Redline The Stars

Solar Queen #5

by Andre Norton, P.M. Griffin

It's been more than twenty years since the last Solar Queen novel was published. Memorable adventures like Sargasso of Space took the crew of the small interstellar trade ship across the rim of the galaxy in search of valuable cargo and profitable new markets. Business wasn't easy for small independents like the Solar Queen, but it kept Captain Jellico and his crew busy enough to keep the ship viable - and along the way, their adventures have entertained science fiction readers for decades.
No matter how perilous their voyages are, the crew has always survived, even Dane Thorson, the Cargo apprentice who seemed to bring his own luck to the ship. And now there's another new crew Rael Cofort, half-sister of one of the Queen's chief competitors. Attractive and competent, she just wanted passage to the new port of call, Canuche, in the Halios system. But what seems a simple run becomes a doubly dangerous mission as first a plague of rats and then an explosive crisis on the planetary star docks threaten to end the days of the Solar Queen and wipe out the population of Canuche's capital as well.
It's do-or-die time for the Solar Queen...and her mysterious new crew member!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Ebooks, Space Opera, Space

Hardcover

First published April 1, 1993

About the author

Andre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Reviews

[Baron Greystone · Rating 1 out of 5]

I give up. Got 85% of the way through this Mary-Sue, and I just can't make myself read it for even one minute more.

I love Norton. I love the Solar Queen series. I was so excited to find this (to me!) new book. But this was, as Norton said, only a story written to introduce this new Mary-Sue character, a *female* crew member. Pah, those are the worst reasons to write a story. STORY is the reason to write a story.

What passes for story revolves around this piddley little young crewmember who is stunningly beautiful, vivacious, charismatic, has an exotic alien bloodline, mystical powers, and is frighteningly competent at *everything.* The other crewmembers are gradually won over to her fan club as the story progresses.

Oh, and the story? Not exactly what we come to the Solar Queen series for this time, it's a series of encounters on one planet that are intended solely to give the reader a chance to learn more and more about just how awesome Lt Mary-Sue really is.

Aargh, someone hit me in the head with a board, and make this go away!

[Наталья · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 15%

Не могу больше читать. Создалось впечатление, что от Нортон остались только персонажи и (возможно) задумка сюжета. Изложение, скачки POV, язык - все другое и мне совершенно не нравится.

На этом с серией заканчиваю. Очень жаль.

[Nick Brough · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know how much Andre Norton was involved in this book. PM Griffin (who recently died) co-wrote a number of other stories with Norton, but this is the only one I read. I bought the paperback on a reissue a long time ago and I think I only read it once (perhaps twice).

The great thing is that Griffin brings the crew into a something more akin to the modern world and tries to do something with the series to relaunch it and then continue it and the key characters into the future. In this she succeeded, to an extent. However, the story itself is quite poor overall (based on my limited memory). Having found an pdf to download I will now re read it. My score based on memory is 3/5.

Its a quick and easy book to read. It takes little effort. It's problem is that it isnt a Solar Queen series story. Same (sis) characters, but its essentially romantic fiction in a sci-fi setting. It's also a Real and Jellico led story.

Good points -easy to read, a lot of first person driven narrative from multiple characters pov, character back story added, its lead character (Rael) is well realised.

Bad points - the narrative has few surprises, the author "loves" her lead character and ruins her as a result. Real is at her best in the opening chapter, which explore who she is. The problems grow after that. Mysterious and resaved, a Beauty (and implied sexiness), an empath with special abilities, impossible biology, qualified doctor, but good at everything she turns her hand to in the story, extra special senses etc etc. The character is too perfect and her "flaws" are paper thin.

The disaster movie ending is well done, but the city itself is quite poorly realised and very generic. The hero saves the day type stories work when the setting is small scale, but not on a city wide scale. The added psychological depth to Dane and Ali's characters are very good, but get lost within the wider narrative. Its just filling.

As a solar Queen story, I give it a 2. More generally a 3 (romantic fiction with mysterious leading ladies isnt my cup of tea).

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not nearly as good as the earlier Solar Queen books. The same characters are there, with an addition but the story just isn't great. Rael Cofort is the new female member of the Solar Queen crew and she's interesting but just a little too good at everything she does. Nothing goes wrong for her and it makes for a boring story. Dane Thorson, who has been the main character of the first books in the series only has a few minor appearances and that was annoying, since he is the main character of the series, not Rael Cofort.
The story also only revolved around her and her interactions with the crew. There were only a few minor plots in the story, nothing that made for an interesting overall plot. Killer rats, explosions and disaster relief make up the story of this particular book and it just wasn't that exciting. There was not a single part of this book about trading with aliens on strange planets. 2.5 out of 5 stars, not horrible, but I definitely don't feel the urge to want to reread this one.

[Ivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

On its own it would've been a "meh" book. Putting it fifth in "solar queen" series feels like a betrayal. Very generic, very off-formula set by the previous books (which I felt were mystery first and a sci-fi second), the main character of the first four books shoved aside to make room for the romance between a very marysue new character and the captain. Captain who suddenly gets a first name just to get on the first-name basis with the newbie. Because the newbie is just so cool.

It's probably an ok book if you were not invested in the series (and can stand the Mary Sue; reading the reviews here I was surprised it was not that offensive to me). Otherwise just consider it a fanfic. It's not bad as far as fanfiction goes.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, this was a book that I had never read by Andre Norton. I was very sadly disappointed. Most of the book I felt like it dragged along. It used familiar characters from the Solar Queen series, but they never did what I expected from them. They felt like strangers. The setting promised potential, but I had to wait for the last few chapters for the story to really do anything! Only the end felt Nortonish to me. It was an okay book, but what I expected it wasn't.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an Andre Norton book, this was a disappointment-not her writing style at all. But the book itself is pretty good. A bit dated in some ways now--Jellico gets rather touchy-feely with the new female crewmember (shades of Biden!). The last section of the story made me wonder if P. M. Griffin is from Halifax (only a spoiler if you know what that means).

[Valerie]

By the time this was written, Norton was getting past the point of being able to write whole books alone, and began a series of collaborations.

The book begins with a very brief history of the Solar Queen series. Being written later, it has some changes. Most obvious is the addition of a woman to the crew. There are also more scenes on the Solar Queen itself. Traders, of course, must leave the ship now and again, but I never realized before how MUCH time the crew spent off the ship.

This episode raises a dread spectre which I hadn't heard of before (the explosive potential of ammonium nitrate), and is worth reading for its discussions of emergency preparedness and response, even if it contained nothing else (and it does).

[Chris Bare · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the earlier Solar Queen novels, but I found this one a slog to get through. All the old favorite characters are there, but the events they become embroiled in don't have the grandeur of their earlier escapades. The first part is a sort-of murder mystery without the fun of chasing clues, and the second part is mostly a disaster movie. I liked the negotiations with strange aliens and the discovery of ancient artifacts in the earlier books much more.

[Dantegideon · Rating 1 out of 5]

The previous books in the series are pacy, stripped down adventures in Norton's trademark sparse but gripping style. This book feels like being stuck in a car with two sulky teenagers, sighing about how nobody understands them and playing "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" over and over. You just want it to end. I threw myself out of the car after they spent a whole chapter trudging through endless tragic corpses and sobbing. Cheer up Brian! You know what they say?

[Wendell Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Solar QUeen gets a new crewmate... and a lot of mysterious trouble.

[Robert Ruppert · Rating 4 out of 5]

You get the adventure, the atmosphere of another time and place with a race towards the end.

[Robbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this nearly as much as the first two Solar Queen books. An unfortunate collaboration...