Wave Rider (Verdant String, #5) by Michelle Diener – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, Michelle Diener, romance, scifi, scifi romance, series

About Wave Rider by Michelle Diener

Isolated . . . Verdant String scientist, Anja Farucci, is frightened. Her calls for help from her remote coastal research station on the moon Fynian have been going unanswered, and strange things are happening with the leviathan pod she’s studying. Out of options, she sets out on the dangerous three-day journey to Rinc, Fynian’s only city.

Stranded . . . Cal is a wave rider, and if anyone understands leviathans, it’s him, but when Kada, a young leviathan, grabs his boat and strands him on the southern peninsula, Cal is at a loss as to what is going on.

Thrown together . . . When Cal and Anja cross paths, they discover Anja’s communications have been deliberately sabotaged. Someone doesn’t want anyone coming or going from the southern peninsula. When the people involved start hurting leviathans, though, neither Cal nor Anja can let it go.

What they don’t know, as they get deeper and deeper into the mystery, is that the secret they discover in the cold waters of Fynian’s ocean will change them forever.

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Review of Wave Rider

Wave Rider stands alone, but is part of the Verdant String series.  Those who have read the previous books will be familiar with the ancestor’s colonization of the system, the silver balls, and the adversaries that don’t play well with the Verdant String planets. 

Just as important as main characters Cal and Anja, are the leviathans that swim in the oceans and provide the druk, a valuable natural resource.  No one understands the leviathans better than the wave riders who harvest the druk.  Except perhaps the biologist who studies them.  When outsiders take an interest in the area the leviathans inhabit, wave rider Cal and scientist Anja get caught up in their schemes. 

When the bad guys dump Cal, Anja and Cal’s friends in the ocean, the leviathans help the group survive by getting them to a small island that also happens to be the location of a downed ancient spaceship that the bad guys are looking for.  Well, it really is not chance that brings them there, but to explain that might lead to spoilers.   

Waver Rider takes place on a moon called Fynian.  The out of the way location means a close-knit community of folks who watch out for one another.   When people go missing (which is going to happen), rescues are launched (meaning there is a lot at stake).

The confluence of wave riders, leviathans, a biologist and ancient technology make for a breathless cat-and-mouse adventure.  Someone is always hunting and someone is being hunted.  The plot is constantly moving and being shaped by both the people and the leviathans. 

The intelligence of the leviathans, the closeness of the community and the attraction between Cal and Anja are what make Wave Rider such a great story.  Yes, I mentioned the leviathans first because they are critical to the story in many ways.  Wave Rider may be my favorite book in this series so far.

Many thanks to the author who provided a copy of her book in exchange for my honest review.

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Pets in Space 5 By Many (12) Authors- Review

Tags

5 stars, Alexis Glynn Latner, anthology, Book Review, Carol Van Natta, Cassandra Chandler, cats, dogs, frogs, J.C. Hay, Kyndra Hatch, Laurie A. Green, Leslie Chase, Michelle Diener, other worldly creatures, Pauline Baird Jones, pets, Pets in Space, Regine Abel, S.E. Smith, scifi romance, Veronica Scott

About Pets in Space 5

The King’s Quest (Dragon Lords of Valdier) by S.E. Smith

A playful trick leads to love for a Goddess, but will the King she falls in love with accept her for who she really is?

Dark Ambitions (Class 5) by Michelle Diener

When a planetary exploration trip takes a dangerous turn, a human woman and her powerful AI friend will need all their skills to come to the rescue.

Star Cruise: Return Voyage (Sectors SF Romance) by Veronica Scott

She survived the worst interstellar shipping disaster in history as a child but can she survive the Return Voyage as an adult?

General’s Holiday (Project Enterprise) by Pauline Baird Jones

A General is ready for another fight—this time for the woman he loves.

Juggernaut (The Inherited Stars) by Laurie A. Green

A security commander must decide if she can trust a mysterious stranger and his bioengineered StarDog when the secret underground site she protects is threatened.

Galactic Search and Rescue (Central Galactic Concordance) by Carol Van Natta

Two military first-responders and an animal team of rescuers are the only hope for saving an entire town when disaster turns deadly.

Reaper (Xian Warriors) by Regine Abel

With time running out, a woman accepts her fate only to find hope in the genetically engineered warrior created by her captors.

Pastfinder (Starways) by Alexis Glynn Latner

A woman’s psychic gift might be the catalyst needed to save the life of the man she loves—in an ancient archaeological site that contains a stupendous discovery.

