Customer Reviews

Shielder (Shielder Series, Book 1)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In SHIELDER, incredibly talented newcomer Ms. Spangler has created the ultimate story about the healing power of love. Though technically a futuristic, SHIELDER transcends the boundaries and speaks to the dreamer in all of us. This is a must-read story about two strong but lonely people who discover that through love, anything is possible. Outcast Nessa dan Ranul has nothing left to live for. Knowing ths, she willingly accepts a dangerous mission to try and save her people from a devastating illness, even if it means sacrificing her own life in the process. Her strength and courage will tear at your heart! Chase McKnight is a renegade on a deadly mission of revenge. He doesn't have time for distractions, but when he discovers Nessa stranded in space, his long dormant honor mandates he help her out. Thus begins Nessa and Chase's action-packed adventure. As they travel the limits of the galaxy -- and emotion -- Nessa longs to tell Chase of her dilemna, but she can't let herself trust him, not when doing so in error could spell the end of her race. Every day brings her one step closer to her demise, and one step closer to finding the courage to trust this incredible stranger who makes her long to believe, just once, that love does indeed, conquer all. Ms. Spangler has blazed onto the scene with a gripping and emotional page-turner. SHIELDER is a story not to be missed! In addition to the appealing main characters, Ms. Spangler has created an enticing alternate world, populated by stunning locales and a cast of intriguing secondary characters. Might we get treated to a glimpse at Sabin and Moriah next? One can only hope! Bravo, Ms. Spangler.

A decade has passed since her Shielder community shunned Nessa because she was imperfect. Anyone suffering deformity like her bad leg and her seizures normally means death because the people believe any handicap drains their survival. Only her beloved brother kept her alive as even Nessa's parents reject her. Now Nessa has a chance to be accepted by her people. The Shielder enemy, the Controllers has developed the Orana virus, which is destroying Nessa's people.

Nessa has volunteered to be a guinea pig, working for a cure at a lab. However, something goes wrong during her space trip to Sonoma and she is left stranded with the clock ticking towards her death. Shadower Chase McNight rescues Nessa. However, Chase is a bounty hunter employed by the Controllers to destroy the Shielders. Though clearly on opposite sides of a stellar struggle, neither one expected love to blossom even if the emotion has no chance of success.

SHIELDER is more than just a futuristic romance as it has cross genre appeal to speculative fiction readers. The non-stop story line is filled with action and suspense. The lead protagonists are a fantastic duo, struggling with forces beyond their understanding such as love and the fight between the Controllers and the Shielders. The obviously gifted Catherine Spangler scribes a sensational space story that that will leave fans of SF and futuristic romance seeking out her previous titles even as they await her future novels.

Harriet Klausner

Catherine Spangler's "Shielder" is The Best!! Of course, I haven't read "Shadower" yet, but am about to begin the novel right after I write this review. If you like futuristic romance, or time travel, you will love this book. Not only is it extremely well written, but the plot is fresh, complex and very unusual. The characters are so realistic they jump right off the page. They sure found a place in my heart!

Leonessa dan Ranul is a Shielder, a race of people hunted all over their quadrant of the universe by Controllers. Shielders are able to block brainwashing and programing that the Controllers have performed on most inhabitants of the quadrant. Nessa and her people are immune to telekinetic control. However, Shielders are becoming extinct because Controllers and their minions are exterminating them at a rapid rate. A new deadly virus has been developed which only Shielders are vulnerable to. Nessa, is slightly handicapped and therefore shunned by the entire colony on Liron, including her parents. The dwindling colony does not have sufficient resources to share with anyone who is not perfect. She volunteers to be inoculated with the virus. She is willing to become a live host, and travel to the larger, better developed Shielder colony on Sonoma, where someone might be able to create an antidote. She has only four weeks before the virus will manifest itself. With only a small store of supplies and Turi, her affectionate Lanrax pet and only friend, Nessa takes off in an old, outdated transport shuttle.

After only two days in space, the decrepit lemon breaks down, leaving Nessa and Turi stranded. They are vulnerable to any passersby, including Shadowers, a group of space bounty hunters who hunt Shielders and criminals to deliver to the Controllers. Chase McKnight is a Shadower, expert bounty hunter, and ship captain, who reluctantly stops to assist Nessa. She disguises herself as a Pilgrim, and he agrees to eventually take her to a planet near Sonoma where she can get transportation to her destination. She must keep Sonoma's location a secret because she fears that McKnight will turn the colony's inhabitants, along with Nessa, over to the Controllers. Nessa is behind schedule and the deadly timeclock within her body is ticking.

