Review by M_simpson13 -- Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga b...

M_simpson13 · Post by **M_simpson13** » 07 May 2018, 19:49

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

2 out of 4 stars

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Solaris Seethes by Janet McNulty is the first book in the Solaris Saga and it begins the journey of an artificially intelligent space ship and a woman named Rynah who is betrayed and has her world destroyed. Rynah goes on a quest for vengeance and recruits four others to help her cause. Throughout the book these strangers face the same foe that destroyed Rynah’s planet as both race to collect objects of power. The group also faces space pirates, dangerous new planets, and inner turmoil as the reality of their situation takes hold.

The multiple plot lines easily gave this book plenty of action and made it a quick read that smoothly leads to the next book; however, because of the abundance of action there is little time for the characters to be organically manifested to the reader and other characters. When learning things about each character it felt forced or simply thrown out, when that seems odd for a group of strangers. I feel that some of them had good and bad qualities, which I like as it feels more realistic, but even when they had certain thoughts or qualities they seemed to flip flop. For example, Rynah has a problem with one of the four people who are supposed to help her, this is understandable since the ship Solaris chose the people and Rynah and this particular person are quite different. She yells and get frustrated quite a bit, and yet still she will try to get to know this person. When she does know more about the struggles this person has gone through she still acts like a jerk, it got a little frustrating for me.

Speaking of the main character Rynah, I actually didn't like her very much. I think I did not have a good feeling about her because she had so much trouble relating to some of the other characters and to me she was not very relatable. She was angry a lot, which I understand she is going through something horrible, but she didn't go beyond being angry even when emotional moments came up she still was angry or returned to anger very quickly.

Beyond the storyline and characters, the other problem I had with the book was the authors style. McNulty used parentheses very often, and for simple or inconsequential information. For example in the first paragraph of the first chapter she describes Rynah walking in ‘steel-toed boots (that laced up the sides)’ and while I am all for details that mean something or set a tone, what does that have to do with anything? If McNulty had wanted to include this information she could have easily said steel-toed boots that laced up the sides. Maybe she was trying to achieve extra visuals as the book is read, but as with the character development it seemed forced to me.

I really enjoy science fiction and I am considering reading the rest of this series; that being said, I would still give this book 2 out of 4 stars. The ideas in the book are interesting and the action keeps the book moving, but the use of parentheses throughout the book was jarring to me and the character building was something I found lacking. I think this would be a good young adult book, but for an older sci-fi reader it falls a little short.

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Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
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