Lab Rat One (Touchstone, #2)

Mar 19, 2013 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

This one is initially the same old, same old, predictable story, but the dream revelation shook it up quite a bit. Interestingly, the writing is strongest when Cass is afraid. She comes across as more human, as less of an impartial narrator of a strange world. I really liked those scenes - they were exactly the right sort of disturbing - and I loved the leak. Way to break it up.

And I predicted that final scene, although its - swift progression, as it were, surprised me a little. And what is tha...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Jen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: keepers

Second book of only, unfortunately, a trilogy. I picked up the first book because it was offered for free on the Kindle and read it because a friend of mine did the same thing and read it and LOVED it. She raved so much, I moved it up in my queue of books to read and then immediately picked up the rest of the trilogy and the "Gratuitous Epilogue". One of the rare times I have been thankful for an eReader so I could indulge in instant gratification. Also one of the rare times a free book on Kindl...more

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Apr 20, 2013 Melinda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: awesome-ya, future-sci-fi-reads, read-2013

Rating - Solid 4 Stars
Another great book in the touchstone trilogy!
Couldn't put this one down either and read it even faster than book one, definitely addicted to this story.
I have started book three already and am eager to get back to it so I will make this one quick.
Just as good as book one, in fact I really feel like this trilogy reads more like one big book rather than three separate ones - as the author describes, a diary in three parts.
One thing I didn't talk about in my review of book one...more Rating - Solid 4 Stars
Another great book in the touchstone trilogy!
Couldn't put this one down either and read it even faster than book one, definitely addicted to this story.
I have started book three already and am eager to get back to it so I will make this one quick.
Just as good as book one, in fact I really feel like this trilogy reads more like one big book rather than three separate ones - as the author describes, a diary in three parts.
One thing I didn't talk about in my review of book one is the characters, particularly the main character - Cassandra.
One of the other reviewers mentioned that you absolutely have to like Cassandra if you are going to like the books and I very much agree.
Luckily I do like her, I like her a lot actually, really awesome protag.
One of the things I like best about her is that she is so normal.
Sure, she develops some cool powers and abilities along the way, but she never morphs into super girl and strides off on a power trip. She's very, very, down to earth and reacts to everything that happens to her in an extremely realistic way.
Basically, she just does her best to deal, sometimes she succeeds very well, other times as her diary entries reveal, she struggles.
Like I said, normal girl, with normal emotional responses who is neither too perfect or too flawed.
For the most part she does deal and deals as well as can be expected considering her situation, she's a very practical girl.
And her situation is by no means easy, stranded on an alien world, controlled by a alien culture, who treat her mostly well, but give her very little choice and freedom on how she lives her life - not to mention a total lack of privacy and endless medical exams and tests. Not the best of situations and I don't think I would have handled things half as well as Cassandra does most of the time.
The supporting cast is pretty cool too, we gradually get to know a whole range of interesting and fully fleshed out characters. Host really knows how to make both her worlds and characters feel fully three dimensional.
And the end of book two!
As anyone has read it would know, I am very keen to get on with reading book three after that!
A deliciously unexpected sharp twist for Cass on a personal level.
And with that, I am on to book three :-).
Oh and did I mention all of the cool monsters and weird astral places these books have? Cause there's also seriously cool monsters ;-). (less)

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Sep 08, 2012 Witchmag rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, read-2011, young-adult, favorites, zzz-reviewed

Read the full review at Witchmag's Boekenplank

Wow, WOW and again WOW! Usually I like a sequel about the same as the first book or a bit less, because the concept isn’t as new. But not with this one, this one rocked! Although there is less action it’s great to discover the planet Muina. This is the planet where Cass landed and managed to survive on her own for a month. I had so many questions while reading this book that I had no other choice than to read this book in one go. And was very sad whe...more Read the full review at Witchmag's Boekenplank

Wow, WOW and again WOW! Usually I like a sequel about the same as the first book or a bit less, because the concept isn’t as new. But not with this one, this one rocked! Although there is less action it’s great to discover the planet Muina. This is the planet where Cass landed and managed to survive on her own for a month. I had so many questions while reading this book that I had no other choice than to read this book in one go. And was very sad when it ended, since a lot of them haven’t been answered yet. So I’m now waiting till the third book comes at the end of this month. Sigh, have to wait a bit more…

So many things happened in this book, so much I just couldn’t write a summary about the beginning as I usually do for you guys. So many important events happened that I would have had to copy the entire beginning to write a fitting summary ^^ So this time you’ll have to figure out if this book is something for you by reading just the review and blurb.

Despite that there was less “real action” in this book, so much happened that I was nearly overwhelmed occasionally. But that just added to the fun! I wasn’t bored for a minute while reading this story. Although because of all the events, I already forgot a lot. Not really a compliment, but if you consider the fact that I’m actually planning to read this book again soon it is. A bigger compliment a can’t give to Mrs. Höst. Even Twilight, a book I also loved, I read only once, but I think I’ll be rereading this book often! It’s just that good ^^

The focus in this book was the rediscovery of the world were Cass was found, Muina. And what an amazing world it is! Since it’s been completely abandoned by people for some time it returned to how our Earth once was: untouched. The world is described in such a way it’s like seeing a movie and what a beautiful world it is! It reminded me a bit of the nature in the movie Avatar. I especially liked that winter started and there was snow everywhere. That doesn’t happen often at my home, and since I love snow I really enjoyed reading that part ^^

Cass is again subject to the necessary tests and spends much of her time in the medical facility, especially after her powers start to grow. Definitely her ”favorite place to be." With every page I read, I love her more and more. Despite everything she experiences she stays with both her feet firmly planted on the ground. She has a very hard time when her powers develop, but she isn’t put down by it and trains very hard to keep them under control. Although staring at a certain handsome Setari might or might not help that process.

Overall rating 5 hearts. I loved this book from the beginning to the end. I enjoyed reading about Muina and the untouched nature. I’d love to visit a place like that once! I can recommend this book to everyone who loves a good science fiction, but I advice to read the first book first, otherwise you won’t understand a thing that’s going on. At the moment I’m impatiently waiting for the last book of this series. I so wanna now what happens next!(less)

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Jan 19, 2013 Estara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of portal science fantasy and quiet girl heroines

Recommended to Estara by: auto-buy author

Shelves: ebook, favorites, read-in-2013, re-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. So Lab Rat One shows how Cass finds her own place in Tare and Setari life, how she manages to balance cooperation and communication of her own needs so that the Setari have an interest in accommodating her wishes - as a matter of fact she cooperates a whole lot because she has common sense enough to know that she wouldn't have survived long on Muina on her own (although she can be annoyed at the testing and exasperated, going as far as decorating her clothes with a drawing of a lab rat), and wh...more So Lab Rat One shows how Cass finds her own place in Tare and Setari life, how she manages to balance cooperation and communication of her own needs so that the Setari have an interest in accommodating her wishes - as a matter of fact she cooperates a whole lot because she has common sense enough to know that she wouldn't have survived long on Muina on her own (although she can be annoyed at the testing and exasperated, going as far as decorating her clothes with a drawing of a lab rat), and while the tests and the inclusion into Setari work are dangerous, they are dangerous for the Setari, too. Some of them start building a personal relationship with Cass.

There's this one guy - very repressed to everyone, not just Cass, very perfectionist - who was one of the two Setari who found her and who saves Cass from making a mistake and letting the memory/dream space monsters -the Ionoth, which the Setari fight - into Earth space when she dreams herself into her old home. After that he starts being someone she is very aware of and grows to long to be with, but Cass is shy and she's starting to be empathetic (I think she NEEDs to become so, because her life now depends on interpreting what others want from her): she realizes that he is NOT interested, and that his powers make him aware of her longing and he avoids her.

This is one of my kink buttons, because that's exactly what I did as a teenager: fall in love with one guy and only getting my nerve together to confess to him after knowing him for roughly two and a half years. And when he wasn't interested, trying and succeeding in elegantly fading into the background (I don't believe in forcing your love onto people who aren't interested). I would have been as mortified about Cass's dream powers, as she was.

So Cass slowly develops various personal friendships, the Setari and Tare slowly realise how important her powers are and the stakes get higher with the work she does, which leads to more recuperation in sickbay. Her increased skill in the development of her powers and the outward threat of the Ionoth led by the self-aware Crutzach (who don't seem to be memories or dreams) eventually lead to her kidnapping, to Cass accidentally paving the way to opening Muina for resettlement and discovery of major bits of the problematic past for Tare, their fellow former Muinans Kolar and Nura. This will become another fascinating strand of the story: discovery, research and resettlement of Muina.

During that time there is this subtle giving of more agency to Cass, of her not feeling so totally at the mercy of her rescuers, but being of value. Of being able to speak the language well enough that she can back up her complaints about certain ways she is treated with explanations and of another really quite nice Setari becoming interested in her.

At the end of Lab Rat One - at the end of half a year of Cass living on Tare - the boy she has fallen so deeply for finally changes his mind about what he wants - he had fallen for her much later, but very deeply and he never had that deep a relationship before and his exacting standards didn't really like what his emotions did to him (it reminded me a bit of the idea of the original Spock being in love ^^, very uncomfortable feeling).

I like the fact that neither Cass nor Kaoren Ruuel change a lot for the other, really. They just find to their surprise that they fit far better than either of them thought, that the other can give them a level of emotional support that they haven't had before. Cass powers seem to lighten the load that Ruuel's sight powers give him, and for Cass the total devotion that the single-mindedness of Ruuel brings into their love removes most of her loneliness.

She really comes first with him (which his teenage sister can't handle at all, really) Also, he may be arrogant of nature, but time has tempered that even before he met Cass, and she doesn't mind his willingness to excel as long as he doesn't force her to do the same.(less)

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Feb 29, 2012 Mark Edwards rated it 5 of 5 stars

Like any good sequel, Lab Rat One raises the stakes from the first book, deepens the characters but continues to deliver solid worldbuilding, exciting action and fully-realized characters. This is definitely a series that does not suffer from ‘saggy middle’. Cassandra begins to develop powers of her own, in a slow and painful kind of way. Her relationships also deepen.

She also must deal with unwanted fame and the unending surveillance of the Tare State. Still a virtual prisoner, Cassandra tries...more
Like any good sequel, Lab Rat One raises the stakes from the first book, deepens the characters but continues to deliver solid worldbuilding, exciting action and fully-realized characters. This is definitely a series that does not suffer from ‘saggy middle’. Cassandra begins to develop powers of her own, in a slow and painful kind of way. Her relationships also deepen.

She also must deal with unwanted fame and the unending surveillance of the Tare State. Still a virtual prisoner, Cassandra tries to adapt to the world she is increasingly thinking of as her new home.

What I liked:

The main characters are well realized. The action is good with vivid battle scenes and inventive use of the Setari’s psychic powers. Cassandra is easy to sympathize with, the first person POV is immersive. The story pulls you along. The stakes are high and you do want the ‘good guys’ to win.

Cassandra’s new-found power and her struggle to learn how to use it is handled well. She does not suddenly gain great power and skillful mastery of it. She is not an action hero, more like a regular girl who becomes important.

The short story chunks of each diary entry keep the story moving. The worldbuilding is very good, showing a sci-fi world that feels more contemporary than futuristic. The technology’s impact on this culture is very clearly depicted.

The relationship evolution between characters is handled fairly well. There isn’t any sudden, grand passion that sweeps the main character off her feet. Though I did wonder from time to time if Cassandra was falling for the object of her desire or if their respective powers were pulling them together, though that thought only occurred to me after I’d finished the series.

What I didn’t like:

Cassandra remains far too passive as character. She is slow to speak up for herself, something even the characters in the novel comment on. (The author’s subconscious speaking to her and us?) Things mostly happen to her, she rarely makes things happen. She also seems to spend half the book in the hospital, which sort of makes the ‘Lab Rat One’ reference make sense, though strictly speaking that was more appropriate in the first book, Stray.

