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The Fall of Worlds/Areia Darenga #2
Unless She Burn
Volume 2 in the adventures of Areia Darenga, a genetically-engineered super-warrior and space captain of the far future. — A collapse of time and space strands Captain Darenga's ship on a hostile planet where she becomes an outcast, living alone in the harsh and desolate reaches of the Yarbeen. She is rescued by M'landan, a handsome alien priest, over seven feet tall, who awakens in her a disturbing passion and mystical visions of a new and tempting world.
- GenresScience Fiction
175 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 24, 2018
This series had been on my bookshelf for a few years after having it come to my attention via a sci-fi romance group on facebook. I'm all about vintage sci-fi, and these paperbacks with their retro 'beautiful spacewoman' covers do not disappoint. What does disappoint is the overall story arch.
Book 1 starts off with a great deal of promise, introducing some vaguely utopian ideals alongside a good helping of worldbuilding in a far flung future. Mezo's prose can be a bit flowery and hard to follow at times, as can the technobabble inserted that attempts to sound advanced but now sounds dated. She does a good job giving us a main character, Areia, who is by no stretch a perfect being, despite having been designed and cloned to be one. Areia's flawed understanding of the way things should be is what drives most of the story forward, as do her continuous stumbling over what it is to be human, feel emotion and love. I almost feel as if this three book series would have been better off being a single book, as book one did have an ending that satisfied, and a final choice by Areia that made sense.
What she does in books two and three leaves all her growth behind and begs the reader ask the same question Areia asks herself over and over, 'why can't she just die', as her continued existence, or rather the ways in which she prolongs that existence, had me shaking the book a few times because I couldn't shake her. I believe that things began to unravel in the second half of book 2, when it turned into a strange trip of existential questions regarding rationality versus religion driven by Areia's relationship with the alien Mlandan (who looks absolutely nothing at all like the buff, blond-haired humanesque alien the artist put on the cover). Despite this turn, I kept reading, hoping to eventually have the satisfying ending the books seemed to be pushing for - that Areia would realize living 300 years was plenty and sustaining herself at the cost of other people (and an entire civilization) went against everything being a Maintainer had once stood for. In other words, I found myself turning pages, morbidly waiting for her to die.
But, alas, book three ends without a resolution, not for Areia nor the plethora of problems she left in her wake.
Do I regret spending a few weeks reading this series? Nah. It had some great moments and retro tidbits that made for a mostly enjoyable read. I just can't give the last book more than two starts because of how unresolved it all felt. Book three got one additional star for the gloriously inaccurate representation of Mladan on the cover. I gave book 1 four stars, as that's what it would get if this had been a stand alone instead of a series - a quite enjoyable read.
Book 1 starts off with a great deal of promise, introducing some vaguely utopian ideals alongside a good helping of worldbuilding in a far flung future. Mezo's prose can be a bit flowery and hard to follow at times, as can the technobabble inserted that attempts to sound advanced but now sounds dated. She does a good job giving us a main character, Areia, who is by no stretch a perfect being, despite having been designed and cloned to be one. Areia's flawed understanding of the way things should be is what drives most of the story forward, as do her continuous stumbling over what it is to be human, feel emotion and love. I almost feel as if this three book series would have been better off being a single book, as book one did have an ending that satisfied, and a final choice by Areia that made sense.
What she does in books two and three leaves all her growth behind and begs the reader ask the same question Areia asks herself over and over, 'why can't she just die', as her continued existence, or rather the ways in which she prolongs that existence, had me shaking the book a few times because I couldn't shake her. I believe that things began to unravel in the second half of book 2, when it turned into a strange trip of existential questions regarding rationality versus religion driven by Areia's relationship with the alien Mlandan (who looks absolutely nothing at all like the buff, blond-haired humanesque alien the artist put on the cover). Despite this turn, I kept reading, hoping to eventually have the satisfying ending the books seemed to be pushing for - that Areia would realize living 300 years was plenty and sustaining herself at the cost of other people (and an entire civilization) went against everything being a Maintainer had once stood for. In other words, I found myself turning pages, morbidly waiting for her to die.
But, alas, book three ends without a resolution, not for Areia nor the plethora of problems she left in her wake.
Do I regret spending a few weeks reading this series? Nah. It had some great moments and retro tidbits that made for a mostly enjoyable read. I just can't give the last book more than two starts because of how unresolved it all felt. Book three got one additional star for the gloriously inaccurate representation of Mladan on the cover. I gave book 1 four stars, as that's what it would get if this had been a stand alone instead of a series - a quite enjoyable read.
November 16, 2020
read 35 years ago was awsome book for me. cold winter night reader, relieved the chill without turning up the thermostat.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews