An interstellar alien corporation run by aliens was thwarted in its plans to exploit genetically altered slaves. Now, in an attempt to keep it's case from ever coming to court, a judge is murdered on Khagodis--the planet where the amphibious human slaves were first bred--and the man who first broke the slave ring must find a way to bring these villains to justice.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Phyllis Gotlieb is a well-respected Canadian feminist and poet, and there are fine literary rhythms in her science fiction novels. But Violent Stars, her followup to Flesh and Gold, lacks taut plotting and character development.
Hero and Galactic Federation agent Ned Gattes can't seem to walk outdoors without a clue falling into his lap. Even in a cavernous grotto on an alien planet crowded with thousands of ne'er-do-wells, he's sure to recognize or be recognized by someone who's in on the conspiracy.
What conspiracy? It's somehow connected to Zamos, the interstellar corporation that bred and enslaved amphibious beings in Flesh and Gold and that is now out to thwart any opposition and delay the coming trial. Other adversaries are the Ix, an evil arachnid race that emits pheromones to knock out enemies. The Ix seek to locate, kidnap, and terrorize--one target is Earth Ambassador's daughter Verona. But the Ix seem so all-powerful that one starts to wonder why they bother with a 15-year-old girl. Why not just invade the whole planet? Violent Stars also includes more information on the indomitable and mysterious Lyrrht, the squishy pods who encase themselves in metal in order to live in the world and pay off their grand debt.
Gotlieb's sequel is quite intricate and literate despite its faults. But start with the more complex and lyrical Flesh and Gold for a better introduction to the author. --Bonnie Bouman
From Publishers Weekly
Spiraling from an alien abduction in Toronto to intergalactic intrigue wicked enough to curdle the Milky Way, this colorful but trite sequel to Flesh and Gold (1998) brings many of Gotlieb's flamboyant extraterrestrials back for a sprawling encore. To avoid becoming unwilling egg-incubators for the unspeakable Ix, the amebic Lyrrht indentured their genetic engineering talent to the dastardly Zamos Corporation, creating luscious mermaid clones that Zamos enslaved into its Federation-wide prostitution operation. Although brought to a lengthy trial by Judge Skerow, a distinguished giant allosaurian Khagodi poetess, Zamos employs the Ix to terrorize and annihilate its opponents, like Solthree's Ambassador Bullivant, whose adopted daughter, Verona, is kidnapped by the Ix, igniting the novel's action. Once ex-pug Ned Gattes rescues Verona from the Ix, this rudimentary plot loses focus and devolves into one brush with the baddies after another. Gotlieb's various aliens are cleverly and sympathetically conceived, but the novel's conflicting moral issues seem to flounder through simplistic cut-and-run chase scenes and profuse adolescent-style angst. Less persuasive than Flesh and Gold, this is a space operetta where the leading fat allosaur never gets around to singing.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Bad writing,
By
This review is from: Violent Stars (Paperback)
Plot and characters are adequate, and it doesn't start too badly, but the quality of the writing steadily declines and by mid-book the writing is ghastly. One example:..."Come, children, eat your suppers, and let us not dwell on grim thoughts." This is typical. Not incomprehensible, but clunky and awkward. The book just isn't worth the wade.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Word-Weaver,
By
This review is from: Violent Stars (Paperback)
'Violent Stars' is a brilliant book. It is the companion-piece to the even better 'Flesh & Gold', and while it suffers for the comparison, it is still a gem of a book. Gottlieb revels in her poetic talents: her word-weaving brings her space opera-ish universe to startling life and held me riveted. I couldn't put it down, and regretted that there isn't a part three (yet?).The plot of 'Violent Stars' picks up where 'Flesh and Gold' left it. The Evil Empire has come back to Hydran life, and the well-crafted characters from F&G find themselves thrust once again into the heart of the fray. This time, the stakes are higher, and a new, weirder array of wicked beasties - reminiscent in the best way of the dread Shadows of the Babylon 5 series in their unexpected actions and the horror and confusion their very presence causes - are on hand. Violent Stars is dark, humorous, thoughtful, sincere, and original. I don't want to get more specific, because I don't want to give anything away. I can say that Gottlieb has clearly lavished great effort in bringing this book to life, and it shows. Her writing burned into my head: there are sentences I can still remember, and that is not something that I can say about many other books. She brings scenes and characters to life without boring description, using her poet's sense to suggest and indirectly describe. The result is as riveting in Violent Stars as it was in F&G, and the characters as interesting. It is unfortunate that Violent Stars, while maintaining the gorgeous, lush sound of the first, suffers in terms of its plot. It is most emphatically *not* a self-contained novel - while I read it before F&G, I didn't get the charge out of it I would have by knowing the story that preceded it. But perhaps that is unfair. After all, there are many books that are not meant to be read as stand-alone novels, but that are superior in their proper place. I feel strongly that if you were held enraptured by Gottlieb's first work (as so many people clearly were: I cannot stress how utterly lovely her writing and pacing is), then you need to pick up her second work. It is hard to follow a mighty first novel with a second part as amazing; as I said, if it suffers, it is by comparison only. Oh, and don't miss the monkeys ... I *sincerely* hope we run into them again.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing sequel to Flesh & Gold (98). Caveat lector,
By
This review is from: Violent Stars (Hardcover)
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I liked Flesh & Gold a lot, recommended it, & was looking forward to the sequel. Well, here it is, and I had to struggle to finish it. The book just didn't make sense! And there are all sorts of extraneous pulpy subplots. And a setup for *another* sequel. Ick. To be fair, there are some beautifully-written parts. And it has a nice cover. And I've seen some positive reviews. So YMMV. But it sure didn't work for me. Happy reading-- Pete Tillman
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