Belarus [Paperback]

Lee Hogan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2002

It's a planet ripe for a new vision-of a glorious past that once was, and could be again. Andrei Mironenko, a powerful magnate in the Star republic, believes the pristine planet of Belarus is uninhabited and unspoiled.

He didn't dig deep enough.

"With a richly imagined geo-political setting, Belarus reads like a Russian fairy tale set in space." (Syne Mitchell, Compton Crook Award-winning author of Technogenesis)

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Roc (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451458680
• ISBN-13: 978-0451458681
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,263,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lee Hogan is actually a pen name for Emily Hogan. As Lee Hogan I wrote BELARUS and ENEMIES. I have also written books as Emily Devenport (SHADE, LARISSA, SCORPIANNE, EGGHEADS, THE KRONOS CONDITION, and GODHEADS) and Maggy Thomas (BROKEN TIME, for which I was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award). My books have been published in the U.S., the U.K., Italy, and Israel. Currently I write exclusively under my Emily Devenport pen name. I just published two e-books, THE NIGHT SHIFTERS and SPIRITS OF GLORY. You can read them on your kindle -- look for them on amazon! Besides novels and short stories (and the occasional goofy poem) I also write reviews on amazon as Emily Hogan. My short stories have appeared in ISAAC ASIMOV'S SF MAGAZINE, the FULL SPECTRUM anthology, and ABORIGINAL SF MAGAZINE, whose readers voted me a Boomerang Award -- which was an actual boomerang. I've never used it to kill a kangaroo, but it hangs over my desk, so if I ever need it, it's right there.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a pretty good read, August 27, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Belarus (Paperback)

With advance apologies to Mr. Reider and ulazdik, both of whom make cogent points about not-getting-historical-detail-quite-right, I must still recommend this book as a good page turner. Science fiction is "future history" and I would not be surprised to find Natalia become "Tally", especially given her African ancestry, some many tens of thousands of years in the future. These details didn't detract from a fast-moving plot where the human settlers try to create a colony that has a psychopath within it, dynastic competitors trying to destroy them from without, and alien natives whose social structure drives them to kill without mercy and to delight in delivering a hideous death. The interplay between Woov, ESAs, the sprites and humans and the nagging question about who Baba Yaga really is all helped keep the plot in action.....I'm not sure there is a sequel although it would be nice to know how the colony fares after re-contact at the end. There were hints of another challenge to be faced. All in all, I enjoyed this book tremendously despite flaws noted by other reviewers.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars cutting edge speculative fiction, February 11, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Belarus (Paperback)

In the far distant future, wealth and power is concentrated in a few families who use their money to buy and shape whole planets according to their whims. Andrei Mironenko has opened the planet Belarus to colonization and he intends to be the czar of the new and improved Russia before the Bolshevik revolution destroyed the nation.

Andrei has no time to enjoy his dream because his kingdom is beset from without and within. The republic is falling into chaos, with each planet going its own way. With no central government and therefore no trading, the way of life deteriorates. On a smaller, but no less devastating note a super serial killer is on the loose and he always seems to stay one step ahead of the authorities. Andrei is determined that no matters what happens to him or the rest of galaxy, Belarus will go on. This means another war with the planet's former occupants who went into hiding.

BELARUS is an entertaining work that will attract readers who like cutting edge speculative fiction. The different life forms that author Lee Hogan describes so vividly feel very real and believable. There is plenty of action in this novel but it is the characters that make this book several steps above the mundane.

Harriet Klausner

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Picks up as it moves along, November 6, 2006

By 

Dustin Adams (NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Belarus (Paperback)

Lately I haven't been able to get past the first one hundred pages of a sci-fi novel. Not because they are particulary bad, just not what I'm looking for. I got to page 100 of Belarus and was satisfied. By page 200 I was interested, and by page 201 it started to roll along to a great finish.

The book suffers from diffusement. I believe Lee Hogan tries to tell too many stories. Plus there are mini chapters, more like scenes from a movie, a page or so long that show something happening halfway around the world. To me, they detracted from the story instead of adding as I was trying to wrap my brain around the entire picture. Do I need to remember the names of these folks? Are they going to come up later on? It seemed more random than informational.

However, back to the story as a whole, I did indeed like it and am glad to have read it. Grigory was an awesome character, I wish I could have seen him and his suit in action more. Baba Yaga was also very interesting as she lent an air of mysticism to the novel.

(Do a search for Baba Yaga and read the story about her, fascinating)