Review by Blind_Beth -- Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga bo...
-
Blind_Beth
- Posts: 9
- Joined: 08 Mar 2018, 07:18
- Currently Reading: Apollo's Raven
- Bookshelf Size: 8
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-blind-beth.html
- Latest Review: The Engine Woman's Light by Laurel Anne Hill
Review by Blind_Beth -- Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga bo...
[Following is a volunteer review of "Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)" by Janet McNulty.]
2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Solaris Seethes is a fast-paced space adventure starring the alien fighter pilot Rynah and her sentient space ship, Solaris.
After her planet is attacked and destabilized by someone she thought she knew, the Lanyrian fighter-pilot-turned-security-officer Rynah escapes on the last available space ship. It turns out to be a sentient space ship designed by her grandfather, whom Rynah had assumed was insane. But the ship, Solaris, insists that he was not crazy but in possession of secret knowledge. Knowledge that Rynah will need if she is going to save her planet from total destruction.
Solaris uses the secrets and advanced technology that Rynah’s grandfather built into her to select four quest-companions from an unknown backwater planet—a planet that should be familiar to most readers. The four companions are from different time periods and all have different strengths to help Rynah on her quest.
As they all jet from planet to planet, searching for clues and dodging or fighting off further attacks, Rynah and her companions get to know each other and sometimes help each other out in surprising ways. Ultimately, they must all learn to understand the past and each other in order to make a secure future.
I expected to like this book a lot more than I did. I love the premise of a sentient space ship, and I started out liking Rynah. What's not to like about a badass, green-haired space lady? But as I continued reading, I slowly got frustrated with Rynah's seeming inability to learn from her mistakes. The abilities of the sentient space ship were never quite nailed down (whether she could pilot herself or not seemed to depend more on whether there was a spare character who needed something to do than on any internal reasons), and the companion characters largely did not develop or pull me in as much as I wanted them to.
The book certainly has some good qualities that kept me going to the end. It’s a fast read, as the characters plunge from one adventure to the other. What down time exists is used for character interactions. World building is done mostly through dialog and "showing" rather than a lot of boring "telling" (aka the dreaded info-dump). And the plot and the main characters’ motivations remain clearly defined throughout the story. This is especially admirable considering how many characters there are, and that the story takes time to show us multiple perspectives.
However, in keeping the plot so focused and on-track, some of the secondary characters’ arcs end up underdeveloped to the point of barely making sense.
Rynah and Solaris have a clear motive: to save their planet. They also have secondary, personal motivations related to Rynah’s grandfather and Solaris’s creator. Rynah, as her companions notice over time, is also motivated by anger at a romantic betrayal. But it’s never really quite clear why the four human companions are so cooperative after being abruptly kidnapped and essentially forced to serve Rynah.
In fact, it’s not even clear why Solaris kidnapped all four of them.
Alfric, the Viking warrior, serves a clear purpose in the story as a fighting companion. His adventurous spirit and faith that this is all part of Odin’s plan for him actually provide a pretty solid rationale for why he goes along with helping Rynah on her quest.
Brie, the modern high school girl, seems to have been selected to show the aggressive Rynah the value of more “feminine” emotions and to contrast Brie’s hard-won courage in the face of fear with Rynah’s instinctive fearlessness. Brie is so bullied at school and so overwhelmed by family responsibilities that her willingness to bond with new friends and go along with the quest is semi-plausible. It would be fully plausible if the quest itself weren’t so consistently terrifying (and objectively much more dangerous than her mean-girl bully), and if Rynah herself weren’t such a complete bully to Brie.
The other two human companions, Tom and Solon, are the most underdeveloped.
Solon is a scribe from ancient Greece. He is a reluctant scribe, put in that position by his father because he is not physically strong enough to make a good warrior. He explains at one point that he longed for adventure outside the library, so, as with Alfric, there is a semi-decent motive for him to accept Rynah’s quest. It’s much less clear why Solaris kidnapped him in the first place, as he doesn’t contribute much. Supposedly he is selected for his scholarly wisdom, but he doesn’t really demonstrate any expertise relevant to their quest. Most of the guiding insights come from Solaris herself or from Brie.
Tom’s kidnapping makes the most sense out of the four when the kidnappings happen, but as the story continues he ends up doing very little. He is a brilliant engineer from future-Earth, in the process of getting an award for his perpetual-motion engine when Solaris snatches him. But his particular gift never seems to be needed. He is also black, and that gets mentioned quite a bit in ways that border on (and once or twice explicitly become) racist.
I’m rating this novel two out of four stars. Two stars for being a pretty entertaining space opera and focused plot, and two stars knocked off for some underdeveloped characters and some hazy logic around some secondary characters’ purpose. If you are looking for a space adventure that is easy to zip through, you'll probably like this. If you prefer something with more complex characters, maybe give this a miss.
