This novel’s title is Boneyards and there on the cover is a woman I am sure is Boss the main protagonist striking a pose in front of what looks like a fleet of ship in a field of some sort. So it is plausible to expect the book to turn around that. That is not exactly what the blurb says but that’s what I expected. Expectations are good but also something you can trip on when the book you are reading delivers something different. I am afraid that is what happened to me here. I had the wrong expectations.

Now I think the title also is about what is left behind in the events described. In a way the empire’s research into stealth technology is a boneyard too. With all those victims.

As you might remember Boss was exploring the mysterious ‘Stealth’ technology  (that killed her mother when she was a baby) in Diving into the Wreck and then stumbling on a working Dignity Vessel that was trapped in hyper with its crew in City of Ruins last year.

Now a few years have passed and things have happened that I would have liked to sample. This is where I feel the novel was a bit on the short side (beside the ending). Boss is already in a relationship with Coop, the captain of the Dignity Vessel. Where is the suspense in that? It is somewhat in character with Boss I admit but I want details. No, not those details get your brain out of the gutter. Character building details. As things progress I get some of that but I do feel a bit shortchanged.

We start with the expected search for the fleet which ends up just outside the aforementioned yard. But Boss leaves after a few pages without even crossing into the mysterious field. The rest of the story is about Squishy. I liked all the back story we got on Boss and her friend but multiple time lines that jump back and forth is not my favorite story telling device. It reminds me too much about the Event. And then the book ends without getting back to the great mystery. Frustrated was only the first word of what I was feeling right then.

Boss and Squishy do hit on fundamental questions about friendship and ethics and the length you are willing to go for them. That part was emotional and satisfying to read.

I remember from somewhere that this series was a trilogy but it can’t end here. There are too many unanswered questions! Edit: Kristine confirms that there will be another book on her blog.

I liked Boneyards but it is a bit on the short side, (I read the book on a work night in a few short hours). I will await the next book with even higher expectations (I know, I just do anyway). You should read it.

Book Information

Boneyards (Diving 3) by Kristine Katheryn Rush (Pyr) - uk us

When multiple Hugo Award winner Kristine Kathryn Rusch decided to put her stamp on classic space opera, readers wanted more. Now Rusch’s popular character Boss returns in a whole new adventure, one that takes her far outside her comfort zone, to a sector of space she’s never seen before.

Searching for ancient technology to help her friends find answers to the mystery of their own past, Boss ventures into a place filled with evidence of an ancient space battle, one the Dignity Vessels lost.

Meanwhile, the Enterran Empire keeps accidentally killing its scientists in a quest for ancient stealth tech. Boss’s most difficult friend, Squishy, has had enough. She sneaks into the Empire and destroys its primary stealth tech research base. But an old lover thwarts her escape, and now Squishy needs Boss’s help.

Boss, who is a fugitive in the Empire. Boss, who knows how to make a Dignity Vessel work. Boss, who knows that Dignity Vessels house the very technology that the Empire is searching for.

Should Boss take a Dignity Vessel to rescue Squishy and risk losing everything to the Empire? Or should Boss continue on her mission for her other friends and let Squishy suffer her own fate?

Filled with battles old and new, scientific dilemmas, and questions about the ethics of friendship, Boneyards looks at the influence of our past on our present and the risks we all take when we meddle in other people’s lives.

Boneyards is space opera the way it was meant to be: exciting, fast moving, and filled with passion

Kris Longknife is one of my guilty pleasures. It is about one of those Longknifes. Kris always gets into trouble usually on her grandfather’s instigation. She usually gets out of it by herself with the help of a few colorful friends. This time she teams up with her new frenemie Vicky who brings a few battleships to the alien exploration that Mike has teased us with the last two three books.

This is a turning-point novel in many respects in Kris life with her family, with society and with love. What I like with this series are the colorful characters and their bickering. That is me, I like bickering and colorful. Mike leaves the formula a bit with most of the novel taking place in space and out exploring in force. Earlier books usually contained a large planet bound (or station bound) cast.

Another fun thing is Nelly Kris sentient computer and her children. I know it is a gimmick but I love it. Kris also gets three long potent toys to play with. You will love it.

The whole alien mystery gets explored and we learn a bit of what is going on but the door is open for a lot more exploring and development in forthcoming books. The next book is named Furious (Ace October 2012) probably due to Kris state of mind.

I would place Daring above average in the series and well worth reading if you like this kind of thing.

Book information

Daring (Kris Longknife 9) by Mike Shepherd (Ace 2011) – Amazon US | UK

Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife leads a Fleet of Discovery on a reconnaissance of the vast uncharted regions of space. No one, least of all Kris, expected them to find an alien starship, certainly not one that came out shooting. Faced with a shot first and ask no question situation, Kris shoots back, blowing the ship to bits.

Half a universe away from her superiors, facing a possible mutiny from officers insisting they retreat, Kris holds the fate of humanity in her hands as she struggles to determine the alien threat — and whether or not to start an intersteller war . . .

Imagine waking up after 62 years in a stasis tube by a kiss. That’s what the protagonist in this story, does. But what starts like an ordinary romance-on-rails story takes some surprising twists and turns and uncovers dark secrets.

This is part Citizen of the Galaxy since Rosalinda Fitzroy is the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire and not everyone is happy to step down from their position of power in the company. It is also part Sleeping Beauty the sequel since she is drawn to the boy that woke her. But it also has a splash of Terminator.

Anna Sheehan weaves a thrilling and fascinating story about a vulnerable young girl in a new world. Rose slept through the Dark Times that killed millions and has to learn the world anew as she struggles with the situation. She has a unique coping mechanism that is central to the story but it is also quite dark. There is some action but also a lot of everyday events that lets the reader get to know the people and their world

A Long, Long Sleep was a happy read, I liked it quite much. Both young and old should get enjoyment and entertainment out of this one. It is very standalone though I wouldn’t mind revisiting the world and these characters again in another story.

I have been blessed with good reads lately and now I am even happier since I discovered a new-to-me writer. Anna Sheehan feels like a new favorite I have to read more by.

Bottom line is read A Long, Long Sleep, you won’t be sorry.

Book Information

A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan (Chandlewick Press) - Amazon US | UK

Rosalinda Fitzroy had been asleep for 62 years when she was woken by a kiss.

Locked away in the chemically-induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten sub-basement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long dead, and Rose – hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire – is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat.

Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes – or be left without any future at all.

Steampunk is my kind of fun and that was the reason I bought Heart of Iron in the first place. Ekaterina Sedia and Prime Books are both new to me so I had no clear mind to what to expect.

The cover was beautiful and so was the beginning. The setting is mainly Imperial Russia in an alternative world where the Decembrist uprising was successful. The young Sasha Trubetskaya goes to St Petersburg for her debutant ball then her aunt gets her more or less drafted to the university as one of its first female students after a quarrel with the Emperor. Sasha is adorable as she struggles with prejudices in the academic world. She gets involved with foreign students and come to the attention of the secret police.

All this is entertaining to read and I enjoyed every bit of it but this is also where it starts to go sideways. Sasha’s decisions have no foundation that makes sense to me as a reader she just is. Another thing is that whatever happens there is no tension. For example she gets into a really violent situation where she is rescued in the nick of time by one of the love interests and the only thing that happens is that you read that she didn’t go out for a while. Get me to feel her fear.

I enjoyed the read but it was light with no real sense of adventure. The rest of the story is a sequence of steampunk tropes as Sasha sets out to stop a war with China masquerading as a young Hussar traveling on the trans-Siberian railroad.

