Review by ashpash -- Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
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ashpash
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Review by ashpash -- Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
[Following is a volunteer review of "Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)" by Janet McNulty.]
3 out of 4 stars
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Solaris Seethes by Janet McNulty is the first book in her sci-fi/fantasy saga. The story follows Rynah and her grandfather's spaceship, Solaris, along with a rag tag team of humans, on their quest to save the universe. The main antagonist has destroyed Rhyna's home planet by stealing a data crystal which kept the planet's magnetic fields stable. This crystal, when combined with the others scattered across the universe, can become a dangerous weapon capable of destroying galaxies.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. It was well written in that it has a very clear plot line and seemed very professionally edited. Although, if I could, I would have given it 2.5 stars because there are some stylistic things that bothered me. For instance, the author uses parenthesis to add in extra bits of description (just a few words like this) where it would have been much better to simply not use the parenthesis. There was one section that had many of these interrupters very close together which prevented me from really getting into that headspace that great books can create.
Another thing that detracted from the book was how cliche many parts seemed. Even just the main plot is another "bad guys are after these items of mass destruction so good guys are racing to get them first" type of story. With this type of plot, the story becomes very predictable in that everywhere the good guys go, the bad guys will show up. Also, the desolate freezing planet is such a cliche that I honestly snorted when the good guys got abandoned there.
That said, the author did do a decent job with the world building. Honestly, majority of the suspense in the story came from where they would go next rather than if they would escape the bad guys or get the crystal in time (something they did a poor job at, but I suppose that's why there will be more books after this). Rhyna's planet is a very interesting emerald, orange, and purple colored planet, although we don't get a chance to see much of it before it basically collapses on itself in the first few chapters of the book. There's another jungle type planet that the heroes visit which I thought was very interesting; it's inhabitants provided a nice obstacle other than the main antagonists. This world also provided much needed character development in one of the humans, Brie, a teenager with stereotypical timidness that was a bit annoying for most of the book.
Another area the author was good at was the action scenes. This book is pretty fast paced, with a lot of story packed into a couple hundred pages. The fighting scenes weren't rushed, and some were pretty awesome, and with a Viking as one of the heroes, that's not too surprising. However, the pace of the action scenes (which is naturally faster than normal) sometimes bled into the parts that should have slowed down more. For example, towards the end of the book we're told (not shown - told through some streams of conscious thought) about the main antagonist's sidekick's backstory and motive for being evil. I believe the motive was intended to make you more sympathetic to this character who becomes more of an anti-hero, however, it's such a rushed section all crammed into a few paragraphs of text that it doesn't do what it was intended. It either should have been introduced earlier and littered through the book more, or taken out completely.
This brings me to another point of disinterest for me, which was that the characters all seemed a bit flat. I think the author had too many main characters and too little time to really develop them. When all the heroes were being gathered, it felt bland and typical and uninteresting. That might be more of a personal preference, however, because, while a bit of an easy-out in my opinion, with how the heroes were gathered by simply "zapping" them onto the ship (where Solaris used some algorithm - very shoddy explanation), it wasn't written horribly.
One of the major reasons I keep saying it was well written is because the description to action to dialogue ratio was perfectly measured. That is, there weren't giant blocks of description and then a page of dialogue followed by action scene after action scene. Everything was spaced evenly in that regard, which I think is one of the most important things in writing a good book.
Overall, the book was good, and those who like young adult adventure set in space would enjoy this. Those looking for romance, look elsewhere as this had none - except for the scorned lover. Poor Rhyna. However, those looking for an easy sci-fi read that's well written (albeit a tad stereotypical) this book is for them. Also it has more books following (the second is already available), so that means more adventure and character building for anyone who wants to keep following this interesting group (did I mention the spaceship has her own sassy personality?) through their adventure across galaxies!
******
Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
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3 out of 4 stars
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Solaris Seethes by Janet McNulty is the first book in her sci-fi/fantasy saga. The story follows Rynah and her grandfather's spaceship, Solaris, along with a rag tag team of humans, on their quest to save the universe. The main antagonist has destroyed Rhyna's home planet by stealing a data crystal which kept the planet's magnetic fields stable. This crystal, when combined with the others scattered across the universe, can become a dangerous weapon capable of destroying galaxies.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. It was well written in that it has a very clear plot line and seemed very professionally edited. Although, if I could, I would have given it 2.5 stars because there are some stylistic things that bothered me. For instance, the author uses parenthesis to add in extra bits of description (just a few words like this) where it would have been much better to simply not use the parenthesis. There was one section that had many of these interrupters very close together which prevented me from really getting into that headspace that great books can create.
Another thing that detracted from the book was how cliche many parts seemed. Even just the main plot is another "bad guys are after these items of mass destruction so good guys are racing to get them first" type of story. With this type of plot, the story becomes very predictable in that everywhere the good guys go, the bad guys will show up. Also, the desolate freezing planet is such a cliche that I honestly snorted when the good guys got abandoned there.
That said, the author did do a decent job with the world building. Honestly, majority of the suspense in the story came from where they would go next rather than if they would escape the bad guys or get the crystal in time (something they did a poor job at, but I suppose that's why there will be more books after this). Rhyna's planet is a very interesting emerald, orange, and purple colored planet, although we don't get a chance to see much of it before it basically collapses on itself in the first few chapters of the book. There's another jungle type planet that the heroes visit which I thought was very interesting; it's inhabitants provided a nice obstacle other than the main antagonists. This world also provided much needed character development in one of the humans, Brie, a teenager with stereotypical timidness that was a bit annoying for most of the book.
Another area the author was good at was the action scenes. This book is pretty fast paced, with a lot of story packed into a couple hundred pages. The fighting scenes weren't rushed, and some were pretty awesome, and with a Viking as one of the heroes, that's not too surprising. However, the pace of the action scenes (which is naturally faster than normal) sometimes bled into the parts that should have slowed down more. For example, towards the end of the book we're told (not shown - told through some streams of conscious thought) about the main antagonist's sidekick's backstory and motive for being evil. I believe the motive was intended to make you more sympathetic to this character who becomes more of an anti-hero, however, it's such a rushed section all crammed into a few paragraphs of text that it doesn't do what it was intended. It either should have been introduced earlier and littered through the book more, or taken out completely.
This brings me to another point of disinterest for me, which was that the characters all seemed a bit flat. I think the author had too many main characters and too little time to really develop them. When all the heroes were being gathered, it felt bland and typical and uninteresting. That might be more of a personal preference, however, because, while a bit of an easy-out in my opinion, with how the heroes were gathered by simply "zapping" them onto the ship (where Solaris used some algorithm - very shoddy explanation), it wasn't written horribly.
One of the major reasons I keep saying it was well written is because the description to action to dialogue ratio was perfectly measured. That is, there weren't giant blocks of description and then a page of dialogue followed by action scene after action scene. Everything was spaced evenly in that regard, which I think is one of the most important things in writing a good book.
Overall, the book was good, and those who like young adult adventure set in space would enjoy this. Those looking for romance, look elsewhere as this had none - except for the scorned lover. Poor Rhyna. However, those looking for an easy sci-fi read that's well written (albeit a tad stereotypical) this book is for them. Also it has more books following (the second is already available), so that means more adventure and character building for anyone who wants to keep following this interesting group (did I mention the spaceship has her own sassy personality?) through their adventure across galaxies!
******
Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
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Latest Review: "Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)" by Janet McNulty
