Customer Reviews

Stars Over Stars

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Aliens are usually giant bears with human personalities...or giant cockroaches with human personalities, or giant somethingorothers with human personalities. In Black On Black and Stars over Stars, Kathy Wentworth has done something that few SF writers can: she creates two races of highly believable aliens, the Hrinn and the Flek...and she explores the issues of the differences in the minds of humans and aliens. Using Heyoka Blackeagle, the ultimate outsider, the Black on Black of Hrinn legend, who is raised as a Sioux warrior, and Mitsu, the human who is transformed against her will into a Flek hivemember, she explores what it is like to be human...and what it is like to be "other." The Hrinn are neither giant wolves or giant bears or giant wolverines...they are simply Hrinn. Their culture and their personalities are clearly and carefully drawn. So are the Flek, which Wentworth transforms from a faceless and remorseless enemy into a people, worthy of protection and defense. This is a great read, as well as a deep well.

It is no accident that K. D. Wentworth is a multiple Nebula® Award nominee.

In other hands, STARS OVER STARS, the second installment in the Heyoka Blackeagle saga, could be just what a surface reading suggests: an exemplary example of a military sf novel. In Wentworth's hands, however, STARS OVER STARS becomes much more than a straightforward non-stop action adventure. Layered into the straightforward oft-told tale of a group of military trainees learning to work as a team are two major themes Wentworth deftly explores.

The book opens with Heyoka trying to train the first Ranger recruits from Heyoka's native planet. The new recruits, like Heyoka, are Hrinn, seven-foot tall furry wolf-like aliens. Unlike Heyoka, they were not raised in Human society and so are having difficulty adapting to Human standards and customs. Wentworth masterfully plumbs the social dynamics of the canine-like pack society of the Hrinn. Other authors might have stopped with this wonderful accomplishment, but Wentworth uses it as just the wedge to pry open the real themes of the book.

Beginning with the struggle of the rebellious Hrinn recruit Kei, and continuing with the inner anguish of the Human Ranger, Mitsu, Wentworth explores the twin themes of self-identity and where that identity fits within the larger social group. Wentworth never preaches it, never blatantly hits the reader over the head with it, never for one second stops the seesaw planetary battle, but each character in the book goes through the struggle to find self and to find one's place in the larger group: Kei; Mitsu; Heyoka himself; the treacherous Skal; the priestly Visht; the cull Kika with her secret. Even the gentle insectoid Laka and evil Flek characters go through this inner journey: Fourth Translator and Second Breeder, World Architect 459--no character is immune. Even whole societies must face the change these questions bring.

STARS OVER STARS offers its readers what a good military sf novel should: carefully crafted alien cultures, detailed small-unit tactics, an endorphin-draining frenetic plot. Yet, with Wentworth's buried twin themes, STARS OVER STARS has a resonating depth to it that gives its readers that extra kick only a great novel can give.

Whether as a standalone or as the sequel to BLACK/OVER/BLACK, read K. D. Wentworth's new STARS OVER STARS.

On the planet Oleaaka, Ranger Sgt. Heyoka Blackeagle, a lupinoid hrinn who was raised in the Restored Oglala Nation on Earth, is struggling to make a going concern of the first integrated human-hrinn Ranger unit. The hrinn are fierce fighters, but they have absolutely no concept of chain of command and hate sitting around and waiting to get in on the fight they've been promised against the insectoid flek. Heyoka's second and longtime partner, Cpl. Mitsu Jensen, is still recovering from the brainwashing she endured as a flek POW. And Oleaaka has what everyone assumes to be a native species of its own, the laka, who supposedly--nobody yet understands how--drove the flek off 48 years ago. Entirely by accident, the Ranger unit discovers a hidden flek transport station, and everything starts going downhill from there. As has been mentioned by other reviewers, the multiple pov's may be a bit hard to follow--we get the chance to see through the eyes of just about everyone, from Heyoka and his kinsman Kei to assorted laka. But what makes the book work, like its predecessor, is Wentworth's amazing ability to put herself into the skins and minds of her nonhuman characters and portray them as true aliens, with their own cultures, concerns, and convoluted ways of thinking. In the end there's an opening left for yet another book in the series, as Heyoka's unit literally saves the day (it's been two years since the book was published; I can only hope that the author is putting the finishing touches on the final conquest of the flek!). Of course, I knew very early on that Heyoka was going about his program the wrong way, but given his raising that may be inevitable, and at least he realizes eventually that he can't, and shouldn't try to, make hrinn into carbon copies of humans. At the same time, his weirdly assorted group wouldn't survive if it hadn't had *all* the beings in it that it does; each plays an important role in the final triumph. Excellent military sf and a vivid portrayal of an alien, yet ultimately comprehensible, people.

There has been a recent fad in the US for pet wolves or wolf-cross dogs. The owners of such animals will explain that they are perfectly tame and can safely be allowed to protect and romp with children. The problem that many of these people fail to recognise is that such an animal may be tame, but is not domesticated like a dog, who has thousands of generations of genetic coding behind him that tell him humans are boss, no matter what. To the wolf or wolf-dog, the human is boss only so long as he remains strong in the wolf's eye, remains worthy to be alpha male of the pack. All too often, the owners of such animals find that they do something totally natural... which the wolf interprets as a sign of weakness, and the wolf makes his move to be alpha. Among wolves, this is a natural occurence, and, as soon as the weaker animal submits via body language, the other animal is genetically programmed to literally be unable to continue the attack; but if the weaker does not submit, the stronger will kill it. Humans, unfortunately, cannot signal submission in the proper mode, and so the owner suddenly finds his pet trying seriously to tear out his throat and may or may not survive, but will certainly be hurt.

So what has that got to do with a science-fiction review?

The Hrinn, an alien race who make up rather more than half of the "good guy" characters in this book, are basically seven-foot-tall wolves with double-thumbed hands. Their society is organised along the lines of the Terran wolf-pack, and they have the same built-in dominance/submission reflex to determine packleaders.

They also have the ability to "blueshift" -- basically to shift into a hyper-metabolism state in which they literally can move faster than human eyes can perceive. The time they can blueshift is, necessarily, limited by available energy reserves stored within their bodies, and too much blueshifting exhausts them or, in extreme cases, can even burn out the ability to blueshift.

Which is what happened on a previous mission, to Heyoka Blackeagle, a hrinn raised on Earth by a human -- an Oglala Sioux. (That would be in "Black on Black", the prevous book by this author)

Heyoka, along with a human partner, is assigned to teach an experimental Ranger team composed of mixed human and hrinn personnel how to work together in a military structure in order to fight the insectoid flek, a race that lands, kills off the local inhabitants, and then transforms conquered worlds to match their smoky, heavy-metal rich homeworld.

The problem is that native hrinn, raised on their homeworld in their native society, cannot or will not set aside their natural dominance/submission instincts, and cannot seem to learn the human concepts of obeying orders not because the person issuing the order can kill you if you don't but because he is in command. They also have no concept of military strategy, being suublimely confident that nothing can stand up to them head-on. Oh, and they regard humans as inherently weak and inferior and not worthy to command because they cannot blueshift.

So, here on a world that the flek began to "terraform" and then, for no known reason, abandoned, this ill-conceived and inherently unstable military unit is training and doing maneuvers.

And then someone discovers and accidentally activates, a flek transport grid that beings the flek's attention back to the world, as the hrinn/human interface begins to fall apart.

Meanwhile, over in the communities of the laka, the natives, yet a third story strand begins, as something is going wrong with the attitudes of some members of the thoroughly-controlled, rigidly-structured laka society... some of the breeders are beginning to remember racial memories of "fighting" and "attacking"...

All three strands will eventually come together and form a pattern -- an aspect of hrinn religion says that all of life is controlled by patterns, and the current one may well be "stars over stars"... if anyone can determine what it is and what it means.

Another reviewer apparently compared the previous book in the series to Heinlein's "Citizen of the Galaxy"; having not read it, i cannot speak to that. However, what this book rather more reminds me of is a typical Andre Norton "juvenile" from the same period -- a world that is essentially a puzzle set for a relatively young protagonist who discovers that he is, somehow, the focus of Great Powers which he must learn either to control or to avoid in order to solve the riddles he faces and save the situation in the end.

Done well, this is formula almost always yields a strong story. While not up to Norton's level yet, Wentworth gives us a generally-satisfying tale that, while it may disappoint in some ways (i have a few problems with the whole concept of the hrinn as a race, which cost the book at least one star in my rating) still pretty well delivers on what the author intended.

I shall probably make it a point to read the next volume, in order to see if Wentworth can keep things together and moving forward.

K.D. Wentworth's fast-paced (and beautifully written) "Stars over Stars" has to be one of the weirdest, and yet most fascinating, contributions to the "military" science-fiction subgenre.