Ekaterina Sedia puts realism, women rights, steampunk, love, history and a bit of a superhero into the mix but she overuse the Deus ex machine a bit too much for my liking. The gadgetry is all there though and the world she portraits is attractive from a steampunk perspective but it lacks meat.

I like Sasha though.

Book Information

Heart of Iron by Ekaterina Sedia (Prime 2011) – Amazon US | UK

In a Russia where the Decembrists’ rebellion was successful and the Trans-Siberian railroad was completed before 1854, Sasha Trubetskaya wants nothing more than to have a decent debut ball in St. Petersburg. But her aunt’s feud with the emperor lands Sasha at university, where she becomes one of its first female students – an experiment, she suspects, designed more to prove female unsuitability for such pursuits than offer them education. The pressure intensifies when Sasha’s only friends – Chinese students – start disappearing, and she begins to realize that her new British companion, Jack, has bigger secrets than she can imagine! Sasha and Jack find themselves trying to stop a war brewing between the three empires. The only place they can turn to for help is the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace, newly founded by the Taiping rebels. Pursued by the terrifying Dame Florence Nightingale of the British Secret Service, Sasha and Jack escape across Siberia via train to China. Sasha discovers that Jack is not quite the person she thought he was…but then again, neither is she.

A new John Ringo book is something I enjoy and look forward to. The story flows smoothly with catchy edgy characters and a bit of bickering dialogue. It reminds me of times when life was easier at the same time it woos me with shiny science fiction paraphernalia.

The Hot Gate is the third novel in the Troy Rising series. The feisty female pilot Comet is the main point of view character once again even if Tyler Vernon comes in as close second. We also get inside the heads of some of the alien commanders which I like. Earth is under siege and huge battle stations guard the wormgate. Attack after attack has been beaten off but the aliens are getting smarter. If that was not enough wait until you see what meets Comets when she transferes to a new squadron. There are interesting cultural clashes with southern American male culture as well as some bigoted warriors that see any woman without cover as a whore. Unfortunately for them they tell Comet to her face. This all works out the American way but not quite. The not quite is an important difference. Overall John is rather mellowed in his political undertones compared to many others in the military science fiction bracket.

I like the main character to be in trouble and overcome problems. That is exactly what John Ringo does. The main arc is her new leadership challenge but Comet also has time for an interesting relationship development and some girl talk with a loopy AI before the Hot Gate. This wouldn’t be complete without a great space battle and what a space battle it is. It is a fiery forge that test the mettle of humanity’s newest battle station. You will get your fill of lingo, trash talk and weapon discharges.

Troy Rising is supposed to be on the pulp and humor side of the genre I love built as it is on Howard Tayler’s Schlock Mercenary’s Universe (please check it out)  a couple of thousand years before the comic. It’s all done with consent, but the author calls it a rip-off. The cartoons are quite funny and they portray aliens and humans quite alike with the same kind of motivations and life, for good and bad. But it works for me, both there and here.

The Hot Gate is clever characters bickering and bashing aliens like in the good old days. What’s not to love? I wonder when the new one will be out?

Book Information

My reviews of Live Free or Die (Baen 2010) and Citadel (Baen 2011).

The Hot Gate (Troy Rising 3) by John Ringo – Baen (2011) – Amazon US | UK

he fight to free the Earth from alien domination began in Live Free or Die, and continued in Citadel. Now Tyler Vernon, and his troops aboard the gigantic battle station Troy, face a desperate battle with the forces of galactic tyranny. And the very survival of the Earth and its people is not all that is at stake. The galaxy itself must choose to live free or die-and if the tyrants win this battle, darkness will fall across the galaxy for millennia to come.

I like to read fantasy now and then to break with the science fiction and Trudi Canavan is one of my favorites. The Black Magician trilogy was where I fell in readership with her and in love with Sonea a street urchin turned magician. Sonea and many of her friends features prominently in this trilogy too.

The point of view characters are Sonea, her son Lorking, Dannyl and Lilia the novice. Trudi changes view between them in every chapter so the books reads like a tv show with change after each scene. I like that much better than a whole chapter that ends in a cliffhanger and then three chapters until we learn what happens. Sonea and the master thief Ceryl, a childhood friend are hunting The Rogue Skellin and he keeps building his drug empire in their city. Lorking is stuck in the Traitors Sanctuary while he tries to find a way to love and the secret of their magical gems, the later he wants to trade for the Guild’s Healing magic. Dannyl continues his quest for the history of magic while juggling an old lover and a potential dangerous new one. Lilia is a new character and she gets caught in a web not of her own making. She is a naïve young novice born of a family of house servants. Just the type of character Trudi does so well. Lilia is my favorite character, I like coming of age histories and she is so sweet and innocent. Her journey to discover her sexual identity is told very well in my opinion.

The greater forces behind the scene start to take form here. I hope Trudi writes more about the history of the land and it’s magic.

The one thing I feel a bit disappointed with is that we hear and see so little of Skellin the Rogue in a book with his name. What is up with that? It is a great book but the title might lead you to wrong expectations.

The story has good pacing and I read it in one sitting. Trudi Canavan has done it again with this fantasy drama in familiar settings all her own. I am very interesting in what is going to happen in the concluding volume next year. Traitor Queen will probably be out in spring 2012.

Book information

Other books by Trudi Canavan:

- The Magician’s Apprentice (Orbit 2010)
The Black Magician Series
1. The Magicians’ Guild
2. Novice
3. High Lord
The Traitor Spy Trilogy
1. The Ambassador’s Mission (Orbit 2010)
Age of the Five Series
1. Priestess of the White
2. Last of the Five
3 Voice of the Gods

The Rogue (Traitor Spy Trilogy book 1) by Trudi Canavan  - Orbit (2011) – Bought from Amazon UK | US

Kyralia is facing threats at home and abroad, as a rogue killer stalks its capital’s streets, while the neighbouring kingdom of Sachaka is breeding a rebellion that could destabilise the entire region.

High Lord Akkarin and Sonea’s son Lorkin has a legacy of heroism to live up to, but despite his good intentions, his incarceration in Sachaka’s rebel traitor stronghold could destroy the tenuous peace between the two countries. Angered by Lorkin’s seeming defection the Sachakans blame the Kyralian ambassador, Danny–and they are a savage people when roused.

And back home, in the University, two young novices are about to remind the Guild that sometimes their greatest enemy comes from within…

The beautiful and feisty half-cyborg secret agent Lila Black is back for a visit to the demon realm. She goes to the land of the dead and Hell too but the last is not a place.

The Quantum Bomb opened up connections with the realms of elves, demons, fairies, elementals and the dead. At least the denizens of the first three all knew about earth before but now the humans know about them too.

Most of the characters from book one are back. And we also get to know some interesting new one like Thingumajig, the entertaining but irritating red imp. Lila also gets to explore Demonias social scene since Zal spend most of his time trapped in Zoomenon. Lila has barely landed in Demonia when the assassination attempts commence.  The violence gets fairly graphics but entertaining.

The tone is darker than in book one; Lila’s trauma starts to catch up with her; her parents believing she is dead, the spirit of a dead elf necromancer she is sharing her body with; She has issues with accepting her new self when she need her strength the most. This shows more depth to her character. I think overall that the characters in this book have more depth than in the first book.

The demonic society with their violence and absolute truthfulness to themselves is creative and something I enjoyed immensely. Lila also learns that there is more to the universe than the realms she knows of, seems the other races have kept the humans in the dark.

The narration gets a bit shattered since it jumps back and forth between mainly Lila, Zal and Malachi. This gets rather frustrating at times.

