★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended
(Space Opera; Voidwitch) The Voidwitch Saga concludes with Marius Xi (Mars) searching for her father in hopes of finding a cure for the young psionic boy she’s befriended. (39,510 words; Time: 2h:11m)
This story does not stand alone; you need to read the first two novellas in the series first. See related articles on Tor.com.
"Static Ruin," by Corey J. White [bio] (edited by Carl Engle-Laird), published on November 6, 2018 by Tor Publishing.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2018.668 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: : It does have a complete plot, with Mars hunting for someone who can cure Pale, looking for more about her own history, and trying to get away from the people hunting her. Also, it wraps up most of the loose ends from the first two installments.
Con: As with the previous two installments, the protagonist is an all-powerful, nigh-invulnerable "Mary Sue." As a result, there's no tension whatsoever.
A further problem is that Mars is cruel and vicious, forming snap judgments about people based on their looks and posture. She’s not a pleasant character to read about, much less root for.
Finally, the story breaks suspension of disbelief over and over with things like seeing laser beams that are visible in space, crashing a party held by one of the richest men in the galaxy (who apparently doesn’t have security), and leaving a dead clone of her for the Empire to identify via DNA testing even though we’ve been told no one has samples of her DNA.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Corey J. White Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: : It does have a complete plot, with Mars hunting for someone who can cure Pale, looking for more about her own history, and trying to get away from the people hunting her. Also, it wraps up most of the loose ends from the first two installments.
Con: As with the previous two installments, the protagonist is an all-powerful, nigh-invulnerable "Mary Sue." As a result, there's no tension whatsoever.
A further problem is that Mars is cruel and vicious, forming snap judgments about people based on their looks and posture. She’s not a pleasant character to read about, much less root for.
Finally, the story breaks suspension of disbelief over and over with things like seeing laser beams that are visible in space, crashing a party held by one of the richest men in the galaxy (who apparently doesn’t have security), and leaving a dead clone of her for the Empire to identify via DNA testing even though we’ve been told no one has samples of her DNA.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Corey J. White Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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