Endurance by S. L. Viehl

Posted on January 29, 2008 by janicu

S.L. Viehl

This is Stardoc book 3 (I seem to be on a space opera kick), and this time Cherijo Veil is under the control of slavers. As she usually does, Cherijo uses her skills as a surgeon to help everyone that needs medical attention, saving many lives and often making life harder for herself to do so.

I don't think this review is spoilerific but may allude to things that could be spoilers. So if you want to know NOTHING, don't keep reading, my vox doesn't have LJ cuts.

{possible spoilers below}

Cherijo's mental state seems different from books 1 and 2 – she believes she was betrayed, and this makes her very very grouchy throughout the book (at least to me). There was a fine line between defiance and stupidity and sometimes Cherijo crosses it, needlessly provoking the prison guards and not allowing people to protect her. Sometimes this was frustrating to read. Cherijo also the reason the people around her are enslaved, but she feels as if she's even with them for what they did. I think most of them didn't have much choice, so I thought Cherijo was seeing things a little bit too black and white. Of course, others see things in a similar black and white way and want Cherijo dead for what has happened. Cherijo does manage to convert some people but not others. The usual addictive high action drama occurs.

This was a overall an OK read for me, but I preferred book 1 out of all these so far and book 3 the least. The second half of the book was better than the first, but I don't understand why her friend Alunthri was added to the story. His being there seemed very forced in order to make Cherijo even angrier about her betrayal. I think her attitude of bullheaded defiance throughout the book, not really trusting or looking at things from other people's points of view was beginning to wear thin on me. Basically because she's brilliant she is always right (ha) - often naturally taking the role of a leader and hard to sway once her mind is made. It is even harder for others to get her to do what they say just to keep her alive. They are forced to great lengths to save her. I'd like to see how much her attitude changes in book 4. I hope she learns some lessons about trust instead of dragging out a tense situation. Meanwhile, one of the best parts of the book was when Cherijo goes deep into her subconscious, I think this is part of a much larger, very interesting story arc which I'd like to read more about. Another good thing in this book which is something it has in common with others – is the humanizing of the "bad guys" – not everyone is put into a tidy slot and there are facets to their personality – some of the slavers are terrible, while others turn out to be very honorable.

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Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair

Posted on January 24, 2008 by janicu

Finders Keepers

Linnea Sinclair

I'd kept seeing good reviews of Linnea Sinclair's books on different blogs so I went ahead and picked this up when I was in Arizona.

I think the cover is a big hint that this is a sci -fi. It is rather space opera, action-y with guns and spaceships and wars. But. It's also romance heavy, at least for a sci-fi book. My impression when I was reading this was – if you like sci-fi, AND you like romance, you'll like this. If you only like one genre and not the other, I'm not sure you'll enjoy yourself. This was shelved in the sci-fi/ fantasy section, but I'd call it more of a crossover book. I found it rather an addictive read myself. After the first chapter (which I thought started off slow in the first couple of pages), it got interesting.

Trilby Elliot is the captain of an OLD spaceship which she uses to transport cargo as part of her business as an independent freighter. The ship is a bucket of bolts and full of non-functioning parts barely kept together by Trilby and her robot Dezi. Trilby is constantly running out of cash and calculating how much she can repair with the money she gets on her next run. To keep costs down, she secretly uses an uninhabited planet that's far from the path of usual space traffic to make modifications to her ship. While she is there another spacecraft crashes to the surface and Trilby discovers an unconscious man thrown out of the wreckage. This man calls himself Rhis and says he is a leutienent in the Imperial forces who crashed on the planet after escaping enemy 'Sko. Chases, gunfights, political intruige, romance, undercover work and alien encounters follow.