Selling Out is Lila Black dancing with Demons and other minor acts of violence. It is well written, fast paced fun fantasy with a spice of science and steampunk.

Book Information

Selling Out (Quantum Gravity 2) by Justina Robson – Gollancz (2007) – Bought from Amazon UK | US

Book two of the Quantum Gravity series sees Lila Black drawn into the intoxicatingly dangerous demon realm. Capricious, in love with beauty, demons are best left to themselves. This is not easy when they can’t resist tampering with humans.

Justina Robson’s new series is a joyful melding of science fiction and fantasy brought together in the figure of the dangerously lovely Lila Black, a 21-year-old secret agent who’s had much of her body replaced with weapon-and-armor-heavy intelligent metal and who isn’t sure where her mind ends and her installed AI begins. Lila’s world is one where demons, elves, and elementals live alongside people. And somehow Lila and the other agents of the security agency have to provide security for all and stay alive themselves.

 

I keep a watch out for China Mieville’s books after reading The City and the City. Embassytown sounds like an interesting science fiction with aliens and a female protagonist. This is a book likely to be on my list for next year. The cover looks a bit weird?

Edit: This is not the final Cover. According to trusted sources this one was released on amazon by mistake.

Title: Embassytown
Author: China Mieville
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Tor UK (May 6, 2010) | Del Rey (May 17, 2011)

Order from:  Amazon US | UK

Embassytown: a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe.

Avice is an immerser, a traveler on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here on Arieka, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the natives, the enigmatic Hosts – who cannot lie.

Only a tiny cadre of unique human Ambassadors can speak Language, and connect the two communities. But an unimaginable new arrival has come to Embassytown. And when this Ambassador speaks, everything changes.

Catastrophe looms. Avice knows the only hope is for her to speak directly to the alien Hosts.”

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In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.

But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.

Information

Everything about this book is beautiful the cover, the design and the story in itself. There is a even a beautiful map of Seattle 1879 inside by Jenifer Hanover. I think that the  popularity of Steampunk has something to do with a wish for more beautiful soulful things. I am not saying that modern design can’t be beautiful but they seldom have soul.

This is the story about  a strong persistent mother who would do anything for her son. Briar is a hardworking single mom that just manages to get by on what she brings in while she tries to live under the radar of the stigma of her former husband’s alleged crime. Her son Ezekiel convinced of his father’s innocence sets out to find proof inside the walled city.

The Author

Cherie comes quite well recommended from reviewers and nominations and she lives up to my expectations. She writes very accessible and with her own style that reminds me of pulp fiction writers like Sax Rohmer’s (Dr. Fu-Manchu) and old classic writers  like Jules Verne. This is the first book I read by her but not the last; I have Clementine on its way here and Dreadnought (the next book set in the Clockwork Century) on pre order.

World Building

I like the Steampunk version of Seattle even if I was a bit skeptical about the Zombie part at first. I am not really into horror that much. I enjoy the whole ‘what if’ with Steampunk. It makes you think and fantasize all by yourself.

Cherie uses a journalist that pesters Briar for an interview to give the back story in an excerpt from his unfinished works and the rest comes natural as the story develops with Briar doing most of the remembering. It feels like we just opened the door to the Clockwork Century and had a tiny peek, I want to know more and explore the different parts of this alternate universe. So I guess the world building worked great, I am hooked.

Plot

Zeke goes into the Blight to clear his father’s good name and Briar goes after to save his skin. The story focuses on Briar finding a way into the walled city, surviving the zombies, the blight, locating her son and getting him out of there. But it is not easy. She encounters the airship Clementine whose story I assume is covered in the novella by the same name. The walled city in itself holds more than one secret and she uncovers them one by one. The twists and turns reminded somewhat of pulp fiction but more coherent. Some of what happens seems to happen out of the blue when they do but they get their explanation later on much like they would in real life.

Characterization

I like the characters as much as I am in love with the settings. Briar is really set on saving her son from himself while she spare noting in scolding herself for her own short comings. The people she meets and form bonds with step out of the text lifelike and interesting in themselves. There are more than a couple of them I wouldn’t mind reading a short story or two about. Alastair, Cly, Fang and Angeline Princess to mention a few.

My View

I love Boneshaker, it is an easy read you will have trouble putting down and the storyline is compelling and you will want to read more of Cherie’s books afterwards. What is it that is so charming and compelling with goggles, gas masks, zombies, airships and 19th century technology? I don’t know but it got me under its spell too.

Order from: Daw | Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

The launch of a brand new series that blends the best elements of science fiction and fantasy.

The world of Harmony, along with its close-knit colony planets, long ago isolated itself from the rest of the universe. But in a universe where the human-based Confederate Star System fleet finds itself hard-pressed to stand against ever-increasing attacks by the alien Marillon Empire, the Harmonic Empire cannot be left alone. For if the CSS cannot win an alliance with Harmony, the Marils will surely find a way to invade the planet and seize control of the unique and invaluable metal, which only the Harmonites can produce.

Yet invasion is far from the only threat the people of Harmony face. The gulf between rich and poor, rulers and ruled continues to widen, threatening to destroy the very structure of their society—while the planet itself is becoming increasingly unstable. In this time of crisis, one young woman

Information

The book is dedicated to Father Richard Toll and there is an excerpt from the sequel Enigma at the end of the book.

This is a book about a historical conspiracy and the pressure of change that will rip any static society apart.

The protagonists are Jake, a spy sent by mainstream humanity to obtain the secret of the Badger Metal and Sissy born with the mark of all seven castes, soon to become High Priestess of Harmony.

The Author

C. F. Bentley is a pseudonym Irene Radford uses for her science fiction novels. Harmony is the first novel by her I ever read but I think I will read more. From what it looks like she has written a number of fantasy books. The theme seems to be dragons and Merlin. More information on Irene’s homepage www.ireneradford.com.

World building

The Confederated Star System is at war with the alien Marillon Empire and they both need Badger Metal for their starships. Harmony is the only supplier which is why Jake is sent there to find out the secret on how to make it. Harmony is a seven world pocket empire that was founded by an earth cult. It closed its borders fifty years ago and they have had no outside contact ever since including no export of Badger Metal.

Harmony with its rigid cast society is like an onion of deception where we see layer after layer being stripped off. Marriages between casts are forbidden and when you are born into a cast (carry the cast mark) you are there for life.

The world is consistent, interesting and realistic even if it borders on on the absurd at times. There is a slight resemblance in feel from some Harry Harrison novels even if the world is much more complex here.

Plot

Jake used to be a fighter pilot before he screwed up and was saved by a secret intelligence organization that takes on space opera manners. There is sex very early in the novel but not very descriptive. He is first sent to The Lost Colony of Harmony (they broke of communication with their mother world and formed a new casteless society) to try to obtain an alternative to Badger Metal but it fails so he is sent to Harmony undercover as one of the Military Cast and he eventually end up as Sissy’s bodyguard.

Harmony is going through an unstable period with freaky weather and earthquakes which the cultists see as the planet being upset. Sissy is a mutant, born and raised by Worker parents but with all seven cast markings, usually that would make her an outcast of society to be eventually exterminated in one of their concentration camps/asylum but she hides it with cosmetics. During a catastrophic earthquake she discovers that she can channel its energy and commune with Harmony saving the city from destruction. The High Priest finds her and makes her the new High Priestess against the wishes of the former’s family who have had that title for generations. The High Priest thinks she will be easy to manipulate with her simple upbringing. He couldn’t be more wrong as she starts to put things right.

