Cynthia Felice

I expecting another collaboration from Connie Willis and Cynthia Felice to be similar to Promised Land.

But Light Raid is quite different. It's set in a world where various parts of North America are at war with each other, and teenaged Ariadne has been evacuated to neutral Victoria. When her parents' letters cause her to suspect all is not well at Hydra Corp, the scientific research facility where her parents work, she returns to Denver Springs determined to uncover what has show more happened.
However, the King's grandson is now in charge at Hydra Corp; he and his equerry are also searching for answers, and Ariadne is not sure if she is working with or against them.

This madcap mystery reminded me of Georgette Heyer, Perhaps because, even though they're in the middle of a war and frequently under lazer attack (the light raids of the title), the scientific research facility still holds their annual a Fete. In other words, a ball.
And Ariadne, who is in the middle of unravelling a mystery involving science and politics, plans to use the Fete to seduce someone in order to gain access to something she wants. And so she goes dress shopping and has to do some sneaky plotting to acquire the dress she thinks is going to best enable her to achieve her goal... The hijinks that ensue seemed like something from a Heyer novel.

Now that I think about it, in terms of character development and the way certain characters are very, well, flat, but kind of effectively so, is also reminiscent of a Heyer novel.

Light Raid is crazy and fast-paced. Light but definitely entertaining.

"Min, does it ever occur to you that you're getting entirely too intuitive for a computer?"
The screen went blank. "Light raid interference makes it impossible to complete your call at this time," Min said in a flat voice.
"I'll bet," I said. show less

It's been a while since I read any Cynthia Felice and, while she doesn't quite reach the heights of her sometime writing partner Connie Willis, she does manage a blend of Science Fiction and Romance that I always enjoy. Her Science Fiction (spaceships, other planets etc.) is the kind I tend to like anyway, and the romantic elements of her stories never descend into embarrasment - they are simply natural parts of her characters' lives and often with a twist - in this case the couple having show more aged at different rates during their separation, he by 10 years, she by 30. Add into their lives the complications of impending interstellar war and betrayal in the ruling elite and you have a fast moving, intriguing and involving story. Well worth searching out. show less

Enjoyable romcom-adventure, similar to Friesner's various novel but more adventure and less wisecracking. Set on a desert planet where water in underground chambers is strictly metered out from the Red City, once managed by water witches but now secretly done by computers. The point of view alternates between Radi, an ambitious but loyal aide to Princess Sheria, supposedly the last real water witch, and Deza, a young woman who, with her con-man father, have been convincing the Tycoon, a show more foreign businessman, that she is the real princess. Many chases, escapes, and revelations follow, almost all of which readers used to this kind of story would have predicted by the end of chapter two. That that doesn't matter is a tribute to breezy writing style of Felice and Willis. The only misstep occurs in the seconds-count climax that is artificially stretched out for several pages by making Deza suddenly dumb and dense, a curious move in a novel where women are the primary movers of events throughout.

Recommended escapism. show less

Delanna hasn't been back to the planet Keramos since she was first sent away to school at the age of five, but after her mother dies, she returns to arrange to sell the property she's inherited. But selling land on Keramos turns out to be more complicated than expected, and Delanna is required to stay longer than she wants.

This is a science-fiction novel set on an isolated, rural planet that could easily have been an historical novel set in an isolated rural community. (Of course, just show more because a science-fiction novel could easily be translated into an historical novel is by no means an indication that it should have been.) It's not really about the science or the technology - people communicate mainly by radio - but about how Delanna deals with her circumstances.

It's the sort of story where, by the second chapter, I had a fair idea of where things were going to end and I liked that. I kept reading because I wanted to see how the characters got to that point (and also to see if I was right about that ending). show less