A sequel to "Black on Black," it contains a veritable cornucopia of whacked out humans and aliens. The fun starts before you even open the book. Look at Patrick Turner's brilliant cover, which shows a wolf-like biped (Wentworth describes the critters as wolf-bear-cat combos, but never mind), clearly male, looking over his shoulder at a tiny human woman, who looks as if she'd rather be anywhere else than where she is (they're framed against a background of crystals--you'll soon learn why) while toting so many guns and ammo that it's unlikely she'd have a chance to use any of it before being toppled over by anything incoming. And she seems quite aware of this. "What am I doing here, with this big bad critter?" she seems to be asking. (And maybe you will be too.)

The lupine is Heyoka Blackeagle, a member of the race of Hrinn who have definite issues dealing with authority figures and chains of command (they're used to solving disputes the way Earth's wolves do), who serves as a sergeant in the human-led intergalactic ranger corps, and the woman is Mitsu Jensen, his corporal. Jensen has just recovered from having been brainwashed by the insectoid race known as the Flek (the story told in "Black on Black"), and the still unstable woman thinks she sees them everywhere. But they've abandoned this planet, which is now occupied by the peaceful Laka (who also seemingly have all sorts of mental problems). The possibly still-addled Jensen seems unable or unwilling to tell the difference between Laka and Flek.

And then, just when Heyoka and all the other members of the platoon are convinced Mitsu's brain is indeed seriously fried--yep, here come the Flek themselves. And then things really go bananas, as the tale tumbles on in a multiple POV fashion (all the significant characters get at least one turn at bat). The details of the tumultuous efforts to keep the planet Flek-free will not be divulged here. See for yourself.

A great piece of work. More please!

Having read K.D Wentworth's BLACK ON BLACK, I kniew what to expect -- somewhat. This time she focuses on three alien species, not counting the humans, and brings them all off well. She has the ability to make the reader care about even minor characters. The story is pretty traditional SF again, which is not my preferred reading, but Wentworth's book kept me up late at night after I should've gone to sleep "just gotta finish this/the next chapter." While not perfect, this is a very good read.

Oh, wow.

That seems a little inadequate for a book which kept me up past midnight just to finish it. Kathy Wentworth has a real gift for bringing situations and people to life, including even the sketch-glimpses we get of the flek, and the color-sketch of the Laka.

I really liked the development of character in this book. Blackeagle and Mitsu both overcome major limitations in their mind-sets and grow to meet new challenges, and I had a lot of fun following the ways events kept backfiring on the flek. Even the minor characters such as Kei were worth knowing, and it was fun watching each of them deal with the mess into which they were pitched.

About the only negative comment I have is that the cover isn't nearly as good as the one for "Black/On/Black", which was much more evocative. This cover is truer to the content of the story, but definitely not as much of a sales point. I bought the dead tree "B/O/B" on the basis of the cover alone, then got blown away by the story in that book. You don't, by the way, have to have read the first book in order to follow this one, but you'll have a lot of fun if you do.

I sincerely hope this won't be the last we see of the *Avalanche/In/Motion* pattern that are Heyoga Blackeagle and Mitsu.

Dear author of "Stars Over Stars",

Have you considered having your work edited? I have been reading it in two-chapter increments, and I was still very much annoyed by the endless repeated of the folowing points:

1. Fleck smell.

2. Laka are pieceful.

3. Heyoka has "Other" inside of him, that is not human.

4. Heyoka feels guilty for Mitsu.

5. Heyoka feels guilty for not interfacing furballs into the military better.

6. Mitsu is crazy.

7. Mitsu has been a prisoner of Fleck and cannot take it again.

8. Male laka are naive.

9. Heyoka can't blueshift.

10. The firballs do not deal with human discipline.

11. The firballs challenge/ do not challenge/ think about challenging.

Seriously, it was very annoying.

No love,
Me.

I read the previous book some years ago and did not know there was a sequel until someone showed it to me. So I bought it. The book starts out rather slow and if you have any military experience you will really get annoyed around half-way through the book. I do not expect a Master Sergeant to make rookie mistakes, seeing one make them was a sign that the author really has no exposure to such people.

The book does pick up again as it goes on, but there were still a lot of issues she did not explore that she (IMHO) should have gone into more. The hero really knows nothing of his people, at this point he's spent some time with them, but still not enough to understand them or come to grips with what they are and what he is. I think if she had played that angle a bit more over making military people like what you see in newer hollywood movies and TV shows, it would have been a much better book.

(The Rationale 'we can't afford to get rid of him because we're too few' while employed often in movies has never once been employed in combat, if they're not on your side, they're gone.)

A delicious read! Loved it! Loved it! Great action, great characters immerse you in Wentworth's fascinating universe!