This was good for a fun read though I did notice some nits:

Dezi reminded me a lot of C-3PO.. I guess I didn't care too much about this, but it could be annoying to others.
I noticed that the author repeated certain things a few times -certain phrases were repeated in the same area of text. Some examples: Trilby thinking how certain Zafharian traits must be in the water, Rhis thinking of Trilby as a air sprite, and all the times Trilby kept turning around and bumping straight into Rhis's chest (what was up with this?). It started to jar me when I kept seeing things repeated, especially phrases.
The romance was predictable. I think the setting and the rest of what was going on is what made it interesting here.
There is the Zafharians, the 'Sko and the Conclave, but all of these factions have other nicknames which Trilby uses in practically the first 3 pages. It took me a little while not to be confused and realize Zafharians = the Imperials = the Empire and also figure out the other names used when referring to The Conclave and the 'Sko.
I never did get exactly ALL of the plot of what was going on with the bad guys and their plans at the end of this book. It felt a little sparse on the details or maybe I missed something obvious. I got most of it, but.. I still have a couple of but.. what would they gain by doing it that way?

Anyway, besides those nits, I have to say, I was glued. It was a fun way to pass an afternoon and I'd gladly read another one by this author.

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Beyond Varallan by S. L. Viehl

Posted on January 9, 2008 by janicu

Beyond Varallan (Stardoc II)

S. L. Viehl

I'm not sure if my mind is all here today. We got back to New York last night and the cat was so happy (after first crying loudly in a long accusatory manner), that he kept me up all night with his loud purring to himself. I am NOT exaggerating when I say I had about an hour of sleep. And I couldn't kick him out of the room when he'd been left alone for 2.5 weeks so I just let him be. Now you get to see me complain about it instead.

Anyway, the review for book 2 of the Stardoc series. I reviewed book 1, Stardoc, here. Without spoilage, the series is about Cherijo Grey Veil, a talented human surgeon fleeing the reach of her powerful father who has plans for her and wants her back with him. She travels away from her homeworld of Terra to other planets to escape but her father still keeps trying to get her, enlisting mercenaries and governments to help him and threatening her friends and allies. Meanwhile Cherijo makes friends, learns about other species, deals with complicated relationships, and saves lives with her medical expertise and brilliant mind. There are 7 books in this series out so far, and Viehl blogs that book 8, Omega Games comes out in August 2008 (that link has yet another link to an excerpt of book 8 which contains spoilers. I haven't read that except yet. Don't tell me anything if you do). She also blogs that she sees the series ending in 10 books and if she doesn't end up selling the 10th, final book she will probably put it up as an e-book.

In this book, Cherijo is on the Sunlace, a ship controlled by the Jorenians, who have adopted her into their family. Characters from book 1 are with Cherijo – Reever (whose intentions are always hard to deciper), as well as her friends Alunthri and Dhreen. Along with Cherijo's usual critical medical emergencies and trying to get along with other staff members who may not like her, there is a much bigger problem – a murderer on the ship who begins to target Cherijo in disturbing ways and this is the focus of most of the plot.

My thoughts (in lazy bullet form again):

I'm not very into this book's cover. No one looks like I think they look like (the coloring looks off from what I pictured when I read the book) except vaguely Cherijo. But you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, even though I do peer at them and think things to myself.
This is the second book where Cherijo has more than one man interested in her.. I would start to think Mary Sue except Cherijo's hardly perfect. Even though she's supposedly pretty and smart, she has a huge stubborn streak. In this book this stubborn streak was extreme – in some parts I felt it bordered on uh.. bitchy. I also understood the individual reasons each of them courted her – they both had a unique connection with Cherijo that they didn't have with anyone else. But since this is a series – the relationship stuff is going to evolve over several books. I think it's going to be complicated. Should be interesting. Not sure if I will scream by the end of it or if it will be fun to anticipate what's going to happen through the prolonged torture. We shall see.
This is also the second book where Cherijo has to deal with problems personality-wise with her coworkers. I thought it was still interesting that it resolved itself very differently from her problems in book 1.
You think you won't see certain characters ever again but then they pop back into the story in unexpected ways.
Even though this is science fiction, its not hard sci fi. I think I like the space opera, actiony, not very hard sci-fi stuff. If you don't like hard sci -fi, you may like this - there isn't jargon here that trips up the writing and makes it hard to get into. Viehl has a more straightforward writing style.
I don't know if I blogged about this or if I just commented about this, but so far in the three books I've read from Viehl I've started to expect a certain constantly good wrap-up to her books. She has a way of making things complicated and then writing herself out of the knots. It's very comforting that even though this is a series, it feels like each book has a relatively satisfying ending. I say that even though after book 2's ending and wrap-up there IS a setup for book 3 and a cliffhanger, but at least it's published already and you won't be waiting for months/years. It wasn't a life-death cliffhanger to make me climb walls but it was quite zing-y and made me look forward to book 3.
Verdict – quite a satisfying to read series. I'll be still reading them.

