Darkship Theives

I’ve been a fan of Sara A. Hoyt since I read Ill met by Moonlight back in 2002, I reviewed Heart of Light last March, and I read Gentleman Takes a Chance over the Holidays and was planning on doing a review of it sometime after the first of the year. Then, I found out that Ms. Hoyt was doing a “blog tour" to promote her new book DarkShip Theives. I had just read a teaser chapter for DarkShip Thieves in the back of Gentleman Takes a Chance, and had put it high on my mental TBR list so I contacted Ms Hoyt about doing a guest spot here at Flying Whales and she agreed. You can read her Guest Blog here.

I enjoyed DarkShip Thieves a great deal. All the other books I have read by Ms. Hoyt were fantasy. One of the things I liked best about them is that they were not traditional sword-and-sorcery-coming-of-age-quest stories that seem to take up so much fantasy shelf space. Even when the plot involves a quest or character maturation it happenes in slightly nontraditional unexpected way. I Iike that. I also like that her stories are built around relationships, the development and growth of the characters relationships is just as important as finding the magic gem, or getting the serial killer targeting shape changers. I hesitate to say they are Fantasy Romance, because although a HEA for the main characters is part of the plot resolution there isn’t much time spent on the physical resolution of the HEA. In other words, while there is romance there are not the sort of sex scenes that seem to define the Romance genre these days.

With DarkShip Thieves Ms. Hoyt does with Space Opera the same thing she has been doing for years with Fantasy.

The story takes place in several centuries after a semi-apocalypse caused by a rebellion against a planet wide government run by a group super bureaucrats bioengineered to be clever, honest and benevolent rulers. They were known as Mules since they were designed to work hard and they could not have offspring. Of course things went wrong with that idea and their time in power ended in a reign of terror and the slaughter many innocent humans as well as the Mules and their followers. This lead to the outlawing of any bioengineering work on humans and bio-tech in general. Civilization on Earth now centers around independent city-states ruled by Good Men. Athena Hera Sinistra is the heir to the Good Man who runs Syracuse Seacity. She is not a sweet little debutant, but a young woman with a rough and tumble past. It would be very easy not to like Thena, and I think the author took a chance with giving her as hard an edge as she did, but it works. Thena is prickly and anti-social, but since the story is told from her point of view the reader bonds with her early on and is pulled along for the whole thrill ride.

On the way home from a dog-and-pony show meet-and-greet with her Father, of Circum Terra, a scientific research space station in orbit not too far from Earth , Thena wakes as someone is sneaking into her cabin. Dressed in only a nightie, and armed only with a high fashion boot with a clunky metal heal, (This wonderfully quirky choice for a weapon really helped get me hooked on the story) Thena fights off her attacker and several other members of her father’s security staff. They all seem to have switched sides, may have already killed her father, and now want to hurt her. Unsure of who to trust she leaves her father’s ship in an escape pod and heads back toward Circum Terra.

This is a kick-ass action sequence, one of several in the book. Tiny sexy female heroes who beat the crap out of larger male bad guys are one of my pet peeves. They are everyplace in Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance these days. I’m sick to death of this character type, because most of the time they are just too improbable. Unlike most of these ball-busting female characters Thena works for me because one of the first things we learn about her is that she has spent her entire life outsmarting and breaking out of private academies, reform schools, rehab clinics, and tough love military boot camps. Sure, she is un-naturally fast and strong for her size, but she also has experience, and she’s smart. Most of the time she is mentally one step ahead of the folks chasing her. That makes her ability to beat up a whole goon squad believable.

Although Thena thinks she has seen her father either dead or gravely injured during her escape while in the escape pod, she overhears a message from him telling Circum Terra that she is having a drug induced mental breakdown and that they should detain her as soon as she docks. Given her sordid past this is believable, and Thena decides to try to hide in the nearby powertrees. They are artifacts of the Mules reign, plants designed to grown in space harvest solar energy and store it in battery like pods. Thery are the main reason Circum Terra is located where it is. Thena hopes one of the harvesters who gather their pods to be converted to fuel will help her escape whoever has taken over her father’s ship.

