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Bio Rescue by S.L. Viehl check out website: www.penguin.com
'Bio Rescue' is her seventh book, doing what looks like a full circle and set on the same world, Kevarzangia Two, as her first book, 'StarDoc'. (Yes, the names are clunky. Don't let that put you off.)
Coming over like Anne McCaffrey, only with more aliens, this also seems to be the first time she has ditched the first-person narrative that works so well in her previous books. 'Bio Rescue' doesn't seem to suffer for it, though, working with a fairly tight third-person view instead and mostly inside the head of our protagonist, Jadaira mu T'resa. Jadaira (Dair) isn't like most protagonists, admittedly. It's not often you get a genetically engineered member of an amphibious underwater race (described as resembling small whales) as a heroine and it's to Viehl's credit that she makes her a convincing heroine at that. Dair's not just a genetically engineered amphibian - she's also a pilot. Intrigued? You really should be. There are nice touches in the way Viehl gets inside the 'pod' mind of the 'Zangians and has the fighter craft specially engineered to carry the amphibious pilots in liquid rather than air. Dair, like all her heroines, is immensely likeable, despite being traumatised by the fact her geneticist human step-mother gave her human DNA to save her life at birth...it's a really long story. But it also makes for great conflict with both human characters and her 'Zangian pod as she can exist in both worlds. The plot, revolving around the aftermath of a war that started in the first book, has Dair's elite fighter crew cajoled into acting as interstellar ambulance drivers to medical personnel responding to off-planet disasters. Coupled with a burgeoning post-war refugee crisis both on and off-world, alien messiahs, suicide cults and species xenophobia and things get really, really complicated. Viehl certainly racks up the tension through the twists and turns of the plot. You're always on Dair's side (even when it comes to her naturally complicated love life) and there are enough moments of trauma and genuine menace to anchor your involvement well and truly. Personally, I loved the Mogshrikes as baddies: giant shark/jellyfish combinations. When they attack an underwater viewing dome, there is a slight 'Jaws 3D' flashback admittedly but, hey, it works well in context! If anything, the plot has so many threads to wrap up that the ending feels a little rushed but overall, it's a likeable book that adds to the genre rather than just recycling all the old clichés. No, it's not hugely groundbreaking, but it is an entertaining easy read with sympathetic characters that try to convey a real sense of the alien. If you've read 'StarDoc', it's nice to catch up with some of the supporting characters, but 'Bio Rescue' is perfectly possible to enjoy as a stand-alone. Here's just hoping it gets the author some of the recognition she deserves here in the UK. Jennifer Howell
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OTHER REVIEWS - July 2004
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Hands
up who's heard of S.L. Viehl? I certainly hadn't until I stumbled
across her last year and she seems to be one of those quietly prolific,
popular US genre authors that haven't broken the UK market yet.
Which is a shame, if what I've read of her so far is anything to
go by.
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