Customer Reviews

Dream Called Time: A Stardoc Novel

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've loved the Stardoc series from the start. This is the final book in the series, and as such it answers all the questions about the black crystal that has been plaguing the protagonists since the first or second book. I generally enjoyed this book, although as it got closer to the end, a lot of action was packed into few pages. And I'm still not sure I quite *got* everything (I'll have to go back and reread)

The ending? I won't spoil it, but let's just say I'm torn. I like certain aspects of the ending, others seem too...hm, saying anything more would be a spoiler.

I do recommend this book. It's a must read if you've been following the series.

Okay So I started reading the StarDoc series ten years ago when the very first book was released. I fell in love with the characters. They became my friends and I felt their pain, failure, love, loss, and hope as if it were my own. I have completely loved the entire series, every moment. I vastly enjoyed this final book of the StarDoc series. It was a different idea on how to end it. As much as I love this series, and as much as I liked the book, I have to admit...

I HATED the way it ended. I felt that the way it ended destroyed the characters themselves and the believe-ability of the universe as well as my enjoyment of it. Yeah, everything was resolved, and that was good. BUT it felt like a feel-good ending, a cop out if you will. Our characters had their lives all changed so completely that everything was shiny and good and wonderful. While fairytale endings are all well and good, it seemed fake and ruined my enjoyment of the final book.

The book itself was enjoyable, but I didn't like the way it ended.

Without giving away spoilers, I'd just like to say that Ms. Viehl did the Stardoc series justice with this final (per her own blog) installment. Throughout all the books, Viehl has made me think of her characters as part of my extended family, and I would've been hurt had she not fixed all the pain inflicted on Cherijo over the years. Sure, everything isn't fixed until the very end, and Cherijo still had some suffering to deal with throughout this storyline, but isn't that what makes all great books great? It's the conflict and how each character makes it through to the other side of that conflict that makes books and series like Stardoc as beloved as they are.

With everything Dr. Greyveil has been through, this was the kind of ending I wanted for her. Thank you, Ms. Viehl, and keep up the good writing.

Written with the same quick minded style that allows Viehl to pack hard science, exquisite inter-species relationships and xeno-biological speculation in a fascinating novel. Read it, you'll love the plots! Having read the whole Stardoc series from the beginning, I believe that a reader's experience will be exponentially greater having read the previous novels. The entire series is rich and complex and there are many allusions to info from previous books.

SPOILER ALERT! My problem is the ending. Artistically it leaves the protagonists, about whom we readers really care, in some sort of alternate reality limbo, in which I suspect loneliness would soon creep in. Scientifically, I can't abide by the idea of messing with the timeline. It invalidates everything that happened in the first 9 books!! And it somehow does not feel worthy of Viehl's imagination. In a couple of dozen of pages she unravels the whole black crystal mystery? I wonder whether the author was tired of writing the series, and invented, maybe unconsciously, a quick and dirty ending. And yet, a GREAT read!

After Cherijo became Jarn and became insufferable to me, I decided to skip out on the entire Jarn episode and went straight to this book. I briefly skimmed through the Jarn part of the series to catch up, but I never read it thoroughly, as I found the character insipid, obstinate, and quite frankly annoying. Since my boyfriend seems to be the incarnate of Duncan Reever - that's the reason I started reading this in the first place - I was a little puzzled about how Cherijo would accept Duncan's "infidelity".

Her response makes sense, but in the end the book leaves many questions that leaves us hanging, as if the author ran out of energy and chapters and just wanted the thing to end. How Cherijo and Duncan made up baffles me, as well as the immediate acceptance of Marel about Cherijo returning. The ending was a bit puzzling too, and it reminded me of Claudia from Interview with a Vampire and the immortals from the Gulliver's Travels, in a bad way. Time travel is generally a toughie for sci-fi authors,and I don't think Viehl did a good job on it. There are gaping holes that require filling, and since this is the last instalment we never will get them filled. The last sentiment was a bit annoying as well.

All in all, while Cherijo does appear to be an independent woman, it appeared to me that she actually isn't; the couple has become almost co-dependent on each other, which may make a romantic love story but certainly not a functional relationship or a realistic one. Although the tone is similar to Shockball, I find this volume a bit more oppressive, and Duncan more dominating and not understanding at all (which also puzzles me, as he's a telepath). It was almost as if Duncan decided to get back with Cherijo because he'd rather not be alone and Jarn was gone, which clashes with the last sentiment of the novel.

I would have liked to see a bit more interaction between Duncan and Cherijo; normal couples do not make up the way they did, but instead, have long talks, shouting matches, and periods of silence. Considering that they are now both immortals, I wonder what their relationship would look like 2000 years from the end of the novel.

The entire Stardoc series is excellent. Read them all, in order if you can! Great characters and fast paced adventure.

Last book in the series, and really enjoyed it! Loved all the twists and turns, though a few bizarre twists made me go "Huh?!". But overall, a fitting, intense end to the series.