******
Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Like Blind_Beth's review? Post a comment saying so!
2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Solaris Seethes is a fast-paced space adventure starring the alien fighter pilot Rynah and her sentient space ship, Solaris.
After her planet is attacked and destabilized by someone she thought she knew, the Lanyrian fighter-pilot-turned-security-officer Rynah escapes on the last available space ship. It turns out to be a sentient space ship designed by her grandfather, whom Rynah had assumed was insane. But the ship, Solaris, insists that he was not crazy but in possession of secret knowledge. Knowledge that Rynah will need if she is going to save her planet from total destruction.
Solaris uses the secrets and advanced technology that Rynah’s grandfather built into her to select four quest-companions from an unknown backwater planet—a planet that should be familiar to most readers. The four companions are from different time periods and all have different strengths to help Rynah on her quest.
As they all jet from planet to planet, searching for clues and dodging or fighting off further attacks, Rynah and her companions get to know each other and sometimes help each other out in surprising ways. Ultimately, they must all learn to understand the past and each other in order to make a secure future.
I expected to like this book a lot more than I did. I love the premise of a sentient space ship, and I started out liking Rynah. What's not to like about a badass, green-haired space lady? But as I continued reading, I slowly got frustrated with Rynah's seeming inability to learn from her mistakes. The abilities of the sentient space ship were never quite nailed down (whether she could pilot herself or not seemed to depend more on whether there was a spare character who needed something to do than on any internal reasons), and the companion characters largely did not develop or pull me in as much as I wanted them to.
The book certainly has some good qualities that kept me going to the end. It’s a fast read, as the characters plunge from one adventure to the other. What down time exists is used for character interactions. World building is done mostly through dialog and "showing" rather than a lot of boring "telling" (aka the dreaded info-dump). And the plot and the main characters’ motivations remain clearly defined throughout the story. This is especially admirable considering how many characters there are, and that the story takes time to show us multiple perspectives.
However, in keeping the plot so focused and on-track, some of the secondary characters’ arcs end up underdeveloped to the point of barely making sense.
Rynah and Solaris have a clear motive: to save their planet. They also have secondary, personal motivations related to Rynah’s grandfather and Solaris’s creator. Rynah, as her companions notice over time, is also motivated by anger at a romantic betrayal. But it’s never really quite clear why the four human companions are so cooperative after being abruptly kidnapped and essentially forced to serve Rynah.
In fact, it’s not even clear why Solaris kidnapped all four of them.
Alfric, the Viking warrior, serves a clear purpose in the story as a fighting companion. His adventurous spirit and faith that this is all part of Odin’s plan for him actually provide a pretty solid rationale for why he goes along with helping Rynah on her quest.
Brie, the modern high school girl, seems to have been selected to show the aggressive Rynah the value of more “feminine” emotions and to contrast Brie’s hard-won courage in the face of fear with Rynah’s instinctive fearlessness. Brie is so bullied at school and so overwhelmed by family responsibilities that her willingness to bond with new friends and go along with the quest is semi-plausible. It would be fully plausible if the quest itself weren’t so consistently terrifying (and objectively much more dangerous than her mean-girl bully), and if Rynah herself weren’t such a complete bully to Brie.
The other two human companions, Tom and Solon, are the most underdeveloped.
Solon is a scribe from ancient Greece. He is a reluctant scribe, put in that position by his father because he is not physically strong enough to make a good warrior. He explains at one point that he longed for adventure outside the library, so, as with Alfric, there is a semi-decent motive for him to accept Rynah’s quest. It’s much less clear why Solaris kidnapped him in the first place, as he doesn’t contribute much. Supposedly he is selected for his scholarly wisdom, but he doesn’t really demonstrate any expertise relevant to their quest. Most of the guiding insights come from Solaris herself or from Brie.
Tom’s kidnapping makes the most sense out of the four when the kidnappings happen, but as the story continues he ends up doing very little. He is a brilliant engineer from future-Earth, in the process of getting an award for his perpetual-motion engine when Solaris snatches him. But his particular gift never seems to be needed. He is also black, and that gets mentioned quite a bit in ways that border on (and once or twice explicitly become) racist.
I’m rating this novel two out of four stars. Two stars for being a pretty entertaining space opera and focused plot, and two stars knocked off for some underdeveloped characters and some hazy logic around some secondary characters’ purpose. If you are looking for a space adventure that is easy to zip through, you'll probably like this. If you prefer something with more complex characters, maybe give this a miss.
******
Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Like Blind_Beth's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: The Engine Woman's Light by Laurel Anne Hill
