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Title: Shockball: A Stardoc Novel (Stardoc (Paperback)) by S. L. Viehl ISBN: 0-451-45855-9 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 07 November, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.47 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: She did it again
Comment: A word of caution: Shockball is not a book that sits back calmly and allows you to read it. Shockball is a book that seizes you violently in its jaws, shakes you like a hyperactive terrier, and slams you against a wall several times before letting you go, leaving you confused, exhausted, exhilarated, and not quite sure what just happened to you save that it was really cool and you can't wait to do it again.
Shockball is the fourth novel is S.L. Viehl's Stardoc series, and fans won't be disappointed. Cherijo's past finally catches up with her, and she and Reever are taken back to Terra, where things don't go quite as either Cherijo and Reever or Joseph Grey Veil planned.
Viehl's combination of medical knowledge and imaginative extrapolation create a host of alien creatures so believable that you'd swear she'd operated on them herself. The majority of the action in Shockball takes place on xenophobic Terra, so there isn't as much xenobiology in this book, but Viehl still manages to fit in an entirely new alien species, complete with architecture and art forms, as well as giving us a disturbing look at what has happened to the human race.
The appeal of the Stardoc books lies partly in the extensive worldbuilding and the medical believability, but I find that most of it is due to the characters populating the books. They are sometimes funny, sometimes annoying, and come complete with a host of strengths and weaknesses. The heroes aren't perfect. The villains aren't wholly despicable. In short, they're real. Sure, Cherijo is a genetic construct tooling around the far reaches of the galaxy, but she's real enough to be my neighbour down the hall (who I also wouldn't trust with a dermal probe when she's in a bad mood). It's very, very easy to get attached to these people.
Which is when Viehl goes into maniac mode and puts them through hell so fast that you have no choice but to hang on for the ride and hope you make it through. She's an expert at distracting you with something bright and shiny so that you don't see the punch coming until you're flat on your back. Viehl isn't content to wrap everything up in a neat little package for the reader, so the Stardoc series consists of a number of deftly-woven threads which connect each book and may come back to haunt you at any time. No one is safe, nothing is sacred, and you never know what she's going to do next. I've laughed, cried, and screamed out loud reading these books, sometimes within the course of a single chapter. These books are fun. Roller-coaster, breathless, heart-pounding kind of fun. Just make sure you start reading early, because they'll keep you up long past your bedtime.
Rating: 4
Summary: Cherijo continues her search for who, and what, she is...
Comment: Fourth book in the Stardoc series. This is a continuing story, and I very much recommend that you start with the first book, Stardoc, and read the sequels in order: Stardoc, Beyond Vallarean, Endurance, then Shockball. If you haven't, the rest of this review will contain spoilers for the first three.
Again, I was a bit disappointed with Shockball, but only because the first two books were so very good. Shockball continues the adventures of Cherijo Grey Veil Torin, a genetically engineered human who is being pursued by her creator/father throughout the galaxy. After escaping the Hsktskt in Endurance, Cherijo finds herself surrendering to her father in order to keep the peace once again, but this time her husband Duncan is with her. After enduring many brutal hours of testing, she is miraculously rescued by an odd little man who takes her though miles of underground tunnels to his tribe that lives beneath the ground in caverns.
Cherijo discovers she is not so much rescued as she is kidnapped by these strange people, half Indian and half alien.
Again, I found this book to be a step down from the first two in the series, there are not many aliens, as Cherijo spends most of her time underground with the half breeds; and not much titillating space travel either.
Dhreen re-enters her life, finding her in the tunnels and once again helping her out, though this time she trusts him much less. She also discovers that experiments A through I were not destroyed as Joseph Grey Veil had told her, and also discovers that the reason Joe has pursued her so heavily throughout the galaxy is that he intended her to be his mate all along.
Cherijo patches up patients, stops another outbreak, and develops her relationship with her husband Duncan who is forced to participate in the Shockball contests and discovers he actually enjoys the physical competition. But the story seemed almost blasé, missing the mystery of the aliens and the excitement Cherijo stretching her capabilities to the fullest.
I have really enjoyed this series, but I am left hoping that the fifth book brings back the old Cherijo and the old mystery and excitement that made this such a special and unique reading journey.
Rating: 1
Summary: ?
Comment: What happened to the series??? Yes, there's a plot, yes, we get new stuff revealed about Cherijo, but...it feels like nothing major happened. It feels like I've been stuck in a big hole in the ground the entire novel. There is no real forward progression of characters, of ideas, of feelings. It is the same stuff again, but this time on Earth. Where it's evidently a lot more boring.
There was a lot of potential in Cherijo dealing with her father. And it is mostly wasted. I can't tell you how disappointing it is to discover that she's not so unique. And soon after getting into the lab, she escapes, and spends a good chunk of time underground. Jules Verne did a great science fiction book about being underground. He was able to pull it off. Most writers since then have realized it's pretty hard to make that interesting.
And, Wow, Ick! I *don't* want to hear about vivid descriptions of rapes and child molestation. I read novels for enjoyment, and enlightenment. Not to be disgusted.
There's a fifth book out there in the series, which reveals the final details about Cherijo's life, beyond what her father did. I'm not going to bother to buy it. At this point, I've been too disappointed, and too bored, by the last two novels. The investment I made in the character in the first two novels doesn't carry me over into any further interest in her.
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Title: Stardoc: A Novel (Stardoc (Paperback)) by S. L. Viehl ISBN: 0451457730 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 01 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Blade Dancer by S. L. Viehl ISBN: 0451459261 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Alien Taste (Roc Science Fiction) by Wen Spencer ISBN: 0451458370 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 10 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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Title: Tainted Trail by Wen Spencer ISBN: 0451458877 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 04 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Bitter Waters by Wen Spencer ISBN: 0451459229 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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