Enemies (Roc Science Fiction) [Paperback]

Lee Hogan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Roc Science Fiction | Publication Date: April 1, 2003

In this extraordinary sequel, the once magnificent planet of Belarus has descended into centuries of isolationism and bigotry. When representatives of the new galactic Union contact Belarus, they claim to have their best interests at heart. But they also harbor a secret mission, related to the Enemies: the brutal alien race beneath the planet's surface.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The sequel to Belarus (2002) is a five-act space opera. On the planet Belarus, many less-pleasant aspects of Russian history have been reprised, including a Time of Troubles that dragged the planet down into a morass of superstition and preindustrial economics. Along came the Enemies, aliens who will not communicate what they want, and then the human-occupied galaxy rediscovered Belarus and communicated a desire to recivilize it, though on unacceptable terms. So, all told, the story contains aliens, high artificial intelligences, low artificial intelligences, honest diplomats, corrupt aristocrats, and even a plot! Note, however, that the characterizations of this large and motley cast are uniformly well realized, and that Hogan's world building is, too, which together put sinew in the operatic plot. Furthermore, an author who transforms Baba Yaga (the crone of Russian folklore) into a dea ex machina shows imagination rare enough to warrant high recommendation. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Roc (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451459199
• ISBN-13: 978-0451459190
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #496,839 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

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, November 1, 2004

By 

Sylvia F (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Enemies (Roc Science Fiction) (Paperback)

Lee Hogan is the kind of author you feel lucky to discover.

I don't give out five stars often but Enemies was such a pure pleasure to read, start to finish, that I'll happily assign it the highest rank I can.

Hogan's world of Belarus is a curious mix of old world traditions and advanced but abandoned technology. She's skillfully given her sci-fi novel some fantasy touches that evoke a mythical Russia without making them feel awkward or forced into the book's reality. People come back from the dead - as electronic avatars, programmed by people brilliant enough to engineer entire worlds back in the heyday of the Alliance. The tiny machines of nanotechnology are referred to as Sprites and have become sentient through a deliberate infection of a virus that brings self-awareness. The extra-dimensional skills of The Enemies and Baba Yaga's intimidating presence add a sense of cosmic mystery without sacrificing the sci-fi elements that let us take it all seriously.

The characters drawn into this mystery are well drawn themselves and strike a reader as capable people, each with their own type of strength to call on in a time of crisis. The technological superiority of the Union to Belarus is never used as a plot crutch and it's a satisfying combination of the forces of history combined with the personalities of those involved that drives the story. The villains are chilling and never one-dimensional, and the relationship the Enemies have with the Belarusians is interestingly complex, frightening and murky. Hogan draws us into the mystery and beauties of her world, harsh but beautiful, deadly but survivable by a people whose stubbornness and pragmatism become traits that you can't help but admire.

Perhaps best of all, you really want to root for these people not only because you like them but because you want to learn more about Hogan's well-crafted, intriguing universe through their eyes. The moment a sequel comes out I'm snapping it up immediately.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars enjoyable and richly entertaining outer space fairy tale, April 13, 2003

By 

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

This review is from: Enemies (Roc Science Fiction) (Paperback)

He was a visionary who saw that the Republic, which earth was a member, was about to devolve into civil war; Andre built a colony in the Lucifer system called Belarus. It was comprised of colonists of Slavic descent, one very much like Russia and the other republics of the former Soviet Union. when civil war came, Belarus was easily able to repel the invaders but that was not the worst of their problems. The planet was inhabited long before the colonists arrived by those who came to be known as the Enemy.

The Enemy was determined to destroy the colonists but biotoxins that Andre released kept the Enemy from destroying his home. Still civilization was set back to Tsarist Russia and when the new Union came to bring back Belarus into the fold, the world would not adhere to the union's new Bill of Rights. Women with birth defects caused by the biotoxins were forced to wear shrouds on their face and had no rights. Yet one of these female lowlifes, the niece of the Tsar, tries to save her people and in doing so, that of the Enemy.

ENEMIES is an enjoyable and richly entertaining work that combines Tsarist Russia and chemical warfare in an outer space fairy tale. The contrast of the modern technology that the Union Star Men have and the medieval life of the people living on Belarus makes for natural conflict. The heroine should be bitter because of the restrictive prejudicial laws that apply to her disfigurement but instead she is an independent thinker who does her best to save society.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, December 27, 2006

By 

Dustin Adams (NY) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Enemies (Roc Science Fiction) (Paperback)

First I'll start by saying this is a sequel, and it is clearly meant to have another (or more) in this series. However, said follow up is not available as of this time.

As for this book, I found it as good or even slightly better than the original. Sequels have that "start from page one" familiarity to them that makes them so much fun.

Again in this book I felt there were times I wanted to know more about a character, or situation, or plotline... so I can't give it five stars, but overall definitely worth reading. (I know an author can't cover everything, but the feeling was of something missing more than simply wishing there was more.)

I would buy the next book in the series the day it came out.
Hopefully that helps to explain whether or not I liked this one. =)