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Sholan Alliance #1
Turning Point
The first book in Lisanne Norman's Sholan Alliance long-running science fiction series of alien contact and interspecies conflictCut off from Earth by alien conquerors, the human colony on Keiss was slowly building an underground resistance movement to stand against the Valtegan invaders. But for many of the colonists, it was already too late.Her twin sister Elise captured by Valtegan soldiers, Carrie telepathically and empathically linked with Elise, experiencing all the pain and terror that her sister was suffering. Only Elise's death freed Carrie from torment, though it also left her completely alone in her own mind for the first time in her life. But this mental void was unexpectedly filled when Kusac, a felinoid crewman of a crashed starship, touched her thoughts. Drawn to him by their shared Talent, Carrie hid the injured Kusac from the Valtegans and in so doing found a friend and an invaluable ally.Yet though trust and understanding between Carrie and Kusac was soon unshakable, it would prove far more difficult to convince each of their races that their only hope of overthrowing the Valtegans was to band together against the common foe. And even such an alliance offered no guarantee of success, for no one on any of the settled worlds had yet found a way to defeat this warrior race ready to lay waste to any civilization they could not conquer.
128 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
June 17, 2010
Reread. Now I'm giving this book a (very) generous four stars. This is actually one of my favorite scifi series and I actually have a dead tree book dating back to '93 and it wasn't bought used either. *Wow. I just totally dated myself haven't I?* So at least one star is for reminding me of my misspent youth, but I still think this is a worthy read.
Carrie is a psychic human colonist in the planet of Keiss which is has been invaded by icky lizardy aliens called the Valtegeans. The humans have lived under occupation for over a decade with no real sign of relief despite a very active underground, guerrilla rebellion. In a life or death moment, Carrie bonds with another mind and it sets up a chain of events that will either liberate Keiss or destroy it.
Turning Point is an easy if somewhat uneven read. The beginning is especially disorienting but once Carrie recovers from the original ordeal that caused her to bond with Kusac (our feline hero), the story gets rolling in a much more linear if at times somewhat abrupt pace.
In case it wasn't clear, this a 'soft' scifi with a heavy dose of romance and (especially as the series progresses) a liberal splash of erotic kink. Nowadays that is nothing new, but back in the early 90s this was pretty freaking cutting edge. I actually think that Lisanne Norman was just way ahead of the game and had she published this series ten years later, she would have been a huge hit in the scifi/paranormal romance genre.
There is no sex in this story. All of it is basically PG-13 action with a focus on the adventure action part instead of smexing good times. I can't help but wish that Norman would go back and flesh this first book out more because there are definite parts that could use more exposition while others could be cut because they don't move the story along. Having also recently reread the second book in the series, I wonder if it wasn't actually one story that Norman was asked to break into two books. Book 2 is definitely a different beast all together when compared to the simplicity of the this book.
I enjoyed my reread and the rollicking (furry kink) adventure does make it easier to be more forgiving of the choppy pace because it sets the foundation for a promising scifi universe. Just go into the series with the knowledge that at times it does feel a bit dated and quaint and you won't be disappointed.
PS. Be aware that if you like this series, have the all the books handy because Norman does love a cliffhanger.
Carrie is a psychic human colonist in the planet of Keiss which is has been invaded by icky lizardy aliens called the Valtegeans. The humans have lived under occupation for over a decade with no real sign of relief despite a very active underground, guerrilla rebellion. In a life or death moment, Carrie bonds with another mind and it sets up a chain of events that will either liberate Keiss or destroy it.
Turning Point is an easy if somewhat uneven read. The beginning is especially disorienting but once Carrie recovers from the original ordeal that caused her to bond with Kusac (our feline hero), the story gets rolling in a much more linear if at times somewhat abrupt pace.
In case it wasn't clear, this a 'soft' scifi with a heavy dose of romance and (especially as the series progresses) a liberal splash of erotic kink. Nowadays that is nothing new, but back in the early 90s this was pretty freaking cutting edge. I actually think that Lisanne Norman was just way ahead of the game and had she published this series ten years later, she would have been a huge hit in the scifi/paranormal romance genre.
There is no sex in this story. All of it is basically PG-13 action with a focus on the adventure action part instead of smexing good times. I can't help but wish that Norman would go back and flesh this first book out more because there are definite parts that could use more exposition while others could be cut because they don't move the story along. Having also recently reread the second book in the series, I wonder if it wasn't actually one story that Norman was asked to break into two books. Book 2 is definitely a different beast all together when compared to the simplicity of the this book.
I enjoyed my reread and the rollicking (furry kink) adventure does make it easier to be more forgiving of the choppy pace because it sets the foundation for a promising scifi universe. Just go into the series with the knowledge that at times it does feel a bit dated and quaint and you won't be disappointed.
PS. Be aware that if you like this series, have the all the books handy because Norman does love a cliffhanger.
January 18, 2012
As several other reviewers have said, I don't know how I finished this book. Unfortunately unlike the others who loved this book or who at least continued to read the series, I won't be doing so.
For most of this book I had no clue as to whether or not this was being marketed to extremely young adults or to the adult readership. The characters in this book were stunted and acted like children most of the time. They are in their mid 20's. I realize that the author has to start somewhere and with a series can not fully flesh out the characters or they will leave no room for growth in future books, but this was extremely hard for me as an adult reader to grasp. There was not growth at all.
Much of the plot or should I just say pages, was taken up by repetitive nonsense i.e.explaining what a telepathic bond was, to various characters.
The aliens were not very alien like or at the very least how one would imagine beings of different species to be or act.
There was no growth to the characters and no advancement of the story.
This was an annoying and frustrating read and I'm amazed that I spent the day finishing it. If you like sci-fi with a bit of romance, then try the [[ASIN:0451457730 Stardoc]] series.
For most of this book I had no clue as to whether or not this was being marketed to extremely young adults or to the adult readership. The characters in this book were stunted and acted like children most of the time. They are in their mid 20's. I realize that the author has to start somewhere and with a series can not fully flesh out the characters or they will leave no room for growth in future books, but this was extremely hard for me as an adult reader to grasp. There was not growth at all.
Much of the plot or should I just say pages, was taken up by repetitive nonsense i.e.explaining what a telepathic bond was, to various characters.
The aliens were not very alien like or at the very least how one would imagine beings of different species to be or act.
There was no growth to the characters and no advancement of the story.
This was an annoying and frustrating read and I'm amazed that I spent the day finishing it. If you like sci-fi with a bit of romance, then try the [[ASIN:0451457730 Stardoc]] series.
December 14, 2012
I was into this book at the beginning; there were a lot of elements that I liked, but the characterization as the book went along got less and less compelling. I found myself not caring about any of the characters as much as I wanted to, and the character development felt contrived. This is especially the case once the cast of characters takes a sharp increase. The frequent switches in POV between multiple characters are not well managed and the narrative loses some cohesion in the process.
Parts of the story felt rushed, while other parts felt like they were being paid far too much attention.
I also was unsatisfied with the dialogue. There were far too many exclamation points, conversation felt stilted and forced, and the dynamic between characters didn't seem real. In addition, the use of adverbs is mishandled and makes for a lot of awkward, distracting sentences.
It could have been an interesting story, but in the end I feel like it was a big let-down. I don't care enough about the characters or their situation to continue the series. If I came across a copy of the second book for free I would give the series another chance, since people have said this is her first novel, but I won't spend money on it.
Parts of the story felt rushed, while other parts felt like they were being paid far too much attention.
I also was unsatisfied with the dialogue. There were far too many exclamation points, conversation felt stilted and forced, and the dynamic between characters didn't seem real. In addition, the use of adverbs is mishandled and makes for a lot of awkward, distracting sentences.
It could have been an interesting story, but in the end I feel like it was a big let-down. I don't care enough about the characters or their situation to continue the series. If I came across a copy of the second book for free I would give the series another chance, since people have said this is her first novel, but I won't spend money on it.
February 22, 2022
Feb 2022 - can't explain why I'm now re-reading this, after quite a few years. I seem to have none of these in my library now.
Borrowed #1 from the LA PubLib, have now bought #2-3.
Many, many 1990s mores in how the Human females are/were treated by their cultures. Better, in some ways, by the Sholans.
Her people think she's delicate, needy; they didn't understand the nature of her link with her twin. And despite her courage in running away, saving a whole lot of other people, making a HUGE difference for her new planet, and reaching a much better life for herself, she keeps falling into quivering, panicked jello over "what Humans may think of me".
