Customer Reviews

Starrise at Corrivale (Star*Drive Harbinger Trilogy, Vol. 1) (v. 1)

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

 

 

To be honest, I usually avoid gaming novels. Oh, I've read the "big ones," the original Dragonlance trilogy, the first couple Drizzt books, and the Gygax Gord novels, but that's about it. As a new Alternity GM, however, I decided to give Starrise At Corrivale a try to get a better "feel" for the Star*Drive campaign setting. I had at least heard of Diane Duane before (though I avoid other SF "lines" like the Star Trek novels on principle as well) and figured I'd give it a try.

I was pleasantly surprised. The story is quite involving, and the various plot twists grabbed my attention. The occasional combat scenes are well written, though the space combat ones get a little hazy and turgid at times - this might be on purpose, as the narrating protagonist was described as feeling that way at times. But the space combat was not really what you'd call exciting. The character interaction was the most interesting part.

The plot is an old standard, "disgraced hero must redeem himself by finding and exposing those who framed him." It is well done, however, and the mystery surrounding the book's events is maintained well.

The characterization of humans and aliens was generally good, with a couple lapses - I found the VoidCorp and Concord representatives to be somewhat one-dimensional. I liked the gentle treatment of the main aliens, a Fraal and Sesheyan mostly - there were enough little details to bring a sense of familiarity without any reducing to a sci-fi stereotype.

The depiction of the Concord Marines (the main military organization in the novel) was a little disappointing to me, they seemed too much like the Starfleet personnel of the Star Trek world (probably because of Ms. Duane's experience in writing for that line). I think the story could have benefited from a more "rough" feel to the organization.

Speaking of rough feels, there were more than a few typos and spelling/grammar problems in the book, disappointing especially for the first book out of the gate for a new line.

Duane managed to make the world interesting, which is always the main task of someone writing in someone else's world. She only lapses into intense-explication mode a couple times.

In general, for an Alternity gamer, this book is certainly worthwhile and enjoyable. For a non-gamer, this is a pretty good random SF novel, worth reading.

I have enjoyed Diane Duane's other novels, although I haven't read any of her "series" books (Star Trek, etc.). In Starrise at Corrivale, I found her usual enjoyable use of language, characters to care about, and a good story. The villains are murky and in places one-dimensional: perhaps this is to whet our appetites for the next volume in the series?? Bring it on!! (and keep writing the Wizard books, too - I buy them for my niece - and read them before I give them to her!!)

No, I won't say Diane Duane's book 'Starrise at Corrivale' is a Lensman book, but it brought back strong memories of those books. Her heros are heros with no real character flaws, her aliens are praisworthy and trustworthy - except for the nebulos hidden enemies that will surely be revealed in future books. I find her plots somewhat more convoluted (not a difficult task) but all in all, there seemed to be many simularities. I always enjoyed Smith's books, even if I did find them many, many years after they were written and the same is true of Starrise. There are better books out there but here is one that resurects a lost area of the SciFi genre in a manner that is not a 'dated' rehash of previous books. You don't need to know the plot details here, its enough to know that men are men and aliens are too. Good will prevail and our hero remains a hero - one guided by higher beings (although in this case the higher being is a human justicator will unmentioned power, political and armed rather than the more highly evolved alien Mentor).

I enjoyed this book. Diane Duane is a brilliant writer, and this book had some very strong moments. That said, the book didn't grip me. It moved along at a good pace, but didn't have any new mind-expanding ideas to draw me in, which are what I usually love about sci-fi. Not a bad book, but I've seen better from Duane.

This is a never again read. It takes more than a third of the 360+ pages to get past the back story to start in on the plot of this tale. Perhaps all that is needed for the trilogy but there are inherent writing errors in the material.

TSR, the publishers of Dungeon and Dragons thought they were onto something by starting a line of fiction that had nothing to do with their games. But they lacked expertise in this area, obviously. Editing of the work lacks in many areas.

As a reader, you start with great expository paragraphs, sometimes longer than a page. And these go on for many pages. As a reader you need to be interrupted with dialogue, and short paragraphs to catch your breath.

Then there is so much extra exposition that does not advance the story, in the early part of the book, that by the time the rhythm works you are uninvolved.

The premise is that an upcoming Marine officer who does intelligence work for the diplomats gets framed for their deaths. Some benevolent alien, and why, I must have missed because it seems far fetched, thinks our Marine is worthwhile and teams up with him to help him start a new life after the corp can't use him. He of course though not proven innocent, is let go on a hung decision.

We then have another third of the book, after this back story, of the Marine and Alien establishing themselves. The nefarious entity, the corporation, that set things up still is entwined in their lives, but so damn powerful that snuffing out this loose end should have been like sneezing.

The story then doesn't work, because our heroes aren't heroic enough, our enemy is too powerful and we don't understand there motivation since it is unclear and placed at the end. Don't waste your time or effort with this.