1 out of 4 stars
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Solaris Seethes is a sci-fi young adult book that follows an alien named Rynah with her ship and AI, Solaris. Rynah is betrayed and her planet is thrown into chaos when her former fiance, Klanor, with steals the planet’s crystal. Rynah teams up with Solaris who brings together the four heroes of prophecy to find the other crystals and put a stop to the destruction of many other planets. Will the heroes, despite the many differences between them, find all the crystals before Klanor, stop him from destroying other planets, and save Rynah’s own people?
I enjoyed bright colors that Janet McNulty uses in her imagery throughout the book. The vivid colors in the imagery often reminded me of Guardians of the Galaxy. The writing style was always fast paced, switching to different points of view, that also reminded me of a how a movie generally plays out.
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the book overall. Despite being fast paced, and switching to different points of view, it was very haphazardly done. Thoughts from one character would be written about and suddenly switch to the next with no warning. It would have been better to just focus on one character, like Rynah. The writing was often broken up by parentheses to add extra descriptions to characters, settings, or objects. I would have prefered these extra details to be added in between commas or not at all. Often times throughout the book, descriptions for things are changed or it seems that words have just been put into a thesaurus and changed to sound more intelligent. For example, the grass on Rynah’s home planet changes from royal purple to emerald green to emerald green with a purple tint to emerald green again. Another example is Solon who is the philosopher is called a soothsayer and not once did he foresee the future.
The characters were one-dimensional and very predictable. Rynah was always cold and unforgiving. Rynah would show some development at bettering herself, then something would happen to would turn her back to being angry. Solaris was a mother-figure, banishing people to rooms, scolding mostly Rynah, and nurturing to others on the ship. Solon, the philosopher, often didn’t add much to any conversation except generic fortune cookie sayings. Alfric, the viking, was just the strong arm of the party, hacking and slashing at any enemy in their way. Brie, a teenager from modern times, often becomes the damsel in distress and is self aware that she is useless character. And last, but not least, Tom, the inventor from the future, who overall is just a bland character.
Solaris Seethes being a sci-fi book, one might come to expect the science to be a little ambiguous, but not totally unbelievable. There were a few details missing that made the story a bit unbelievable. For example, the crystal on Rynah’s planet stabilizes the magnetic field. After the crystal is stolen and the heroes return to the planet after a week, they find a lab assistant who has been living there for about a week with no issues. Also, the lack of gravity and opening doors to space seem to be a problem, as Rynah goes out to fix an issues and has Alfric hold a rope that is tied to her so she doesn’t float away. As Alfric pulls her back to Solaris while standing in an open door to space, the rope coils down at his feet. Once back in the ship, Alfric and Rynah lay on the floor before eventually shutting the door to space. There are other inconsistencies as well that don’t match up with actual science.
Overall, I give this book a 1 out of 4 stars. There are many issues with words, details, and grammar that should have been picked out during the editing process. The characters are flat, boring, and predictable. The science within the book is implausible and could have been rectified with a simple Google search. I, unfortunately, won’t be continuing to read the rest of the series and wouldn’t recommend the book.
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Solaris Seethes (Solaris Saga book 1)
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What a great and honest review...I am not much of a sci-fan although took a science fiction class in college....thumbs up for your honesty 