Borrowed #1 from the LA PubLib, have now bought #2-3.
Many, many 1990s mores in how the Human females are/were treated by their cultures. Better, in some ways, by the Sholans.
Her people think she's delicate, needy; they didn't understand the nature of her link with her twin. And despite her courage in running away, saving a whole lot of other people, making a HUGE difference for her new planet, and reaching a much better life for herself, she keeps falling into quivering, panicked jello over "what Humans may think of me".
November 15, 2019
https://delivreenlivres.blogspot.com/...
De temps en temps j'aime bien piocher dans de la SF rétro oubliée ou peu connue, histoire de changer. Celle ci sera surement totalement inconnue à la très grande majorité d'entre vous vu que ni la série ni même aucun des romans de l'autrice n'ont été traduits.
Il s'agit d'un space opera typique de la production des années 90, plein d'aventures et un coté "pouvoirs", à la Star Wars. Au final pour de la SF pas prise de tête et ou on ne recherche pas de thèmes d'actualité, c'est sans doute mon sous-genre de SF préférée.
On suit une colonie récente humaine sur une planète éloignée de tout et sans contact avec la Terre car les communications longues distance n'ont pas encore été inventées.
Les humains se croyaient seuls au monde mais ont fini par se rendre compte que ce n'était pas tout le cas quand ils ont eu la désagréable visite d'extraterrestres bien plus développés qu'eux, les Valtegan, qui ont pris la planète d’assaut.
Ceux ci ont gardés une partie de la population vivante parce que ça les amusait (tourisme, ...)
Dans les survivant nous faisons la connaissance d'une jeune femme, Carrie, qui a une sœur jumelle, Elise. Les deux ont une relation bizarre car en fait Elise ne ressent pas la douleur, c'est Carrie qui la ressent pour elle.
Du coup celle ci a toujours été malade, faible, tandis que sa sœur prenait tout les risques sans aucune considération pour sa santé et sa sécurité.
Elise est entré dans la résistance anti-Valtegan, mais a fini par se faire prendre. Le moment de la torture a été terrible pour Carrie, mais le pire a été le moment ou elle a perdu sa sœur. Les deux étaient en fait liées télépathiquement et Elise a faillit entraîner sa sœur avec elle dans sa mort.
Heureusement celle a trouvé à la dernière seconde une bouée à laquelle s'accrocher, en la personne d'un extraterrestre grièvement blessé dans le crash de son vaisseau sur la planète après avoir été attaqué par les Valtegan.
Celui ci a aussi le don de la télépathie, c'est d'ailleurs une classé très respectée de la population dans son monde. Il se cache parmi les humains pour se protéger des Valtegan car sa race est l'ennemie de ceux ci.
Bref, les deux espèces vont devoir se découvrir, c'est un peu un récit de premier contact, ou de second contact vu qu'ils connaissent déjà les Valtegan.
Mais malgré leur haine commune des Valtegan, ils sera difficile pour eux de cohabiter vu leurs différences et les préjugés qui vont avec. Les deux races sont fondamentalement différentes et s'apprivoiser ne sera pas facile.
Franchement j'ai passe un super moment détente dans cette lecture. Certes on pourrait toujours argumenter que le coté romance n'était pas nécessaire à l'intrigue, mais ça ne me gêne pas plus que ça. Il y a de toute façon bien plus d'aventure que de romance dans l'ensemble.
Mon seul reproche est que j'ai trouvé la fin un peu abrupte. Dans le sens ou on fini vraiment à la second ou la mission en cours est terminée, sans qu'il y ai la moindre conclusion ni baisse de régime après l'adrénaline qu'on a ressentit. Du coup ça fait bizarre.
C'est pas un cliffhanger vu que ça se termine juste après le gros moment intense du livre, mais ça donne vraiment l'impression que le livre n'était pas fait pour s'arrêter la mais a été coupé brutalement.
Mais bon, au moins ça donne envie de continuer pour voir ce qui se passer ensuite.
Au final rien d'extraordinaire, juste un bon moment. Mais vu que c'était tout ce que j'en attendais c'est donc un pari réussi. J'ai été aussi surprise que ça n'ai pas mal vieillit, pas de thèmes dérangeants, l’héroïne se bat contre la misogynie de son propre peuple ce qui est même étonnamment d'actualité.
16/20
De temps en temps j'aime bien piocher dans de la SF rétro oubliée ou peu connue, histoire de changer. Celle ci sera surement totalement inconnue à la très grande majorité d'entre vous vu que ni la série ni même aucun des romans de l'autrice n'ont été traduits.
Il s'agit d'un space opera typique de la production des années 90, plein d'aventures et un coté "pouvoirs", à la Star Wars. Au final pour de la SF pas prise de tête et ou on ne recherche pas de thèmes d'actualité, c'est sans doute mon sous-genre de SF préférée.
On suit une colonie récente humaine sur une planète éloignée de tout et sans contact avec la Terre car les communications longues distance n'ont pas encore été inventées.
Les humains se croyaient seuls au monde mais ont fini par se rendre compte que ce n'était pas tout le cas quand ils ont eu la désagréable visite d'extraterrestres bien plus développés qu'eux, les Valtegan, qui ont pris la planète d’assaut.
Ceux ci ont gardés une partie de la population vivante parce que ça les amusait (tourisme, ...)
Dans les survivant nous faisons la connaissance d'une jeune femme, Carrie, qui a une sœur jumelle, Elise. Les deux ont une relation bizarre car en fait Elise ne ressent pas la douleur, c'est Carrie qui la ressent pour elle.
Du coup celle ci a toujours été malade, faible, tandis que sa sœur prenait tout les risques sans aucune considération pour sa santé et sa sécurité.
Elise est entré dans la résistance anti-Valtegan, mais a fini par se faire prendre. Le moment de la torture a été terrible pour Carrie, mais le pire a été le moment ou elle a perdu sa sœur. Les deux étaient en fait liées télépathiquement et Elise a faillit entraîner sa sœur avec elle dans sa mort.
Heureusement celle a trouvé à la dernière seconde une bouée à laquelle s'accrocher, en la personne d'un extraterrestre grièvement blessé dans le crash de son vaisseau sur la planète après avoir été attaqué par les Valtegan.
Celui ci a aussi le don de la télépathie, c'est d'ailleurs une classé très respectée de la population dans son monde. Il se cache parmi les humains pour se protéger des Valtegan car sa race est l'ennemie de ceux ci.
Bref, les deux espèces vont devoir se découvrir, c'est un peu un récit de premier contact, ou de second contact vu qu'ils connaissent déjà les Valtegan.
Mais malgré leur haine commune des Valtegan, ils sera difficile pour eux de cohabiter vu leurs différences et les préjugés qui vont avec. Les deux races sont fondamentalement différentes et s'apprivoiser ne sera pas facile.
Franchement j'ai passe un super moment détente dans cette lecture. Certes on pourrait toujours argumenter que le coté romance n'était pas nécessaire à l'intrigue, mais ça ne me gêne pas plus que ça. Il y a de toute façon bien plus d'aventure que de romance dans l'ensemble.
Mon seul reproche est que j'ai trouvé la fin un peu abrupte. Dans le sens ou on fini vraiment à la second ou la mission en cours est terminée, sans qu'il y ai la moindre conclusion ni baisse de régime après l'adrénaline qu'on a ressentit. Du coup ça fait bizarre.
C'est pas un cliffhanger vu que ça se termine juste après le gros moment intense du livre, mais ça donne vraiment l'impression que le livre n'était pas fait pour s'arrêter la mais a été coupé brutalement.
Mais bon, au moins ça donne envie de continuer pour voir ce qui se passer ensuite.
Au final rien d'extraordinaire, juste un bon moment. Mais vu que c'était tout ce que j'en attendais c'est donc un pari réussi. J'ai été aussi surprise que ça n'ai pas mal vieillit, pas de thèmes dérangeants, l’héroïne se bat contre la misogynie de son propre peuple ce qui est même étonnamment d'actualité.
16/20
September 6, 2008
This is one of those books (or rather series) that I bought years and years ago, but never picked up. Not sure why, because I really enjoyed the first book.
Takes place on Earth's first colony planet, Keiss. Humans have their first two tastes of sentient Aliens, the lizard like Valtegans who want to enslave the humans and the cat like Sholans who wish to form an Alliance with the humans.
