Customer Reviews

Sassinak (Planet Pirates, Vol 1) (v. 1)

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

 

 

Sassinak on its own is a pretty good story, but there are a few holes in it, and it doesn't seem finished... Almost like it is just a chapter in a bigger book.

Well it is. To get the whole story you need to read: The Death Of Sleep by Anne McCaffery and Jody Lynn Nye followed by Dinosaur Planet and Dinousar Planet Survivors, both by Anne McCaffery. Then Sassinak and finaly Generation Warriors. (Also by Anne McCaffery and Elizabeth Moon.)

That way you can read the WHILE story, starting with the first time Lunzie gets shipwrecked till they all save the known universe, almost by accident. You'll have to read the books to see how they do it! The books are all tied together and you get to see some of the same scenes from different points of view.

They are well worth the time to read.

In retrospect, it's hard to say where exactly Sassinak goes awry. It has, for example, an absolute gold mine of a premise - an abducted girl grows up to the be one of the most powerful military leaders in space history. However, somewhere in the execution, the authors tripped over themselves. The book jumps from place to place with little or no transition, and Sassinak's original abduction happens so fast and is treated so trivially by the authors that it's hard to see it as a traumatic event that shaped her personality. Likewise, there is truly uninspired series of scenes with Sassinak in military school - and then, whoops! She's a cadet! And then, whoops! She's a captain. The last 50 pages are a confusing mish-mash of abrupt deus ex machinas and hastily resolved plot points. How are they resolved, you ask? I have no idea, but when I turned the page, all the characters were busy chatting about how glad they were that *that* was over, and I took it on faith that resolution occured. God knows I'm not going to read the book again to find out.

I enjoyed reading this book when I was in high school. As an adult I'm a bit more picky with my reading. But as a teenager I thought it was a good space opera.

My goodness. All these years - decades, I'm fairly certain - after I read McCaffrey's DINOSAUR PLANET and DINOSAUR PLANET SURVIVORS, here's a book giving that story's cliffhanger ending a decent resolution! I had no clue about this when I started reading SASSINAK, though. It was simply one more of this novel's pleasant surprises.

Title character Sassinak, whose single name is often shortened to Sass or Sassy, definitely belongs more to the Elizabeth Moon school of heroines than to that of the more traditional McCaffrey. No one ever suggests to Sassinak (who would dare?) that she's really not fulfilled as she ought to be in her life as a Fleet officer, for lack of a husband and babies. Nor does anyone suggest that her traumatic background, kidnapped at age 12 and then held captive for several years by pirates who murdered her whole immediate family, makes her emotionally damaged goods unfit for starship command. Sass's life is about challenges, and what she does with challenges is overcome them.

There's action and adventure in plenty here, but basically SASSINAK is character-driven military sci-fi at its best. Sassinak has just the right mix of confidence and conscience to make her seem utterly real, and the characters surrounding her also have depth enough for credibility. I especially enjoyed the plot twist at the book's ending, which left me hoping for - heaven help me - a sequel. I would love to read more about Sassinak and her universe, and that's as a high a compliment as I can pay two of my favorite authors.

Note: On arriving at Amazon to post this review, I've discovered that there IS more! Happy dance time!

How Mccaffrey and Moon didn't die from embarrassment when this was published I'll never know. Perhaps they didn't actually read it? Perhaps the editors just relied on the wonderful reputations of the authors and didn't actually read it? I recommend you do the same and don't actually read it. Pick any book in the Honor Harrington series instead if you wish to see how this story should have been written. Note to self: once your reputation is made as a mega author, you can make money from publishing eclectic drivel.

It's not often that you can point out one specific thing that makes or breaks a book. A book is dependent on so many different themes and characters that it's nearly impossible to pinpoint the deciding factor. Sassinak is no exception - after reading it, you know that it was a *bad* book, but you can't quite figure out why. Sassinak herself has all the gutsy trademarks that tend to sell girly hardcore sci-fi: she's cool, distant, keeps her head, uses guns and men with the same aplomb. But, in a way, you sense that Sassinak is profoundly unhappy...but instead of the author's working this concept in to intrigue you, it's more like both the reader and Sassinak have to suffer through this long, painful affair. It's structured - but it's soulless, frankly. There's no warmth, no love. Robin McKinley put it best when she described that moment when an author hits the right note with a story - it's like picking up cold stones in the dark and finding a puppy. You know it's a puppy because it moves, it wiggles, it's alive. Sassinak is cold and lifeless, without any spark of creation.

I didn't know that pain could be this bad, but I was apparently wrong. I'm still trying to decide who to blame for this travesty of a novel. I haven't read any of Elizabeth Moon's materials, so my view is a little skewed...

But it's probable that both woman lent their weaknesses to this one. Anne McCaffrey tends to focus more on her characters, to this book's detriment. The novel itself is simply a soulless connection of odd passages in a hideous woman's life as she makes her way from a slave up the military lines.

There's not exactly a underlying POINT to this novel. Sure, you feel pity for Sassinak in the beginning, as her parents are slaughtered and she becomes a slave. Then you just start feeling sorry for her because she's in this gutless, flimsy excuse for a novel. Then, you just kind of go numb.

The novel really jerks from one portion of her life to another, with no real reason behind each jerk. And the end...really trails off, because you don't have a clue as to where the climax is. Throughout the book, suggestions of a conspiracy involving the subjugated races are brought up, but that, of course, goes no where.

In the end, you're left with a hollow, empty feeling of having lost something infinitely precious. That is, your time and your money. For the love of all that's holy, please spend it somewhere else!

Sassinak is a clever and interesting character. Yes, I know that she will likely survive each situation, and is a bit of a wunderkind, but I can accept this and still care about her. The action moves well and the plot twists kept me turning the pages. In my opinion this book is highly enjoyable.

Unreadable. I'd recommend if you were a particular masochist, but otherwise - go and enjoy dental surgery, it would be far more pleasurable and constructive than reading this book.

i used to like anne mccaffrey, but that was when she could WRITE. this book was so boring, I couldn't even get through it.