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Wolf Who Rules by Wen Spencer

Posted on January 6, 2008 by janicu

Wolf Who Rules

Wen Spencer

This is book 2 of The Tinker Series by Wen Spencer. I think it this is it - only 2 books in the series, but I could see it continuing, so I'm actually not sure if this is the last book. I can't figure it out from Wen Spencer's website.

I really liked Tinker so I was really looking forward for Wolf Who Rules to come out in paperback. Tinker is a young female genius who lives in an interdimensional Pittsburgh. Her father created a gate which transports the whole city to Earth once a month for supplies (a day called Shutdown), while the rest of the time it is in Elfland. In book 1 Tinker saves Windwolf (aka Wolf Who Rules Wind), viceroy of the elves and gets tangled up in elf culture and in fighting off their enemies. I loved the world and the ideas used to explain elves and japanese folklore like oni and tengu. I did notice some Mary-Sue aspects to Tinker (smart, so many men are in love with her, she doesn't realise her own beauty .. blah), but some flaws did help her from becoming a complete Mary-Sue: she is only 18 and completely clueless about relationships with men and her own hormones, and she is capable of acting before thinking despite her genius. These traits continue in the second book.

In Wolf Who Rules we continue right where Tinker leaves off, and I found I had forgotten certain parts of Tinker – like who certain people were again and what certain japanese words meant in Spencer's world. For the most part I managed to pick it up but there are a couple of things I'm still confused about but I don't have my copy of Tinker to go look it up on vacation.

To add to that confusion, Tinker herself is confused and not feeling like her normal self – she has dreams like Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz and wanders around feeling out of sorts for most of this book. There was one action-y bit at the beginning of the book, then there is this waiting/set up feeling for a good 250 pages before Tinker gets in gear and charges forward to do what she does best (save the world) again.

I guess that the book is named Wolf Who Rules because this book is more about his elf world than Tinker's human one and much of the book has Tinker having to flail about in this new culture and find her way really quickly and without much instruction. Wolf Who Rules Wind actually says this about her and what she is going through and while he tries to help he doesn't have the time to be with her constantly because he's busy with elven politics.

Unfortunately in the end I felt shocked because I was actually disappointed in this book compared to Tinker. Which is a big deal because I love this author and I love her plots and amazing ideas (ok interdimensional Pittsburgh? elves? oni? spaceships?), but I felt like I expected Tinker to be take charge like she was in book 1 that seeing her out of sorts for what felt like much too long in book 2 just made the story drag. Wolf Who Rules was still full of some interesting concepts that blew my mind, so worldbuilding was still wonderful but the plot was off for me. I think trying to get the plot to fit in with an Alice in Wonderland-ish dream and a Wizard of Oz-ish dream just didn't work. Unbelievable! So far I've read 5 books by this author that are in a league of their own so me being disappointed is weird. I will still will keep buying from this author though. And I'm still keeping this book since I'm a fan of Tinker and this is the continuation of that. Maybe one day I'll reread them one after another and see if I like part 2 better then.

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Out of print

Posted on December 11, 2007 by janicu

Remember when I was all gung-ho about trying to do BTT every week? Well that stopped quickly. Anyway, last weeks Booking Through Thursday question was a good one:

This week’s question is suggested by Island Editions:

Do you have a favourite book, now out of print, that you would like to see become available again? (I have several…)

There are a few books out of print that I own, so in a way I'm content even though they are out of print because I can go over and pet them and hug them and laugh to myself that they are mine as much as I want. On the other hand, I wish more people knew about and owned them so it would be nice if they were still in print. Also there are some books that are out of print that are so expensive I don't own them and I'm not sure I ever will. I'm not sure these are favorites, but they do make me yearn/burn for them to be reprinted. So two sections:

1) Out of print, but still available used at prices normal non-crazies can afford:

The Adventures of Holly Hobbie – A novel, by Richard Dubelman (about $10?)- ok. I don't know if this book is any good anymore, but I read this when I was 12 or so and it's about that Holly Hobbie girl with the big bonnet around her face who is on a lot of kids toys and illustrations. In this book a girl - Liz, whose parents are archeologists, meets Holly through some time stepping magic type thing, and they go find Liz's missing dad. It involves Mayan pyramids and I remember it being fascinated by the descriptions of that ancient civilization and its beliefs. I vaguely recall some magic involving either light or an eclipse which I thought was very cool at the time. I went to the whatwasthatbook community on LJ to figure out what this book was.

Greensleeves by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (I got it for about $15-$20? but it sells for around $30 on up, eck) – I thought I posted about this book but looks like not. Sherwood Smith, author of Inda and Crown and Court Duel has recommended it on livejournal (http://community.livejournal.com/athanarel/111008.html) and describes it very well, I suggest clicking on that link for a better description than I can give. This was growing pains type of book. You see the silliness of youth and moving away from that and becoming more comfortable in your own skin. It's basically a well written young adult novel. Shannon is the main character – a girl who isn't sure if she wants to go to college instead spends the summer helping her uncle with a case with a will. She spends all summer pretending to be someone she isn't, playing detective, and trying to glean information about the people specified in the will, and along the way she comes out of her shell and also learns a thing or two about relationships.

Nameless Magery and Of Swords and Spells by Delia Marshall Turner (about $3 each?)- I bought one of these in college and didn't get the second book till a year or two ago. They can be read in either order but Nameless Magery goes first. Both are in the same universe and involves a futuristic, sci fi world/s where people can also do magic. There are robots and a mage school and smart young women protagonists and hyperspace drives and all kinds of meshing of sci-fi and fantasy and trickery. I don't think I've read anything else like it that blends those two genres so well together. And I think they're the only two books this author has written.

The Merro Tree by Katie Waitman (about $3-$5)- This is an author who has 2 books (I own both), and every year or so I will go and check if she's written anything else. And then I'll cry to myself because the answer is no. I also do this with Delia Marshall Turner but I think she's definitely not writing anymore, I feel more open ended with Katie Waitman. This book is a sci fi-ish story centering around the life of an abused boy (Mikk) who becomes the galaxy's master performance artist. In some ways it feels like a fantasy novel even though it's more sci fi. The description of the alien species, the performing arts school, Mikk's life, growing up, dealing with censorship and the stigma of his lovelife.. it's all great. The book says "discovery of the year" across it, but then.. no more books by her! I sob to myself.

The Night World Series by L.J. Smith (about $1-$10 each? Depends on how well you do on ebay) - ok this is a silly teen series with vampires and true love and whatnot. But I bonded with people who are now my closest friends over these books so I'm adding them here for nostalgia's sake. If I read over these books now, they're not bad but they aren't fabulous. I had to have them all (and maybe extra copies of certain ones) just because. And is book 10, Strange Fate, the last of this series ever going to be printed? I don't know.

2) Out of print and super expensive, maybe I can win the lottery or sell my car/left leg/kidney/soul to afford:

Anima Mundi by Mark Ryden ($300-$1000+)- An art book that has popular low brow art for those who have no idea who the hell Mark Ryden is. Lots of pictures of cute kids, animals, and meat products reminiscent of a child's picturebook. Really detailed work and often on album covers. This was on my wishlist when it was $25 on Amazon. Then three months later it went out of print and went up to $300+ dollars. After that if I saw a pamplet by this artist that I wanted, I got it without waiting around. I have his Bunnies and Bees book that I bought for $20? $25 when it came out which is now going for $90-$150 or so. Josh and my sister have a copy too. My attitude - "ok I know this is going to go up.." - *buy*. I also have Blood (one copy sealed, one unsealed) which I got for $25 each and which is selling for over $100 and it's this TINY thing really. Maybe these prices are less on ebay… Maybe not. OK I think telling Josh this is making him want to sell his Bunnies and Bees book.