Mittens Not Included (TriSystems: Smugglers) by JC Hay

He craved order and discipline to help his life make sense. She offered him cats instead.

Finding Mogha (Before The Fall) by Kyndra Hatch

A human’s effort to save a sentient being takes her straight into the path of a Korthan warrior.

Rate of Return (The Department of Homeworld Security) by Cassandra Chandler

Falling for an Earthling sends an alien and his adorable, six-legged pet in a tailspin.

Glitch (Crashland Colony Romance) by Leslie Chase

An alien pirate and a human find love in the shadow of disaster.

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Review of Pets in Space 5

I can’t believe there are 5 Pets in Space collections already.  My how time flies when you are enjoying great stories.  Pets in Space 5 is the best collection yet!

Many of the stories are a part of series that I am following.  Having the qualities of both new and familiar make them favorites in this anthology.  However, whether you follow the series or not, all of these stories stand pretty well on their own.  For me, there was one exception that seemed a bit disjointed because I had not read any books in the series.  Individual results will vary.  However, I still enjoyed every tale in this book!  Today, I am offering a few short reviews of some of my favorites.

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Dark Ambitions (Class 5) by Michelle Diener

Rose, having lived on a ship for some time, is excited to be able to set foot on a planet.  This is where she meets Sweetpea, a small squirrel-like critter.  Make that flying squirrel.  Daz is off on a mission, but Sazo is still in contact with Rose.  Good thing.  There will be trouble for Rose and her explorer friends.  I am a big fan of the Class 5 series and was especially pleased to go back to the story of Rose, Daz and the original Class 5, Sazo.  Sazo has not changed much, so imagine him to be very protective of Rose while not especially concerned about the others.  The ongoing education of a superpower ship/AI is one of the things I like about the series.  Sweetpea makes a delightful addition to Rose’s family while Daz sweeps in for the assist.  But leave it to Rose to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to being the heroine.  After all, she is from gravity-rich Earth.

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General’s Holiday (Project Enterprise) by Pauline Baird Jones

I am a long-time fan of the Project Enterprise series.  General Halliwell is a recurring semi-major character who really deserved his chance at romance.  Halliwell, who likes to wonder WWPD (What would Picard do?) runs into the engaging and lovely Naxe and her friend who happens to be a frog.  If you read Ms. Jones’ book, you now that sentience can occur in just about any type of creature.  Add some impressive, if scary, plants, a long-deserted ship complex and some bugs that create quite the buzz and you get another Project Enterprise adventure full of plenty of Picard moments.

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Juggernaut (The Inherited Stars) by Laurie A. Green

What you need to know about The Inherited Stars series is that the order the books are released is not an indicator of the time line of the overall story arc.  Each new story sheds light on something you may have read about that will happen on a future timeline or something that happened in the past.  Either way, it is a unique and entertaining way to read a series.

In Juggernaut, the reason for the threat to the project Dek is providing security for reads as secondary to the immediate situation she finds herself in.  That is, Dek is more concerned with the actual attack and with the enigma that is Sno Telon.  Dek and Telon are a natural couple once they decide they can trust each other.  It should be noted that CaSandra, Telon’s stardog, intuits that Dek is on the right side immediately.

Back to that reason for the threat.  It is part of the big story arc picture.   It is not critical for taking care of the threat, nor does it play into the romance.  However, if you have read the series, when you get done with the story, you might think “Hmmm”.  (If you haven’t read the series, you can still enjoy this story very much.  You can just skip the “Hmmm”.)

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Reaper (Xian Warriors) by Regine Abel

Dark is the word I would use to describe the beginning of Reaper.  Having been imprisoned and stranded in an underground bunker for years, Janelle and her Creckel companions are running out of resources.   Death is near.  The arrival of genetically engineered soldiers/peacekeepers may be her last hope, but the first one to find her, Reaper, looks too much like her former captors.

After a minor glitch, Reaper and Janelle hit it off just fine.  Really it is a major glitch, but I don’t want to worry you too much.  Besides the glitch adds humor to what was a very dark situation.

Of all the ‘pets’, I think the Creckels are the least fluffy.  I mean that in the sense that they are way too ferocious and deadly to be considered a pet.  In fact, companion is probably a better word.  Just the kind of companion one would want in a hostile situation.  

