Children of Scarabaeus

You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/03/release-day-review-children-of.html

*Please note: My review is relatively spoiler free, but assumes you've read Song of Scarabaeus. It might be a bit confusing if you haven't:)

Children of Scarabaeus picks up a week after Song of Scarabaeus, with Edie slowly withering away, her body deprived of the drug she needs to stay alive: Neuroxin, distilled from the native plantlife of her homeworld, Talas. If Edie dies, so will Finn, as the chip inside of his head that links them explodes. Aided by Cat Lancer, pilot and ally, she and Finn are on the run from the Crib, who wants Edie back at any cost. They plan to fly to the Fringe, and use the cryptoglyph Finn is carrying in show more his head to help liberate the Fringe worlds from their reliance on Crib technology.

The trio hitches a ride on a ship filled with migrant workers in cryosleep, waiting to be awakened when someone needs their particular skill. Edie is understandably terrified at the idea of being put into cryosleep for an indefinite period, but Cat sets the timer for 15 months, and Edie creates bios and skillsets for them so that they might be awakened earlier. Unfortunately, the Crib finds Edie, and 13 months after going into cryosleep, she finds herself on a Crib vessel, at the mercy of Natesa, the woman that can force her to use her skills to further the plans of the Crib and systematically turn ecosystems across the universe into the “Terran ideal”. Edie discovers that Natesa is training a new batch of children to see “an ecosystem in flux as damaged, and the Terran ideal as the cure,” and when she realizes that they aren’t afraid to use the children for more nefarious means, the stakes all of a sudden become much, much higher.

I adored Sara Creasy’s first novel, Song of Scarabaeus, and was more than eager to revisit Edie and Finn’s universe. Children of Scarabaeus is just as good, and I think I liked it even more than the first! The passion between Edie and Finn burns through the pages, and the frustration they feel as the mental leash keeps them from consummating their relationship is palpable. I rooted for Edie and Finn from the start, and Finn’s need to protect Edie, as well as her desperation to keep him close to her and safe makes everything they go through that much more urgent. When Natesa finds the infojack that created the leash and is ordered to cut it, Edie is terrified this could kill Finn, not to mention the thought that he might choose to leave her behind. The real shocker comes when Edie learns of widespread famine in the Central world, and the project that she’s assigned to is designed to prop up these worlds for a limited amount of time, after which the ecosystems will completely fail. How can Edie possibly stop this from happening, without killing herself and her friends in the process?

I love the science and world building in these novels. When Edie jacks into the datastream, the pathways of an ecosystem are like “music”, and you can almost visualize the zipping, soaring colors as Edie works her magic. The author’s descriptives are also so good that a relative sci-fi newbie (like me) can easily keep up with the narrative without feeling out of the loop. I’ve had this happen before with “hard” sci-fi, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Not that there’s anything wrong with the genre, but I ended up concentrating so hard on trying to understand a fraction of the science that I couldn’t enjoy the story. Not so with Sara Creasy’s work. And the story is the best thing about these books. Wonderful character development, a lush, fleshed out environment, suspense, romance, and a multi-layered storyline makes for great reading! Sara Creasy is an auto-buy for me, and I’ll look forward to getting my hands on her next book! show less

In this sequel to Song of Scarabaeus, Edie has discovered a way to save the Fringe planets from the Crib’s oppressive rule. She and Finn, now fugitives, are on their way to the Fringe to implement their strategy when they are captured once again by the Crib. Edie’s former mentor, Natesa, wants her help in terraforming uninhabited planets so that they can become a source of food and other resources for the galaxy. However, Edie soon perceives that Natesa’s plan isn’t working; in fact, her team’s technique for speeding up the terraforming process is rapidly turning the target planets into sludge. Now Edie must find a way to stop Natesa’s program and essentially save the galaxy, all while trying to create a new life for herself show more with Finn.

As with book one in this series, there’s a lot more going on in this installment than I was able to explain in a one-paragraph summary. This book basically picks up where the previous one left off, and anyone interested in the premise should definitely backtrack and read Song of Scarabaeus first. I think I enjoyed this book even more than the first, mainly because I was more familiar with the complex world of the series. I also enjoyed reading about the development of Edie and Finn’s relationship, although the romance is definitely secondary to the various story lines. In fact, my biggest problem with the book is that there’s too much going on. I had trouble keeping the minor characters straight, and many of them could easily have been left out. My other quibble is that, while the book ends satisfactorily, I’d love to see where Edie and Finn are headed next – but I’m not sure there’s going to be a third book! If Creasy writes one, I’ll definitely check it out. show less

There are some intriguing potentials with this book and the first one in the series... but they are larely lost in a one-note plot that tries to keep up tension by doing the same thing over and over again/
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Edie can be manipulated by threats to Finn. Fine. But when basically the entire plot has her being pressured into cooperating with her enemies because of the same damn threat over and over again... well, it starts to lack the tension necessary to make it interesting. I say "This yet again???"

The political set-up of the universe is potentially interesting and plausible. However- as in the first volume- the "tecjh" just doesn't feel plausible to me. Not even as plausible as a good thoughtfully based magical system. There's lots of show more buzzwords, carefully unexplained, and I did not see any hard-and-fast rules that would make a deus ex machina impossible; rather the opposite. Throwing jargon at something and calling it "tech" does not really work when it's not well-thought-out and lacks an underlying consistency and plausibility.

Also, the characterization is lacking. Everyone is a cliche. Edie is a doormat- OK, there's reasons why, but still. Finn is a cipher. And the rest are yet less vividly drawn; they exists mostly as plot elements.

I read this because I do think the idea of an awakened sentient ecosystem- "Mother Nature" as it were- is fascinating. I wish Creasy had opened her vision wider and explored more there... or even explored more about Edie NOT being a victim of all and sundry. There were various points where she could have used her skills to upend things... but she did not and remained a doormat.

I was disappointed. show less

Prelim review: Quite honestly I picked up the first book because Chris McGrath did the artwork and I continued with it because even though Creasy has a lot of science fiction talk throughout the books, Finn and Edie were two characters I really enjoyed reading. They were both terribly lost, complete martyrs to boot who exhibited a distinct recklessness with their lives I found exciting.

This companion/sequel to "Song of Scarabaeus" picks up a little over a week from the ending as Finn and Edie make their great escape to the Fringe. There are a couple of standard 'relationship' obstacles thrown into the mix (aside from the real and present danger of the leash), but these books were never quite about the romance so much as the show more relationship. Finn and Edie are both supremely flawed people--Edie lived a relatively sheltered life all things considered while Finn went from a normal life to the life of a rebel and then prison. Neither was very good at just being.

Full review to be posted later show less

I liked this but not quite as much as the first.
It felt rushed.
There was a fascinating twist at the end, I honestly did not see it coming, but because the clock was ticking, the author didn't delve into it deep enough for me or flesh out the ramifications going forward for the world she'd built.
So maybe a third book? not likely since this one is about 10 yrs old.
I think this could make an extremely interesting and compelling mini-series, though. I'd watch a dozen episodes in this world!

Edie Sha'nim needs the drug Neuroxin to survive off her home planet. However, a supply acquired by a professional thief leads the Crib right to her. The Crib, in particular, Natesa, wants Edie back to complete a project that only Edie has the skills to perform. The project involves destroying life on planets having a similar environment to the Crib and replacing it with terraforming capsules that establish life forms needed as raw materials for the Crib. With Edie is Flynn, her bodyguard, who has been mentally leashed to Edie with a kill switch, set to detonate if he gets more than a certain distance from Edie. In book 1 Edie escaped the Crib and planted a cyphgraph in Flynn's brain that could be the saving technology needed to free show more planets from terraforming, if they could find a way to distribute it. This is a highly adventurous tale of escape and pursuit, trying to save a galaxy. Nice conclusion to the 2 book series. show less

Somewhat of a mix between sci fi and sci fi romance. I didn't like this one quite as much as the first. Maybe there wasn't quite as much fast paced space opera inspired daring do. It seemed that Edie and Finn were just battered about by events instead of actually doing stuff themselves. Also even though I know that this isn't really a sci fi romance, their relationship didn't pack the punch that it promised to in the first book. Hmm... still worth the read but I wouldn't read it if you haven't read the first one. You would be guaranteed not to understand what was going on.