What follows is political intrigue, assassination attempts, deception but also revelation of the truth about their pasts. It is fast paced with unexpected twists and a lovely love story just like I like it.

Characterization

Jake is well developed with his doubt about the mission and the moral dilemma he faces. He is also appalled by the rigid caste society and the way the high casts manipulate the lower.

Sissy grows from ignorant worker to a formidable leader of her people. She is a strong believer in family and the high castes ways disgust her. You root for her from the beginning as she is so easy to love.

My View

There is a quite a bit of social commentary in this story and the characters, which makes it more than just a good rump. I like Harmony, it mixes military with space opera and romance in a fast flowing easy to read experience. It was also a damn fun book to read. I had to laugh out loud in delight at some of the twists the story took to the amusement of my dear ones. In conclusion Harmony is not great literature but it is a fun read which should please both readers of military science fiction, space opera and romance.

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Wars may end. But vengeance is forver.

Reserve Major Ariane Kedros needs a shot at redemption-and the mysterious aliens known as the Minoans need an extraordinary human pilot with a rejuv-stimulated metabolism like Ariane for a dangerous expedition to a distant solar system. But there’s a catch. The Minoans have to implant their technology in Ariane’s body, and it might not be removable. Ariane is willing, but as she begins the perilous journey, there is an old enemy hiding within the exploration team who is determined to see them fail…

Information

Major Ariane Kedros is back as the guilt ridden heroine here in a new book that is mostly about the aftermath of the last book where she saved the system from destruction when she pushed a terrorist temporal bomb into N-space where it went off.

The alien culture that gave humanity the temporal technology to reach the stars is called Minoans since they share symbols from the Greek equivalent. Generation ships travel from star to star setting up Temporal Buoys as they go binding worlds together with FTL travel.

The Consortium of Autonomous Worlds was formed by the outermost colonies and their war with the Terran Expansion League (XL) ended less than 20 years ago. Major Ariane Kedros was pilot on the ship that deployed the Temporal Displacement Weapon that ended the war. Now she and everyone in their line of command have been given new identities by the government. Terra has declared them all war criminals but her identity is known to some Terran officials and attempts have been made on her life. What really ended the war was the Minoans declaring Pax Minoan and outlawed the use of Temporal Displacement Weapons, and the humans damn better follow it.

The Author

Laura is a great world builder. Her Minoan Space is greatly influenced by Greek culture and the alien are alien. I really like the characterization in her books too. It took me a while before I started reading her first book Peacekeeper, the cover and everything said yet another military science fiction with the usual female protagonist, love story, alien artifacts, and bad memories from the war, misunderstood and under appreciated military until I started reading. Her books are nothing like that, her characters are real people and the society around them is plausible in a refreshingly new way.

World Building

We knew from before that the very advanced and old ancient race that is called the Minoans has been around a long time and here we learn more about them. This is something I like reading about, alien mysteries that are slowly revealed.

As usual much of the plot centers around politics and clandestine maneuvers in the dark by the main powers but there is a shift in this book over to something different.

Plot

Most of the ‘action’ in this book centers around the inquiry into what went on the last book. That might sound boring but it is not. Laura makes it all come to life and become interesting. It should be noted that she served as a Military Inspector.

All the fractions involved have their own hidden agendas even the Minoans and Ariane is at the center of it.

In the end of the book and far, far less than the synopsis make likely she takes on a mission involving yet another mysterious alien race called the Builders. The ones that built that powered down Temporal Buoy is of interests to the Minoans so they hire Ariane to go.

Much is revealed on that trip, there is a conspiracy to kill Ariane but this time there is something much bigger going on that will have consequences for the next couple of books.

Characterization

This is Laura’s strength, her characters pop out of the pages likable, lifelike, imperfect and driven. There is as usual a love story here between Ariane and her boss, but I am afraid we are in for the long run there.

The illegal AI they have in their ship is getting more and more interesting, I have this thing for sentient ships since Mutineers’ Moon.

My View

Pathfinder is a great military science fiction with a little less action than I expected especially since reading the synopsis that only feels like 15% right (this is not the writers fault, I blame the publishers for that). I continue to love the setting and the characters and can’t wait on the next book.

Related Posts

• Laura E. Reeve (Author)
• Peacekeeper by Laura E. Reeve (Ariane Kedros 1)
• Vigilante by Laura E. Reeve (Major Ariane Kedros 2)
• New Science Fiction to Read 2010
• New Science Fiction Books in July 2010

Title: Mission of Honor
Series: Honor Harrington book 12
Author: David Weber
Genre: Military Science Fiction | Space Opera
Cover art: David Mattingly
Hardback: 608 pages
Publisher: Baen, July 2010
Copy: bought by me
Excerpts: Snippet 1-60

Order from: Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

The Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven have been enemies for Honor Harrington’s entire life, and she has paid a price for the victories she’s achieved in that conflict. And now the unstoppable juggernaut of the mighty Solarian League is on a collision course with Manticore. The millions who have already died may have been only a foretaste of the billions of casualties just over the horizon, and Honor sees it coming.

She’s prepared to do anything, risk anything, to stop it, and she has a plan that may finally bring an end to the Havenite Wars and give even the Solarian League pause. But there are things not even Honor knows about. There are forces in play, hidden enemies in motion, all converging on the Star Kingdom of Manticore to crush the very life out of it, and Honor’s worst nightmares fall short of the oncoming reality.

But Manticore’s enemies may not have thought of everything after all. Because if everything Honor Harrington loves is going down to destruction, it won’t be going alone.

Information

Mission of Honor starts some time after At All Costs and Storm from the Shadows. Torch of Freedom starts more than a year before but runs parallel with MoH up until a month before it ends. The main focus is on Honor Alexander-Harrington – The Salamander, the war hero that saved Manticore’s home system in a devastating battle at the end of At All Costs, but there are other principal characters like Michelle Henke, Hamish Alexander-Harrington and Eloise Pritchart.

• The book is dedicated to  Sharon and David’s children Megan, Morgan, and Michael Paul.
• Please note that the real cover has Honor using her right hand to salute as she should and she also looks more concerned and distraught (but none of the online stores have the right cover).
• There is an appendix with Character descriptions at the end of the book (16 pages) but I never used it.
• The books comes with a CD containing most of David Weber’s works in different formats.

World Building

The small but rich and growing Star Empire of Manticore is a tool to be used in a century old conspiracy by the genetic supremacist Mesa Alignment. First they provoked a war with Haven and now they are about to do the same with the Solarian League. David is a great world builder and Mission of Honor is riddled with great pieces of information concerning the Solarian League and the Mesa Alignment.

You should read the other books in the Honor Harrington universe to really enjoy and understand what is going on in this book. Even though there is a lot of world building going on here most of it is built on what you already know if you read the previous books.

The Plot

The Star Empire of Manticore has a technological advantage that allows them to ‘win’ against Haven when MoH starts. The Solarian League Navy (SLN) is way behind both Manticore and Haven on missile technology as proven on New Tuscany.

Admiral Michelle Henke, Honors friend and the fifth in line for the throne is in command of the defenses at the Talbot Cluster. Mesa’s machinations behind the scene have set SLN Task Force 496 under the command of Battle Fleet Admiral Crandall bearing down on Henke with 71 ships-of-the-wall. She has only battle cruisers and superior technology to defend against them, but she is outnumbered more than ten to one.

On the other side Honor sets out to make peace with Haven something that might not be so easy after years of fighting, mistrust after what they have done to each other and with short sighted politicians with their own agendas.

Unknown to the others Mesa has launched a sneak attack against Manticore and Grayson called Oyster Bay that is about to go down in a few weeks.

The book also covers the media war especially the fall out from those nukes on Mesa.

In short the action is one battle and one sneak attack. Both battles where on the short side even if the preludes took their time. Michelle’s psych tactics was quite entertaining to read while Oyster Bay was quite chilling.

The ending is emotionally satisfying and leaves a strategic cliffhanger for the next book.

Characterization

I love to read about Honor and Nimitz but I am also happy there are others that take up the hat for the smaller actions we have come to love. Michelle Henke is a fully well developed protagonist in herself.

Weber uses a lot of small scenes with different characters to present background or explanations. There are evacuation training on the space station, different characters from the Hexpuma reporting for duty at their new jobs, the junior officers’ dining club and many more to make this a vivid and living story. The sheer number of character might be daunting for new readers but the feeling of all those settings coming to life and matter worked for me.

My View

I expected this novel and Mesa’s sneak attack to be the Pearl Harbor of Manticor and I can’s say it disappointed in that respect. But Elizabeth’s talk to the people reminded me of Churchill’s. With Oyster Bay the Treecats realizes the threat they are under. I wonder if Mesa realizes the effects of a race of Treecats going to war?

This is a monumental book in the Honorverse, this ends the original storyline with Haven and starts a new darker one with the Alignment as antagonist.

Now we will probably see one or two more books in the Honorverse before the next main book, which ought to be earliest at the end of 2011 and that’s a long time to wait.

I give it and the series a strong recommendation if you like military space opera.

More information

• David Weber’s Profile Page (with links to quite a few free online books)
• Earlier books in this series: On Basilisk Station | The Honor of the Queen | The Short Victorious War | Field of Dishonor | Flag in Exile | Honor Among Enemies | In Enemy Hands | Echoes of Honor | Ashes of Victory | War of Honor | At All Costs
• Other Honorverse novels: Storm from the Shadows | Torch of Freedom | More Than Honor | Worlds of Honor| Changer of Worlds | The Service of the Sword

Here is this week’s list of formidable female protagonists in SF literature. I was questioned about my criteria for choosing who to list and the answer is simple:

1. Is she a protagonist in a science fiction novel?
2. Is she female?
3. Is she in any way formidable?

The third is subject to my subjective interpretation but I have a fairly wide appetite for all different kind of SF out there and I am open to suggestions.

This week’s Formidable Females are:

1. Benita Alvarez-Shipton – the Perfect House-wife (Sheri S. Tepper)
2. Kris Longknife – Princess & Officer (Mike Shepherd)
3. Tobin Kerr – Leading From Below (Tanya Huff)
4. Sassinak – Older Than Her Mother (Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Moon & Jody Lynn Nye)
5. Sharrow – Symbol of a Solar System (Ian M. Banks)

Blurbs/Synopsis are from a major online outfit, but they are often in error so I won’t tell you which one.

Benita Alvarez-Shipton – the Perfect House-wife

Book: The Fresco
Author: Sheri S Tepper
Pulisher: Eos Nov 2000 | Gollanz, 1st March 2001
Genre: Feminist science fiction

This is one of Sheri S. Tepper’s more controversial works. It is about Benita Alvarez-Shipton a housewife of Hispanic descent trapped in an abusive relationship. She meets two aliens that do her a ‘good turn’ after choosing her as their ambassador to Earth. She has to break free of the relationship, convince earth’s leaders to listen to her, survive another group of aliens hunting her and save an ideal. The Fresco is an indulgent fantasy in justice with amusing twists like the ugly plague in Afghanistan to protect their women’s virtue and alien wasps impregnating pro life politicians. Sheri S. Tepper is usually more subtle than this but it is still a good read and Benita grows and takes charge of her life as in the best of space operas. She is a housewife that fixes a galactic civilization. That is formidable.

One day, in the midst of strange events that are occurring throughout the United States, plain-spoken, 36 year-old bookstore manager Benita Alvarez-Shipton is greeted by a pair of aliens who ask her to transmit their message of peace to Washington.

And so begins a fantastic adventure more perilous and important than Benita can imagine, because the envoys have come with a dire warning about another extraterrestrial race: predators with their attention focused on Earth, who may have already made their first “visit”.

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Kris Longknife – Princess & Officer

Books: Mutineer (2004), Deserter (2004), Defiant(2005), Resolute (2006), Audacious(2007), Intrepid (2008), Undaunted (2009), Redoubtable (Oct 2010)
Series: Kris Longknife
Author: Mike Shepherd
Publisher: Ace Penguin
Genre: Military Science Fiction | Space Opera

The Kris Longknife series is about a formidable woman with a knack for getting in trouble and getting out. She is one of them Longknifes and if life wasn’t enough complicated being an officer in the navy; the society of humanity dissolve and her grandpa is named King making her a reluctant princess. The Peterwald family with their long standing grudge with the Longknife set up their own little pocket empire and starts to make life for Kris and her family difficult. Lots of humor, fantastic characters by Mike Shepherd (links to profile with links to my reviews). The next book Redoubtable will be out in November this year and Daring will be out in 2011.

Mutineer: As a marine of Wardhaven, Kris Longknife has a lot to live up to and a lot to prove in the long-running struggle between her powerful family, a highly defensive-and offensive-Earth, and the hundreds of warring colonies. But an ill-conceived attack is bringing the war close to home and putting Kris’s life on the line. Now she has only one choice: certain death on the front lines of rim space-or mutiny.

Deserter: A search for her lost friend leads the female space warrior into a galactic hellhole with no way out.

Defiant: As part of an agenda to oust her father from his political position, Kris Longknife is relieved of command. But when an alien enemy launches an invasion, she defies both government and military authority to lead a rag-tag fleet against the threat

Resolute: Kris Longknife has been given her first independent command in the very remote system of Chance, an assignment that’s as much exile as promotion. But Kris isn’t on the job long when she captures pirates hiding the location of an uncharted and unpopulated planet of miraculous technology.

Audacious: You can’t keep a good woman down-Kris Longknife returns. Once again Kris finds herself caught in the crosshairs of unknown enemies who want her dead. Factions, both legitimate and underground, vie for control of the planet New Eden. And someone is taking advantage of the chaos to unleash a personal vendetta against Kris.

Intrepid: Kris Longknife has been assigned to The Wasp, the best warship beyond the Rim of Human Space. But while hunting for pirates, Kris stumbles upon something. It’s a plan to kill one of the members of the aristocratic Peterwald family—and the would-be killers are setting her up as the assassin.

Undaunted: Kris Longknife encounters some peaceful aliens that almost exterminated the human race a generation back or so who have come to warn humanity of an unidentifiable force that is roaming the galaxy, obliterating everything in its path-a path now leading directly toward the human worlds.

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Tobin Kerr – Leading From Below

Books: Valor’s Choice (2000), A Confederation of Valor (2006), The Hearth of Valor (2007), Valor’s Trial (2009), The Truth of Valor (Sept 2010)
Series: Confederation of Valor series
Author: Tanya Huff
Publisher: DAW
Genre: Military Science Fiction

Tanya Huff’s Confederation books are an excellent example of the life and career of a Non-Commissioned Officer. Tobin Kerr comes alive as a believable person whoes motivations make sense. She have to fight to keep her troops and leaders alive through all the military actions, in the best tradition of her trade. The science fictions parts also play a significant part in the stories about aliens, their society and alien technology. There is an arc across the whole series concerning ‘older’ more ‘wise’ races keeping the ‘young’ races at each other’s throats.

Tanya Huff is very good at dialogue. There is a lot of bickering in the books, and I love bickering. Portraying a sergeant of the right stuff is done beautifully.

• “Figures,” Torin sighed. “Officers get a proposal and the rest of us just get screwed.”
• The Krai have a taste for human flesh. “Marines do not eat other Marines,” Torin muttered absently.
• “Begging your pardon sir, but you’ll be giving orders to this platoon, not to the general. It might be best if
  you think for yourself.”
• “You’re just jealous my species has more opposable parts than yours.”

I have recently read the four published books and wrote about it here: Valor’s Choice, Better Part of Valor, The Heart of Valor and Valor’s Trial

Valor’s Choice: In the distant future, humans and several other races have been granted membership in the Confederation—at a price. They must act as soldier/protectors of the far more civilized races who have long since turned away from war….

A Confederation of Valor: Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr’s goal is to keep both her superior officers and her troops alive as they face deadly missions throughout the galaxy. She more than proves her mettle when a diplomatic assignment and a scientific expedition both turn dangerous.

The Hearth of Valor: The fast-paced third military SF novel in Huff’s Confederation series (after Valor’s Choice and The Better Part of Valor) examines how an interplanetary confederation might unite several distinctive species into an effective military organization despite widely differing physiologies, customs and mores. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Torin Kerr, recovering from injuries suffered in a first contact situation, accompanies a recruit platoon into the Crucible, a training planet where they apply their lessons in a realistic live-fire exercise against robotic drones. While the exercise is underway, the drones begin acting aggressively, without regard to fail-safes or their programming. Has the platoon come under attack by the mysterious Others, or is this related to the alien escape pod that everybody has forgotten exists except for Torin, her lover and an obnoxious reporter? The intriguing and well-designed aliens and intricate plotting keep the reader guessing.

Valor’s Trial: In the rough-and-tumble fourth military SF adventure for Marine Gunnery Sgt. Torin Kerr (after 2007′s The Heart of Valor), Kerr is more than a little surprised to wake up after a disastrous battle and find herself in what appears to be an underground prisoner-of-war facility, since the enigmatic aliens called the Others take no prisoners. At least, that’s the claim made by the Confederation of nominally pacifist older races that provide advanced technology to humans in exchange for waging war against the Others. Kerr soon encounters earlier arrivals, who seem oddly lethargic and resigned to their fate. She must learn what’s sapping their willpower, organize an escape and figure out what the Others and the Confederation are up to. Huff’s appealing heroine is as fiercely maternal as she is fierce in battle, sometimes to a degree that verges on cliché. The denouement is not unexpected, but Huff skillfully accomplishes its exposition while still managing a few surprises.

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Sassinak – Older Than Her Mother

Books: Sassinak (1990), The Death of Sleep (1990), Generation Warriors (1991)
Omnibus: The Planet Pirates (1993)
Series: Planet Pirates
Authors: Anne McCaffrey(#1-3), Elizabeth Moon (#1,#3), Jody Lynn Nye(#2)
Publisher: Baen
Genre: Military Science Fiction

Sassinak is just one of them unforgettable characters, she grows a lot in the series that is a bit towards pulp fiction in some regards. Lots of emotions. I like the name, Sassinach is a Scottish/Highlander name for ‘lowlanders’ especially English I gather. If I remember correctly it means saxon man but has evolved to something you taunt strangers with? Anyway, great story by Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Moon and Jody Lynn Nye.

THE PLANET PIRATES ENSLAVED SASSINAK AND DESTROYED HER WORLD…A FATAL MISTAKE!

The Planet Pirates traces the careers of two remarkable women. Sassinak escaped from slavery to freedom, and then used that freedom to fight the evil that had wrecked her world, first as a cadet, later as a captain, and finally as an Admiral of the Fleet.

Lunzie, one of the galaxy’s greatest healers, is Sassinak’s great-grandmother — but in actual years she is her junior; Lunzie spent nearly a century in coldsleep waiting for rescue when her ship was destroyed. Imagine their mutual surprise when Sassinak rescued her.

How together Sassinak and Lunzie save first a world, and then a confederation of worlds — and almost in passing establish amity between the genetically engineered Heavy Worlders and normal humanity

Sassinak: The first in the Planet Pirates series, this science fiction yarn offers a vivid universe inhabited by cardboard citizens. Sassinak, the heroine and the only developed character, steps straight from a formula: When she is 12, pirates raid her native colony, enslaving her and g murdering her family. Abe, a fellow captive, befriends her and, when they are emancipated by Fleet (the military), becomes her guardian until he is slain in a barroom brawl. Intelligent and daring, Sass joins Fleet, seeking vengeance on her enemies. She becomes the classic fictional commander: a loner whose entire life is subsumed by the military. Fortunately, Sass’s exploits are so expertly recounted that their intrigue and adventure compensate for the hackneyed plot line. Cleverly drawn aliens, supporting characters here, allow the authors to explore various aspects of prejudice. Sass’s appraisal of men, however, verges at times on sexist.

The Death of Sleep: Lunzie Mespil, Healer, is blown out of a space liner. She’s not too worried; a month or two in cryogenic stasis awaiting inevitable rescue, and then on with her life. Only, it’s not a month or two . . . Lunzie waits for 62 years before she is finally picked up!

Generation Warriors: Lunzie, fresh from her adventures in The Death of Sleep,has discovered that the one good heavyworlder she ever met isn’t so good after all…
Fordeliton, sent off to investigate the connection between the super—rich and the planet pirates, is now dying of a mysterious slow poison. His aunt’s spiritual advisor wants to give him her “special cure”.
Dupaynil, having made the mistake of pushing sassinak too far, has been exiled to Seti space aboard a tiny escort vessel—where he’s discovered that the crew are in the pay of the planet pirates…
Aygar, the idealistic young Iretan, is out to prove he has brains as well as heavyworlder brawn… but there are plenty who’d like to blow them out before he can learn to use them.
Then there’s Sassinak, ordered to report to FedCentral for the trial of the mutineer Tanegli. She’d been told to disarm her ship when it enters restricted space; she’d been told her crew can’t have liberty or leave; and she’d been told to follow all the rules. You remember Sassinak…the only person who might be able to stop the disaster ahead has never been one to follow the rules…

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Sharrow – Symbol of a Solar System

Book: Against Dark Background
Author: Iain M. Banks
Publisher: Orbit 1993
Genre: Military Science Fiction

Lady Sharrow is said to be a metaphor of the solar system where the story takes place. Iain M. Banks don’t write happy stories so I am expecting Noir with this one. This is a character I am not familiar with but she comes recommended as a strong formidable woman.

The heroine, Sharrow, chases after the Lazy Gun, a long-lost military artifact of tremendous power, while being chased by a religious cult dedicated to killing her. She rounds up her old war buddies for one last hurrah and they are off to the races, punctuated with flashbacks about the war and Geis and Breyguhn, her cousin and half-sister, respectively.

Sharrow was once the leader of a personality-attuned combat team in one of the sporadic little commercial wars in the civilization based around the planet Golter. Now she is hunted by the Huhsz, a religious cult which believes that she is the last obstacle before the faith’s apotheosis, and her only hope of escape is to find the last of the apocalyptically powerful Lazy Guns before the Huhsz find her.
Her journey through the exotic Golterian system is a destructive and savage odyssey into her past, and that of her family and of the system itself.