Carrie is a human that had a psychic connection with her twin sister. When her sister is killed by the Valtegans, Carrie is unsure if she can survive being alone in her own head. She reaches out and finds another mind like hers. They bond without having seen each other.
Kusac was injured when his scout craft was shot down by the Valtegans. Separated from his fellow Sholans, Kusac makes his way to the human village and the human girl that he has bonded with. Carrie initially mistakes him for a non-sentient jungle cat, but she goes out of her way to protect and care for Kusac.
When Carrie's father lays down the law, insisting she marries a man she doesn't love, Carrie runs away with her cat and discovers Kusac's true identity.
Enough summary stuff. Great book. I think I was drawn to it initially because of the furry angle. Alien kitty cats not that far from kitty cat versions of lycanthropy.
Although it was weird to go back to more pure SF/Fantasy after a heavy dose of paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Even though Carrie and Kusac are bonded together, and that bond has a sexual component, the most we got was some kissing, sensual hair brushing, and cuddling.
Not that it was fade to black, but they haven't allowed themselves to move that far with each other. Not that they've had much in the way of privacy. *g* But, yeah, I want to see the sex on stage. Hopefully they'll go there in one of the later books in the series. I'm spoiled. I want the SF/Fantasy and the romance/erotica in one package. *g*
X-posted to LJ.
Takes place on Earth's first colony planet, Keiss. Humans have their first two tastes of sentient Aliens, the lizard like Valtegans who want to enslave the humans and the cat like Sholans who wish to form an Alliance with the humans.
Carrie is a human that had a psychic connection with her twin sister. When her sister is killed by the Valtegans, Carrie is unsure if she can survive being alone in her own head. She reaches out and finds another mind like hers. They bond without having seen each other.
Kusac was injured when his scout craft was shot down by the Valtegans. Separated from his fellow Sholans, Kusac makes his way to the human village and the human girl that he has bonded with. Carrie initially mistakes him for a non-sentient jungle cat, but she goes out of her way to protect and care for Kusac.
When Carrie's father lays down the law, insisting she marries a man she doesn't love, Carrie runs away with her cat and discovers Kusac's true identity.
Enough summary stuff. Great book. I think I was drawn to it initially because of the furry angle. Alien kitty cats not that far from kitty cat versions of lycanthropy.
Although it was weird to go back to more pure SF/Fantasy after a heavy dose of paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Even though Carrie and Kusac are bonded together, and that bond has a sexual component, the most we got was some kissing, sensual hair brushing, and cuddling.
Not that it was fade to black, but they haven't allowed themselves to move that far with each other. Not that they've had much in the way of privacy. *g* But, yeah, I want to see the sex on stage. Hopefully they'll go there in one of the later books in the series. I'm spoiled. I want the SF/Fantasy and the romance/erotica in one package. *g*
X-posted to LJ.
August 31, 2008
The First in this wonderful series introduces the reader to a Human girl on a colony planet with unusual abilities. Because of her telepathic gift she is feared by the others in her village save for her own family and one weasel of a man she wished would leave her alone. Into her life comes an alien from another world who, with his crew, crashed onto the colony planet after being attacked by a brutal reptilian race that had taken over the human colony and enslaved the people. A connection is formed between these two very different people. Of the mind and the heart. Their journey begins as they try to understand this strange bond, contact their allies, and free the human colony from their oppressors.
January 14, 2022
This had some potential but several aspects of the plot and the writing were "just OK". I had high hopes as I like feline aliens. Both the plot and the romance are very slow burn, and it ends with a "to be continued..." Not quite a cliffhanger, but a plateau that encourages you to read the next one.
Which I will, as I'm curious whether it builds to meet the potential.
Which I will, as I'm curious whether it builds to meet the potential.
December 24, 2018
A little background before I go into the meat of the review: I read this book because I wanted something light, fast and fun inbetween the heavier books I'd been reading. I expected decent-at-best space opera, and that's what I got. This is not the world's best book, but it was fun popcorn fare.
And a little background on the novel itself: from my internet sleuthing, as I understand it the author wrote a short story (what I assume to be the first 100~ pages of this novel) and then expanded it into a novel, and later went ridiculously enthusiastic and wrote 9 sequels that were 600+ page behemoths. This is her first novel, and it shows!
The writing starts very clunky - it's wooden, the characters feel cliched, and while parts of it shine with neat ideas and draw you in, for the most part this feels like an early, clunky work. Fortunately you can see the author evolve over the course of the book, and it goes from bad to mediocre-to-decent. The writing in this book will never win any awards, but it stops grating so you can ease into enjoying it instead.
So what is it? The tl;dr is that girl meets cat-like alien, they fall in love and have adventures. Sounds fun, yes? Not quite. The longer story is that Carrie (the girl) is a powerful telepath who's been linked to her twin sister since she was born, and she's been in the horror situation of feeling EVERY pain and illness from her sister for her entire life. And the novel opens with her twin sister being tortured to death.
It's not graphic, but it is striking and it's one of the primary reasons I kept reading despite the clunky writing: it grabbed me and made me worry for Carrie. As her psychic link with her sister shatters, another telepathic presence hears her distress and convinces her to form a link with him, and this stabilizes her, enabling her to sleep and heal - because her physical body is beaten up from the psychic torture.
Now the plot zooms out a little bit: Carrie is a colonist, living on the barely-established colony planet - and it's an uncomfortable situation for the humans, because a bunch of lizard aliens have shown up and basically taken over. The humans can't leave or call for help thanks to their early spaceflight tech (compared to the lizards) and it's a bad situation. Carrie's sister was spying on the lizards, which is why she died so terribly.
The hero: unknown to the lizards and humans, a scouter ship from the cat aliens (they're bipedal) was sneaking over the planet when it was shot down, and this is where we meet our hero, Kusac. He's a soldier and he's pretty sure that everyone on his ship died, so in his distress - yes. He's the telepathic presence that detected Carrie's pain and linked with her. He escapes the crashed ship, he's badly injured, and he essentially crawls through the snow to the human settlement, where Carrie finds him and brings him inside... and here's the first strange decision on the author's part: Kusac doesn't reveal that he's sentient. He stays on all fours and uses a little telepathy to convince everyone that he's just a forest cat, so he becomes Carrie's literal pet while they both heal.
It's strange, and Kusac doesn't become known to Carrie until after 100+ pages have passed - and honestly? The book doesn't actually become good until that happens, as this is when the writing is the weakest. We get a good look at human society, and how this colony is sexist, patriarchal, and Carrie is earmarked for marriage - because she's young, of legal age, and obviously they need more children to help the colony grow. She has a push and pull with her father over this, because she hasn't found a dude she likes, and then there's a rich man's son who wants to force a marriage, because he can.
She runs away into the forest to escape this arranged marriage, taking supplies and her pet cat with her, and ta-daaa this is when she finds out her cat is a dude, and - this is where an important, wild plot point steps in. They become Linked. They're soulmates, bonded for life, and they have no say in this: a mystical force has demanded that they be lovers forever. The ramifications of this will echo into the rest of the series.
Quick portrait of the characters: Carrie is a young early 20s lady who has hangups from her conservative upbringing, and while she's pretty willful and stands up for herself, the situation does get the best of her. In this first book due to the fast pace she doesn't get a lot of downtime so she stays on top of things wonderfully, but in the second book as things slow down she'll get overwhelmed (naturally!) and more emotional. Which is good, it's realistic. I generally like Carrie, and she's pretty good as a heroine - especially in this book.
Kusac, meanwhile, is a late-20s cat dude and in this book he's pretty excellent: he respects Carrie, he's careful with her, and I like him. He's struggling to be the adult in the situation because he knows more about telepathy than she does (as the cat people are telepaths!) and he recognizes that their soulbond keeps pushing them to have sex - but Carrie is absolutely not ready, so he does his best to help them avoid that compulsion and meet each other as people. It's cool! He does have flaws - he's overprotective of her - but they don't come up as much until the second book, which is when the plot slows down and they have time to do the "oh god we're soulbonded, what now, do we get married, help" dance.
That quick, fast plot I mentioned? It centers around Kusac discovering almost instantly that there are survivors from his ship's crash, them trying to find them and then trying to send a distress call to a cat alien ship so they can get help - as the lizards will shoot the cats on sight. (Which weirds the cats out, as the lizards don't shoot the humans on sight. Why? This isn't answered in this book, so it's a lurking mystery.)
