Customer Reviews

The Outback Stars

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to confess that I would never have read this book if I didn't know the author. I usually give military SF a wide berth. ;) And I had a hard time getting into this one; the first few pages whacked me with all the elements that usually turn me off military SF: action and "drama" that's undramatic because you don't know or care about the characters yet, lots of bureaucratobabble about ranks and duties and day-to-day operations, etc.

But once I got past that, I discovered two things: I really liked the protagonist, Jodenny. She's that rarest of female characters in SF -- intelligent but not a genius, pretty but not a sexbomb, competent and level-headed and funny. In short, a normal human woman. And as Jodenny dealt with an increasingly tangled conspiracy web and her inappropriate feelings for one of her subordinates, I more than liked her; I *cared*.

The other thing I realized was, military SF is actually kind of interesting when it's not all about the captain or the admiral or the guy with the big gun. Jodenny's "office politics", her personnel issues (like who's sleeping on the job), her effort to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder while still trying to have a career -- I could really identify with all of this, even though it took place on an Australian spaceship that travels through an alien wormhole. It's plainly military SF, but so real-world and human that it feels like something very different. And better, IMO.

So definitely a recommend. =)

When I read the first few pages of this book, I was not impressed. It seemed hard to understand and used a background that was strange. The next day, i picked it up again and before I quit, I had read it from cover to cover, twice. It could use more explanation as to the background universe but the main beauty is the developement of the characters. They were well written, believable, and likeable. The author, having served as a U.S. Naval officer, has the military down pat. Don't give up after the first few pages, keep reading, it's worth it.
I hope this is just the first in a long series.

I'll be honest. I've pretty much given up on science fiction over the last decade; so much seems to be derived from either Star Trek or Star Wars, or truly awful excursions, that I simply stopped reading it. Oh, there would be bright moments when Lois McMaster Bujold or Julian May would come out with something, but most of the time -- zilch. Nada. Not going there.

But every now and then, something will catch my eye. That what was literally happening with Sandra McDonald's book, The Outback Stars. The cover art, I found, was pretty good, and I got taken in. And the premise looked interesting enough, looking to draw on Australia and the South Pacific for inspiration, rather than the usual American/Russian/European culture that seems to be the norm for most space opera.

Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is dying of boredom on the planet of Kookaburra, waiting for a new assignment on another starship traveling the Alcheringa. She's survived a terrorist attack on her previous ship, and it turned her into a genuine hero. It's not something she's too happy about, she'd rather be working, and when the opportunity arises to leave the planet on the Aral Sea, she leaps at it.

But her new assignment is anything but peachy. Underway Stores -- think quartermasters -- supplies everything from uniforms to supplies and maintaining the DNGO's that do the fetch-and-carry chores. And it's a department full of misfits, from a habitually sick crewman, attitude problems, slackers, and a gang of pilferers that use violence to back up their claims. It's not exactly what she was looking for. But Lt. Scott sets to with a will, and struggles not just to enforce her will on some very reluctant crewmen, but also to make her own life bearable.

One of the unlucky crewmen that she's saddled with is Terry Myell, a sargeant that is good with repairing the dingos, but has a perpetual black cloud looming over him. A fellow crewmate has brought a charge against him, one that could get him booted out of Team Space. And that's something that Myell doesn't want.

For both of these characters, they've got quite a few personal issues to work out. Both have nightmares, and for good reason, and the reader knows that at some point in the story, not only are they going to be confronted with those problems, but also with each other. Especially when they start to find out the real reason for what happened on the Yangtze...

There's some problems with this story, an interesting blend of space opera and military thriller. While I certainly applaud the author's worldbuilding in creating the W and A, and especially the Spheres. Both of the main characters are complex, which is good, but they seem to be constantly falling into manure heaps and coming up smelling like roses. It's just a whiff of the 'Mary Sue,' and while I can usually forgive it in an author's first novel, it gets tiresome very quickly. I hope that this trend will stop with this novel.

Another difficulty is with the slang, espcially with such terms as 'gib,' 'dingo,' and the like. It took me forever to catch onto what exactly they were, and every time the author tossed them into the narrative, it was as though I was hitting a speed-bump. Something to set it all into context would have been nice.

The biggest problem was with the fraternization, especially across the commissioned and noncommissioned line. As someone who grew up in the military, and was married into it, there is an ancient rule, never to be broken -- Rank Hath Its Privileges, and that really meant, no socializing and especially no sex across ranks and in the same department. Nothing will bust your fanny faster than getting caught in that one, and it's usually with a dishonourable attached to it to boot. It felt very strange to be reading about it in the book, and while the author got most of what she was writing about right, and it felt right, this certainly didn't.

Still even with the problems, it's still a bearable read. While I will be certainly looking out for her next book in the series, The Stars Down Under, I won't be buying it in hardbound. I'll wait for the mass market edition instead.

Entertaining overall, but only makes it to about a three and a half star, rounded up to four as I still can't give a half-star adjustment here.