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Read Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | index | afterword

Welcome to my new Friday series on Formidable Female Protagonists in Science Fiction. One thing I enjoy reading about in science fiction is strong female  protagonists and I would like to present some of them so you might get to know them too. I like lists, and I have assembled a long list to pick from so you can expect five new examples of the ‘stronger’ sex every Friday for the next ten weeks.

This week they are:

1. Alicia DeVries – Cadre and Fury (David Weber)
2. Terese Drajeske – Ex Field Commander & Mother (C. L. Andersen)
3. Mackensie Elizabeth Winifred Wright Connor Sol (Julie E. Czerneda)
4. Zoe Boutin Perry – Teenager & Holy Icon (John Scalzi)
5. Parrish Plessis - Postapocalyptic Bodyguard (Marianne de Pierres)

There is also undiscovered Formidable Female Protagonists out there that you can recommend to me in comments to this post, please.

Alicia DeVries – Cadre and Fury

Book: Path of the Fury (1992), In Fury Born (extended version, 2006)
Author: David Weber
Publisher: Baen

Path of the Fury starts when her family is killed while In Fury Born is an extended version that starts with her being recruited as a potential Cadre trainee. Alicia DeVries is a good example of a formidable female protagonist in a Military setting. She is very talented, bound by her honor and quickly rises through the ranks while putting her life on the line for her Empire. I would recommend that you go for the extended version with the background story to why she becomes one of the Furies. The books are really entertaining and funny.

Imperial Intelligence couldn’t find them, the Imperial Fleet couldn’t catch them, and local defenses couldn’t stop them. It seemed the planet-wrecking pirates were invincible. But they made a big mistake when they raided ex-commando leader Alicia DeVries’ quiet home, tortured and murdered her family, and then left her for dead. Alicia decided to turn ‘pirate’ herself, and stole a cutting-edge AI ship from the Empire to start her vendetta. Her fellow veterans think she’s gone crazy, the Imperial Fleet has shoot-on-sight orders. And of course the pirates want her dead, too. But Alicia DeVries has two allies nobody knows about, allies as implacable as she is: a self-aware computer, and a creature from the mists of Old Earth’s most ancient legends. And this trio of furies won’t rest until vengeance is served.

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Terese Drajeske – Ex Field Commander & Mother

Novel: Bitter Angels (2009)
Author: C. L. Anderson (Sarah Zettel)
Publisher: Random House

Terese Drajeske is a different kind of formidable, she is competent, reluctant to enter service again and more than a little bit cynical about it. But she also have a talent for it. Read my review

An Imploding Star System.
A Murdered Galactic Spy.
A Woman Seeking the Truth—and Finding the Unbelievable…

The Erasmus System is a sprawling realm of slavery, smugglers, spies—and constant, creeping decrepitude. Here everyone who is not part of the ruling Four Families is a slave of one kind or another. But the Guardians, a special-forces branch inside the United World Government for Earth, have deemed Erasmus a “hot spot.” Somehow, it is believed, this failing colony intends to launch a war upon the solar system.

Ex-Field Commander Terese Drajeske, now a mother of three, has been called back to active duty and sent to Erasmus, ostensibly to investigate the murder of her colleague—and friend—Bianca Fayette. At first blush, the death defies explanation: Bianca was immortal. But beneath that single murder lies a twisted foundation of deceptions. Suddenly Terese is plunged into a vortex of shattered lives, endemic deceit, and one dreadful secret. In this society without hope, someone has put into motion a plan that will cast humanity into chaos. And Terese, who has given up her family and her sanity to prevent war, may be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice….

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Mackensie Elizabeth Winifred Wright Connor Sol

Books: Survival (2005), Migration (2006), Regeneration (2007)
Series: Species Imperative Trilogy
Author: Julie E. Czerneda
Publisher: DAW

Mack is one of my favorite characters. She is down to earth, a researcher thrown into an alien situation that just handle the situation as any problem she is used to. Humor and suspense also helps. The Species Imperative trilogy forms a circle and the Sinzi (a leading alien race) have a thing for circles. It’s a great story with a successfully told Big Idea, the characters are to love, and the science is beautifully and skillfully presented by Julie E. Czerneda. Read my reviews: Survival, Migration and Regeneration

Survival: When her Field Base is mysteriously attacked, Dr. Mackenzie Connor must flee for her life. Joining forces with an alien archaeologist, she escapes to his planet on a quest to find a defense against the unknown agressor-before they launch a full-scale invasion of Earth.

Migration: Dr. Mackenzie Connor races against time to help the Interspecies Union devise a plan to prevent an interstellar enemy from conquering world after world.

Regeneration: With the alien Dhryn cutting a pathway through the inhabited spaceways-bringing about the annihilation of many of the races who have the misfortune to lie along the star trail they are following-time is running out for all sentient life-forms. Can biologists Mackenzie Connor and Emily Mamami solve the riddle of the Dhryn before their part of the galaxy becomes as dead as the mysterious region known as the Chasm?

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Zoe Boutin Perry – Teenager & Holy Icon

Book: Zoe’s Tale
Series: Old Man’s War Universe
Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor Books

Zoë Boutin Perryis the 17-year old adopted daughter of John Perry and Jane Sagan, two former-soldiers-turned-colonists.  Her biological father, Charles Boutin, created a device capable of giving a race of creatures, called the Obin, consciousness. The Obin worshipped him, but he was killed for being a traitor to mankind and wanting to overthrow the colonial Union, and so his daughter, Zoë, became a demigod to them. A strong YA novel.

How do you tell your part in the biggest tale in history?

I ask because it’s what I have to do. I’m Zoe Boutin Perry: A colonist stranded on a deadly pioneer world. Holy icon to a race of aliens. A player (and a pawn) in an interstellar chess match to save humanity, or to see it fall. Witness to history. Friend. Daughter. Human. Seventeen years old.

Everyone on Earth knows the tale I am part of. But you don’t know my tale: How I did what I did — how I did what I had to do — not just to stay alive but to keep you alive, too. All of you. I’m going to tell it to you now, the only way I know how: not straight but true, the whole thing, to try make you feel what I felt: the joy and terror and uncertainty, panic and wonder, despair and hope. Everything that happened, bringing us to Earth, and Earth out of its captivity. All through my eyes.

It’s a story you know. But you don’t know it all.

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Parrish Plessis - Post Apocalyptic Bodyguard

Every week I intend to introduce a new-to-me heroine, that both you and me might be tempted to try. Parrish Plessis comes highly recommended as a kick-ass cyberpunk heroine. The Parrish Plessis series is a SF action adventure set in future Australia. According to the author it is multi layered text, offering a combination of thrills and spills and social satire.

Marianne de Pierres is also known for her Sentients of Orion series.

Book: Nylon Angel (2005), Code Noir (2006), Crash Deluxe (2007)
Series: Parrish Plessis
Author: Marianne de Pierres, Marianne Pierres
Publisher: Roc books (US) | Orbit books (UK)
Cover art: Larry Rostant

Nylon Angel: Nylon Angel introduces a startling new femme fatale and all-around bad girl.

While trying to send her sadistic boss to death row, she finds herself sheltering a suspect in the murder of newsgirl Razz Retribution. In a world run by the media, the truth isn’t relevant-it’s bad for ratings. Which is why Parrish finds herself tagged for the murder-and up to her tricked-out leather tank top in trouble.

Code Noir: The Tert war is over, and bodyguard Parrish Plessis has gotten a piece of the toxic pie-and the responsibilities that go along with it. To pay off a blood debt to the Cabal Coomera tribe, she must enter the heart of tekno-darkness-the slum town of Dis-to find their missing shamans and to kill her ex-lover Daac. But Parrish still has feelings for Daac-feelings that run as deep as the high-tech parasite he infected her with. Bad blood never boiled like this.

