Monday, March 24, 2008

Shockball

Book 6/25

S.L. Viehl's Shockball

At least my wait between Endurance and Shockball wasn't quite as great as the wait between Beyond Varallan and Endurance had been. I was able to pick up the thread of the series without too much trouble - an ability I should be able to maintain, as Eternity Row is already sitting on my desk. This is the fourth book in the StarDoc series, featuring Cherijo's return to Earth and her creator.

I would like to say the events of Cherijo's pregnancy were a shock and a surprise, but I anticipated them from the first chapter. Considering what Cherijo's immune system had wrought in the previous books, it seemed a foregone conclusion that the pregnancy was going to be subjected to those same immune responses. What did surprise me, especially considering the growth she had just gone through, was her refusal to speak with Duncan. She continued to speak with him and married him, despite his turning her over to the Hskskt, but she was terrified he'd leave her if she told him she'd never be able to have more children? It seemed like a poor choice of priorities. Not to mention that it weakened their relationship considerably; she couldn't trust him or have any faith in him (contradicted later when she seems to have every faith in him...regarding any other issue).

Again, the "gift" from Joseph being a trap was not a surprise; my surprise was that she actually fell for it, even when she knew it was a trap. I would blame it on a fragmented psyche from the pregnancy and her fears regarding Duncan, but that seems...it feels like an excuse, and a pretty poor one, at that. It's been well-established that Joseph is not in possession of all of his faculties, save when it comes to persuing and recapturing Cherijo; anyone who believed him capable of compassion and honesty is a fool, and I didn't want to believe Cherijo was a fool.

Joseph's true motives were a little surprising, though, when I reflected on everything he had done and all she's learned through Maggie, it did make sense. His experiments gave concrete evidence to the level of his mania, while making Cherijo a little less human than I perceived her to be before. Whenever someone can endure such torture, they become more and more reserved from "normal." At least her own horror at her father's revelations was genuine, and it humbled her a little. Meanwhile, her desperation to solve the malady of the exiles returned to the medical roots that the series began. It was a novel idea to pull something as common as an STD and transform it into a sweeping plague. After all, the underground world was the perfect breeding ground for the epidemic.

Unhappily, the lack of surprise continued with the discovery of Cherijo's "siblings;" everyone knew who her brother was as soon as they read the chapter title. Anyone who has conducted a scientific experiment knows that you never have a single success; if you do, the experiment is considered a failure. While the previous siblings were all flawed, they still existed, and the underlying promise was that Cherijo would cross paths with them again. Maggie's contribution ot the story continues to remain a mystery, save that she holds all of the answers to Cherijo's questions in the form of the disks that were stolen and then promptly forgotten.

The book provided more answers, but it lost a lot of the momentum that had been built in the other books. The capture was such an anti-climax after the earlier pursuits, and no new questions surfaced to make you want to continue reading, continue seeking. Yes, there is the question of why Cherijo's skills are needed on Maggie's planet, but is that really a surprise? Medical knowledge and ability are going to be needed on every planet - we've already seen that. I wish a little less of Cherijo and her past had been revealed; it leaves so little new material to find.

I will refrain from commenting on the end, other than to say it was, again, not a surprise. I think it was a cop-out answer, designed to keep sensitive readers happy and nothing more. It was easily the worst part of the book, and it turned what could have been a dramatic ending into a sacchrine-fest. I really wish Ms. Viehl had avoided that avenue and kept to the gritty adventure she used to begin the series.
Posted by Andria :: 12:47 PM :: 0 comments

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