The plot ends in a good place, with the immediate conflicts resolved and a lot of plotlines opened up for sequels, and that makes this book rate a solid three stars for me: it starts weak but it's fun to watch the author evolve into competency, the characters are entertaining (if a bit flat) and I had fun reading it. Great space opera/romance fluff with some action sequences.
My recommendation to you is to not read this book unless this sounds exactly like what you want for a good time, because it never rises above decent. My second recommendation is to know what you're getting into if you do pick up the sequels: massive, 600+ page books that crank up the melodrama while slowing down the pace. I'll have a review for the next one up soon, but suffice it to say: stop here! Enjoy this fluff, and then get out!
Finally: a pet peeve. The cat aliens are only cats in appearance only. They have fur and tails, but they don't act like cats at all. They're like Star Trek aliens, they're humans with some forehead bits glued on. The most catlike Kusac ever becomes is when he's faking being a nonsentient pet in the beginning of the novel. In the rest of the book you have to be reminded that they're cats with lines like their tails twitching, but that's it. This is disappointing, because I love good aliens, especially cat ones. Read CJ Cherryh's Pride of Chanur instead for actual cat aliens that feel like cats, and for way better writing and plotting.
And a little background on the novel itself: from my internet sleuthing, as I understand it the author wrote a short story (what I assume to be the first 100~ pages of this novel) and then expanded it into a novel, and later went ridiculously enthusiastic and wrote 9 sequels that were 600+ page behemoths. This is her first novel, and it shows!
The writing starts very clunky - it's wooden, the characters feel cliched, and while parts of it shine with neat ideas and draw you in, for the most part this feels like an early, clunky work. Fortunately you can see the author evolve over the course of the book, and it goes from bad to mediocre-to-decent. The writing in this book will never win any awards, but it stops grating so you can ease into enjoying it instead.
So what is it? The tl;dr is that girl meets cat-like alien, they fall in love and have adventures. Sounds fun, yes? Not quite. The longer story is that Carrie (the girl) is a powerful telepath who's been linked to her twin sister since she was born, and she's been in the horror situation of feeling EVERY pain and illness from her sister for her entire life. And the novel opens with her twin sister being tortured to death.
It's not graphic, but it is striking and it's one of the primary reasons I kept reading despite the clunky writing: it grabbed me and made me worry for Carrie. As her psychic link with her sister shatters, another telepathic presence hears her distress and convinces her to form a link with him, and this stabilizes her, enabling her to sleep and heal - because her physical body is beaten up from the psychic torture.
Now the plot zooms out a little bit: Carrie is a colonist, living on the barely-established colony planet - and it's an uncomfortable situation for the humans, because a bunch of lizard aliens have shown up and basically taken over. The humans can't leave or call for help thanks to their early spaceflight tech (compared to the lizards) and it's a bad situation. Carrie's sister was spying on the lizards, which is why she died so terribly.
The hero: unknown to the lizards and humans, a scouter ship from the cat aliens (they're bipedal) was sneaking over the planet when it was shot down, and this is where we meet our hero, Kusac. He's a soldier and he's pretty sure that everyone on his ship died, so in his distress - yes. He's the telepathic presence that detected Carrie's pain and linked with her. He escapes the crashed ship, he's badly injured, and he essentially crawls through the snow to the human settlement, where Carrie finds him and brings him inside... and here's the first strange decision on the author's part: Kusac doesn't reveal that he's sentient. He stays on all fours and uses a little telepathy to convince everyone that he's just a forest cat, so he becomes Carrie's literal pet while they both heal.
It's strange, and Kusac doesn't become known to Carrie until after 100+ pages have passed - and honestly? The book doesn't actually become good until that happens, as this is when the writing is the weakest. We get a good look at human society, and how this colony is sexist, patriarchal, and Carrie is earmarked for marriage - because she's young, of legal age, and obviously they need more children to help the colony grow. She has a push and pull with her father over this, because she hasn't found a dude she likes, and then there's a rich man's son who wants to force a marriage, because he can.
She runs away into the forest to escape this arranged marriage, taking supplies and her pet cat with her, and ta-daaa this is when she finds out her cat is a dude, and - this is where an important, wild plot point steps in. They become Linked. They're soulmates, bonded for life, and they have no say in this: a mystical force has demanded that they be lovers forever. The ramifications of this will echo into the rest of the series.
Quick portrait of the characters: Carrie is a young early 20s lady who has hangups from her conservative upbringing, and while she's pretty willful and stands up for herself, the situation does get the best of her. In this first book due to the fast pace she doesn't get a lot of downtime so she stays on top of things wonderfully, but in the second book as things slow down she'll get overwhelmed (naturally!) and more emotional. Which is good, it's realistic. I generally like Carrie, and she's pretty good as a heroine - especially in this book.
Kusac, meanwhile, is a late-20s cat dude and in this book he's pretty excellent: he respects Carrie, he's careful with her, and I like him. He's struggling to be the adult in the situation because he knows more about telepathy than she does (as the cat people are telepaths!) and he recognizes that their soulbond keeps pushing them to have sex - but Carrie is absolutely not ready, so he does his best to help them avoid that compulsion and meet each other as people. It's cool! He does have flaws - he's overprotective of her - but they don't come up as much until the second book, which is when the plot slows down and they have time to do the "oh god we're soulbonded, what now, do we get married, help" dance.
That quick, fast plot I mentioned? It centers around Kusac discovering almost instantly that there are survivors from his ship's crash, them trying to find them and then trying to send a distress call to a cat alien ship so they can get help - as the lizards will shoot the cats on sight. (Which weirds the cats out, as the lizards don't shoot the humans on sight. Why? This isn't answered in this book, so it's a lurking mystery.)
The plot ends in a good place, with the immediate conflicts resolved and a lot of plotlines opened up for sequels, and that makes this book rate a solid three stars for me: it starts weak but it's fun to watch the author evolve into competency, the characters are entertaining (if a bit flat) and I had fun reading it. Great space opera/romance fluff with some action sequences.
My recommendation to you is to not read this book unless this sounds exactly like what you want for a good time, because it never rises above decent. My second recommendation is to know what you're getting into if you do pick up the sequels: massive, 600+ page books that crank up the melodrama while slowing down the pace. I'll have a review for the next one up soon, but suffice it to say: stop here! Enjoy this fluff, and then get out!
Finally: a pet peeve. The cat aliens are only cats in appearance only. They have fur and tails, but they don't act like cats at all. They're like Star Trek aliens, they're humans with some forehead bits glued on. The most catlike Kusac ever becomes is when he's faking being a nonsentient pet in the beginning of the novel. In the rest of the book you have to be reminded that they're cats with lines like their tails twitching, but that's it. This is disappointing, because I love good aliens, especially cat ones. Read CJ Cherryh's Pride of Chanur instead for actual cat aliens that feel like cats, and for way better writing and plotting.
dnf
July 9, 2023DNF @28%
This was very frustrating to read. On the one hand, it was absolutely everything I wanted. On the other, it was not what I wanted at all. I just wanted to kick the story, hoping it would veer into the path I wanted it to take. But it never did it. And I just can't imagine it'll start heading in that direction.
Now if someone could find me a more modern story that involves a human woman forming a psychic bond with an alien cat? Well, sign me up.
This was very frustrating to read. On the one hand, it was absolutely everything I wanted. On the other, it was not what I wanted at all. I just wanted to kick the story, hoping it would veer into the path I wanted it to take. But it never did it. And I just can't imagine it'll start heading in that direction.
Now if someone could find me a more modern story that involves a human woman forming a psychic bond with an alien cat? Well, sign me up.
July 21, 2010
I don't read a ton of science fiction, but my general impression of Turning Point by Lisanne Norman is that it is "classic" SF. It's not hard SF, certainly, but more along the lines of an adventure SF novel. The ton of the book, and the general flavor of the writing, is also more "classic" in nature, reminding me heavily of my days reading Andre Norton. This is not much of a surprise because it was published in 1993, so it is 17 years old.
So why am I reading it? Well, Lisanne Norman has a new book in this series coming out next month, so I thought I'd try to catch up. Seems reasonable to start at book 1. *grin*
In any case, the book was a little rough to read. I believe this is Lisanne's debut novel, so you expect a little roughness. The beginning of the book took some getting used to, with the style and the writing itself. There were parts that weren't smooth and there were issues with the emotional states and reactions of the characters. I had a few spots of confusion (especially with the prologue) and in some cases felt that the characters weren't reacting quite right. I kept going and I'm glad that I did, because many of these issues smoothed out as the book progressed. By the end of the novel, I could see that the author was settling into the world and the characters and that there would be some good things to come in future novels.
