Altairi to follow the commissioners to various locations.
One day, they take the aliens to a mall and the Altairi suddenly sit down in unison. Dr. Morthman, the chair of the commission is very excited, yelling orders everywhere and demanding to know what caused this reaction. Despite wanting answers, he never pauses to listen to anyone else, and ignores Meg when she tries to tell him anything. So Meg goes off on her own to figure it out with the help of a choir director named Calvin Ledbetter.
Overall: I thought this was a cute, lighthearted, story with a tongue-in-cheek message. There's also a lot of Christmas and other holiday season songs, many versions of which I'd never heard of. Probably a nice story to read aloud closer to Christmas season. I wouldn't say to go buy it for $40 though. Only if you are a diehard Willis fan and need to complete your collection. I mentioned it's free online right?
This is science fiction romance and the cover blurb compares her to Linnea Sinclair, so when the opportunity to read the ARC for this book came up, I jumped on it. I've been very excited about this new series by Katherine Allred when it first came on my radar last year during a "you choose the design" poll at Eos books, and then I read a 20 page excerpt and wanted to read it even more (now Harpercollins has the first 20% available to browse inside).
This book is told from the first person point of view of Kiera Smith, a Genetically Engineered Person - someone who was created in a test tube out of various superior genes of other people. This process is extremely expensive so GEPs are usually created and paid for by a company and then throughout their lives they are expected to pay off the initial expense of their creation. Kiera however, is special even among GEPs. Rather than being made from genes spliced from Naturals (normal non-enhanced people), she was made from other GEPs. This difference is a big issue for her and she's always thinking about it. Kiera works for Alien Affairs - a branch of the government that oversees life in new planets. Basically she is one of the first people to meet a newly discovered alien civilization and introduce them to the rest of the universe. She makes sure that they aren't exploited by greedy corporations only interested in their planet's resources and is an advocate for their rights.
At the start of Close Encounters Kiera's vacation with her rock-cat Crigo and her AI ship Max is cut short for a special assignment. Dynatec has applied for ownership of Orpheus Two under the law that if the intelligent life living there dies off in 100 cycles, they can take over. The indigeneous people are a race of very tall, very beautiful people with hair the same color as their eyes, which the first explorers have decided to call the Buri (after a Norse god). The new world, the technology, and the Buri was plenty of fodder for the mind's eye. This book was very much a Tarzan meets Jane if they were both super beings surrounded by high technology.
This is a science fiction romance, but the romance was secondary to the main plot which was Kiera finding out why the Buri was not reproducing at the rate they should have been. The Buri don't know what Kiera is saying and viceversa so for more than half of the book Kiera can't really hold a conversation with her love interest. She doesn't even know his name and just nicknames him Thor. Because Kiera can't really fully understand the Buri and only mostly understands their emotions, communication is minimal, and is often held through body language, gesturing, and Kiera's ability to read emotion. This means that the romance is very physical rather than cerebral, and we have the soul mate concept used to bring the hero and heroine together.
I'm not a big fan of the use of soul mates, but the story was well-written and because the romance was secondary it didn't bother me much. I did have a couple other minor problems along with this though. First of all, there were some things in here I found a bit inappropriate for a representative of Alien Affairs to do. Kiera is supposed to be their best and yet I had the feeling that if an anthropologist read this book, they'd be disagreeing with some of her actions. For example, I was surprised when I read how Kiera showed the Buri how to use shampoo. Was it really necessary for her to get naked and then soap the leader in front of the tribe? OK it linked into the plot, but this is one of the scenes I found hard to swallow. Another issue I had was that a lot of things were too idealized. When we're first introduced to Kiera who is not only a blonde bombshell but even more enhanced than the usual GEPs. Then we're introduced to the Buri who have surprisingly almost the same super-human qualities as our main character, who live in a planet which itself is unique and full of mostly friendly, ideal flora and fauna. Kiera is extremely lucky throughout the book with the way things went for her. It was a bit too easy.
Despite those issues, there were a lot of interesting ideas in here. I enjoyed all the devices Kiera used in her ship for food and for temporary shelter, what she used to communicate, her knowlege of Galactic Federation law, her weapons and fighting, and all the details that descibed her techologically advanced life. A life which contrasted nicely with what she met in the new planet - the jungle, the strange creatures, the Buri costumes and their food preparation - it was all very well thought out and keep me turning the pages with curiosity.
Overall: From the very beginning of this book I could understand the comparison with Linnea Sinclair's writing, and I think you should definitely pick this up if you are a science fiction romance fan. This was a fun space opera read with an interesting world and characters. I did find things a bit convenient and the main character a little perfect, but I would still recommend this for science fiction romance lovers, and I will pick up the second book.
Katherine Allred's website (there's a book trailer for Close Encounters there)
I've been wanting to read Netherwood ever since Tez pointed it out as a Shomi release that may have been overlooked by people. It does seem like this one got less press than other ones and it's release came and went in March 08 without me noticing. The blurb sounded interesting - a futuristic story about a Sheriff after a criminal she knew in virtual realities "bad part of town" - the Netherwood while she was Amazonia and he was Avenger, competitors and lovers. Sheriff + wood makes me think Robin Hood so I was hoping that we'd see some kind of space age retelling perhaps, but this book doesn't exactly go there.
The book started off very promising with Talia Fortune, heir to FortuneCorp and new Sheriff reviewing holographic recordings of her time in Netherwood, specifically her last meeting with Avenger. She knows he's a criminal (as are all people in Netherwood), and she's tracked him to Fresh Havens where her Uncle Stone is mayor. When she arrives on the planet she discovers grave sabotage on Fresh Havens and two missing technicians. Talia *knows* the senior technician is Avenger and sets off into the Gray Forest to catch him.
Overall: I really liked the premise but the execution did not work. There were too many ideas going on which weren't very well thought out. Everything sort of sounded cool and interesting but were so vague that my suspension of disbelief wouldn't stay suspended. We have:
- The real vs virtual world where more people spend their lives in the virtual one over the real. And within the virtual world there is the seedy underbelly called The Netherwood.
- Big Corporations (6 of them) that took over everything.
- Machines starting to take over everything, and people being tools for them to take over (vaguely reminds me of The Matrix).
- The Gray Forest idea - a strange forest with strange bloodthirsty beasts. But it has it's own soul and thinks?
- Kovner's strange abilities like viewing the future and reading/speaking into minds
- Talia herself being "foretold" as being the only one who can save them.
- People being able to do strange things somehow without any real explanation
- The concept of being able to download your consciousness to the virtual world when you die and living forever, but at an unknown price.
- Cloning, space travel, the speed of technological advances, biowarfare and so on..
If some of those ideas were taken out and saved for another book, and if more time spent on making the plot strong, I would have liked this book more. With all of the above going on, I kept seeing plot holes, inconsistencies, and incomplete explanations which weakened the whole story.
On top of that - while the hero and heroine were interesting, they began to annoy me. Kovner's zen know-it-all attitude and smiles in spite of bad news was annoying. Talia going from a gung-ho, confident young thing, to realizing she doesn't know it all, to martyr annoyed me. I believe she got very dramatic towards the end about three times about being a threat to the group! Enough already woman, we got it! And the romance itself wasn't interesting. Maybe most of it happened off-screen before they met - there was a back story to the two of them. Although Talia wants to capture Kovner, he wants to save her because of their back story, but I got no hints about what that was. I don't see why they like each other other than they are the two main characters.
Lastly - the ending - it sort of petered off and didn't really satisfy me. I can't say much more than that.
What that didn't make this book a complete failure for me was that the writing itself was okay. Despite a couple of typos (FourtuneCorp, fingr), it flowed well (it was a first person past tense point of view in case people wanted to know). There were some interesting ideas in there, I just wish there was less. So in the end this became an average to below average read to me rather than a good read. I would not completely close the door on reading something else from this author because I think there's potential, but I'd prefer a tighter plot next time.
Other reviews:
- SciFiChick review (positive)
- Gwen from The Good, The Bad and the Unread Review (she felt about the same as I did)
- Alicia from The Good, The Bad and the Unread Review (she loved it and gave it an A)
Other links:
- Author's website
- Free Fiction - "Fatal Error" by Michele Lang (Amazonia and Avenger's first meeting)