Wagner's Trilogy – Tannhauser, Parsifal and Lohengrin by Willy Pogany (from $300 to $2000+ each depending on edition and condition). Pogany was a prolific illustrator in the early part of the last century, mostly of children's books. Some of his best work is in this set of three books. I found illustrations of Lohengrin online several years ago and since then I've been looking for copies that aren't expensive. All I can find for "cheap" aren't first editions, and even those go for $200-$300. I have Tannhauser (reprint), but not the other two. Like this on ebay. I don't remember how much I paid, but it was not over $150 and that was a few years ago. Every book in the trilogy have lovely pages bordered with illustrations and pictures, both black and white and in color and the boards for these books are often gilted and pretty. I once saw pictures of the whole set for sale online bound in white leather going for about the price of a car.. $10,000.. I coveted. I saved the pictures for that sale on my computer but they got lost in hard drive crashes. Oh well. Here's an image heavy link to many gorgeous Pogany illustrations. P.S. I also like his version of Alice in Wonderland.

Masques by Patricia Briggs – This book goes for at least $60 on ebay, $120 to over $600 elsewhere. Which I think is CRAZY. I find that Briggs's earlier work isn't as good as her recent books, but yes there is the compulsion to own everything by an author you like. Masques was her first published book I think. Right now, she's very popular because her Mercy Thompson series is one of the best urban fantasy series out there (in my opinion). Sigh. $60 is too much for an old used paperback book that may not be that good.

Mushroom Girls Virus by Deanne Cheuk – Another art book. This one came out in 2005. I saw this, loved it at first sight and bought it from the author. I'm glad I did, now it's out of print and selling for at least $150. Sheesh. I bought it for $45. Mine's not "mint" because I actually wanted to look at it, but I keep it in a plastic wrap because its got a lovely embroidered cover and I don't want anything to mess it up. I hope it gets reprinted, its lovely and girly and pretty. Click here for illustrations in the book. Also here.

There's more but I'm tired..

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Stardoc by S. L. Viehl

Posted on August 5, 2007 by janicu

Stardoc (Stardoc #1)

S. L. Viehl

This is the second S. L. Viehl book I've read. The first one, Blade Dancer was reviewed here.

When I read Blade Dancer, I looked at the amazon reviews for it and noticed someone say that it was the same story as Stardoc. In a way they are very similar. In both stories there is a smart female heroine who isn't afraid to stand up for herself, that flees Earth (Terra), has a maniacal father who tries to control her, a dead mother with a last wish for her daughter, and spends a lot of time in the book working through trials to learn and prove herself in her chosen career. The general similarities are astonishing, but I still think these are very different stories and very different characters.

Cherijo Grey Veil is a brilliant Terran surgeon who discovers something about her father that causes her to run away and take an assignment at a free clinic light years away from his influence in Kevarzangia Two. Because of the racism of the Terrans and her sheltered life in Terra, Cherijo has never met many aliens before. Let alone treat them. So she endures many trials and tribulations learning about all the species of aliens that live in K2. She also endures hostility from coworkers and others. Meanwhile her father – a very rich, famous and extremely powerful man in Terra (with Machiavellian tendencies), wants her to come back home and is willing to use his influence to get her back any way he can.

Viehl has a very easy writing style, and the book is from the first person point of view of Cherijo, so the reader gets to learn about the alien species at the same time Cherijo does. I liked her character - intelligent and professional, but also willing to argue her points and defend herself. Which is a good thing because she needs it. I thought this was just as enjoyable as Blade Dancer, though the excitement came in the form of Cherijo racing against time to save lives rather than fighting like Jory does. Slowly, patient by patient, through her own hard work she proves herself in the alien landscape and makes a lot of allies. Viehl does a good job in describing easy friendships and bonding. I think she just explains relationships well. Speaking of – there is some romance as Cherijo falls for an alien, but there is another possible love interest as well.

This is also the first book in a series, but the story felt self contained – no giant cliffhanger, thank goodness. And while this is a science fiction novel, it wasn't hard science fiction, which made it a fun, satisfying read for me. There were no difficult lessons, just a straight story about a young woman's fight for her independence. I think I've found an author who I can expect page-turning and fun science fiction from.

