Review by Shein30438 -- Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga bo...

[Shein30438]

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

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2 out of 4 stars

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Rynah is overflowing with excitement as she enters work on the morning her new fiancé, Klanor, proposed to her, but she soon discovers the excitement would not last. In fact, her happiness turned into anger and confusion as she is confronted with an invasion. Rynah works as a security officer guarding the most sacred object on their planet, a crystal. This special crystal provides balance to their world and without it; the planet experiences severe earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornados and fluctuations in the gravity, which in turn renders the planet inhabitable. Fleeing her home in the only way she could, she boards a spaceship that once belonged to her grandfather. Although the ship is deemed “archaic”, she still has quite a bit of life in her, literally. Solaris is a ship that has a personality; one would even describe it as an attitude. With all the rage Rynah is feeling toward Klanor, she sets off to stop him before he causes anymore destruction and tries to bring the crystal back to her home. As Rynah sets out to stop Klanor she is forced to travel with four strangers that Solaris hand-picked for the adventure as guided by the prophecy of the crystals. These strangers come from the planet Earth, which Rynah thought was essentially a landfill inhabited by savage beasts. These strangers all come from a different time period. Solon comes from B.C. in the time of the Gods, Alfric is a Viking from 1100’s, Brie is a teenager from 2014, and Tom is an inventor/science enthusiast from the future. The five beings travel through space with Solaris, battling evil in search of the crystals with hopes of restoring the good.

Solaris Seethes by Janet McNulty is a science fiction novel that is the first book in a four book series. The prologue is simple and to the point, effectively leading you into the story. The writer has a strong voice throughout the novel. The book is an easy read for anyone looking to start a book series based in outer space.

This novel has an interesting storyline. Providing the reader with a strong female role, who shows us that even in times of hardship and destruction, the good, can still overcome. It has a classic rollercoaster of emotions; from love to loss, and peace to war. All of which draws the reader in, making them wonder what will come next and how the characters will overcome their struggles. I appreciate when the writer creates a story with many twists and turns, it makes the story more realistic. I personally am not one to enjoy the classic sappy stories where everyone comes out unharmed in the end and the guy gets the girl. I enjoy a read with a little more depth and excitement that sends me on a ride where I am left speechless at the end. I enjoy the twist of the four strangers coming from Earth. I had initially thought this would solely have to deal with planets outside of where Earth would be involved. A nice twist in the story to have the explorers come from our home, and then come from completely different eras as well, made it more intriguing.

Although there were many good aspects of this novel, there are a few things I personally did not agree with. As a science-fiction novel based on a planet in a solar system outside of ours, I imagined some things would be described a little differently. The author chose to switch between the terms people and humanoids to describe the other beings that were encountered during the character's adventures. I assume the terms people or person relate to humans. Humans are a term we use to differentiate ourselves from animals. There are times in science-fiction when we relate to aliens from other planets as animalistic; therefore, the terms seem to be used incorrectly. Throughout the story there were inconsistencies in the description of new places and creatures. There were times when a new planet would be described in depth, then a creature would be described using just a single term. An example is on p.29, where Rynah is thinking about her home planet and pictures the purple sunrises, a soft glow of gold on mountain peaks, a warm breeze that flowed through the trees and burnt orange clouds, and silky emerald green grass. Then in the same thought she remembered the wildlife near her apartment complex were rabbits, squirrels, and bagoons lived. Apparently, a bagoon is a cross between a badger and a raccoon. Also, later in the story we learn a Wingabur is something similar to a bear and pigeon. At this point, I’m wondering if these being are humans from Earth; because they have the same basic animals I would find outside my apartment complex. I am thinking that these creatures are coming from a completely different planet with a different language, and thinking they must have a variety of wildlife that is different from what I am familiar with. Yet, I get the authors passive way of saying they have the same animals we have here on Earth. I would enjoy an actual description of the animals since these humanoids are different than us with their purple skin and emerald hair, thus they must have different wildlife as well. In the Solaris series, Rynah is the fearless female leader, which is a great expression of women empowerment. Though she is not the personality that I would foresee as empowering. Even though she fights for what she wants, she has an immature demeanor about her. She is constantly undermining those who are trying to help her. She is short and constantly expresses to others that what they think and do is not what she wants or will do. She shows little interest in allowing others to take some type of lead.

For Solaris Seethes I give 2 out of 4 rating. It is by no means a book you cannot finish once started, but it does start off a little slow. I do believe the novel was professionally edited, so the grammar was not an issue. The biggest problem I have is the amount of times either the dialect changed in style or an overall disruption in the voice itself. There was several times that vocabulary changed from a laid back tone to more of an elegant tone. I found it distracting to switch between the two. The four characters from Earth were introduced in the manner of their actions prior to arriving to Solaris. Each character was introduced in continuous, short, separate chapters that broke up the flow of the book. If they were separated in a single chapter with a little less dialect it would make for a smoother transition and decrease the break in the story-line. The text was wordy in descriptions of some situations, while others just had an alteration of the word that was used to provide a description. Lastly the overall ending of the first book had a surprising twist, but is then ruined by the last four to six sentences, which left an awkward transition into the second book. For the fact the ending was so abrupt, it leaves you thinking that this was a last minute thought.

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Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
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