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

[maygin]

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

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3 out of 4 stars

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I enjoyed this book more than I expected as action and adventure is not a genre I tend to read, though I enjoy it on occasion. But this book, Solaris Seethes, about Rynah and her quest to restore her planet with the help of her ship, Solaris, and other characters she meets along the way kept me engaged until the end. Rynah's planet, Lanyr, is in peril due to the actions of her fiance (soon to be ex) in which he stole a crystal which stabilizes the planet's magnetic fields. Without it, the planet descends into natural disasters and Rynah is forced to flee on Solaris. Solaris is a ship Rynah's grandfather built and contains the knowledge of the ancient legends about the crystals (there are six in total). The rest of the book is Rynah, Solaris, and the 4 people recruited to assist with the mission, trying to get the crystals before Rynah's ex-fiance and stop his evil plan.

Solaris Seethes is a solidly written book with very few grammatical errors. It contains descriptive language, though that language is often repetitive (the words lavender and emerald are used in this book more times combined than in all the books I have read before). Also, the world is not described in detail, so it's not a very vivid book and some of the description is unnecessary (the ship is referred to as archaic more than one time and almost always when there's no need to highlight that the ship is old). But the description is better than most free books and it's written well enough to make this a quick and engaging read. I found myself getting through it much faster than I expected as there really was no point where I was turned off by the writing or did not want to know what was going to happen next.

There are plot holes, if you look for them, and there's probably science holes as well. Everything wraps up a bit too neatly after each action scene and some things fall into place in ways that are a bit unbelievable, but if you don't go looking for reasons to get tripped up by the plot, you likely will not notice them. The action and adventure keeps one engaged enough to overlook the plot flaws.

There is character development and growth, though not to the degree that occurs in books of literary fiction. But the reader does learn some of the backstory of the characters and several have to overcome personal struggles. This became a vital part of the story as how Rynah treats one of the people she recruited was a turn off and if Rynah hadn't developed the ability to see that character as more than one-dimensional, this would have been a book very hard to finish. In case you prefer the main character to be entirely lovable, Rynah is not, though I expect she will soften as the series continues.

If you don't like the use of () as a device tool, then this book is not for you. There is a lot of parenthesis use, nearly all of which is unnecessary as whatever is inside the parenthesis should have been its own sentence. But it is not jarring enough to pull one out of the story.

If you prefer books that wrap up at least part of the story line before they conclude, this book is not for you. There is no resolution in the end and it is clear you will have to read at least the second, but likely also the third and the fourth, to find out how this quest ends. It would have been possible to wrap up part of the story and yet have enough of a cliffhanger to make people want to read the next book, but instead the book ends immediately following an action scene - one in which several things were not resolved but were pressing. I found this disappointing and it did lower my rating by a half star.

Overall, this is an action and adventure science fiction story which is engaging, but light and easy to get through. If you are looking for something to fill the time or to read on the beach, then this book is a great option! If you are looking for serious science fiction with a well developed plot and world or a novel written at the caliber of literary fiction in terms of its prose, this book is not for you. My rating is 3 out of 4 stars.

I received this book through Online Book Club in exchange for my honest review. It is also available free as a Kindle book on Amazon.

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Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
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[kandscreeley]

It sounds like it's an interesting enough read but not without it's issues. I think sometimes writers get stuck using the same words over and over again. It's hard to get out of that rut sometimes. Thanks for the review.