Because of the ban on bioengineering no one alive knows much about the powertree's biology and instead of growing in easily tended rows they now grow in thick briar like tangles. Harvesters tell stories of DarkShips piloted by escaped Mules who hide in the powertrees stealing pods and sometimes attacking Harvesters, but they are considered folklore not reality. Going into the powertrees is dangerous because it is very easy for a ship to get caught in their twisted branches or brush against one of the power pods and be blown up. After entering the powertree thicket Thena’s life pod runs into something, but it’s not part of the powertree . It’s a space ship, one unlike any ship she has ever seen, it is completely dark, designed to not show up in light or on ship’s scanners. A DarkShip.

The pilot of the ship, Cat Kit Klaavil, is quite upset that she has run into his ship and damaged some of its sensor. He takes her lifepod onboard anyway, saving Thena’s life even though he thinks she is an “Earthworm” spy sent to trap a Darkship. He’s a nice looking young man, except for his calico hair and catlike dark adapted eyes, obviously the result of biogen . (Cat is a title that has to do with the biogen he has gone through to become a DarkShip pilot) His biogen makes it hard for Thena to trust him or believe anything he say. She does not let him tying her up, and locking her in an empty cabin on his ship, stop her from trying to escape. She's escaped from worse places. Unfortunately she has finally met her match. Kit is faster and stronger than she is, and he has not problems knocking her on her bottom every time she attacks him. He says he is not a Mule, but his obvious biogen scares Thena, as does the strange mental bond they seem to share.

In the end the two escape the people looking for Thena, although not before both Kit and his ship have been seen by Thena's attackers. They flee to Kit’s home, a hidden asteroid colony called Eden. There Thena learns that what she knows about the reign of the Mule is not the complete truth. Life on Eden calls into question all her ideas about the nature of government and civil society. Also, by being accepted into Kit’s large eclectic family she sees for the first time what family is supposed to be about.

Kit and Thena are attracted to each other from the start. Neither of them is a real prize in the personality department, but they smooth each other’s rough edges in a way that makes them both better together than either is apart. Thena learns that being a pain in the butt isn’t the only way to interact with the world. Kit learns that running away from unpleasant secrets isn’t the answer. There are several plot twists. Kit and Thena return to Earth to search for missing DarkShips which may have been caught stealing pods in the powertrees. We get a glimpse of the grittey broomer gang underworld where Thena spent most of her life avoiding the hollow glittering, but hollow, life of her Father’s social circle. Thena rescues Kit from her father’s evil clutches in a wonderful one-escape-after-another action sequence that is almost cinematic. There are some more plot twists. Kit and Thena save the day, and win a Happily Ever After.

Hope's Folly

I first came across Linnea Sinclair when I found Finder’s Keepers while browsing the SF section at Joseph-Beth, my local indie bookstore. As soon as I stated the book I was hooked. Here was Science Fiction Romance that really worked. It wasn’t re-worked Historical Romance with ray-gun and rocket window dressing. It didn’t use a SF setting only as an excuse for odd or contrived sexual situations. The heroine wasn’t the token girl, added only to allow a love story subplot to be tacked on to an action adventure novel as an improbable afterthought. The SF and the Romance elements worked together and moved to a mutually satisfying resolution.

Before I had finished the first book I was already on the lookout for more of Sinclair’s work. I had a full-blown fangirl-crush on her writing style. Since then I have sucked up all her books and enjoyed them all bunches, but nothing had hit my “wow” button as hard as that first book, until I started Hope’s Folly. By the time I finished the book it had become my favorite. I think it is her best work to date

Hope’s Folly is the third book in Linnea Sinclair’s Dock Five universe. Don’t let that keep you away if you have not yet read her work. You will want to read Gabriel’s Ghost or Shade’s of Dark after you read Hope’s Folly, but you don’t need to have read them first to get into this book.