I read this book recently, and it hooked me from the start, thanks to a very intriguing beginning. The prologue starts right in the middle of the action, which is a great way to engage the reader.

"The Outback Stars" has interesting, well-constructed characters; an intriguing plot with some nice twists and turns; alternate POVs that worked well to tell the story; and great pacing, especially once the author offers a few really nifty reveals. Also, while I'm no military expert, the military aspect of the novel felt very realistic to me. The author's personal experience with the military serve her, and the reader, well here.

This book is definitely worth a read.

The intertwining plots of this book should be explained by a barker worthy of an infomercial: "Call now and you'll get this riveting political thriller of intrigue in the guts of an interstellar spaceship, a hard-edged mystery about the enigmatic aliens who created the mysterious monoliths that exits across space and time... but that's not all! You also hear the heart-touching romance of a man and a woman kept apart my society and rank. And if you call now, you'll also read of one man's attempt to reconcile with his path..."

And, really, that's not all.

There are so many plot lines and crises that it isn't long before they begin to bump into one another. No sooner was a Great Universal Mystery revealed but we were haring back to the ship to deal with corruption in the lower decks, with attendant and unspoken tensions left over from the last awkward interpersonal moment between the two protagonists, but first we had to see... I couldn't shake the feeling that the author had simply kept writing about one line until she realized that she'd neglected another and lead us careening back.

To make this even more frustrating, all of this set in a sketchy starship of unclear construction that's part of a vague interstellar business (I think) that had enemies who opposed them (for some reason) that leads to an attack that destroys a ship in the beginning of the book except even that's in question...

By the end of the book so many plots are being pulled together in such unlikely configurations, requiring that some characters shift their roles and relative importance with all the grace and ease of a Shakespearean comedy, that it managed to be a slog of a read even as things were racing by, the last thirty pages or so being well nigh impenetrable. The book aims to be epic even as it tries to keep its focus square on the lower levels of the company... or society... or whatever it was.

I guess I liked it well enough, it was certainly entertaining for the day or two that I read it, but I certainly wouldn't be in any rush to recommend it to anyone else.

I have been reading Sandra McDonald's fiction for over 11 years. I've read many of her short stories and way back when, in another life, I was the flagwaver for her fanfiction. (Don't ask.) So that I'd love her first novel is no great surprise to me. What do I like about it?

The crew of the Aral Sea seems a very realistic portrayal of sailors/ spacefarers. Unlike Star Trek, on McDonald's ship they can't replicate whatever it is they want. When you want a uniform, a machine part or food it is Underway Stores that must store, find and inventory it.

The Aral Sea (a nod to the Vorkosigan saga only in my mind-- these ships are named after environmental disasters) is an unhappy ship and Jodenny is assigned the unhappiest department: Underway Stores, but that's where Terry works. She's an officer and he's enlisted, but that doesn't stop the attraction they have for each other. The mystery of why the ship is so very unhappy is part of what Jodenny & Terry must solve-- and that's terrific, and, well, Bujold-like.

What I also like is that after ~400 pages, I don't know everything about this universe. Why is nearly everybody Australian -- or their forbearers are? Why are so few characters born on Earth? Why did the aliens give this technology and leave? It means that Sandra has many more stories in this series to tell!

Like Bujold's Vorkosigan series in some ways, both are about military & quasi- military ships. Jodenny and Terry would get on very well in the Dendarii Mercenaries. Actually, though, it's more like Tanya Huff's Valor books, with Sergeant Torin Kerr. I'm sure Kerr'd like Terry, but Jodenny... (Kerr, like Terry is enlisted and spends much of her time protecting officers. Unlike Terry, Torin is a warrior.)

Unlike Star Trek and unlike the Vorkosigan series, this isn't about feats of derring do and military prowess. It's about the guys in the red shirts that make the ship go and whose names we never hear. People who are just as courageous, in their way, as Captain Kirk and Miles Vorkosigan, maybe moreso.

"I saw something," Jodenny whispered.
Neither of them moved to investigate. Being in Team Space had never demanded much bravery, Myell knew. It required endurance of petty annoyances and mammoth wastes of time, and the discipline of listening to superiors talk of nonsense and trivia, and the ability to think one way and act another, for days and months and years at a time. He had been truly scared only a few times in his military career-- once while doing firefighting training in boot camp, another when Chiba's men entereted his Security cell duing the Ford affair - but all in all, he could safely say he had never been asked to chase something down in the icy darkness, something only his lieutenant thought she saw.
"There's nothing there," he said.

I really enjoyed Sandra McDonald's debut novel, The Outback Stars. It's a straight-up space opera, given a fresh feel through the use of Australian folklore. The point of view alternates between Lieutenant Jodenny Scott, who survived the destruction of her previous ship though not without wounds, and Sergeant Terry Myell, who survived an accusation of rape, though he too is wounded by his experience. Despite rules against fraternization between officers and enlisted personnel, the two are attracted to one another.

While their romance is a strong element in the story, the plot is quite layered, so the reader has plenty to chew on as internal and external conflict intertwine. Who destroyed Jodenny's first ship? How did they do it? Will they act again?