Crash Deluxe: After inheriting a less-than-glorious empire within the Tert, Parrish Plessis-coup leader, bodyguard, and overall dangerous vixen-has her hands full, and her head even fuller. She’s still under a blood debt to the Cabal Coomera. She’s trying to take care of the growing population of stray social castoffs who have come to her for protection. And the nasty high-tech parasite her treacherous ex-lover hit her with is about to turn her into something much less than human…

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Read Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | index | afterword

Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr is having doubts about the Elder races in the confederation. Why is it that none of the three fighting races have been allowed in the diplomatic missions to the Others?

The Others invade the planet Estee in strength and the whole task force is deployed to take it back. But the other deploys a new weapon, a matter scrambler, that takes out a huge area, turning everything inside into melted glass. Torin’s last known position where inside that area, so she is believed to be dead.

But her boyfriend Craig refuses to believe she is dead, so he sets out to find her.

And she is not dead, she wakes up a POW in a strange cave complex. There are other marine prisoners there, but the Others don’t take prisoners? Or so she believed before.

Set on geting out of there, she has to race the clock. Long time prisoners looses the will to escape, there is something pacifying in the food, so she has to get out of there before it gets to her too.

The Confederation of Valor books by Tanya Huff is decent military science fiction, especially the first book. Tanya is good at dialogue. The end is close to Deus Ex Machina but that being the point in the story, I can’t say much about it. The Characters are likable and colorful.

Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr doesn’t  enjoy being famous, especially when she is forced to stay at Ventris Station. Her old nemesis General Morris have her holding endless briefings about the Silsviss.She get to meet some old friends though. She is delighted to meet Staff Sergeant di’Allak Beyhn her old drill instructor. She also catch up with Major Goran Svensson, who spent the last two years in regen.

There is something going on with the alien escape pod. Her boy friend Craig Ryder is looking for the alien escape pod he escaped from Big Yellow in. He feels it should be his salvage. But nobody except Torin and him seems to remember it. She meets more people from Berganitan, and not even the vacuum jocks remembered any more, and their squadron brought the pod in.

She doesn’t like being sidelined like this so she jumps when the opportunity for some field work comes along. She is going with Major Goran Svensson to Crucible, the final training ground for new recruits. He is there to test out if he is combat ready after two years in regen. With them is also Dr Kathleen Sloan, his physician, since Goran was so extensively damaged, he had to be repaired with a new untested method using organic plastic. Big Yellow, the alien ship was also made at least partially of organic plastic.

Not surprising they end up with Staff Sergeant Beyhn and his recruits. But it looks like there might be something wrong with Beyhn. She was no longer attracted to him.

The cold march to the pick up zone starts and everything comes apart …

Tanya has written another solid military SF. But I have to say I’m not really as satisfied with this one as the previous books. Afraid I can’t put the finger on it.

Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr know better than to offend a two star general. So she beat him up. She isn’t really surprised when she is singled out for a secret mission while her company is resting.

General Morris is gathering a team to recon a alien vessel found dead in space. To keep secrecy he gathers the marines one by one from all across the sector. When Torrin meets the mission leader Captain Travik, a Krai a hotshot media-whore with political connections, her mission becomes clearer. She is there to see to that the mission succeeds and Captain Travis doesn’t make an ass of himself.

To no surprise a News ship arrive shortly, someone have been talking. And now they have to bring a news team with them, forced so by confederation law.

They also have to bring the self assured Craig Ryder the man who discovered the ship. He is very competent for a civilian and he likes to test her limits.

The ship is not what it seems to be, and then the Others appear…

Snappy fun dialogue is Tanya Huff’s signature. The Better part of Valor is a good read, maybe not as good as Valor’s Choice, but still good.

Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr does a Grey’s Anatomy with her new Second Lieutenant. We discover very early in the story that Taykan and human seems to be sexually compatible. Second Lieutenant di’Ka Jarret is her new platoon leader, and a Taykan aristocrat to boot. As described in the book: The off-the-record reaction of the First Human Contact Team upon meeting the Taykan had been “Holy fuk, they’re elves!”.

After a combat mission with significant loses Sh’quo Company is blowing off steam, trying to forget what they have been trough. But it’s not to be for Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr, she and a platoon of handpicked combat hardened soldiers are sent on a diplomatic mission. The diplomats will be negotiating with the reptilian Silsviss race, whose planet has a strategic position, to get them to join the Confederation. And  the platoon will server as a honor guard, impressing the warrior cast that run Silsviss’ Society with their toughness.

Everything goes well until their ship have to leave in response to an intrusion in their sector.

The Confederation once consisted only of elder peaceful races, but then they where attacked by the Others, and had to invite younger more aggressive species to fight for it. It was one hundred and fifty years ago that they invited Earth. Since then the Taykan, then Krai have joined.  

Tanya Huff is very good at dialogue. There is a lot of bickering in the book, and I love bickering. Portraying a sergeant of the right stuff is done beautifully. Let me give you a few examples:

• “Figures,” Torin sighed. “Officers get a proposal and the rest of us just get screwed.”
• The Krai have a taste for human flesh. “Marines do not eat other Marines,” Torin muttered absently.
• “Begging your pardon sir, but you’ll be giving orders to this platoon, not to the general. It might be best if
  you think for yourself.”
• “You’re just jealous my species has more opposable parts than yours.”

Technology isn’t very important for the story but I like gadgets. They have implants for communication and storage, regen tanks for wounded, and faster than light travel by folding into Susumi space.

I like especially the story and the dialogue.  Tanya Huff’s Valor’s Choice is good solid military science fiction.

This story is written entirely in first person. The female protagonist are called the Boss by everyone. She is a loner, preferring her privacy above everything else. Kristine gives her some of the old man and the sea kind of vibe.

When she was a little kid, she lost her mother and her father stopped talking to her. Now she travels around the sector searching out old ships and dive in them. Her main interest  is historian but she also makes money on tourist adventure dives.

While traveling in her small one person spaceship, she comes on a strange energy disturbance and what she finds is beyond anything she could have expected. She have found a Destiny Vessel, once built on earth itself some five thousand years ago when there wasn’t any faster than light engines. No such vessel should have been able to go this far, not even in five thousand years.

After researching the Destiny Vessels and hiring a crew she returns to the Destiny. It’s interesting how well the the author describes the diving operation. The operation comes to an halt when one of the divers get caught in a strange field and dies. One of the divers steal a skip and reported the derelict to the Empires  Military. Suspecting that the Destiny Vessel was equipped with lost stealth technology the military took over the site and closed it off from civilians.

Next she is hired by Rita Trekov the daughter of a war hero that never showed up for the peace ceremony. She wants her to get him out of the Chamber of Lost Souls. This wakes memories of her own mother being lost there. So she researches him. She also goes back and see her dad. They both have issues. Rita and her father follow the team she assembles back to the old station the chamberis at. Thats when the secrets begin to come out.

The world building is better than average, the characters are vivid and the story is catching. The end build up for a sequel I would definitly buy. I have to check up other books by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

Links to other reviews: on Book Chick City

I usually don’t write of every episode in a series. But I feels so good about the Closer.

Brenda and Fritz are trying out their skiing outfits when she gets a visit about an overturned case she don’t know about. Provinsa recived the case a month ago beliving it to be a walk in the park. His old partner on the case only have to take the stand and the judgement would stand.

But when he turns up he is a she. His partner has had a sex change operation and refuses to even play a man  on the stand. More than usual confusion follows.