Review by Wh1teRabbit -- Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga b...
Posted: 05 Sep 2020, 21:11
[Following is a volunteer review of "Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)" by Janet McNulty.]
The first book in the Solaris Saga, Solaris Seethes, is a fun space opera that seems to be written by a fan of Doctor Who. I give it a solid 3 out of 4 stars for being original, true to its genre, and well-edited. The opera notes summary: man builds artificially intelligent ship, and granddaughter inherits it along with a sudden need to pay attention to Grandpa's interest in old prophesies. Companions are gathered, relics are sought, hijinks ensue.
Janet McNulty, the author, states in the book summary that the novel started as a short story draft before turning into a whole saga. The main reason I would not give 4 stars is that this history is very apparent in the first book. The first chapter seems to have been tacked on after the original draft was written without much regard to continuity (some character descriptions are repeated). Also, the characters are fairly flat and the aliens are essentially humans with odd coloring. I'm hoping the author just wanted to leave plenty of room for character development in later books since most of the characters only have one defining characteristic.
My favorite thing about this novel is that it reads overall like an older episode of Doctor Who, but without the doctor. A few examples while avoiding spoilers: the spaceship, Solaris, is a main character, people are gathered from throughout time and space, and the author even off-handedly mentions that Solaris is "far bigger on the inside". My least favorite part is definitely the illustrations. Good illustrations in a Kindle format are difficult, but these look like a random high schooler with no particular skill drew them and leaving them out would probably improve the reading experience.
This book is much better than a 2 star due to thorough editing. Some sentences are awkward, and the use of odd color words like "heliotrope" seems forced at times, but I could not find a single misspelling or typo. I tend to proofread as I go and have found errors in all kinds of professionally published books, so this impressed me.
I would not recommend fans of 'hard' science fiction read this book, however. There is no real science or even speculative engineering discussed, and the laws of physics seem to be cavalierly disregarded rather frequently. Let's just say none of the space ships or stations have any kind of an airlock or depressurize even after events that leave gaping holes in them. The funniest example of this to me is when a character does a spacewalk and asks a friend to hold the tether in his hands while standing in the open cargo bay door. What, tying the tether down or having a winch on hand for the purpose made too much sense?
Essentially, this is light, soft science fiction with a hint of fantasy. I would have preferred a broader hint- I wouldn't expect the laws of physics to be acknowledged much if the introductory chapters included magic shielding on the ships, for example. The author does include download links for companion coloring books at the end of the kindle book, so the target market is probably young people who watch Doctor Who more than Star Trek.
******
Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
The first book in the Solaris Saga, Solaris Seethes, is a fun space opera that seems to be written by a fan of Doctor Who. I give it a solid 3 out of 4 stars for being original, true to its genre, and well-edited. The opera notes summary: man builds artificially intelligent ship, and granddaughter inherits it along with a sudden need to pay attention to Grandpa's interest in old prophesies. Companions are gathered, relics are sought, hijinks ensue.
Janet McNulty, the author, states in the book summary that the novel started as a short story draft before turning into a whole saga. The main reason I would not give 4 stars is that this history is very apparent in the first book. The first chapter seems to have been tacked on after the original draft was written without much regard to continuity (some character descriptions are repeated). Also, the characters are fairly flat and the aliens are essentially humans with odd coloring. I'm hoping the author just wanted to leave plenty of room for character development in later books since most of the characters only have one defining characteristic.
My favorite thing about this novel is that it reads overall like an older episode of Doctor Who, but without the doctor. A few examples while avoiding spoilers: the spaceship, Solaris, is a main character, people are gathered from throughout time and space, and the author even off-handedly mentions that Solaris is "far bigger on the inside". My least favorite part is definitely the illustrations. Good illustrations in a Kindle format are difficult, but these look like a random high schooler with no particular skill drew them and leaving them out would probably improve the reading experience.
This book is much better than a 2 star due to thorough editing. Some sentences are awkward, and the use of odd color words like "heliotrope" seems forced at times, but I could not find a single misspelling or typo. I tend to proofread as I go and have found errors in all kinds of professionally published books, so this impressed me.
I would not recommend fans of 'hard' science fiction read this book, however. There is no real science or even speculative engineering discussed, and the laws of physics seem to be cavalierly disregarded rather frequently. Let's just say none of the space ships or stations have any kind of an airlock or depressurize even after events that leave gaping holes in them. The funniest example of this to me is when a character does a spacewalk and asks a friend to hold the tether in his hands while standing in the open cargo bay door. What, tying the tether down or having a winch on hand for the purpose made too much sense?
Essentially, this is light, soft science fiction with a hint of fantasy. I would have preferred a broader hint- I wouldn't expect the laws of physics to be acknowledged much if the introductory chapters included magic shielding on the ships, for example. The author does include download links for companion coloring books at the end of the kindle book, so the target market is probably young people who watch Doctor Who more than Star Trek.
******
Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords