Customer Reviews

Shockball : A Stardoc Novel

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A word of caution: Shockball is not a book that sits back calmly and allows you to read it. Shockball is a book that seizes you violently in its jaws, shakes you like a hyperactive terrier, and slams you against a wall several times before letting you go, leaving you confused, exhausted, exhilarated, and not quite sure what just happened to you save that it was really cool and you can't wait to do it again.

Shockball is the fourth novel is S.L. Viehl's Stardoc series, and fans won't be disappointed. Cherijo's past finally catches up with her, and she and Reever are taken back to Terra, where things don't go quite as either Cherijo and Reever or Joseph Grey Veil planned.

Viehl's combination of medical knowledge and imaginative extrapolation create a host of alien creatures so believable that you'd swear she'd operated on them herself. The majority of the action in Shockball takes place on xenophobic Terra, so there isn't as much xenobiology in this book, but Viehl still manages to fit in an entirely new alien species, complete with architecture and art forms, as well as giving us a disturbing look at what has happened to the human race.

The appeal of the Stardoc books lies partly in the extensive worldbuilding and the medical believability, but I find that most of it is due to the characters populating the books. They are sometimes funny, sometimes annoying, and come complete with a host of strengths and weaknesses. The heroes aren't perfect. The villains aren't wholly despicable. In short, they're real. Sure, Cherijo is a genetic construct tooling around the far reaches of the galaxy, but she's real enough to be my neighbour down the hall (who I also wouldn't trust with a dermal probe when she's in a bad mood). It's very, very easy to get attached to these people.

Which is when Viehl goes into maniac mode and puts them through hell so fast that you have no choice but to hang on for the ride and hope you make it through. She's an expert at distracting you with something bright and shiny so that you don't see the punch coming until you're flat on your back. Viehl isn't content to wrap everything up in a neat little package for the reader, so the Stardoc series consists of a number of deftly-woven threads which connect each book and may come back to haunt you at any time. No one is safe, nothing is sacred, and you never know what she's going to do next. I've laughed, cried, and screamed out loud reading these books, sometimes within the course of a single chapter. These books are fun. Roller-coaster, breathless, heart-pounding kind of fun. Just make sure you start reading early, because they'll keep you up long past your bedtime.

What happened to the series??? Yes, there's a plot, yes, we get new stuff revealed about Cherijo, but...it feels like nothing major happened. It feels like I've been stuck in a big hole in the ground the entire novel. There is no real forward progression of characters, of ideas, of feelings. It is the same stuff again, but this time on Earth. Where it's evidently a lot more boring.

There was a lot of potential in Cherijo dealing with her father. And it is mostly wasted. I can't tell you how disappointing it is to discover that she's not so unique. And soon after getting into the lab, she escapes, and spends a good chunk of time underground. Jules Verne did a great science fiction book about being underground. He was able to pull it off. Most writers since then have realized it's pretty hard to make that interesting.

And, Wow, Ick! I *don't* want to hear about vivid descriptions of rapes and child molestation. I read novels for enjoyment, and enlightenment. Not to be disgusted.

There's a fifth book out there in the series, which reveals the final details about Cherijo's life, beyond what her father did. I'm not going to bother to buy it. At this point, I've been too disappointed, and too bored, by the last two novels. The investment I made in the character in the first two novels doesn't carry me over into any further interest in her.

Let me start with the fact that I loved the first Stardoc Novel. The next was good, but less so. The same with the next and now we get to Shockball. For a scifi book, there is a startling lack of your typical space saga while human alien hybrids and a fictional sport seem to be the only reminders that the book is set in the future. Cherijo manages to find a disease that has long since been extinct, which of course means it is a current day disease.

I liked Reever the best in this novel compared to the other three books, however, that was not enough to save the book from overall repetitive storytelling. I personally have had enough of the angst. We get it, Chreijo has a awesome immune system so can be tortured and recover. It seems all that happened in the last book was that she was tortured and then escaped. The same happens here.

The characters have potential, but instead we are treated to the soap opera angsty life of Cherijo.

I admit, I am a fan of the Stardoc series. Its fast, its fun, its cheese, but its just good. So I breezed through the first three books within a weekend, but with this edition, I came to an abrupt crawl. Shockball has a very weak plot, with a few shocking secrets unveiled about Cherijo's past but that seems to be the brunt of it. Its not up to par with the usual pace in action & suspense in the previous books.

After Cherijo and Reever get hauled back to Earth they're soon rescued from Joseph's mad-laboratory by a group of Navajos. Knowing how irate Cherijo gets about her only family being House Clan Torin she doesn't take the Navajo's claim as her blood kin amiably, even if she is nearly 100% Navajo herself. Well, her rescue comes with a price and the chief, Rico, takes her captive as medic for their Shockball team. Some are human hybrids who need to be fixed to look 100% human to legally play on the team. For most of the book she cures another mysterious plague. Reever gets in a few squabbles, gets enlisted in the Shockball team, and enjoys some machismo time as the suave new MVP. Rico has a queer fascination with her upbringing (quite obvious why but the brilliant Cherijo is clueless). There were no interesting new characters like Quilyp, Furreva, or Rogan. Some, like Rico's short secondhand man were mere brutes - but for no reason other than to point out how much Cherijo hates short men. Cherijo's new assistant - Hawk, a Quasimodo lookalike is very timid and quiet. In the first chapter, they visited a world of flying people so I wonder what "Hawk"'s condition is. Anyway... I lost a lot of respect for Cherijo's character in the way she views the Navajos. She frequently mocks their beliefs & traditions just like she did the Torins' attitude toward suicide and continues to carry a superiority complex about advanced society and medicine. On the other hand, I respect Viehl's characterization because it makes Cherijo that more real.

Shockball had nothing to do with the story. At the end the reason why she had to deal with the whole Shockball nonsense is so ludicrous and flimsy you'll feel like you just got hit by a shockball yourself! Nevertheless, I am anticipating the next edition and hope it will be just as good as Endurance. I recommend that you read it only to find out some few things about Cherijo's past, but the whole story in of itself, leaves much to be desired.

Ohhhhhhhhh, Ms. Viehl. What the heck took you so long? 'Shockball' was a . . . well, a shock. Almost from the start it went in a direction that I completely did not expect. And just when I was feeling smug about being able to predict where things were going. I like very much that Reever takes some nice abuse, though I don't quite understand the way his role in the story changes. Maybe it'll be explained in the next book. I'm hoping so. Viehl's inventiveness is wonderful. Her depiction of an underground society is very well done and that alone helps drive the story. It doesn't have to, but it's a bonus I won't complain about. As with 'Endurance', there's a dark side to this tale, but it's more subdued, not so relentless. In 'Endurance' Cherijo began to deepen and take on much hoped for new demensions. That continues in 'Shockball', though not at the same frantic pace. Is this Viehl's best story to date? My favorite is still 'Endurance', but I'm betting that many people, especially those who shirked away from the intensity of 'Endurance', will find that 'Shockball' is their hands down favorite. So why are you still here? Go buy the book, and be ready for several days of ignoring everyone and everything around you while you sit alone in a lighted corner of your home, with 'Shockball' glued to your fingers

Readers who particularly enjoy Viehl's colorful and eccentric aliens, and her high-tech settings, may feel somewhat deprived by this fourth StarDoc novel. Cherijo and Duncan spend most of it on alien-challenged Terra, and much of it in decidedly low-tech surroundings. There are several compensations, though.

There are people who write horror stories for a living and still never manage to dream up a monster as twisted as Joseph Grey Veil. Shockball delivers a lot of new information about his genetic experimentation, his motivations, his personality, and his predilections. It sure isn't pretty, but it's great reading, in a bent sort of way.

Some of what she learns about Joe will affect Cherijo's ongoing adventures. Viehl lays the groundwork for other future story lines in Shockball as well. There's the cache of data disks that Maggie left for Cherijo to retrieve. There's also a rather belabored point about Duncan's anomalous kidney function, which may reflect a secret about his past. Poor proofreading and Viehl's history of basic writing errors make it impossible to be certain, but smart money says there's at least one clue that Shockball leaves fewer dead bodies than readers might expect. There's something about Cherijo's reproductive situation that indicates either future plot twists or poorly rationalized plotting. Then of course there's the not-quite-surprise at story's end.

Shockball (2001) is the fourth SF novel in the StarDoc series, following Endurance. The initial volume in the series is StarDoc.

In the previous volume, Cherijo learned that she is pregnant. FurreVa was shot with a pulse rifle at close range. When Cherijo and the slaves were rescued from Catopsa, FurreVa was transferred to the Sunlace and underwent massive surgery.

In this novel, Cherijo Grey Veil is a modified clone of Joseph Grey Veil. She is a physician and surgeon. She had been Senior Healer on Catopsa.

Duncan Reever is a telepath and a very talented linguist. He can learn a language almost as fast as it is being spoken via a link to the mind of the speaker. He escapes from the Hsktskt with Cherijo.

Jenner is Cherijo's Tibetan Temple Cat. Cherijo understands his looks and moods very well.

Squilyp is an Omorr, a four limbed alien who hops on one limb and uses the other three as arms. He is Senior Healer on the Sunlace.

Vlaav Irde is a Saksonan. He had been a fourth year intern until Cherijo raised him to Resident status.

In this story, Cherijo is viewing Vlaav's work. He was told to perform an appendectomy, but instead did an autopsy without anesthesia. The simulated torso is a mess and Cherijo is not pleased.

Vlaav asks Squilyp to take over his instruction. Vlaav will never be as brilliant a surgeon as Cherijo and feels intimidated by her methods. He is working hard to imitate her style, but not really getting anywhere.

Then the ships run into space junk. Although shaken up, people on the Sunlace are unhurt. But there have been casualties on Reever's vessel, the Perpetua.

Cherijo and the medical staff pull the injured through the calamity, but the Perpetua is severely damaged. Reever insists on transferring to the Truman, a gift from Cherijo's creator. But that vessel is a trap and Cherijo is captured by the Terrans.

This tale has Cherijo in the custody of her creator. Joseph is as cold and uncaring as usual. He immediately starts a series of tests to find her limitations. Then Cherijo and Duncan are rescued by a Navaho man.

Cherijo soon learns that she and Duncan are still captives. The next volume in this series is Eternity Row.

Recommended for Viehl fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of gene modified clones, medical procedures, and persevering women. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

Subject says it all: I keep on wanting to know what happens next but I'm not certain that I'll continue to buy books in this series.

Seriously, I didn't like this as much. It bordered on perpetually creepy. But, it was good! The author packs an amazing amount of storyline in this series!

The book description gives the plot so I mostly wanted to add my rating to the overall score.

This series became progressively darker and this one was one of the better ones for me. I felt the true mystery of Cherijo's past is largely revealed here and it's not very pleasant. Earth and Duncan's obsession with Shockball (like future football of some kind) added the only levity, I think.

That said, their captivity and the darker aspects were rather depressing and rather won out over interesting.