There is as much suspense as romance here....and the romance sizzles. Ms. Spangler has created a grim universe where technology, progress and education do not prevent evil. She peoples her story with all kinds of fascinating creatures, and two fabulous secondary characters, who are featured in her next book, "Shadower." Nessa is an extremely courageous young woman, who has steeled herself to live alone, always. McKnight is her polar opposite, tall, strong and muscular to Nessa's small delicate form; he's an alpha-male, allergic to Lanraxes, she's calm, patient, accepting - no allergies; he is world weary, she is an innocent; he is physically strong, she is disabled. They are both very intelligent and Nessa is a computer wiz. But opposites do attract.

The author won the 1998 Emily Award for "Shielder" and she certainly deserves it. I am addicted to this series. Highly recommended!!
JANA

I really liked this book. Nessa, the heroine, is a cripple and for that she is banned by her own people, including her parents! She is a shielder, a race on the brink of extinction. The shielders are hunted down and killed by an evil dominion that rules the galaxy. When her help is needed for a dangerous mission, Nessa takes off in an old spaceship and encounters Chase. The story is really heartbreaking sometimes and also very original (I loved her pet). The love story between Nessa and Chase is convincing and there is enough action in the novel too. I liked this first book even better than the second book, Shadower (which actually takes place before this one)and the third, Shamara. But they are all 3 very good!

All I can say is WOW! I stayed up until 2 am last night to finish this book. Now I know why it received awards! SHIELDER is the first in a sci-fi romance series set in a hostile galaxy where Controllers will do whatever they can to annihilate Shielders. Nessa is an outcast, a crippled Shielder with epilepsy who tries to save her Colony by offering her body as a host for a killer virus in hopes of finding a cure in time. It's a top secret mission complicated tenfold when her spacecraft breaks down and she's rescued by a surly, revenge-oriented bounty hunter named Chase. Unfortunately, Chase works for the Controllers, so Nessa can't trust him even if he's the only person EVER who treats her as a human being and touches her as a woman.

This book immediately sucks you into his world and into Nessa's hopes and fears. From then on, it's fast paced and gripping. I could not put it down. Nessa and Chase have a fascinating relationship. At first, she thinks herself totally unworthy of anything, while he is a total control freak. How they grow around each other is amazing. Plus, the threat to Nessa goes way beyond simple bad guys. She is grievously sick; worse, her death could doom an entire race of people.

I highly recommend SHIELDER and look forward to reading the next book in its series (which is called SHADOWER)!

Absolutely memorable! Very highly recommended

With the future of her entire race at stake, outcast Nessa dan Ranul volunteers to become a live host to a deadly virus. Her mission is to make her way to the Shielder colony in the Sonoma galaxy because they would most likely to be able to create an anecdote. Shielders have long been the targets of Controllers because they have the ability to shield their minds from the Controllers telekinetic control. When the Controllers failed in other methods of eradicating her people, they developed the deadly Orana virus to their dirty work. Now Nessa has only four weeks before the virus will manifest itself. She takes nothing with her except a meager store of supplies and Turi, her affectionate and protective Lanrax pet.

Only two days in space, and her decrepit spacecraft breaks down, leaving Nessa at the mercy of whoever passes by. A Shadower, or bounty hunter, grudgingly comes to Nessa's rescue. Nessa fears that if Chase McKnight, the ship's captain, learns her true identity, he will turn her over to the Controllers. She claims to be on a religious pilgrimage to Zirak, a planet system close to the Sonoma galaxy. Despite their mutual attraction, Nessa does not dare tell Chase the true reason for their journey. Intent upon his own agenda of revenge, he continually deviates from their flight path in pursuit of those who destroyed his own colony. Desperate to reach Sonoma before the illness becomes active, Nessa continually attempts to escape, building Chase's distrust of her.

