Beyond Varallan

With the verdict in - as a clone, she's been declared officially non-sentient - Dr. Cherijo Grey Veil is on the run. Luckily for her (not so much for them!), her husband's family stages a nick-of-time rescue and heads for deep space. Still grieving for her husband, Cherijo finds comfort in medicine, working under the Senior Healer on board the Sunlace - but the League isn't giving up, there may be a traitor on board, and....

Well, let's just say if you have any objection to cliffhanger endings, you're going to want to avoid this book. I can't wait to get my hands wrapped around installment three!

No competition for Sector General here. TV level space opera that moves along quickly enough, but is basically a repeating cycle of invading bad guys, medical operations to fix the wounded, a lot of arguing, and every alien in the universe wanting to unbutton the heroine's tunic. Much of the book can be followed without having read the first book, until the last chapter that does a bunch of reveals that mean nothing in the context of this book, and only set up a cliffhanger for the next. In the first chapter, the doctor from out of nowhere figures out that the invisible blockage preventing a patient's wounds from bleeding is part of the starship's sonic insulation (whatever that is). Then, having never known about or seen this material show more before, she figures out how to use their medical ultrasonic instruments to vacuum up said material. Foo!

Recommended if you only care about action. show less

In this second book of the Stardoc series, Cherijo deepens her ties with her adoptive family and continues to hone her medical skills. Viehl skillfully introduces a number of new characters without making the cast seem cluttered or confusing. Cherijo remains an admirable and sympathetic character in her courage and fierce devotion to her profession although her repeated bouts of guilt about endangering her companions start to feel excessive.

The other major development is a huge change in her relationship with Duncan Reever. Viehl's device of concealing Cherijo's motivations and feelings in order to surprise not just other characters but also the reader with plot twists was ill-advised in this case. I found Cherijo's alteration in show more feelings hard to believe without having seen the internal developments that led to it.

Still, the series is entertaining and original, and I do plan to read further. show less

Fast paced with several interwoven, overlapping subplots. Perfect beach read.

I was hoping that Viehl would move beyond the rape in a tasteful way.

But about 40 pages in, Cherijo tries to jump Reever's bones, and thinks of their previous time" [ie, the rape scene in book one] as something sexually stimulating.

What kind of sick author is Viehl? The victim of rape is saying it was good for her too? In most cases of rape, the victim reacts 1 of 3 ways:

1)They blame themselves and turn inward.
2)They say it doesn't matter and then become sexual predators, of a sort, themselves
3)They can't accept what happened, and so think of it as a good experience, ie, deny reality.

Cherijo exhibits classic symptoms of a psychologically broken woman.

And I'm supposed to enjoy reading about this? This is sick, sick, sick. Shame on Viehl."

Good stuff. Cherijo really continued to grow in this book.