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Finding Mogha (Before The Fall) by Kyndra Hatch

Ms. Hatch’s After the Fall in Pets in Space 3 blew me away.  The two follow up stories, Interrupting Starlight in Pets in Space 4 and Finding Mogha in this anthology have helped to fill in the details of the world(s) of the Korth and a few human women that seem to get in their way.  In each story, there is a new planet to test the humans and the Korth as well as an enemies-to-lovers romance that tests the ability of sentients of diverse backgrounds to overcome prejudice.

And there are moghas.  Mogha is the term for an alien that forms a bond with a Korth warrior.  Every warrior longs to find his own companion mogha.  In Finding Mogha, K’vyn is sorely disappointed to find the mogha, C’hase, has already bonded with a human woman, Dani.  The odd circumstances of their meeting are just a warm up for the adventure because the mogha homeworld will soon be under attack.  Warning: humans are the bad guys in this one (except Dani).

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Even though the anthology is supposed to be about pets, many of the cats, dogs and otherworldy creatures are so much more than pets.  Many are sentient companions, have specific purposes and even seem to be as in charge of things as their partners.  Pet lovers can relate to this.  Not only does my dog appear to understand me, he often seems to direct me to certain actions (fill the water bowl, go for a walk, toss a ball).  He would make a great SFR companion-hero!

No two stories are alike!  There is enough variety, with 12 original stories, everyone that reads Pets in Space 5 is sure to find their own 5-star story.  Probably several stories!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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High Flyer (Verdant String, #4) by Michele Diener – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, Michelle Diener, romance, scifi, scifi romance, series

About High Flyer by Michelle Diener

Flying the head-of-planet around isn’t a job for the faint of heart. Especially not on Faldine, the planet in the Verdant String whose magnetic fields actively fight against technology, bringing down the ships of the unwary or the incompetent.

Hana thrives on the challenge, though. Thrives on everything about her job. It keeps her from thinking too much about what happened to her during the war, and what she is becoming. A relationship with the head-of-planet himself, though, is more than she wants to deal with.

Iver Sugotti feels like he fell into the role of head-of-planet by default. He knows he’s good at the job, and he’s enjoying the challenge of making tech work on a planet that eats tech for breakfast, but the one thing he really wants–Hana–seems out of his reach.

His pilot has made it clear she’s not interested, and he can only respect the boundaries she’s set. But when someone wants him dead, he and Hana are plunged into an all-out race for their lives. Iver discovers those closest to him have betrayed him, but also, that his pilot is not as disinterested as she seems.

As they try to outwit their enemies, they discover they are far better together than they are apart, and that Hana really is at her best when she’s flying high.

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Review of High Flyer

High Flyer is the fourth action-packed installment in the Verdant String series.  The Verdant String is a goup of planets that have aligned to provide all the inhabitants an idyllic life.  Everybody flourishes.  Seem far-fetched, doesn’t it.  It is – not everybody is happy with this arrangement, which means there is going to be trouble on Faldine.

Hana and Iver are the two that will run into trouble.  Or trouble finds them.  Iver is the Faldine head-of-planet. Hana is his personal pilot.  When someone tries to shoot them down in flight, the adventure begins.  The action is non-stop.  Hana and Iver keep jumping from one bad spot to another.  And as they will be spending a lot of time together, you can expect some romance too.  This couple’s romance began before the beginning of this story.  Though their employer/employee relationship kept them from acting on their feelings before, the events of High Flyer will bring them even closer.  Between flying together, getting shot down and frequent rescuing of each other, it seems these two are meant to be together.

There were a lot of characters on multiple sides.  Too many characters.  I found it hard to remember who was on which side.  Perhaps if I had been able to read High Flyer in one sitting I would have better attuned to who was who.

Having been over a year since the last book, Trailblazer, means I don’t remember the series as well as I would like.  References to prior events had me scratching my head wishing for a better memory.  Still, you can read this as a standalone.  If you have not read the series, you may not be as affected since you won’t know what you should remember.  Having said that, I think this would be a great series to binge read right now.

Some of the questions that I had at the end of Trailblazer (review here) have been answered in High Flyer.  One of the appeals of this series is the mystery of the ancient settlers of the Verdant String.  Each book gives you a little bit more knowledge about them.  High Flyer is no different and this time, I would say the new knowledge is significant.  And it makes me want more.  I am already looking forward to learning even more in the next installment.

Many thanks to the author who provided a copy of her book in exchange for my honest review.

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