The society remains problematic for me. This may well be realistic, when everyone is interconnected via implants and computers, universal surveillance is a wonderful gift to any government. To the author’s credit, one of the major plot points shows how this can be abused. But there are no consequences to it. The author raises the point but doesn’t follow it through. Cassandra is a virtual and literal prisoner for the entire book. First because she is helpless then later because she is valuable. She belongs to the State, not to herself. I could go on at length but I'll stop there.

There is also a LOT of Cassandra longing for Kaoren Ruuel. I’ll buy that it’s realistic and might ring true to teenaged girls. But I’m not a teenaged girl, I found it a little tiresome, though I know what it’s like to long for someone.

I whole-heartedly recommend this book. It is an excellent example of a sequel done right (though I suspect the whole trilogy was written as one, large work). Good characters, great conflict, cool powers and a well-thought out setting.(less)

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Jul 08, 2011 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Smoothly continuing the story from part 1 (Stray). Mostly well paced and descriptive, though a few frustrating bits. Enjoyed learning more about the planet Muina but wish there had been more on that.

(view spoiler)...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Tsana Dolichva rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lab Rat One by Andrea K Höst is the second book in the Touchstone trilogy, following on immediately from Stray. This is definitely not the kind of series you could read out of order and still easily follow what was going on.

Lab Rat One continues to tell Cassandra's story, the Sydney girl that took a wrong turn and ended up on another planet. The story continues with more of her training with the Setari — psychic space ninjas — and more discovery's of the alien people's past. As with the first bo...more Lab Rat One by Andrea K Höst is the second book in the Touchstone trilogy, following on immediately from Stray. This is definitely not the kind of series you could read out of order and still easily follow what was going on.

Lab Rat One continues to tell Cassandra's story, the Sydney girl that took a wrong turn and ended up on another planet. The story continues with more of her training with the Setari — psychic space ninjas — and more discovery's of the alien people's past. As with the first book, the plot is driven in large part by things unexpectedly happening to Cass, often as part of the larger experimentation with her still mysterious powers. It gave me the inescapable feeling that she is both terribly unlucky and very lucky to still be alive. She continues to almost die a lot.

The writing has gotten tighter in this volume. Whereas in book one I felt there were some slow bits, I didn't get that feeling in Lab Rat One, where everything moved things along or was hilarious. The last quarter or so of the book (roughly from the snowball fight onwards, for those familiar with it) made me giggle a lot and the very end, though slightly surprising, was well done and made me happy and keen to keep reading.

The way the romance was done (or not done) in this book appealed to me. Without spoilers, Cass has a crush (since Stray, actually) on one of the Setari but decides that a relationship between them is unlikely to happen. She spends a lot of time trying not to have a crush on him, unsuccessfully but without it getting tedious for the reader. The former aspect struck me as realistic in the circumstances. She also doesn't let her feelings get in the way of almost dying her work.

One thing that didn't quite fit for me but I couldn't quite put my finger on when I was reading Stray is the YA label for this series. At first I put it down to the diary entry style being unusual, but I think it's more than that. Yes, Cass is eighteen so if the only requirement for YA is a teenage protagonist, it does technically fit the bill. But the story starts after she's finished school when — aliens notwithstanding — she would be starting to make her way in the world as an adult. Much as I'm not fond of the moniker, perhaps "new adult" is more apt than "young adult". Don't let either of those labels put you off though; it's first and foremost a science fiction book and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to readers of all ages. (Or if the term "science fiction" puts you off — why are you reading this blog? — my all means latch onto one of the other labels.)

I loved Lab Rat One and I couldn't not pick up the third book after I finished it (which was very inconvenient, since it was the middle of the night). For anyone who enjoyed Stray, this is a must read. If you thought Stray was kinda all right but weren't sold on reading more, I strongly encourage you to give Lab Rat One a go.

5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog.(less)

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Nov 21, 2012 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, scifi, ya

Without reading Stray, the first book in the Touchstone Trilogy, the following review may not make much sense and will likely spoil some of its developments!

Lab Rat One improves on its predecessor, Stray, and is my favorite of the Touchstone Trilogy. While most sequels falter by failing to raise the stakes set up in the first volume, Lab Rat One builds upon its foundation. Cass’s friendships with the Setari strengthen, the crumbling of the spaces make the Ena more dangerous, and Cass’s minor rom...more

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May 18, 2012 SJ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Again, I'm just so conflicted about how to rate or review this series. On the one hand... It's sort of boring.

No, wait, that's not quite right.

The story is interesting and clever and quite a mystery. Yet, again, I hate that it's written as a diary because it lacks fire and emotion and a sense that characters are fragile and something bad can happen to them. You always know everything is basically going to be okay because if anything truly bad had happened, the main character wouldn't be able t...more

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Dec 03, 2011 Sharon rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read through the whole series in a weekend, but Lab Rat One is my favorite of all three books, possibly because, in spite of Cass's never-ending trips to medical, this story really is of Cass's journey from being simply "the stray" to being "Caszandra" to the Setari, who endure a lot of guard duty & "babysitting" where she is concerned. It was very satisfying to see, through Cass's eyes, the way she is slowly enveloped and accepted by most of her companions. And I absolutely love that roma...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Kerry rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, 8, ebooks, sf

Copied from my blog (this content is also in my review for Caszandra):

Life being what it is, I just haven’t managed to write up any kind of review for either Lab Rat One or Caszandra, the second and third books in Andrea K. Höst’s Touchstone trilogy. Today, I added comments to my Goodreads entry for the epilogue to this trilogy, so I thought I’d better say something here before posting that.

The bottom line is that I really loved this trilogy. It’s quick and pacey and has an engaging protagonist...more Copied from my blog (this content is also in my review for Caszandra):

Life being what it is, I just haven’t managed to write up any kind of review for either Lab Rat One or Caszandra, the second and third books in Andrea K. Höst’s Touchstone trilogy. Today, I added comments to my Goodreads entry for the epilogue to this trilogy, so I thought I’d better say something here before posting that.

The bottom line is that I really loved this trilogy. It’s quick and pacey and has an engaging protagonist in Cass. I love a science fiction mystery, and there’s a lot of that in these books, which made me very happy. It’s also a good coming-of-age story that manages to touch on a bit of teenage angst (and every teenager has some) without dwelling on it. Instead, Cass is both realistic and at times self-deprecating and I really liked her for both those things.

I had been planning to read these two books alternating between the Liaden series, reading one of one, then one of the other and so on. Instead, I read straight through, buying Caszandra as soon as I finished Lab Rat One (or possibly a bit before) and then the Gratuitous Epilogue as soon as (or before) I finished Caszandra. I had to keep going and I had to know how it ended. Also, what happened after it ended.

This is really one story cut into three books, which means that there is next to no recap on previous volumes when you get to the next one. That’s fine if you’ve got a good memory, but I don’t, so if you’re like me, I recommend having all three books (and the epilogue) ready and waiting and keeping right on reading.

There are a few formatting errors in these self-published books, but they are very few and don’t interfere with the story. I am most impressed with Andrea K. Höst and I am sure I’ll be reading more of her books. In fact, I bought her latest, And All the Stars, on release day and I’m looking forward to reading it.

I hope that gives you a good idea of how much I really enjoyed these books and highly recommend the series. The first one is Stray and you need to begin there.(less)

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Jan 31, 2013 Meghan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Awesome - and let me just say how much I enjoy the character not being American. I cannot say how completely that pleases me. This book is just delicious. I didn't skim any description, which is super rare for me. The dialogue is great and the pov is really spot on. Maybe a little too much for the young tween but so tasteful lusty. Does that even make sense? Like the way she handles her crush professionally without being all awful CW show about it. A level of female maturity not normally display...more

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Dec 27, 2011 Joanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the second book in the touchstone series and after reading "stray", the first book...I didn't think this one could be as good. I was wrong. This is a really good read. I don't generally like science fiction, but these books are so much more than that. You become wrapped up in Cazandras new world. Ok it's not a world that could be real...or could it? The way the author writes makes this world totally believable. If you want to be surprised...read these books. The writing style makes this...more

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Nov 21, 2011 Mia rated it 5 of 5 stars

I came across the first book in this series and enjoyed it so much that I was actually EXCITED to download the next volume and get reading. Once again, I was thoroughly impressed! I loved the development of the story and the characters. I even appreciate the way that the author handles the numerous characters and cities and other SciFi terminology -- lots of subtle reminders of who everyone is, which was HELPFUL for a non-SciFi reader like myself. There is a glossary of terms in the back of the...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Mallori rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

4.5
A bit more angsty than Stray, Lab Rat One deals more with Cassandra's interpersonal relationships as she integrates further into the Setari community. The book blurb does a pretty good job of setting the stage for this chapter of the Touchstone series. It was fun to see Cassandra coming more into her own and exploring her growing abilities as a Touchstone. I am so happy with these books.

I was really pleased that this book picks up right where Stray leaves off- both event wise and in writing...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Jacob Proffitt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

Read my review of the first book. And frankly, if you're considering this book, you really should have read the first one already. If you haven't, go read it!

Small, though relevant, addendum: this book is where Cass starts having girly feelings for one of the Setari. I liked their relationship and Höst does a really good job with it, but it's something to note as there was a decided lack of such in the first book.

A note about Steamy: Yeah, I didn't flag this one as steamy. That's because it real...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Missie Kay The Book Fix rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, australian, sci-fi, ya

I did continue to enjoy Cass' adventures in Tare and Muina, but started to get annoyed with some aspects of the book. Does there need to be approximately 5 million named characters? And as much as I appreciate Host's meticulous world-building, I wish that she would do more showing than telling about it. I like that Cass' new powers don't come without effort or pain, but OF COURSE she's got some crazy super-powerful power that the Tarens have never seen before. I do like the slow build of romanti...more

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Apr 18, 2012 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a very good continuation from Stray, showing the continued discoveries and growth of Cass. The story continues to grow into new environments and skills they discover. I felt like the plot was well-paced and interesting.

Lab Rat One visited some very interesting ideas about military privacy in the media and their involvement with each other. While I thought Stray was middle school or intermediate appropriate, Lab Rat One definitely took a high school turn with some sexy times at the end o...more

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Apr 28, 2012 Laura (Kyahgirl) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, favorites, part-of-a-series, romance, sci-fi-fantasy

5/5; 5 stars; A+

This was a great instalment in the Touchstone Trilogy. We learned more about Cassandra's psychic talents and the ongoing war against the lonoth and massives. The mystery of the planet Muina and various evil goings on was expanded. I really enjoyed the further development of Cassandra's character as well as those around her. I found her obsessing over her love interest really annoying but the context of an 18 year old it was probably a pretty accurate representation of what she wo...more

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Apr 17, 2013 PaulineMRoss rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-scifi, price-cheap, self-pub, 5-star

Fantasy Review Barn

I loved ‘Stray’, the first part of the Touchstone trilogy, so I moved straight onto part two. And wouldn’t you just know it, the one time I don’t need a ‘Previously on...’ type recap because it’s all fresh in my mind, there one is at the front of the book. And again there’s a glossary and list of characters at the back. If only all authors were so considerate. The previous book had no cliffhanger ending, but there wasn’t much resolution, either - just an acceptance by main cha...more Fantasy Review Barn

I loved ‘Stray’, the first part of the Touchstone trilogy, so I moved straight onto part two. And wouldn’t you just know it, the one time I don’t need a ‘Previously on...’ type recap because it’s all fresh in my mind, there one is at the front of the book. And again there’s a glossary and list of characters at the back. If only all authors were so considerate. The previous book had no cliffhanger ending, but there wasn’t much resolution, either - just an acceptance by main character Cass that, having stepped accidentally through some kind of wormhole-type ‘gate’ from Earth and finding herself on a different planet altogether, there’s not going to be a happy ever after any time soon, and doing her bit to help out the locals with their problems in the meantime is not such a bad thing. So at first, the story continues in much the same way, with Cass being carted about on missions, tested and trained, and treated very much like the lab rat she designated herself early on. So for anyone who disliked that aspect of the first book, this is more of the same.

Fortunately, we haven’t yet seen the full extent of Cass’s unique set of abilities, so even a routine test can suddenly turn into a frantic scramble for survival or an ooh-aah moment. The opening up of the abandoned planet of Muina through Cass’s talents is fascinating. We also see more in this book of the other societies descended from the abandoned planet of Muina (where Cass first arrived), so there is a certain amount of inter-planetary posturing going on, which is quite fun. And Cass becomes a media star! But much of the action centres around the Setari (psychic ninja space soldiers, basically), who are defending Tare, their home planet, from the creepy and highly variable Ionoth which leak through from - well, wherever they come from (I’m hazy about the ‘spaces’ and ‘pillars’ and whatever it was that happened). In book one, the Setari mostly treated Cass as a piece of military equipment, useful but not particularly interesting, and she had to fight to get them to see her as anything other than an object. This time round, they are much more aware of her as a person, and she is beginning to build relationships with some of them, and assert herself as a person.

Partly this is because she can speak the language better, so she is able to express herself with more subtlety, and display her wonderful sense of humour. I very much like the way the author has handled the language differences, so that Cass gradually becomes more fluent over the course of the books, although lapsing sometimes when under stress. I have no idea whether the early efforts are an accurate simulation of how a native English speaker would adapt to a new language, but it seemed pretty convincing to me. I found it totally believable that the Tarens would not appreciate how intelligent she is, when her only communications are halting baby sentences with bad grammar.

I like Cass very much. She’s exactly the sort of person I would love to have for a friend - smart, self-deprecating, sensible and very, very funny (in a totally non-vicious way). Her observations of Taren life and the people around her are wonderful. And I have to confess to having the hots for Ruuel (the love interest), which is so not me. My taste in men was formed by Woody Allen (cute and funny) or Robert Redford (roguish in a dishevelled but handsome way), and perfectly honed, impossibly fit and laconic-bordering-on-terse types don’t do much for me. But Ruuel? Mmmm, yes. There’s a certain amount of angsting going on Cass’s head about him, but it’s very funny. She rates men on the Orlando Bloom-meter, and when one of the Setari registers a 7, she points out that Orlando Bloom himself registers a 7 on the Ruuel-meter. Did I mention how much I love Cass’s sense of humour? And for anyone concerned about the romance level, it's certainly higher than in the first book, but there’s still a lot more plot than angst.

This book is pure undiluted pleasure. I was slightly drunk on the enjoyment of it, and hey - no calories, no falling over and no hangover afterwards. Just a great big smile. Why isn’t every book like this? Twelve stars. At least. And now straight on to the third book...
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Oct 30, 2011 Emily Leathers rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone, especially people who like world building and stories that are hard to anticipate

Shelves: fiction, young-adult, sci-fi, fantasy, kindle, owned, distopian

Congratulations Ms Host!

Most middle-books-in-a-trilogy seem to be the low point of the story. Book one is shiny and new, book three has a climactic conclusion to the tale, but book two just sits in the middle trying to keep everything going. Not so with Lab Rat One. The interesting twists keep coming, and we delve deeper into the world of the Muinans and their history.

There's more boy-watching in this book than the first, but it's still not *romance*. In fact, the object of the protagonist's cr...more

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Sep 24, 2011 Katy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone, esp. fans of science fantasy

Shelves: ebook

In this sequel to “Stray,” Höst continues the Touchstone series with Cassandra having become a sort of honorary member of the Setari – the group of psychic talents who fight the Ionoth in the Ena – due to her enhancing abilities. However, she has also assisted in re-opening Muina, the planet on which she had found herself way back at the beginning, to allow Tarens back onto the planet. It seems she has a whole range of talents and abilities that are extremely rare and all planets that started ou...more

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Jul 08, 2011 Chichipio rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

4.5 stars but I'm giving it 5 to make up for having rounded down the last time.

Okay, at this point I don't think anyone, least of all me, expects an unbiased review for this one. I won't even try, so I'll just keep it (relatively) short. This is my third Andrea Höst book and there's something about the way she writes that just clicks right in my head. Does she make mistakes? Is she the best writer on the whole planet? Does she prepare good sandwiches? I.just.don't.know.

This is like when you hear...more 4.5 stars but I'm giving it 5 to make up for having rounded down the last time.

Okay, at this point I don't think anyone, least of all me, expects an unbiased review for this one. I won't even try, so I'll just keep it (relatively) short. This is my third Andrea Höst book and there's something about the way she writes that just clicks right in my head. Does she make mistakes? Is she the best writer on the whole planet? Does she prepare good sandwiches? I.just.don't.know.

This is like when you hear the same comment in exactly the same tone and expression from your best friend and your worst enemy (I'm exaggerating with the adjectives here; everyone knows that there's no such thing as a best friend, of course) and, for some reason, you take the message to mean completely opposite things. When your friend says something, you recognize the wisdom in it. When that person you don't like says the same thing, it just rubs you the wrong way and you think they're just trying to upset you.

Well, I consider Andrea's writing a friend by now. (view spoiler) It could probably leap out of the page, form a fist of letters and punch me on the nose and get away with it. (3D books. Come on! You know they're coming.)

This one continues Cassy's story after stepping through a wormhole and landing in another planet (one full of awesome). It's written as a diary, so you get a daily entry or two—unless she's unconscious, of course—and this makes it pretty cool to follow Cassy's changes. This is not one of those books where the heroine finds out that she can fight like Buffy without training, or that she can pull a Neo/Chuck move and download Kung Fu directly into her brain. She has to improve in all areas as a normal person would. And there's not a fast-forward button that can let you skip 6 months to see how she turned out. Nope, daily entries. And, even though I tried to find some inconsistencies with the rate of progress in some areas I'm familiar with (e.g., language and fitness training), I couldn't.

Well, one thing that changed from the first book is that, this time, I do want to know what happens next right now. Ending it that day was just eeeevil.

(Anyone considering reading these books can try several chapters on smashwords.)(less)

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Feb 13, 2013 C rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sequels, sci-fi

The best of the trilogy!

I loved how Cassandra adapts to her new life, tackling her new reality head on. But I especially loved how the author has you waiting for mentions of Ruuel, like a 16 year old waiting for a glimpse of her crush. I loved reading about Cassandra's struggles with her own feelings about him, varying between telling herself to be realistic, to give up entirely or just to keep it to herself, but not killing herself over it, exactly like a real person would in non YA insta-love...more

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Jun 03, 2013 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, aliens, ya-books, fantasy

Still have no idea if I like this series or not. It’s very hard to follow sometimes. I don’t know if that is because of the Australian slang peppered throughout the story or the scope of the world the author has built. I tend to forget who is who and what they are and which planet and what the hell Ena is again. Maybe with a cheat sheet lying next to me…but again, I raced through this second book and thought about it long after it ended. I really like Cass though.

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Dec 02, 2012 Julianne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I WOULD give this trilogy 4 stars...except for the author's grammar. The story is great; very unique and interesting. I find it to be amazingly creative. But the books are self-published and unfortunately that's obvious. If she'd have gotten an editor, I think these books would be GREAT.

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Apr 15, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

I must say this book was just as good as the first. Well written second book in the Touchstone trilogy. Continueing adventure of Australlian teen Cassandra still told in diary form was fun to read and hard to put down. A REALLY great way to spend an afternoon in the sun.

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Oct 18, 2011 Tansha rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

enjoyed both books in this series. Started reading by recommendation on my nook, and couldn't put them down! Waiting impatiently for the third book Caszandra, to be released! Had never heard of the author and glad I picked them to read.

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Jan 29, 2013 Danielle rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lots more mooning over Ruuel. More questions with out answers about everything. Complete 180 in mooning relationship and then the book abruptly ends. This book was definitely just broken up into a trilogy for sales purposes.

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title link	preview: Lab Rat One
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Lab Rat One (Touchstone #2)

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