Review: Endless Blue, by Wen Spencer

I'm reading a lot of SFR these days, as part of the reading challenge and I can tell you that it's already paid off. Big. I just finished Endless Blue, by Wen Spencer, who has also written a trilogy focused on a young man raised by wolves who has an extraordinary tracking ability, as well as the acclaimed Tinker.

Endless Blue focuses on three people, each of whom has a complex and difficult personal history involving questions of identity and self. Mikhail is a clone and starship captain with enormous shoes to fill and debilitating melancholia. His foster brother, Turk, is a genetically engineered soldier who is caught between the human world and that of the "Reds," a sort of superhuman subspecies which is nevertheless abused and degraded by "real" humans. Paige Bailey is the female captain of a salvage ship who encounters them both when they crash-land on Sargasso following a harrowing jump from normal space.

Part of what makes this book so good is that the excellent characterization is matched by the complex plotting. Mikhail, Turk and Paige band together to figure out what's causing so many starships to jump from normal space into Sargasso and in the process, they discover who and what they truly are. There's a romance subplot, complete with HEA, that I really enjoyed, and several other lesser relationships that nevertheless enrich the plot, the characters and, by extension, the reader.

Endless Blue is fast-paced world-building with a compelling plot and sympathetic characters. And, perhaps as Spencer intended, the reader forgets all about who was cloned, who was bioengineered, and who has hooves instead of feet, because she does such a great job of making them all persons that it really doesn't matter anyway.

What I'm Reading

Just a quick post, as today I have to focus on "real" work (that is, something that doesn't involve medieval knights, crash landing on an alien planet, a fiendish Regency-era French spy, or a hot geochemist). Yeah, I know--the words "hot" and "geochemist" don't usually appear in the same sentence for me either. That's why they call it fiction.

I just finished Madeline Hunter's Provocative in Pearls, which I highly recommend. It's the second installment of a projected four-part Regency series. (I assume I'm not the only one wondering about Castleford, though I have searched in vain for any indication on Hunter's website whether he's destined for Daphne.) I've been reading Hunter since her first medievals appeared in 2000 and I think she just keeps getting better and better.

Right now, I'm reading Ariana Franklin's latest medieval historical, A Murderous Procession, set in 12th-century England and France. It's the fourth book about a Salerno-trained physician who investigates mysterious deaths for King Henry II. It's billed as mystery, but I think of it as historical fiction that happens to involves a lot of murder. Adelia and her odd family--the eunuch Mansur, her daughter Allie, sometimes lover Rowley--are rich, wonderful characters.

On the current TBR pile are:

Neal Stephenson's Anathem, though I admit I am intimidated by a book that requires a glossary and runs almost as many pages as Gone with the Wind. Not sure how to classify the book--epic fantasy, perhaps. Of course, how could a book that requires almost 1000 pages be anything other than epic?

Wen Spencer's Endless Blue--"exciting space adventure" and SFR, which I read about at The Galaxy Express.

Lindsey Davis's The Course of Honor, set in ancient Rome about the relationship between a slave and the future emperor Vespasian.

Finally--very exciting--I won a copy of Silver Serenade, by Nancy J. Cohen, which is SFR about a "beautiful assassin and a desperate fugitive who join forces to...prevent an intergalactic war." Assassins! Fugitives! Intergalactic crises! Can't wait to read this one. It even has a great cover.

Review: Jane's Warlord, by Angela Knight

I've talked about Jane's Warlord in other posts on this blog, but I realized that I hadn't actually reviewed it, so I'll remedy that shortcoming now.

Though billed as a paranormal, JW is actually SFR with time travel. The hero (pause to press hand to rapidly beating heart) is Baran Arvid, a very alpha male from the future, who is nevertheless gentle and protective with the heroine. Jane, our heroine, is in danger from a nasty man and Baran's purpose is to keep her alive.

Baran arrives somewhat unexpectedly on Jane's doorstep, along with a giant, talking wolf. (Okay--if I were reading this review, I'd stop at this point, sigh, and say "Great. Another talking wolf. Just what the world needs." Truth is, Knight write the wolf as a total smart-ass and succeeds in making him a fully developed character in the story.)

Jane has a strong negative reaction to the presence of a large wolf and an obviously very dangerous man in her house (did I mention that the hero is an alpha male?), and this gives Baran the chance to demonstrate both his swoon-worthy patience and understanding as well as his uncompromising committment to duty.

And, of course, in order to protect Jane, Baran has to sleep with her. (Heh, heh. I hate it when that happens.) We're only 50-some pages into the book by this time, but I am ready to throw myself at the mercy of an evil villain if it means that Baran Arvid and his furrball will come and protect me, and I'm a cat person.

The plot revolves around Baran and the furrball keeping Jane safe and preventing the evil villain from killing innocents. Did I mention that accomplishing these objectives requires lots of sex? (Just FYI, the furrball is not involved in these scenes.) Be aware that such activities are a bit on the rough side and there is, uh, alpha-male dominance involved.

Bottom line: This is fast-paced time-travel SFR with a clear focus on the relationship between the H/H, but it won't be everyone's cup of tea for the reasons discussed above. If you like your heros alpha, but with a soft side for the heroine, don't miss JW. And don't let the talking wolf put you off; he gets some of the best lines.

Review: Stardoc, by S.L. Viehl

I've been on a SFR reading jag lately and just "discovered" S.L. Viehl, who has a pretty extensive backlist focused on the character of Cherijo Grey Veil, an interstellar physician. Stardoc is the first book in the series. I picked up Stardoc because I'm a fan of romance, SF, and fiction that involves medicine or medical mysteries (Ariana Franklin's series about medieval forensic investigator is on my auto-buy list).

The heroine, due to a conflict with her incredibly overbearing father, leaves home for the frontier colony planet of K-2, where she encounters medical challenges in the form of over 200 different species. I really enjoyed the parts of the book that took place at the clinic as Cherijo tries to get a handle on alien physiology.

But I found Cherijo herself a less-than-sympathetic heroine. She seems pretty darn tempermental and reminded me of why I don't care for the Anita Blake books--like Anita, she's always on the verge of shooting/hitting/beating someone or stomping off in a huff. Although Stardoc has been classified as SFR by some readers, I consider it SF with romantic elements. There's a love interest, but this potentially fascinating character is incompletely developed. And I was mystified by his attraction to the heroine, who seems to forget he exists with alarming regularity.

While not a keeper for me, I enjoyed the premise of Stardoc and found the book to be a fast-paced read with a ton of interesting characters, many of whom I'd like to spend more time with, such as the compelling Duncan Reever.