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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Midwest Book Review, May 2007 Issue, May 1, 2007
This review is from: Dynasty of Rogues (Paperback)
Leading Ranger Riki Sadiq has her share of detractors. She's been in trouble all her short life, and she joined the Rangers to escape more of it. As a Ranger, she is a part of the armed force that protects the community of outcasts and heretics who have escaped the big cities and repressive religion that now marks all urban society. Unfortunately, Riki can't even get along with the heretics. She finally has a lapse of judgment that gets her stripped of rank and sent off to the remote Westernfort for one last chance.
At Westernfort, Riki's new supervising corporal is Tanya Coppelli, a woman close to Riki's age and the daughter of the regiment's captain. Riki isn't sure Tanya is officer material, and she makes no secret of her skepticism, so of course she and Tanya get off to a bad start. Riki feels helpless to curb her smart-aleck attitude and unable to figure out a way to make friends, so the women in her new group, most of whom are already suspicious of her fitness to serve, are hostile toward her.
Riki is sent out on patrol with Tanya's group, and at first there's an uneasy peace. But when they encounter enemy Guards all hell breaks loose. One of the group will betray the others, one will be kidnapped, all will be suspicious. Naturally, who else is blameworthy besides Riki?
This is a tale of deceit and shifting allegiances, corruption and false pretenses. Riki's life will not be the only one in danger, and an enormous miscarriage of justice will occur if she doesn't take action. She'll need all the cleverness and good fortune that she can muster to save her comrade and herself from an impossible-seeming situation.
When you pick up a novel by Jane Fletcher, you will always get a riveting plot, strong, interesting characters, and a beautifully written story complete with three-dimensional villains, believable conflicts, and the twin spices of adventure and romance. Ethical and moral dilemmas abound. Fletcher writes real characters, the type that William Faulkner once said "stand up and cast a shadow." The reader can't help but root for these characters, many of whom are classic underdogs.
Fletcher's work transcends the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Yes, there are a few elements of science fiction and perhaps fantasy, but they register as entirely natural in this timeless world. The story people are so fresh, so individual, so real that they make a unique mark unlike anything I've ever read in lesbian adventure stories. The reader will feel like she's living the action, not experiencing it on the printed page. I haven't read such wonderful stories since I first encountered the work of Marian Zimmer Bradley and Elizabeth Moon.
To read a novel by Jane Fletcher is to fall in love with a world. You'll wish her characters were your friends and that you could visit them - perhaps permanently. I give the highest recommendation for this book and to the entire Celaeno Series of which it is a part. ~Lori L. Lake, Midwest Book Review
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another one for Jane Fletcher!!!!!, April 14, 2007
This review is from: Dynasty of Rogues (Paperback)
Excellent book!! This is a story of Ranger Riki Sadiq,known as a troublemaker with no friends and a long list of enemies.
Standing sentry duty on a winter's day,all she can see lying ahead is an afternoon of been cold aned bored.Her mood isn't helped by deliberate goading from people who are supposed to be working with her.Even so retaliating in kind isn't one of Riki's better ideas.When Riki is send to Westernfort for one last chance in the Rangers,the hostile reception means her list of enemies has become still longer,and prime candidate to head the list is her new patrol corporal,Tanya Coppelli.It is hate at first sight.The way Riki sees it,Tanya may have good looks,talent and sharp wits,but is that any reason to like her?However,if Riki but knew it,trouble of a deadly kind is heading her way.With their lives at stake,Riki and Tanya will have to overcome the mutual antagonism and learn to work together.
Great sci-fi adventure/romance,amazing story,always keeping you reading,it's a MUST!!!for any lesbian reader.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In a whirl of the ploys and ... more!, April 24, 2007
This review is from: Dynasty of Rogues (Paperback)
Dynasty of Rogues is the 4th book of Celaeno series and is the latest in the chronological order, about 8 years after the story in The Walls of Westernfort. Here introduces a new character Riki, who never seems to take things seriously and therefore always get into troubles. Tanya Coppelli, who has inherited many good things from her parents, is a well-like person and the center of young generation. However, right in the beginning they just can't get along with each other. Nevertheless the fate bonds their paths together and their lives rely on each other ..
**** Possible Spoilers (just in case) ****
From this point of view, this book is just a romance story about how hate at first sight turns into love, despite that the setting is in an imaginative planet where only female human beings exist. Yes, you can read it like a romance from this perspective: they hate each other, they work with each other, and then they begin to love each other. You can expect the story to go through these three stages even from the blurb. Even though you know the framework of the story, you don't know what the story looks like without the flesh & the blood, i.e. the characters and the plot.
As hinted by the title, there are schemes and ploys in all three parts. You can think of these three parts as the three stages mentioned above but you can also consider them from the point of view of plotting: How were Riki and Tanya tricked? How did they work to escape from enemies? And how did they face the danger on the way home? In the 2nd part, the scheme is bigger and involves more parties, including the best tactician of all. Indeed, some may seem to be arranged too well or more like coincidence (referring to some scenes in 1st & 3rd parts). But if the author did consider the possibility of a special event's occurrence in the real life, then the story would be uneventful.
**** End ****
Characters are the flesh of this story. Both being earlier 20s, this is the journey where Riki went through the trouble adolescence; to Tanya, knowing her capabilities and gaining her confidence. Other minor characters are also quite vividly depicted, and they are not completely faceless like those in some lesfic. I also quite enjoyed the romance between Riki and Tanya, and how their feelings to each other grew. It's really sweet. I have no doubt that the readers who aren't into speculative can still enjoy the story.
For the first-time readers of this series, you can get on the story without problem since the author always did her best to put each one as a stand-alone story. In the chronological order, the first one is Rangers at Roadsend (for the moment), while in the writing order, it's The Temple at Landfall. Hope this will help.
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