Review of Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)

[Digisha]

[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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The book begins with action mixed. And with solid character development. I was empathetic to the main character, Ryanh. We can relate to her going through a daily routine, we relate to the people she interacts with, and we relate to the emotions she experiences. Just as soon as we feel solid in her world, the normalcy explodes into action. We sometimes forget the level of loss that Rynah faces and how devastated she must be, as she focuses on the quest before her. Rynah uses her anger to keep moving forward, a very believable motive while attempting to push aside her confusion about her grandfather. We get bits of foreshadowing of his foresight, but mostly we’re teased about this with the suggestion that it will become clear later in the series.

Janet McNulty spins an action-packed, yet heartfelt tale in Solaris Seethes, the first installment of the Solaris tetralogy. You don’t have to wait until the end to see love replaced by betrayal as that is the very basis of this story. As this is only the first book of this series, I won’t mention all the missing pieces. I suspect those are filled in more along the way. I would describe this story as a combination of Star Trek, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jumanji, and even Harry Potter in some creative aspects. My favorite stories are those where new worlds are created. This one has many. Though, they aren’t elaborate. There are mostly uninhabited, desert planets that they search for crystals.

I did like that the book moved quickly through the story it was fun and ensure to put the book down and try to pick the story up again it could be confusing. All five of the main characters had to be fit into the fight scenes and sometimes I had trouble keeping up with who was where and doing what. And during the less busy scenes, I completely forgot about some of them. They didn’t all play very significant roles but maybe they will in the next books.

Even so, in my past reading experiences, books in a series never really had that “to be continued” feeling. Each book usually has a respective story to tell for that particular book and it ends as if it is the end. They leave you with lots of questions but it still feels like a whole story. The ending of this book is kind of forced on you. It feels like it was just cut off. So much so, I expect the second book to pick up on the next day. Which is just weird.

I think this story was written well, even though there are a couple of grammatical errors. It was fluid and easily understandable. There are mature and suggestive topics, in very brief moments, but no profanity or inappropriate language, so I do recommend this book to young adults. With that being said, a 3 out of 4 is what I rate this book.

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Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
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[Soraya Bayah]

I believe the concept of this book was promising but it looks like it could’ve been executed in a better manner. Thank you for the insightful review, I enjoyed it.