Philip Guthrie is a fleet admiral on the run for being on the wrong side of a coup that has just over thrown the Imperial government he has served all his life. He is grieving for good officers lost in the fight against the takeover. He is worried about how this change in government will affect ihis socially prominent, and politically powerful family. He is worried about his ex-wife Chaz Bergren, and her mysterious lover Gabriel Sullivan who have got off to help organize a resistance movement. He is feeling his age and recovering from a serious hip and leg injury. Despite all this he had agreed to help organize as many civilians and ex-fleet officers as possible into a military force for the newly formed Alliance of Independent Republics.

What Philip has not counted on is running into Rya Bennton, the daughter of Cory Bennton his old mentor. Cory Bennton hadbeen killed in the recent fighting, and Philip feels his loss. . Rya, is an ex- Imperial Fleet Security Special Forces agent, she wants revenge for her father’s death. She feels partly to blame for it because she was not abel to take part in the fighting at his side. . Philip remembers her as a precocious and annoying tween and has very conflicted emotions about meeting her again as a mature, dangerous, and to him outright sexy adult.

Rya knows Philip is the man to build the Alliance’s new fleet, but thinks he has a huge blind spot when it comes to his personal safety, especially since he’s not very mobile due to his injuries. She appoints herself his bodyguard. It is her duty to protect her commanding officer the only man who can lead the Alliance to military victory. On a personal level Rya has fond memories of Philip from her childhood because he is the first person who taught her to shoot. Rya and Philip are gun crazy. Really, really gun crazy. They are connoisseurs of fine fire arms and they both love to spend time tossing around gun tech talk. . This is the spark that draws them together on a personal level despite their difference in age and rank.

The Alliance is hard up, so when they get their hands on Hope’s Folly, a retired warship converted into a cargo carriier, they are happy to have her despite the lingering smell of oranges, and the ship’s cat that come as part of the package. For Philip and Rya there is the extra sense of justice in Folly becoming the foundation of the new Alliance fleet, because in her first life Rya’s father had been her commander. It’s not easy to turn a fruit hauler into a top-of-the -ine battleship, especially when your hand picked, but slightly motley crew may contain hidden saboteurs and assassins.

Philip needs to get the Folly from the station where the Alliance bought her to the shipyard that is going to re-convert her to a warship. Rya needs to keep Philip alive. Along the way they realize, that despite it not being convenient, they are head-over-heals in love.

I really hate May-December Romance plot lines. I’m not comfortable around firearms. Both of these things are important to the Plot of Hope’s Folly, but despite that, or maybe because Sinclair is able to use these plot elements in unexpected ways they didn’t bother me. Philip knows he is a little old for Rya, but Rya is not a sweet protected schoolroom miss. She is a mature woman in her late twenties who probably has more personal relationship experience under her belt than he does. Philip has been married to his job, and in many ways he is an emotional late bloomer. His relationship with Chaz didn’t workout because he was not mature enough to be in a stable relationship of equals when they were married, and he knows that.

Rya and Philip are so enamored of firearms that when the gun-spec techo-babble starts flying between the two of them, it is the strongest possible aphrodisiac. Philip loaning Rya part of his personal collection of firearms does more to woo her than flowers, wine, or chocolate ever could. That was a clever plot point that could have fallen flat, but Sinclair turns it into one of the big selling points of the book. These two people are perfect for each other, not just because of some vague bio-chemical sexual attraction, but because they have shared interests and really love the way each other’s minds work.

You will love seeing them realize that while you read Hope’s Folly.

CORDELIA'S HONOR by Lois McMaster Bujold

***Thanks to Frances http://frances-writes.blogspot.com/ for gener0usly granting me permission to cut-and-paste her review. I really wanted this one, but didn't have time for it myself.***

.
Recently, I reread Lois McMaster Bujold’s CORDELIA’S HONOR. It’s actually two books in one, SHARDS OF HONOR, and the 1992 HUGO Award Winner, BARRAYAR. It’s been some years since I first read it. I liked it then; and I like it now, more than ever.

