Tbe story of Carrie and Kusac continue...
This book is a big step down from the first book in the series that had me hooked from the start. 'Fortune's Wheel' is broken down into two halves: the first taking place on the Sholan spaceship in orbit above Carrie's planet and the last taking place on the planet of Shola, Kusac's homeworld. The first part is incredibly boring. A lot seems to be happening onboard the space ship but, in reality, not much happens. The author was trying to juggle too many plots and characters at once and ended up going nowhere.
Thankfully, their time on Shola is far more interesting and is definitely worth wading through the first half of the book. The second half of the book is very fun, fast-paced, dangerous, and full of twists and turns. I wish the two halves could have been broken off into two books so that I could have given the first half one star and the second half of the book four and a half stars.
Carrie, who was a very interesting and active character in the first book, spends most of this second volume being a damsel in distress. She gets kidnapped, she gets sick, she gets attacked, she gets injured, she even has to be rescued from her own nightmares! Most of this rescuing comes from Kusac, which would be tolerable except for the fact that he is constantly reminding the readers that he is turned on by her weakness. He likes protecting her because a female of his own species would be able to protect herself while Carrie depends on him for nearly everything. Even another character points out that Carrie has him very well 'trained' to rescue her whenever she needs it. She finally begins to come into her own in the second half of the book but she still has a long way to go.
Also the cast explodes with a ton of new characters, most of them Sholans who all have very similar names. I could barely keep any of the characters beyond the main cast straight.
These points aside, 'Fortune's Wheel' is still a good book and the second half of the story (especially the wonderful ending) is well worth fighting through the dullness of the opening half of the book. I've heard the books to follow are a major step up from this one; I hope that is true.
This book is a big step down from the first book in the series that had me hooked from the start. 'Fortune's Wheel' is broken down into two halves: the first taking place on the Sholan spaceship in orbit above Carrie's planet and the last taking place on the planet of Shola, Kusac's homeworld. The first part is incredibly boring. A lot seems to be happening onboard the space ship but, in reality, not much happens. The author was trying to juggle too many plots and characters at once and ended up going nowhere.
Thankfully, their time on Shola is far more interesting and is definitely worth wading through the first half of the book. The second half of the book is very fun, fast-paced, dangerous, and full of twists and turns. I wish the two halves could have been broken off into two books so that I could have given the first half one star and the second half of the book four and a half stars.
Carrie, who was a very interesting and active character in the first book, spends most of this second volume being a damsel in distress. She gets kidnapped, she gets sick, she gets attacked, she gets injured, she even has to be rescued from her own nightmares! Most of this rescuing comes from Kusac, which would be tolerable except for the fact that he is constantly reminding the readers that he is turned on by her weakness. He likes protecting her because a female of his own species would be able to protect herself while Carrie depends on him for nearly everything. Even another character points out that Carrie has him very well 'trained' to rescue her whenever she needs it. She finally begins to come into her own in the second half of the book but she still has a long way to go.
Also the cast explodes with a ton of new characters, most of them Sholans who all have very similar names. I could barely keep any of the characters beyond the main cast straight.
These points aside, 'Fortune's Wheel' is still a good book and the second half of the story (especially the wonderful ending) is well worth fighting through the dullness of the opening half of the book. I've heard the books to follow are a major step up from this one; I hope that is true.
Hayley M. (Zachaustlily) reviewed Fortune's Wheel (Sholan Alliance, Bk 2) on + 227 more book reviews
2nd in Lisanne Norman's Sholan Alliance series. THese books just keep getting better and better.