The issues started smoothing out once the main relationship between Kusac and Carrie was established and the true alienness of Kusac was revealed. And this is the main point of the novel, this idea that these two are telepathically linked, permanently, whether they like it or not. The rest of the novel is a standard SF action/adventure: they need to get to a transmitter to warn their respective worlds that an alien race has taken over the human colony on the planet and (more or less) enslaved the humans, while the Sholan (the race Kusac is from) scout party simply wants to warn them that this new violent race exists so they can protect their own portion of space.
I ranked this one a little lower simply because of the issues with the writing being rough at the beginning, and some of my problems with the unevenness of the characters. I did enjoy the novel enough to want to go on with the series and see what happens with this odd, forced pairing between Kusac and Carrie, and that is truly the intent of this first book--to set up that relationship. I can see great potential for interesting stories in the universe that has been established with this novel, and would recommend that those who enjoy SF start with this novel and keep reading, even if it does seem rough at the beginning.
So why am I reading it? Well, Lisanne Norman has a new book in this series coming out next month, so I thought I'd try to catch up. Seems reasonable to start at book 1. *grin*
In any case, the book was a little rough to read. I believe this is Lisanne's debut novel, so you expect a little roughness. The beginning of the book took some getting used to, with the style and the writing itself. There were parts that weren't smooth and there were issues with the emotional states and reactions of the characters. I had a few spots of confusion (especially with the prologue) and in some cases felt that the characters weren't reacting quite right. I kept going and I'm glad that I did, because many of these issues smoothed out as the book progressed. By the end of the novel, I could see that the author was settling into the world and the characters and that there would be some good things to come in future novels.
The issues started smoothing out once the main relationship between Kusac and Carrie was established and the true alienness of Kusac was revealed. And this is the main point of the novel, this idea that these two are telepathically linked, permanently, whether they like it or not. The rest of the novel is a standard SF action/adventure: they need to get to a transmitter to warn their respective worlds that an alien race has taken over the human colony on the planet and (more or less) enslaved the humans, while the Sholan (the race Kusac is from) scout party simply wants to warn them that this new violent race exists so they can protect their own portion of space.
I ranked this one a little lower simply because of the issues with the writing being rough at the beginning, and some of my problems with the unevenness of the characters. I did enjoy the novel enough to want to go on with the series and see what happens with this odd, forced pairing between Kusac and Carrie, and that is truly the intent of this first book--to set up that relationship. I can see great potential for interesting stories in the universe that has been established with this novel, and would recommend that those who enjoy SF start with this novel and keep reading, even if it does seem rough at the beginning.
July 11, 2012
I really love this series! This book grabbed my imagination & pulled me right in. Tho maybe not as fleshed out as it could be, this gem of a 1st book is a wonderful jumping point to the rest of the series. It is one of my favorites I still re-read;)
June 30, 2025
This novel and its popularity is one of those things like blockchain currency or Game of Thrones that defies sense and reveals a basic flaw in humanity. This may be an unpopular opinion.
At its most distilled, the plot here is furry porn with a resistance side plot. I've looked up some info and read some interviews with Lisanne Norman and the one thing that shines through is that her motivation to write stems from a deep seated desire that her cats could talk. As a natural result, her first book is a thoroughgoing exploration of human-alien cat sex.
To be clear, I am not condemning this effort on that basis, Norman should be free to write novels about whatever interests her, and it is clear through the continued success of this series and the number of werewolf/dinosaur/alien sex novels on Amazon that there is a ready market eager to explore this particular kink.
Instead I am condemning this effort because this novel is just boring and frustrating to read. It's repetitious, badly paced, and has terrible world building. Most of all, I hated how possessing Carrie's body is a plot keystone. The only aspect of Carrie's person that anyone is interested in is who commands her by control of her body. Even the worst romance novels can handle this very basic problem of agency and ownership in a way that suggests some consent and choice. Not this book though. Nope instead we have Carrie, whose entire life has been defined and hijacked by those with whom she shares a telepathic link. First her sister, then immediately after her death she experiences an accidental contact with an alien mind that forms an immutable life-long link.
That is not romance. That is a kidnapping.
Now an author who wanted to write something more than furry porn might have played with this, but Norman who appears to think this is the most romantic situation imaginable plays it straight. Me? I read this and thought, "Uhm, he's a powerful and trained telepath encountering a naive mind with no defenses. Maybe this leska bond nonsense is simply his mental control over her. Maybe he has manipulated her mind so that she is obsessed with him and his safety." To my mind that is a much more interesting plot situation than Carrie just getting increasingly horny for a two meter tall bipedal cat.
Or, alternatively, make the book an exploration of forbidden love. There are some gestures at this, when characters pretend that there will be some objections about this special purest love ever. But these fears don't seem real, or even grounded in the reactions of others. It's just made up to create a plot tension.
And that brings us to one of the weirdest things in the book, and what I believe is certain evidence that really this is just furry porn:
Consider that we are introduced to three creatures alien to each other and each emerged on planets multiple light years apart from each other.
1. Humans
2. Sholans (Cat People!)
3. and some unnecessary species of lizard people whose name is so close to Vogon I'm just going to call them Vogons, because I think it's funny.
Aside from the remarkable convergent evolution that replicates lizards and cats on distant planets, there is another nifty detail: they all want to bang human chicks. The Vogons are crude in how they go about this. Carrie's sister works in a Vogon brothel to collect intelligence for the resistance. Carrie sneaks into the Vogon base by disguising herself as a prostitute heading to a Vogon client. Meanwhile the Sholans are too polite and gentlemanly to just go for it like the Vogons. Instead they are very open to the option, but they will use seduction - unless that darn leska link is in the driver's seat and then oh boy, panties be droppin'.
This is insane. It takes a special kind of author to look at a tiger and think, oh yeah. It takes an even more special kind of author to also think, Mmmmmm... that gila monster is kind of cute.
I mean, how would that even work? Is there only one galactic standard set of sexual equipment and desires? It doesn't even work that way on Earth, where we all share common ancestry. Is love only expressed one way? Is what Carrie thinks and how she shows affection even comprehensible to her new kitty friends? Why are kitty people's thought patterns and experiences something that Carrie can comprehend?
Okay, I take that last bit back. Given that the bulk of the novel is about sex (getting/having - working up to) and all the conversations at some point mention the human-kitty hookup, I guess it's easy to read their minds.
This novel fails the Bechtel Test to an embarrassing degree.
At its most distilled, the plot here is furry porn with a resistance side plot. I've looked up some info and read some interviews with Lisanne Norman and the one thing that shines through is that her motivation to write stems from a deep seated desire that her cats could talk. As a natural result, her first book is a thoroughgoing exploration of human-alien cat sex.
To be clear, I am not condemning this effort on that basis, Norman should be free to write novels about whatever interests her, and it is clear through the continued success of this series and the number of werewolf/dinosaur/alien sex novels on Amazon that there is a ready market eager to explore this particular kink.
Instead I am condemning this effort because this novel is just boring and frustrating to read. It's repetitious, badly paced, and has terrible world building. Most of all, I hated how possessing Carrie's body is a plot keystone. The only aspect of Carrie's person that anyone is interested in is who commands her by control of her body. Even the worst romance novels can handle this very basic problem of agency and ownership in a way that suggests some consent and choice. Not this book though. Nope instead we have Carrie, whose entire life has been defined and hijacked by those with whom she shares a telepathic link. First her sister, then immediately after her death she experiences an accidental contact with an alien mind that forms an immutable life-long link.
That is not romance. That is a kidnapping.
Now an author who wanted to write something more than furry porn might have played with this, but Norman who appears to think this is the most romantic situation imaginable plays it straight. Me? I read this and thought, "Uhm, he's a powerful and trained telepath encountering a naive mind with no defenses. Maybe this leska bond nonsense is simply his mental control over her. Maybe he has manipulated her mind so that she is obsessed with him and his safety." To my mind that is a much more interesting plot situation than Carrie just getting increasingly horny for a two meter tall bipedal cat.
Or, alternatively, make the book an exploration of forbidden love. There are some gestures at this, when characters pretend that there will be some objections about this special purest love ever. But these fears don't seem real, or even grounded in the reactions of others. It's just made up to create a plot tension.
And that brings us to one of the weirdest things in the book, and what I believe is certain evidence that really this is just furry porn:
Consider that we are introduced to three creatures alien to each other and each emerged on planets multiple light years apart from each other.