With a remarkably complex, yet seamless woven plot, SHIELDER will delight futuristic romance fans. Author Christine Spangler creates a horrifying and believable background with strong motivations for these memorable characters. In addition, Nessa's love for her Lanrax its endearing protectiveness add an endearing sparkle - be sure to keep the hankies close. While Spangler's novel is futuristic, with the sci-fi toys that make such reading fun, it is also marvelously original and markedly different from the traditional fair. Both the hero and heroine's growth as characters, Chase as he learns to accept his gifts and Nessa as she gains self-acceptance and self-love, brings the novel both sensual heat and the reader's empathy. Destined to become a classic, SHIELDER comes very highly recommended.

I am giving this book four stars both because it was good, but also because it lacked a few things. To summarize: Anti-heroine, Leonessa dan Ranul ("Nessa") is a Shielder, a species hunted by the mind-destroying Controllers and forced to live an impoverished and desperate existence. Shielders also share telepathic skills, which are limited to the ability to sense others of the Shielder race. A victim of a culture who embraces the euthanasia of its members who are found unfit, Nessa's seizures and heavy limp have made her an outsider. In her entire colony, Nessa's only support comes in the form of secret visits from her brother, Jarek and her furry pet lanrax, Turi.

When the Controllers release the genetically-engineered Orana virus, which afflicts Shielders alone, in-spite-of her forced estrangement from the other Shielders in her colony including her own parents, Nessa volunteers to help save her people. Specifically, Nessa volunteers to be injected with the Orana virus in order to facilitate undetectable transportation of the virus to a secure lab and to find a cure. When Nessa's ship breaks down, Captain Chase McKnight ("Chase") responds to her distress signal. Chase is a shadower, a glorified bounty-hunter for the Controllers. Time is running out for Nessa as the virus incubates, and she needs to get to the lab at Sonoma. However, Chase has ideas of his own as he pursues his own demons.

While THE SHIELDER was strong on build-up and the development of its two main characters, the book was weak on resolution of the main conflicts/issues-namely, the battle with the Orana virus and also with the antagonist, Dansan.

First, when Chase's emotional and psychological crisis that is intimately tied to his work as a doctor and his perceived failure in the medical field meets a the crossroads of Nessa's deadly illness and the fate of her people, more time should have been invested in the science of dealing with the illness and with the hero's expertise in the field. There wasn't much talk about his skills beyond bandaging backs and cleansing scrapes. Even Chase's creation of the medication for Nessa's seizures was skimmed over where I felt there should have been more detailed explanation and description of the process. I'm not asking for a medical journal, but only some more description to sustain the realism of the story.

Second, I felt that Dansan was a cookie-cutter enemy and concerning Chase's interaction with the enemy, the only thing not `form' or `standard' about it was that Dansan was a woman. The final confrontation between the two was Scooby-Doo-ish: Chase confronted Dansan and she basically said, `Yep, I did it all. You got me.'

Finally, the ending was likewise kind of corny and easy (and happy), if unlikely. It was hard to believe that parents who had never shown Nessa love or respect or even acknowledged her existence would suddenly make a complete 180 degree change of heart.

THE SHIELDER gets four stars for good development of the romance, the sci-fi world and the development of Nessa and Chase. It does not get the fifth star, because I believe Catherine Spangler should have put forth more effort in tying up loose ends, developing the `doctor side' of Chase and scientific description of the battle with Orana.




Very Good.

Shielder's non-stop action and explosive passion will leave your lungs gasping for oxygen and your heart racing! Two characters so right for each other, and yet with so much to overcome before they can accept each other's love, and give their own in return, have never been written. Ms. Spangler has done a beautiful job pairing up a reluctant hero, a heart-wrenchingly courageous heroine, and vivid secondary characters. The emotional roller coaster she sets them on will take you to other worlds...and make you feel right at home. People, after all, are still people, no matter what galaxy they come from. Don't miss Shielder!

This book is good for the author's first. I expected to be bored as this was my first futuristic romance but i was wrong. you can't miss this!
Leonessa dan Ranul has seizures n a limp. Her people despises her but she volunteers to be a live host for the orana virus. Wishing that she will be accepted again by them, she travels to sonama. unfortunately, her spaceship breaks down and a shadower reluctantly rescues her. They find a passion between them, but as Chase (the shadower) delays the trip, she must find a way to escape and get to sonama befors the orana destroys her body.

Shielder is a must read for romance fans! I fell in love with Nessa and Chase from the get go. This book has it all: Non-stop Action. Emotional intensity. And sizzling passion. I anxiously await Ms. Spangler's next release!