And what's going on with their current ship anyway? Everyone around them seems to have secrets, some of which turn out to be dangerous. The ship is also sloppily run, and Jodenny's Supply Department has a particularly bad reputation.

As a matter of fact, my favorite part of this story is watching Jodenny sort out her subordinates and establish order in a demoralized and undisciplined department. McDonald was a Navy officer and knows what life in a ship is like, so I found this part very believable. It probably says something about my psyche that I loved seeing Jodenny get control of an out-of-control dept, encouraging pride, and accomplishing work. My own experience in organizations says that may be harder to do than saving the universe.

But the saving-the-universe part was well done too. I recommend The Outback Stars for those who like mystery, adventure, and romance all rolled into one.

THE OUTBACK STARS is military scifi meets space opera meets Australian mythology. If you are a fan of Elizabeth Moon, Linnea Sinclair, or Ann Aguirre, there's a good chance you'll enjoy this one. Specifically, it reminded me in many ways of the wonderful Games of Command (Bantam Spectra Book). So if you're a fan of that book like I am, this one might be for you.

Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is in a bad way. One of the sole survivors of the destruction of the Yangtze, she's spent months in forced recuperation and can take it no longer. She makes the decision to cash in a favor and finagles her way into a new job on the Aral Sea in lieu of curling up and dying of guilt and grief. Even before she sets foot on board, Jodenny is warned that the Aral Sea is an unhappy ship. She soon finds this to be true as she is put in charge of a completely derelict division, complete with pregnant ensigns, uncouth civilians, possible Japanese mafia members, and one accused rapist. All of whom need her. And Jodenny starts to flourish once more as she is back in her element organizing her division and prodding her people toward excellence. But the borders between officer and enlisted, history and mythology, reality and memory begin to blur, Jodenny finds it difficult to know which course to chart.

I thoroughly enjoyed this reading experience. I enjoyed the politics, the familiar military lingo, the slow, careful character development. In fact, oddly enough, I would say nostalgia was the primary emotion I experienced while reading THE OUTBACK STARS. I grew up a military brat and reading this made me feel like I'd been transported back in time a decade or so when my days were filled with new bases, adjusting to new environments, and a good night was nestling in and watching Star Trek with my dad. At the same time, the inclusion of the unfamiliar and intriguing Australian mythological elements kept me fascinated and really enriched the story. I felt satisfied with the ending, but kind of tickled to find out there is a sequel and a third one in the works, due out July 21st.

I'll admit that it took me a while to get into this book, in part because I'd read and loved some of the author's previous work and therefore had very high expectations going in. But somewhere along the line I got sucked in, and now I not only need to read the sequel, I also need to hunt up a good book or two on Australian mythology.

Given my tastes, it was no surprise that my favorite element of this book was the mythology, and I wish there had been more of it. (It apparently does play a larger role in the sequel.) However, the other plot was also absorbing. The details of office politics, inventory paperwork, and awkward committee meetings created a realistic day-in-the-life portrait of the characters' work which I enjoyed very much. I found myself rooting for Jodenny as she attempted to clean up the mess of her severely dysfunctional department.

Unfortunately, I was left feeling that I didn't really know much about Jodenny besides her dedication to her work (although maybe that was the point). They were both likable, but Myell, with his troubled childhood, mysterious dreams, and a picturesque family to visit, was easier to understand and relate to. Their romance was the least satisfying part of the book for me because I didn't feel that I knew them well enough to understand why they were falling in love.

The mystery aspects of the plot were very compelling. Even though I wasn't as deeply invested in the characters as I would have liked, I got absorbed in the story and I really want to know what happens next.

In short, I was expecting/hoping (perhaps unfairly) to be blown away by this book, and I wasn't. But I am sufficiently intrigued to keep reading.

I love lots of different kinds of science fiction, and this book satisfied so many of my readerly cravings. It's got space opera and romance, and it's also got really cool science fictional ideas. A perfect book in so many ways! If I could compare it to anything else on the shelves, it would be the Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold--and believe me, that's a very high compliment!

A strength is the characterization. From the moment Jodenny Scott tells Terry Myell that his shoes are dirty, I fell in love with them both, and read along avidy as they fell in love with each other. Their romance is complicated--both of these people carry heavy baggage into the relationship. Jodenny's previous ship went down--supposedly in a terrorist attack--and Terry has been accused of an assault he didn't commit. Plus they're both raving individualists--what Terry's doing in the military is beyond me! But they do come together, in a most satisfying way.

Another great strength of this book is the ideas. Science fiction is all about new ideas--"what ifs". The "what if" at the center of this book is wicked cool--aliens have built the "alcheringa," which enables humans to engage in space travel, and thus colonize other planets. Humans aren't simple creatures themselves, however, and their use of the Alcheringa is complicated by their own intrigues and the interference of the aliens themselves.

Finally, something I appreciate very much about this book is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. Some of the themes here are quite serious, but over all the book is a tremendous amount of fun. I give it my very highest recommendation!