.
Aside to the reader: In addition to the cover illustration of CORDELIA'S HONOR, above, which I do like, but which I don't feel fully reflects the characters, I have included, one of the original cover illustrations of SHARDS OF HONOR. I think that it clearly reflects the characters, and one of the episodes in the book. Neither hero nor heroine are young, gorgeous, or perfect; but they are wonderful.

.
If there were one word that I would use to describe CORDELIA’S HONOR, it would be complex. Don't mistake that for confusing. It's simply that the more you think about this book, the more you see. Ms. Bujold has created three diverse ecological systems, two distinct socio-political organizations, and a study of evil that is magnificent, and all too real. All of the events in the exceedingly strong plot lines serve to reveal aspects of the characters and their conflicts. Layers upon layers lead to lots of, ‘Oh ho! So that’s what is going on!’ These are subtle moments of discovery that delight the reader. .
Commander Cordelia Naismith and Captain Aral Vorkosigan come from planets with antithetical cultures: his, reminiscent of a violent cross between Victorian England and Imperial Russia; and hers, a supposedly peaceful, advanced, constitutional, free, and politically correct society. They are first thrown together in SHARDS OF HONOR, on a hostile alien world, which quickly reveals their true natures. They are complex, flawed, and, above all, honorable. Each brings a starship load of life experiences with them, which, strangely enough, mirror one another. They have both had painful failures in their pasts; and I found their shy efforts at sharing their pasts to be particularly endearing. When Aral asks Cordelia to marry him by listing all of the terrible consequences to doing so, I lost my heart. Quick, woman, marry the man! Ah, but what can they do, when they are on opposite sides of a coming war, and they are both bound by duty and honor?

.

Nothing is as it first seems. As enemy combatants, Cordelia and Aral are both constrained to keep secrets from the other, in spite of their attraction. Everything rests upon their judgments of the other’s character; and contrary to all appearances, ultimately their survival depends upon character judgments. (As a special note, it is here that Ms Bujold introduces Sgt. Bothari, one of the most ugly, schizophrenic, psychopaths that I have ever loved.) I wanted to cheer for Cordelia as she reasoned out the terrible trap to his honor in which Aral is caught. And I wanted to cry for him. For Aral, there are no good choices. There are only bad and worse choices, each tearing his honor from him, bit by bit.

.

After the war is over, Cordelia returns home. She finds that her world, which she, has idealized as free and advanced, has its own dark side; and it almost destroys her. She possesses information which could devastate the political fabric of Aral’s planet, Barrayar; and the authorities of her planet, Beta, want to take her brain apart and reassemble it... for her own good, of course. I found this sham altruism to be terrifying! If she is not to suffer the Betan equivalent of a lobotomy, Cordelia must flee to Aral on Barrayar, a world which she fears as ‘eating its own children.’

.

When Cordelia arrives on Barrayar, she finds a world that is both better and worse than what she had expected. Compared to Beta, Barrayar is beautiful beyond belief, with natural resources that boggle her mind. Family, marriage, loyalty, and honor are deadly serious matters on Barrayar. However, because of her honor, Cordelia, now Lady Vorkosigan, cannot avoid becoming enmeshed in the Machiavellian intrigues of Barrayar’s dying Emperor, Ezar Vorbarra. For the future of Barrayar, she and Aral must take their place in Ezar’s plans. Ezar is only seen in the next to the last chapter of SHARDS OF HONOR; however it is his machinations which have set all events in motion... and dominate BARRAYAR. He is brilliant, honorable in his own way, and utterly ruthless, especially with himself. He is one of the most fascinating and terrifying characters of whom I have ever read. I would like to have known more of him.

.