1. Humans
2. Sholans (Cat People!)
3. and some unnecessary species of lizard people whose name is so close to Vogon I'm just going to call them Vogons, because I think it's funny.
Aside from the remarkable convergent evolution that replicates lizards and cats on distant planets, there is another nifty detail: they all want to bang human chicks. The Vogons are crude in how they go about this. Carrie's sister works in a Vogon brothel to collect intelligence for the resistance. Carrie sneaks into the Vogon base by disguising herself as a prostitute heading to a Vogon client. Meanwhile the Sholans are too polite and gentlemanly to just go for it like the Vogons. Instead they are very open to the option, but they will use seduction - unless that darn leska link is in the driver's seat and then oh boy, panties be droppin'.
This is insane. It takes a special kind of author to look at a tiger and think, oh yeah. It takes an even more special kind of author to also think, Mmmmmm... that gila monster is kind of cute.
I mean, how would that even work? Is there only one galactic standard set of sexual equipment and desires? It doesn't even work that way on Earth, where we all share common ancestry. Is love only expressed one way? Is what Carrie thinks and how she shows affection even comprehensible to her new kitty friends? Why are kitty people's thought patterns and experiences something that Carrie can comprehend?
Okay, I take that last bit back. Given that the bulk of the novel is about sex (getting/having - working up to) and all the conversations at some point mention the human-kitty hookup, I guess it's easy to read their minds.
This novel fails the Bechtel Test to an embarrassing degree.
August 4, 2019
I'm torn whether this book deserves 3 or 2 stars. So maybe by the end of the review I'll have figured out where I stand with this book.
So Turning Point follows Carrie, a colonist on a planet that has been conquered by evil aliens, the Valtegans. She becomes telepathically bonded with a crashed landed alien cat person, and they work together against their common foe.
So let's go with what's bad here. Kusac, the alien Carrie rescues and bonds with, is a Sholan, essentially a cat person who can walk on two or four legs. Kusac is a telepath, and after Carrie's twin dies, Kusac and Carrie create a Leska link with one another, an intense psychic bond where both parties become deeply attached to one another and share feelings, thoughts, etc. And they want to be physically intimate. Constantly.
So is this Leska bond thing an excuse to shoehorn two characters with each other and force them to navigate the ethics and morals of an interspecies relationship? Probably. It feels very clunky and awkward, and there's a lot of focus on this dynamic, which really makes this book feel like a romance than a sci-fi book. And frankly, I wish the novel had gone more into the ethics of a psychic's powers.
Let's talk about genre for a moment here. The romance aspects rather eclipse the sci-fi aspects of this. The novel follows both Kusac and Carrie's point of views from a third-person limited viewpoint, and frankly, other than Kusac being a bipedal cat person, there really isn't anything alien about him outside of his appearance. And I found that rather disappointing. I would find a romance between the two characters more dynamic or interesting if there were cultural barriers between them outside of their Leska bond consistently pressuring them for physical intimacy.
One other thing that irked me through the novel is how uni-dimensional many of the characters were, especially the male characters. Many of the male characters Carrie encounters exist solely to tell her who she should be married to and that's all she's meant for. So I applaud the novel for allowing Carrie to break free from such a stereotype, but the men who are applying this viewpoint to her exist solely for that reason. Here's a list of male characters that only serve to tell Carrie about who she can or should marry or be with:
- David, a man who wants to marry Carrie and essentially subdue any agency she has
- Skai, a guerrilla essentially kidnapped by Carrie to guide the Sholans through the swamp, who wants Carrie for himself as a way to continue his relationship with Carrie's twin. This is a great line that embodies him - "He was something the alien could never be, human like her and that's what would count in the end. He could charm a country girl like her, no problem" (121).
- Guynor, a Sholan who is vehemently against Kusac's relationship with Carrie.
Each of these male characters exist as an obstacle to Carrie and treat her as an object with no agency merely to be possessed. I'm not saying it's a bad thing that these are characters that exist in the novel, my problem with them is they come across as so one dimensional, they lack any nuance except for their viewpoint and it weakens the book as a whole.
Finally, the pacing of the novel is off. The book hits a very, very long section in the third act where the characters essentially gear up for the raid on the enemy base, but it lasts for chapters, there is minimal story or character development, and then the raid on the enemy base is trivially short in comparison to all the lead up.
I'm coming away with more negatives than positives here, so I'm going to leave this book at 2 stars. Poor character development, a lack of nuance to the aliens and a very slow last half of the novel makes it so I can't really recommend this book. It's the first book in a series, so perhaps the series gets better as it goes, but I don't know if this book was good enough to make me want to read its sequels.
So Turning Point follows Carrie, a colonist on a planet that has been conquered by evil aliens, the Valtegans. She becomes telepathically bonded with a crashed landed alien cat person, and they work together against their common foe.
So let's go with what's bad here. Kusac, the alien Carrie rescues and bonds with, is a Sholan, essentially a cat person who can walk on two or four legs. Kusac is a telepath, and after Carrie's twin dies, Kusac and Carrie create a Leska link with one another, an intense psychic bond where both parties become deeply attached to one another and share feelings, thoughts, etc. And they want to be physically intimate. Constantly.
So is this Leska bond thing an excuse to shoehorn two characters with each other and force them to navigate the ethics and morals of an interspecies relationship? Probably. It feels very clunky and awkward, and there's a lot of focus on this dynamic, which really makes this book feel like a romance than a sci-fi book. And frankly, I wish the novel had gone more into the ethics of a psychic's powers.
Let's talk about genre for a moment here. The romance aspects rather eclipse the sci-fi aspects of this. The novel follows both Kusac and Carrie's point of views from a third-person limited viewpoint, and frankly, other than Kusac being a bipedal cat person, there really isn't anything alien about him outside of his appearance. And I found that rather disappointing. I would find a romance between the two characters more dynamic or interesting if there were cultural barriers between them outside of their Leska bond consistently pressuring them for physical intimacy.
One other thing that irked me through the novel is how uni-dimensional many of the characters were, especially the male characters. Many of the male characters Carrie encounters exist solely to tell her who she should be married to and that's all she's meant for. So I applaud the novel for allowing Carrie to break free from such a stereotype, but the men who are applying this viewpoint to her exist solely for that reason. Here's a list of male characters that only serve to tell Carrie about who she can or should marry or be with:
- David, a man who wants to marry Carrie and essentially subdue any agency she has
- Skai, a guerrilla essentially kidnapped by Carrie to guide the Sholans through the swamp, who wants Carrie for himself as a way to continue his relationship with Carrie's twin. This is a great line that embodies him - "He was something the alien could never be, human like her and that's what would count in the end. He could charm a country girl like her, no problem" (121).
- Guynor, a Sholan who is vehemently against Kusac's relationship with Carrie.
Each of these male characters exist as an obstacle to Carrie and treat her as an object with no agency merely to be possessed. I'm not saying it's a bad thing that these are characters that exist in the novel, my problem with them is they come across as so one dimensional, they lack any nuance except for their viewpoint and it weakens the book as a whole.
Finally, the pacing of the novel is off. The book hits a very, very long section in the third act where the characters essentially gear up for the raid on the enemy base, but it lasts for chapters, there is minimal story or character development, and then the raid on the enemy base is trivially short in comparison to all the lead up.
I'm coming away with more negatives than positives here, so I'm going to leave this book at 2 stars. Poor character development, a lack of nuance to the aliens and a very slow last half of the novel makes it so I can't really recommend this book. It's the first book in a series, so perhaps the series gets better as it goes, but I don't know if this book was good enough to make me want to read its sequels.
May 26, 2024
What starts as a typical space opera fare (rebel factions facing off against galactic colonisers) reveals a surprising amount of depth. Norman takes her time polishing usually one dimensional chess pieces of characters into ones capable of great empathy, interpersonal conflicts and distinct senses of humour. Just when the assorted powers gifted to them appear to waive all sense of tension, their flaws swoop in with stark contrast to dispel any Mary Sue/Marty Stu accusations.
While the plot is sparse in places, the fluff of a romantic subplot and character banter in the form of slow life/lying low segments are a welcome change of pace, providing context and a breather from the more action heavy chapters.
The various artificial anachronisms give the setting a unique flare; the rural, post-renaissance life on planet Keiss intermingles with background strokes of modern cars and convenient household appliances to create set designs in the mind's eye that are ripe for a movie adaptation.