Dream Called Time (2010) is the tenth medical SF novel in the StarDoc series, following Crystal Healer. The initial volume in this series is StarDoc.

In the previous volume, Shon was infected with the black crystals. Mercenaries hijacked Urrwlan's shuttle and captured Jarn. An Odnallak impersonating Joseph threatened Joren with a deadly virus. Then Jarn leaves and Cherijo returns to her body.

In this novel, Cherijo Grey Veil is a modified clone of Joseph Grey Veil. She is a physician and surgeon. She had been unconscious for the past five years while the Jarn personality was dominant.

Duncan Reever is a telepath and a very talented linguist. He can learn a language almost as fast as it is being spoken via a link to the mind of the speaker. He restored some of Cherijo's memories.

Marel is the daughter of Cherijo and Duncan. She is a teleporter.

Squilyp is an Omorr, a four limbed alien who hops on one limb and uses the other three as arms. He is Senior Healer on the Sunlace. He is now married and has twin children.

Shon Valtas is an oKiaf Healer. He had been purged of black crystals by Jarn.

Xonea Torin is a Jorenian and the captain of the Sunlace. He is a ClanBrother of Cherijo.

In this story, Cherijo is not happy with another personality having lived in her body for the past five years. She believes Jarn had willfully possessed her body. She feels much like Jarn had previously felt whenever anyone mentioned Cherijo.

She is still in love with Duncan, but he is acting strange around her. Marel misses Momma Jarn and is awkward with Cherijo. Even Shon misses Jarn.

Squilyp has two scans that reveal that Cherijo and Jarn have virtually identical brain functions. The identities strongly suggest that the minds are the same. Cherijo refuses to admit any such likeness between her and Jarn.

Then Cherijo is called before the Ruling Council to discuss a new rift in space and a spacecraft floating near it. The crew appears to be in stasis. The Council wants Cherijo and Shon to investigate.

The spacecraft seems to be six million years old. The star maps show the galaxy as it would appear in ten million years. Apparently the craft had been interrupted in a time voyage.

This tale takes Cherijo through the rift in time and to a prior version of Jinxok. There she finds an earlier version of Maggie. The younger Maggie is curious and supercilious.

This is the last volume in the StarDoc series. Cherijo solves the problems of the black crystal. Now Cherijo, her family and friends can live for a fruitful future.

Recommended for Viehl fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of interspecies physicians, cultural conflicts, and determined women.

-Arthur W. Jordin

***SPOILERS****

The Star doc series has been a favorite of mine for a very long time. With that stated I was rather disappointed in this one. Not sure how to really rate it, so I gave it three stars, not sure if I liked it, and not sure if this was the last in the series!!

I always loved the relationship between Cherijo and Reever, that they were lovers and friends and were always there for each other, and the extremes they went to for each other. In this book, Reever confesses to Jarn he has never loved Cherijo and only married her because he promised Kao (Cherijo's first husband), and maybe to become a father. Well, needless to say that was a real stunner, and not a good one!! My opinion of Reever after that went down the toilet. So, of course Cherijo finds this out and is totally crushed, which of course is understandable and she leaves him. Well then you say, what the heck is going on, how can Viehl get these two back together after that? I can truly say I was definitely disappointed with the way she did it. In one chapter he doesn't love her and walks away and then a few chapters later he's saying he loves her??? Come on, no way in the world after hearing from his own lips that after all the years they were together he never loved her, and that Jarn was his other half, that she would take him back!! It was like Viehl didn't quite know how to dig herself out of the hole she put herself in, so she made Cherijo say she would rather be a poor substitute of Jarn than not to have Reever at all?? Sorry, so not happening, way too many guys out there to take the dirtbags place, and there was one person who did truly love her so why would she put herself up as second best and possible future heartache??

Anyway, very disappointed in the Cherijo/Reever relationship, and if there are any more in the series then Jarn will be a part of it. So, how will Cherijo handle the thought of maybe Jarn and Reever forming a relationship in the future? Of course he says no, but!!! How could she ever trust him again? Not me, walk away girl, walk away!!

OMG! This was sooooo good, I've been reading these books 4ever and the last one had me worried because I've never really liked Cherijo but loved Duncan and I liked her brain-damaged persona much better than the original, who knew the author could write Cherijo up in a way that made me like her AND remain true to the character. This storyline brought out some very interesting and eye-popping information about Maggie and the origins of that S.O.B. Dr. Gray Veil, now there's a man I've longed to draw and quarter! But, hello! Now we learn why he's such a #$%%%^&$%T*&&@ what's so intriguing about Duncan's daughter, how they fix Cherijo's problems with her adopted family AND save the universe and timeline as they know it. After I finished reading this book and sat back and heaved a sigh of contentment for a story well executed and an ending worthy of its characters. Live long and prosper Reever family.