Review by EllieA -- Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)

EllieA · Post by **EllieA** » 21 Mar 2018, 15:16

[Following is a volunteer review of "Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)" by Janet McNulty.]

1 out of 4 stars

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Solaris Seethes is the first book in the Solaris Saga series by Janet McNulty. This science fiction book features the adventures of the heroine, Rynah, and her sentient ship, Solaris. Rynah escapes from the people responsible for the destruction of her planet and flees across space pursuing the threads of a prophecy which she hopes can save her people. With the aid of companions recruited through time, and the guidance of Solaris itself, she leads her team through adversity. From battles with space pirates to carnivorous plants, the characters face all sorts of predicaments, including a tangle with Rynah's past.

McNulty displays a great deal of varied passions in this work. She clearly loves her story, and has filled it with not just word pictures, but illustrations as well. She leans heavily on the descriptions to draw up a beautiful and visually complicated universe. One of the strongest elements of Solaris Seethes is the ship itself. McNulty has created and executed an interesting concept by imbuing a great deal of personality into the AI of the vessel.

The author weaves a story of rich worlds and many personalities coming together to overcome unreasoning evil. Unfortunately, this makes for a little too much hyperbole. The characters are archetypes, and as such, fall flat. Additionally, each character seems to be competing for a lead role in the cast rather than supporting the arc of the story. The villain is evil and destructive with no clear explanation of why. The setting jumps from fantastic world to fantastic world, sampling myriad types of biomes, like a strobe light flashing slides. Each world comes with an accompanying alien, animal, or plant threat - this begins to feel rote and uninspired after the second or third instance.

Janet McNulty’s grammar is not usually wrong, but the syntax is sometimes strange and the book is in need of a solid edit. The run-on, cluttered sentences make it difficult to read and the formatting of the sentences can be confusing. The grammar choices tend to deviate towards unnecessary obfuscation; two common offences are composing sentences so they requires a large number of commas and inserting brackets into the middle of phrases. These strange bracket choices happen four times on the first two pages. For example: “Absentmindedly, Rynah twirled the small (and loose) silver band on her ring finger, the one her new fiancé, Klanor, had given her that morning.” This could be written more correctly and clearly without losing any of the author’s voice: “Absentmindedly, Rynah twirled the small, loose silver band on her ring finger. Her new fiancé, Klanor, had given it to her that morning.”

While I appreciate the very clear creativity and passion behind the writing of Solaris Seethes, reading Solaris Seethes feels like wading through the verbal panic of a very imaginative creator who has stage fright. The story comes across as the author dumping her very active imagination out onto paper, stream-of-consciousness style, and then proceeding to cram every person, setting, and description that came to mind into one story. I think there is a decent YA novel buried here, but the book needs the help of a talented developmental editor to shine light on the story the author is trying to tell.

I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. While there are some interesting ideas and some very pretty descriptions, there is not enough depth to this story to overcome the weaknesses. The best thing about Solaris Seethes is that McNulty clearly has some very vivid images in her head of how parts of the story play out. Unfortunately, the characters are flat, the narrative rambles, and the descriptions are cluttered. If I was not writing a review, I would not have finished this book.

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Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
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Libs_Books · Post by **Libs_Books** » 25 Mar 2018, 03:40

I think this is a great review, but I guess you've fallen foul of the 'rating in bold' rule, as I did in my first review. I've read other good reviews of this book, also tending to be quite critical, but you really nailed it. I particularly appreciated the comments on grammar, syntax, punctuation etc.

EllieA · Post by **EllieA** » 27 Mar 2018, 10:33

Libs_Books wrote: ↑25 Mar 2018, 03:40 ... but I guess you've fallen foul of the 'rating in bold' rule

Thank you for the response! And thank you for pointing out my error- I didn't realize I had missed that rule, and am glad to know about it for the future.

I'm glad that you liked my review. It was a little tough to write, as I don't like to give too much negative feedback, but I wanted to be honest. I feel that the author has a great story idea, but needs help really nailing down how to tell the story. Although, happily, I heard she gets better with practice and the other books in the series are a little more solid.

kwame1977 · Post by **kwame1977** » 29 Mar 2018, 04:53

This is a very beautiful adventure story. Your review is well written. Its more advanced and interesting. Thanks.

CommMayo · Post by **CommMayo** » 31 Mar 2018, 10:13

The negative reviews are the hardest to write. I just had to give a one star review and you have to be careful to be honest but not overly harsh. You do a good job with that.

Lorna Kimondo · Post by **Lorna Kimondo** » 24 Jul 2024, 09:22

Thank you for your thorough review. Your constructive criticism could serve as a guide for McNulty to enhance her storytelling in future works. Your points about the grammar and syntax are especially valuable for the author to consider.