Lastly, the chemistry between Carrie and Kusac is developed with patience and consistency, lending another level of complexity to the psychic powers both characters possess. Themes of shared trauma, the balance between logic and emotion and the pros and cons of untethered empathy are deftly explored here.
Turning Point is soft SF at its finest: the plot takes a back seat to allow the characters to shine through, though the intimacy of Norman's writing establishes a promisingly iconic duo. The chemistry and comradery of the main cast invites heavy emotional investment in anticipation of when the lead starts to fly.
Fans of the likes of Rebel Moon or Dunan and Briarios' exploits throughout the Appleseed series will find much to enjoy here.
While the plot is sparse in places, the fluff of a romantic subplot and character banter in the form of slow life/lying low segments are a welcome change of pace, providing context and a breather from the more action heavy chapters.
The various artificial anachronisms give the setting a unique flare; the rural, post-renaissance life on planet Keiss intermingles with background strokes of modern cars and convenient household appliances to create set designs in the mind's eye that are ripe for a movie adaptation.
Lastly, the chemistry between Carrie and Kusac is developed with patience and consistency, lending another level of complexity to the psychic powers both characters possess. Themes of shared trauma, the balance between logic and emotion and the pros and cons of untethered empathy are deftly explored here.
Turning Point is soft SF at its finest: the plot takes a back seat to allow the characters to shine through, though the intimacy of Norman's writing establishes a promisingly iconic duo. The chemistry and comradery of the main cast invites heavy emotional investment in anticipation of when the lead starts to fly.
Fans of the likes of Rebel Moon or Dunan and Briarios' exploits throughout the Appleseed series will find much to enjoy here.
February 9, 2014
I finished it last night and I have to say that I do like it but I'm giving it 3 our of 5 stars for the simple fact that it is an lot of talking more than action. (and by that I mean not only is it A. Lot. Of. Talking. but its mostly about Kusac and Carrie's connection and Talent).
I love the flow of this story yes, and the characters, the concept and even the mission that these people found themselves moving into but... Let me at least give you a brief surmises of the plot.
War has been raging between the humans that have colonized this planet that they crashed on years ago and an large alien army that I'm assuming was there first.
Carrie and her twin sister Else had an connection to where they could not only talk to each other telepathically but Carrie had the ability to take on anything that Else would be feeling so Else came out the strong one and Carrie came off as the weaker, sicker sister. Else left the family to infiltrate the enemy by becoming an Escort (is what Im calling it.)because what better way to get information then to be sleeping with the enemy? But her plans were exposed and Carrie experienced her sister death.
Enter Kusac. He and his people crash on the planet and he crawls to the location of where he picked up Carrie's connection. Apparently they are both telepaths. She rescues him, some things happen and now she is with his people and they are going to fight against the bad guys by getting to this pod in the swamp to send an signal to the mother ship who doesn't know of them crashing making you wonder that if their ship had an good signal on it (which it did) then why didn't the mother ship pick it up when they were experience power failure and crashing thus no need for the pod and we can have an three way war sooner than later? AND help save the humans and themselves in the process.
You maybe wondering why I cut to the chase well its because yes they, Carrie and Kusac, created an bond to which they are now each others mates and to where he has this weird obsession with brushing her hair all the time. And she and his cat people are going to fight the bad guy aliens that are there and save themselves in the process then later on have an trial on Kusac and his human mate with the high counsel because he broke some laws while he was missing for three weeks.
Apparently telepaths are not allowed to actually fight nor have an life outside of just being an telepathic counselor even though they're in the military. Its required that they join or join in some form of goverment that is beneficial for the goverment.
Lets put it like this. They're basically Diana Troi of the USS Enterprise and their main goal in life is moral support and counseling for their unit and the Captain and giving him any information that is useful and beneficiary and nothing more because telepaths cannot be trusted beyond their abilities or else they may get this silly notion that they are equal and therefore deserve to have an life. Oh and take over their world damn mutants.
Well he finally grows some balls and takes on an woman. WOOHOO!
But the other reason is as I stated before. Its just basically every one talking and boy they talk more and more about Kusac and Carrie than anything else. Hell even Kusac and Carrie talk about Kusac and Carrie and this bond that they have. No one really ever talks about anything else that isn't related to these two aside from their current situation. I mean they do talk about what the plan is. How to execute it. and I even liked how it goes from "OMG You brought an hairless alien into our camp" to "We need you both and with you two working for us we can kick some ass!" One of the officers even challenges Kusac to an honor challenge that is basically last one standing and he kicks the officers ass getting badly hurt in the process but gosh darnit he showed that catman whose boss. Though with everyone jumping in to stop it and the officer lives, he still won and gets to walk around like he's batman with telepathic powers.
There is even scenes in which Carrie gets to show that she isn't just some weakling by not only being able to stand in joining on the talks of their missions but even came up with most of the tacticals thinking them up right there on her feet! Not to mention she even goes on an mission that she herself she came up with to get some help from one of the Guerrillas who knows the swamps to which this Pod is in. Even though Kusac is with her and he hides out keeping constant contact with her through their link, she still gets to do her stuff and show that she is more than just an emotional woman who wishes everyone would stop looking down on her as nothing more than just wife material.She gets to show what she had been saying all along to her family and village and man does she prove point. I mean she would have to be strong anyway to survive not only her mother's death when she and her twin sister were little but her sister's death and the torture her sister went through before she died.
But it isn't all bad. I mean the writer Lisanne, has created an world of in this book giving it some very nice and realistic details that slowly sucks you in and into its characters and I have to say that I am glad I found this book at my local book store.
But instead of us getting to know more about all these characters where they could have been talking about what they had for lunch or how they miss their families on the mother ship and their home, their relationships, earth or hell I don't care even talk about the biggest dump that they had in days would have been an nice a breath of fresh air in this story! I don't care just she (the writer) misses the opportunity to give us characters that we could have identified with and instead constantly reminding us that Carrie and Kusac are connected through brain sex!
Anyway I'm ready for the next book in this series and I'm not giving up on it. I just wished the next one isn't as bad and we get to move on from "The Connection"
I love the flow of this story yes, and the characters, the concept and even the mission that these people found themselves moving into but... Let me at least give you a brief surmises of the plot.
War has been raging between the humans that have colonized this planet that they crashed on years ago and an large alien army that I'm assuming was there first.
Carrie and her twin sister Else had an connection to where they could not only talk to each other telepathically but Carrie had the ability to take on anything that Else would be feeling so Else came out the strong one and Carrie came off as the weaker, sicker sister. Else left the family to infiltrate the enemy by becoming an Escort (is what Im calling it.)because what better way to get information then to be sleeping with the enemy? But her plans were exposed and Carrie experienced her sister death.
Enter Kusac. He and his people crash on the planet and he crawls to the location of where he picked up Carrie's connection. Apparently they are both telepaths. She rescues him, some things happen and now she is with his people and they are going to fight against the bad guys by getting to this pod in the swamp to send an signal to the mother ship who doesn't know of them crashing making you wonder that if their ship had an good signal on it (which it did) then why didn't the mother ship pick it up when they were experience power failure and crashing thus no need for the pod and we can have an three way war sooner than later? AND help save the humans and themselves in the process.
You maybe wondering why I cut to the chase well its because yes they, Carrie and Kusac, created an bond to which they are now each others mates and to where he has this weird obsession with brushing her hair all the time. And she and his cat people are going to fight the bad guy aliens that are there and save themselves in the process then later on have an trial on Kusac and his human mate with the high counsel because he broke some laws while he was missing for three weeks.
Apparently telepaths are not allowed to actually fight nor have an life outside of just being an telepathic counselor even though they're in the military. Its required that they join or join in some form of goverment that is beneficial for the goverment.
Lets put it like this. They're basically Diana Troi of the USS Enterprise and their main goal in life is moral support and counseling for their unit and the Captain and giving him any information that is useful and beneficiary and nothing more because telepaths cannot be trusted beyond their abilities or else they may get this silly notion that they are equal and therefore deserve to have an life. Oh and take over their world damn mutants.
Well he finally grows some balls and takes on an woman. WOOHOO!
But the other reason is as I stated before. Its just basically every one talking and boy they talk more and more about Kusac and Carrie than anything else. Hell even Kusac and Carrie talk about Kusac and Carrie and this bond that they have. No one really ever talks about anything else that isn't related to these two aside from their current situation. I mean they do talk about what the plan is. How to execute it. and I even liked how it goes from "OMG You brought an hairless alien into our camp" to "We need you both and with you two working for us we can kick some ass!" One of the officers even challenges Kusac to an honor challenge that is basically last one standing and he kicks the officers ass getting badly hurt in the process but gosh darnit he showed that catman whose boss. Though with everyone jumping in to stop it and the officer lives, he still won and gets to walk around like he's batman with telepathic powers.
