Customer Reviews

Starbridge 7: Voices of Chaos (Starbridge Series)

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

 

 

If I could I would actually give this book 3 1/2 stars, but it doesn't quite rate four. I love cats and love Starbridge novels, so in many ways this should be right up my alley. I did in fact think it was a decent read, and after a few false starts (the Starbridge novel before this one really disappointed me, so I was slow getting into this one) it managed to hold my attention well. I appreciated the various issues brought up because of the romantic interest between the two lead characters. I have no idea what would happen in real life if two alien species became attracted to each other, but in some ways at least this seemed to do a decent job of considering that. Some of the story did seem a bit too... predictable, maybe? However, the end still held some surprises, which I appreciated. This isn't the best book I've ever read, but (particularly for Starbridge fans) it's not bad.

The latest addition to the StarBridge universe is a tale of a young human translator sifting through complex undercurrents in an alien culture where lying is a political art form. Caught in a cultural crossfire of numerous factions fiercely protecting their own interests, Magdalena Perez has only her friendship with Khyriz, a member of the royal Arrekhi family, and her sixth sense about people lying to her, to help her ride out a civil war. For the Arrekhis have an old secret--the oppression and degradation of the Asha, a race visually different, yet as sentient as their own. Well-written, forbidden romances point up differences and similarities between sentients as Magdalena and Khyriz fight for the lives and freedom of a literally silenced race. Good alien culture, and the StarBridge frame supports rather than interferes with the space adventure. One of the best StarBridges yet.

This book brought many great ideas to light... not all the problems that we face today, have been stopped in the future... there are still cults, and there are still problems medicine can not erase. The characters were very well done, and the descriptions allowed me to visualize the scenes. I think Magdalena Perez was a very believeable character, and that having her overcome such problems, brought more dimension to her character.

i must admit that i thought that the a c stood for alice chapel since her earlier novels were all startrek oriented. then i met her at a book signing. i now have two of the series signed be the author. i have very much enjoyed the series... even though i took a number of years to finish the series. she fills her stories with interesting characters with good and sometimes funny dialogue. the stories are great. well worth a read!

The plot behind this book looked so good when I bought this book. Unfortunately the actual execution of the plot was less than satisfactory. I found the main characters, Magdalena Perez and Khyriz, to be weak one dimensional characters. Perez is the abused as a child heroine and Khyriz is the underestimated younger son of the emperor. Perez has some type of empathic powers which are mentioned in the beginning but pretty much ignored throught the rest of the book. Khyriz is "surprisingly" the only one of the royals who was able to recognize the danger to their panet and attempt to do something.

Now Crispin and Emerson do have some very good characters in this book, Zhik and An-Lieye, but they are woefully underused. Too many of the conflicts should have been seen by the characters and avoided and so make this story that much more unbelievable.