Review by LadyArwen57 -- Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga b...
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LadyArwen57
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- Latest Review: Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1) by Janet McNulty
Review by LadyArwen57 -- Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga b...
[Following is a volunteer review of "Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)" by Janet McNulty.]
2 out of 4 stars
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As the planet Lanyr is falling apart-literally, security officer and former pilot, Rynah runs for her life and the life of her planet onboard a sentient ship built by her grandfather. Themes of betrayal and loss introduce us with a bang to these two main characters in Janet McNulty’s Solaris Seethes. Throughout the book we encounter space pirates, a homicidal ex-fiancé, and human beings (Rynah is NOT human, by the way) pulled from Earth’s past, present and future to help Rynah search for crystals that will either save her planet or doom everything in existence. Oh, and there’s an ancient prophecy as well.
Even though it’s actually a compelling story, I have to give Solaris Seethes only a 2 out of 4 stars. The writing is uneven and would benefit greatly from a good editor. Intense action sequences abruptly end with characters just walking onto a ship. Important plot points are inconsistent and impossible situations occur, like spacewalking to fix a critical component of the ship while at the same time trying to outrun space pirates through an asteroid field. I get that this is fiction but that strains even my ability to suspend disbelief. The characters generally start out as one dimensional – the strong guy, the mousey girl (why are the mousey characters always girls?) and the tech-savvy young man. They don’t develop a much beyond that in the first book. Hopefully they will in subsequent books.
In spite of this, I did read the whole book because I wanted to see how both the story and the characters would develop. I also wanted to see how it ended. I actually want to know if Rynah and company are able to save her planet from total destruction. Guess I’ll have to find out in the next book (it’s the first in a series).
The Solaris of the title is a sentient space ship who has a mysterious purpose in addition to having been built to safeguard Rynah. Don’t worry, I’m not giving secrets away here, it’s stated right there in the prologue. I love the idea of sentient ships. I have read some wonderful science fiction with these ships as the main characters. Solaris, the ship, has feelings, a temper and an attitude and might be the most fully realized character in the whole story so far.
McNulty has a great ability for evoking feeling and images in the mind as in this passage: “Space; so cold and dark. She missed the purple sunrises of her home planet, the soft glow of gold on the edges of the mountain peaks, the warm breeze that always flowed through her tresses, and the burnt orange clouds…”. She has many evocative descriptions of places and people throughout the book to paint a real sense of place and circumstance.
With better editing YA Science Fiction readers will probably find Solaris Seethes compelling and enjoyable.
******
Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
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2 out of 4 stars
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As the planet Lanyr is falling apart-literally, security officer and former pilot, Rynah runs for her life and the life of her planet onboard a sentient ship built by her grandfather. Themes of betrayal and loss introduce us with a bang to these two main characters in Janet McNulty’s Solaris Seethes. Throughout the book we encounter space pirates, a homicidal ex-fiancé, and human beings (Rynah is NOT human, by the way) pulled from Earth’s past, present and future to help Rynah search for crystals that will either save her planet or doom everything in existence. Oh, and there’s an ancient prophecy as well.
Even though it’s actually a compelling story, I have to give Solaris Seethes only a 2 out of 4 stars. The writing is uneven and would benefit greatly from a good editor. Intense action sequences abruptly end with characters just walking onto a ship. Important plot points are inconsistent and impossible situations occur, like spacewalking to fix a critical component of the ship while at the same time trying to outrun space pirates through an asteroid field. I get that this is fiction but that strains even my ability to suspend disbelief. The characters generally start out as one dimensional – the strong guy, the mousey girl (why are the mousey characters always girls?) and the tech-savvy young man. They don’t develop a much beyond that in the first book. Hopefully they will in subsequent books.
In spite of this, I did read the whole book because I wanted to see how both the story and the characters would develop. I also wanted to see how it ended. I actually want to know if Rynah and company are able to save her planet from total destruction. Guess I’ll have to find out in the next book (it’s the first in a series).
The Solaris of the title is a sentient space ship who has a mysterious purpose in addition to having been built to safeguard Rynah. Don’t worry, I’m not giving secrets away here, it’s stated right there in the prologue. I love the idea of sentient ships. I have read some wonderful science fiction with these ships as the main characters. Solaris, the ship, has feelings, a temper and an attitude and might be the most fully realized character in the whole story so far.
McNulty has a great ability for evoking feeling and images in the mind as in this passage: “Space; so cold and dark. She missed the purple sunrises of her home planet, the soft glow of gold on the edges of the mountain peaks, the warm breeze that always flowed through her tresses, and the burnt orange clouds…”. She has many evocative descriptions of places and people throughout the book to paint a real sense of place and circumstance.
With better editing YA Science Fiction readers will probably find Solaris Seethes compelling and enjoyable.
******
Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Like LadyArwen57's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1) by Janet McNulty