There is even scenes in which Carrie gets to show that she isn't just some weakling by not only being able to stand in joining on the talks of their missions but even came up with most of the tacticals thinking them up right there on her feet! Not to mention she even goes on an mission that she herself she came up with to get some help from one of the Guerrillas who knows the swamps to which this Pod is in. Even though Kusac is with her and he hides out keeping constant contact with her through their link, she still gets to do her stuff and show that she is more than just an emotional woman who wishes everyone would stop looking down on her as nothing more than just wife material.She gets to show what she had been saying all along to her family and village and man does she prove point. I mean she would have to be strong anyway to survive not only her mother's death when she and her twin sister were little but her sister's death and the torture her sister went through before she died.
But it isn't all bad. I mean the writer Lisanne, has created an world of in this book giving it some very nice and realistic details that slowly sucks you in and into its characters and I have to say that I am glad I found this book at my local book store.
But instead of us getting to know more about all these characters where they could have been talking about what they had for lunch or how they miss their families on the mother ship and their home, their relationships, earth or hell I don't care even talk about the biggest dump that they had in days would have been an nice a breath of fresh air in this story! I don't care just she (the writer) misses the opportunity to give us characters that we could have identified with and instead constantly reminding us that Carrie and Kusac are connected through brain sex!
Anyway I'm ready for the next book in this series and I'm not giving up on it. I just wished the next one isn't as bad and we get to move on from "The Connection"
October 5, 2018
I have had this book on my shelf for awhile and have always meant to read it and so I finally did. I love the premise of this book and I want to love the book itself but I really couldn't give it more then three stars. Carrie although an interesting protagonist she seemed to vacillate between on extreme emotion to another. I know she is young and I could excuse it as a personality quirk if every other character wasn't the same. Everyone seemed to over react to the situations they found themselves in. I liked the plot it was just how the characters reacted to it that dragged the story down a bit. (Also as a side note I found it weird that all the humans smoked. It felt like the book was written in the 50's rather then the 90's. It just took me out of the story every time they all sat down to have a smoke.)
Will I read the sequel? Probably. Eventually. The descriptions I've read of the rest of the series does have me intrigued about where the story goes from here but I am not in a rush just of yet. So one day.
Will I read the sequel? Probably. Eventually. The descriptions I've read of the rest of the series does have me intrigued about where the story goes from here but I am not in a rush just of yet. So one day.
May 31, 2023
Wow! Just wow. I devoured this book. And I will continue with the next one soon. Its going to be a 700 pager, so I will throw in something else before... but seriously: this was terrific.
I can't believe this book from 1993 doesn't have an incredibly huge following!?!? It's the best, seriously the best I have read in that genre ever. Current books like that just lack kinda one or other or everything Ms Norman has put into Turning Point. The world building superb. The characters and their development and growth, the relationships. So good! My gosh! How could I have lived without Sholans in my life before!? I'm soooo excited for more!
The only thing I didn't like, but that's personal and I just tried to ignore it, especially since this was written in the 90s, was the smoking. That was totally off putting.
And a funny thing is, something I always wonder about in stories where people travel a lot and roughing it: they were never ever using the "bathroom" 😆
I can't believe this book from 1993 doesn't have an incredibly huge following!?!? It's the best, seriously the best I have read in that genre ever. Current books like that just lack kinda one or other or everything Ms Norman has put into Turning Point. The world building superb. The characters and their development and growth, the relationships. So good! My gosh! How could I have lived without Sholans in my life before!? I'm soooo excited for more!
The only thing I didn't like, but that's personal and I just tried to ignore it, especially since this was written in the 90s, was the smoking. That was totally off putting.
And a funny thing is, something I always wonder about in stories where people travel a lot and roughing it: they were never ever using the "bathroom" 😆
June 9, 2024
Solid start to the series that lays down the basics in this Universe in a coherent manner. Some of the dialogue, social aspects and character actions seemed dated which caused me to feel as if the book had been written far earlier than 1993 (perhaps a very early draft prior DAW's publication?) I like our plucky hero Carrie. Her relationship with the Feline alien Kusac is a little creepy, sort of like soft cat porn, especially when he licks her face! That all said, it is an interesting world and, as the series runs 9 books, I expect it to get better. There's enough here to keep me reading more.
December 12, 2019
Carrie and her sister are twins and have a deep connection. However, when her sister dies, the connection is replaced by another person. Who is this other person? Meanwhile, Kusac is a lost cat-man left behind by his people on the same planet. What might bring the two together?
It is a well written novel generally, but I have a mild case of frustration, wanting more. In essense it is a cross-species romance in the time of war. We get to see what happens when neither society really likes the idea and I personally find myself hoping to learn about about this brave couple
It is a well written novel generally, but I have a mild case of frustration, wanting more. In essense it is a cross-species romance in the time of war. We get to see what happens when neither society really likes the idea and I personally find myself hoping to learn about about this brave couple
August 11, 2018
Interesting culture clash.
While alien cat species ate nothing new the telepathic aspect is a refreshing twist. It is not only about the complications of first contact but an unlikely romance between too very alien peoples. Kusac, the male alien protagonist, is coming of age due to unparalleled challenges. Carrie finds her own path after the death of a sister who had unintentionally mentally dominated her.
This is an entertaining read and much better than I expected.
While alien cat species ate nothing new the telepathic aspect is a refreshing twist. It is not only about the complications of first contact but an unlikely romance between too very alien peoples. Kusac, the male alien protagonist, is coming of age due to unparalleled challenges. Carrie finds her own path after the death of a sister who had unintentionally mentally dominated her.
This is an entertaining read and much better than I expected.
February 23, 2020
The characters are definitely the highest point in this book, as the plot suffers a bit from cliche. Not that it's entirely a bad thing, but you can definitely tell where it's going.
Also, the romance is based purely on driving the plot forward without any real connection. Still, I thought it was cute in its execution.
I'm looking forward to reading the 2nd book and hopefully through the rest of the series.
Also, the romance is based purely on driving the plot forward without any real connection. Still, I thought it was cute in its execution.
I'm looking forward to reading the 2nd book and hopefully through the rest of the series.
September 23, 2017
Carrie is in her 20s but has been sheltered her entire life. Living under the rule of the Valtegans has not been easy for anyone on her colony. Kusac and his crew have crashed on the planet after encountering the Others and he is badly injured. Both are very immature and struggle to find balance with another species.
January 14, 2020
I love this series. I can’t count how many times I read it. I waited rather impatiently for each new book and still wish there had been more. Maybe a collection of short stories about some of the characters?
January 10, 2023
A fun idea, and some great characters, but this is structurally only act 1 of the story, and probably should have been cut down to be 100 pages of a 400 page novel. Lots and lots of conversations that could have been narrative summary instead.
December 25, 2023
Very good first book
Although descriptions and explanations had to be brief and sketchy, author did a good job at describing not just one but two Alien species, and set the stage for the next books with Kusac and Carrie. There are military and Clan questions let alone the war.
Although descriptions and explanations had to be brief and sketchy, author did a good job at describing not just one but two Alien species, and set the stage for the next books with Kusac and Carrie. There are military and Clan questions let alone the war.
March 19, 2024
They really need half stars. It’s 3.5. I feel invested though.
Very much a focus on interpersonal relationships in “space”. I feel like Carries family did a number on her and that’ll be a lot to overcome.
I also chuckle at the idea of a large cat brushing some girls hair.
Very much a focus on interpersonal relationships in “space”. I feel like Carries family did a number on her and that’ll be a lot to overcome.
I also chuckle at the idea of a large cat brushing some girls hair.
September 10, 2025
A tolerable read. It wasn't something I particularly enjoyed; however, the story itself is reasonably well told. The writing is decent, and the author does a good job setting up for each scene to make a solid impact. Her writing style leaves something to be desired for me.
December 23, 2017
Read this a while ago. Good enough for me to want to check out the rest of the series. I wouldn't say it's fabulous, though.
May 8, 2017
I have the entire set in paperback somewhere in the garage. I decided to reread the series knowing that a new one is coming out. I now have all but 2 on e book. They are just as good as before!
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