My general feeling - 8 (Really liked it) / Plot - 7.5 (Really liked it) / Writing style - 7 (Easy to get absorbed by)

By the way, if you liked this you will probably like Warchild by Karin Lowachee (OK that book was AMAZING, so if you DIDN'T like this book, but you like Ender's Game you will like Warchild).

TBR @ 99 (I stupidly keep getting books. Why do I even bother keeping count? Will it ever be at 50? I don't know).

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Blade Dancer by S. L. Viehl (part 2)

Posted on July 6, 2007 by janicu

I forgot to rant about 2 nits that bugged me:

1) The cover! I didn't like it. The picture of the person on the cover does not look like how I pictured the character. The eyes on the cover are ALL white, even the irises. In the book she's supposed to have all green eyes, even where the whites should be.

2) On page 68 – Jakol has "Terran Causcasian skin". On page 290 and elsewhere near the end of the book, he's blue "a strong blue hand pushed back the obeck-la".. Did I miss somewhere when he turned blue?

I go now.

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Blade Dancer by S. L. Viehl

Posted on July 6, 2007 by janicu

Blade Dancer (Stardoc)

S.L. Viehl

I'm feeling lazy but I'll write a review anyway. I want to go read another book actually.

This is the first S. L. Viehl book I've read, though I've been meaning to since the beginning of this year. I regularly read her blog which she updates almost every day (she's so organized, I don't know how she does that and writes sooo many books). Its an informatative blog about writing, books and other useful things to know, plus she often has contests on there.

Blade Dancer is set in the Stardoc universe but is not part of that series. The story is about a half alien (Jorenian), half human ("Terran") woman named Jory who is a champion shockball player. When her mother dies suddenly, Jory's secret – that shes not fully human, is discovered and she's kicked off the planet. The only reason Jory was sticking around anyway is for her mother, so now she's free to go back to her mother's homeplanet and carry out her mom's last wish – by seeking out the small group of half-breed Jorenians like herself to tell them something important about themselves. After that, she is planning to find and kill her father. Seeking revenge requires skill so Jory decides to train in blade dancing at a school for assassins in Tana.

Viehl is really good at making the reader feel annoyed at prejudices and injustices that the main character goes through – Jory is spit upon by so many people when it is discovered she's half alien – even after she was previously adored by many for her Shockball career – that her face drips with it. First: gross. Second: extreme no? I am still not quite sure WHY Terrans hate aliens so much, but Viehl mentions that they want to keep their race pure and that they have huge problems with uprooting the alien underground (was a whole planet is this prejudiced though? I'm not sure if it felt that way to Jory or if it actually was that way). Anyway, this stuff keeps happening. When she leaves Terra, she is disliked because she looks Terran, who are considered bigotted scum by many alien species. When she arrives in Joren, she is asked to leave by the head of her own Clan, and other Clans aren't friendly either. AND then after that, when she gets to Tana, she and her group are targeted by a bully at the school. All this makes Jory this very toughskinned character, who makes a lot of wry quips and does a lot of butt-kicking but also secretly cries into her pillow once or twice.

I started this book at 8pm last night and stay up till 1am to finish it. I don't know - it hit the spot! Its easy to read, and though sometimes gory with the fight scenes; rather satisfying. There was something a little predictable in it – a twist or two that I expected, a romance I expected, but I wanted to keep reading to make SURE it ended the way I expected, if that makes sense. I loved the world-building: especially the training and how they moved from one level to the next. I also liked all the different kinds of aliens and their abilities and customs. The book was fast-paced – Jorry goes from one situation to another and has to keep herself and her friends safe and you want them all to come out ok, but there is death and grizzly things and cruelty to keep you a little worried. I have a soft heart. I can't take some characters I like dying.

My general feeling - 8.5 or 9 (Really liked it, made me stay up) / Plot - 7.5 (also really liked it, slightly predictable) / Writing style – 6.5 (liked it)

As you can see, I keep switching genres so I don't get bored.

Oh I am so going to start Stardoc soon.

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