The last chapter of SHARDS OF HONOR is very disturbing. Ms Bujold leaves Cordelia and Aral to their new life and uses this chapter, a seeming non-sequitur, to show the cost of the war started by Ezar Vorbarra, to the people of Beta, Escobar, and Barrayar. She does this through the device of one mother’s grief and awe-inspiring love. Every time that I think about it, it brings tears to my eyes. It was an immense gamble to end SHARDS OF HONOR on this note. It is both brilliant and devastating. I was left with both a question and a conclusion. Question: Is barbarism which is hidden by political correctness any less barbaric than that which is open for all to see? Conclusion: Only love offers any redemption in a broken universe.

.
Since CORDELIA’S HONOR covers so much, I will review BARRAYAR in a future post. Thanks for your patience.

.
Happy reading,
Frances
Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future

The Key - Pauline Baird Jones

Sara Donovan is a crackerjack pilot in the US Air Force assigned to a top secret mission to explore a galaxy far outside the Milky Way. This human mission stumbles into the middle of a generations long war between the Dustan and the Gadi. Donovan is attacked by the hostile and ruthless Dustan and crash lands on the planet Kikk. Kiernan Fyn is a member of a group of outside-the-law fighters known as the Ojemba who are sworn to destroy the Dustan. He’s been stranded on Kikk for long enough that his people think he’s dead. Donovan dropping almost into his lap seems like a reward from the gods to make up for all his hardship. Donovan wouldn’t like the idea of being someone’s reward but she’s more than a little taken by the hunky alien who ‘rescues’ her from her crashed war-bird.

Fyn and Donnovan both have secrets, and they are surrounded by a vast number of questions. Why is Donovan the exact image of Miri, the woman who may have caused the Dustan-Gadi war? What exactly is Fyn’s aleigence to the Ojemba’s mysterious leader? Why, although the Gadi don't think much of women, and the Dustan are worse, do both their leaders risk provoking war with the explorers from Earth to try to marry feisty, outspoken, more than a little, rough around the edges Donnovan? Why do they think she is the key to the lost secrets of Garradians who vanished centuries ago leaving behind vast empty cities and outposts all over their galaxy?

This book reads like the novelization of the whole seasons run of a SF TV show that you somehow missed seeing. I’m guessing that’s intentional since Donnovan is a fan of the SciFi network. Jones really nails military jargon, but the story is light on things like - How did the Earth team get to another galaxy? How did they built a fleet of ships to get there in secret? Why exactly are they exploring another galaxy instead of someplace closer to home? In some ways this would have worked better for me if they were in another solar system in our galaxy because the scale of extra galactic travel is just too big for me to buy it being done this casually, but… I’m willing to overlook that because the book was such a fun read.

Donnovan is almost too perfect, ace pilot, talented musician, completely unaware of her sex appeal, but she is also vulnerable and tough so she grew on me. Fyn is big, gorgeous and silent most of the time, but he has an inner vulnerablity and sweetness that grew on me too. If you were a fan of shows like Farscape, the various Treks and most of all Stargate you will enjoy this book. If you like a slightly harder version of SF you might find the book a little light, but don't let that keep you away, it makes for a great comfort read. I’m in the middle of the home remodeling adventure from hell, which is why this review is being posted late, and knowing I had a fun comfy read waiting for me at bed-time last week helped keep me sane. That may sound like a weird recommendation for a book, but I’m a strong believer is reading as escape from the stress and strain of the real world. Not enough books can give you that release, so when I find one that helps we unwind as much as this one did, I’m happy.

Everyone in this book is in the military, so there is some “salty” language. Although much of it is done with euphemism, it’s easy to see what’s really being said. I can have bad potty-mouth myself given the right triggers, so I enjoyed the “code word” cursing. Someone really sensitive might be offended. There is sexual tension all over the place in this book, including a might-build-up-to-rape-but-gets-stopped-before-things-go-too-far scene, but all sex takes place off-screen. There are several battle scenes, and there are deaths, but they are bloodless for the most part.