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The Riss Series #2
The Riss Proposal
Nadya, a Riss-human, is now an experienced SAS naval officer, having participated in two battles against the Raider’s cruiser packs. However, because she hosts a Riss—an intelligent parasite—she continues to be seen by many as an alien, generating disgust, fear, raw hate, and attempts on her life.
To add to her problems, the Raiders have identified her as contributing directly to their bad luck in fighting against the SAS Navy. They consider her a dybbuk—a demon—and have set a price on her—dead or alive.
Nadya alone has deduced the Raiders aren’t a bunch of independent criminals, but clans with their own planet, and with spies on SAS planets and naval cruisers. She needs to convince the SAS, find the clans’ planet—and stay alive. Her life has become very complicated.
This is the thrilling sequel to THE RISS GAMBLE!
To add to her problems, the Raiders have identified her as contributing directly to their bad luck in fighting against the SAS Navy. They consider her a dybbuk—a demon—and have set a price on her—dead or alive.
Nadya alone has deduced the Raiders aren’t a bunch of independent criminals, but clans with their own planet, and with spies on SAS planets and naval cruisers. She needs to convince the SAS, find the clans’ planet—and stay alive. Her life has become very complicated.
This is the thrilling sequel to THE RISS GAMBLE!
203 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2012
39 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
C.R. Daems
51 books285 followersI was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and joined the military right out of high school. I served twenty-two years in the United States Air Force as a certified internal auditor. While in the military service, I lived in seven states and two foreign countries, and obtained two degrees: a BS in mathematics and an MS in computer science.
After I retired from the Air Force, I secured a position with Digital Equipment Corporation, located in Bedford, Massachusetts, as a software course developer and instructor. I worked twenty-two years at DEC and held positions as a course developer, course development manager, software engineer, and software engineering manager.
Today, I’m retired and live in Tucson, Arizona, with my wife of fifty-three years. My daughter and two grandchildren live in Maryland. I began writing several years after I retired, when I was seventy. My first two attempts remain in my desk drawer—good ideas, but poorly written. Subsequently, I co-authored, with Jeanne Tomlin, three fantasy novels: Talon of the Raptor Clan, Scales of Justice, and All My Friends Have Wings (young adults). Talon of the Raptor Clan was sold to ePress-online Books and came out in July 2009. Since then I have written two additional novels: The Laughing Hounds (urban fantasy) and The Riss Gamble (science fiction).
My hobbies for the past forty years have been kung fu and tai chi.
After I retired from the Air Force, I secured a position with Digital Equipment Corporation, located in Bedford, Massachusetts, as a software course developer and instructor. I worked twenty-two years at DEC and held positions as a course developer, course development manager, software engineer, and software engineering manager.
Today, I’m retired and live in Tucson, Arizona, with my wife of fifty-three years. My daughter and two grandchildren live in Maryland. I began writing several years after I retired, when I was seventy. My first two attempts remain in my desk drawer—good ideas, but poorly written. Subsequently, I co-authored, with Jeanne Tomlin, three fantasy novels: Talon of the Raptor Clan, Scales of Justice, and All My Friends Have Wings (young adults). Talon of the Raptor Clan was sold to ePress-online Books and came out in July 2009. Since then I have written two additional novels: The Laughing Hounds (urban fantasy) and The Riss Gamble (science fiction).
My hobbies for the past forty years have been kung fu and tai chi.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 4, 2022
I am glad there is more!! This series doesn’t have the same candy floss sense the Tasmanians or the red snake girl series. Not as much overt repetition of the how/why, thankfully. It is still a young girl with special advantages that allow her to know more than all the other, older military types.
In fact it feels like a blending of the above series and the author has had more experience writing. I like the Riss being pacifists but not pushovers. I can’t wait for my next Audible credits so I can “read” the next in the series!
In fact it feels like a blending of the above series and the author has had more experience writing. I like the Riss being pacifists but not pushovers. I can’t wait for my next Audible credits so I can “read” the next in the series!
September 21, 2022
I have to say that I quite enjoyed reading these three books, The Riss Gamble, The Riss Proposal and The Riss Survival.
The underlying premise of the story, the Riss who wants to go into space with the help of the humans and invades the bodies of a set of human volunteers, is a bit weird and maybe not that plausible but it is really just a pretext to build a story from so it is not a big deal.
The books follows our main protagonist as she enlists to be part of the program, bonds with her alien, trains to become a navy officer and finally becomes one. During this journey she has to fight prejudice from fellow naval officers, incompetence and, of course bad guys. Both domestic and external bad guys.
I like the main protagonist and her Riss symbiont. I do not understand why the books insist on referring to the Riss as parasites? That’s just bullshit. They are symbionts. Nadya are quite competent, thinks out of the box and does not hesitate when push comes to shove. There are several other likable, or at least competent, characters in the books, even at the Admiral level.
If we ignore this “Riss wants to go to space” nonsense the story is a good one. It is decently paced with plenty of adventure, advancement and action. The bad guys mostly gets the short end of the stick and we usually get to be there for that part. Not like in too many books where you have to suffer through a long build up getting to really hate the bad guy and then, wham, in a few sentences we are just told that he was arrested or fired or some stupid shit like that.
I rate these three books at 3 1/2 star with the first and third book being 4 stars and the middle one being a 3 star one. Why 3 stars for the middle one?
Well, that is because this theme in all of the books where there is a shitload of prejudice against these aliens and especially the Riss-humans. Everywhere Nadya goes she is not only resented but sabotaged in the most blatant and criminal ways. Seriously, almost all the navy personnel behaves in a way that is criminally unprofessional. In the first book it was acceptable. There was a lot of advancements and a lot of the asshats got what they deserved.
However, when the second book just continued the same way and the same, disproven, lies just got repeated by said asshats and Nadya’s accomplishments got swiped under the rug or flat out denied it was just too much. Like listening to the far left mainstream media repeating the same debunked bullshit over and over again.
Another thing that irks me a bit is the nonsense that are mentioned every so often that the Riss have no ranks but everyone is “the same” and just doing what is needed in every situation. This is just idealistic pseudo-socialist nonsense that have been proven not to work over and over again.
Overall however, I quite liked these books. They are fun reading with a main protagonist a little bit in the spirit of Harrington and Longknife.
The underlying premise of the story, the Riss who wants to go into space with the help of the humans and invades the bodies of a set of human volunteers, is a bit weird and maybe not that plausible but it is really just a pretext to build a story from so it is not a big deal.
The books follows our main protagonist as she enlists to be part of the program, bonds with her alien, trains to become a navy officer and finally becomes one. During this journey she has to fight prejudice from fellow naval officers, incompetence and, of course bad guys. Both domestic and external bad guys.
I like the main protagonist and her Riss symbiont. I do not understand why the books insist on referring to the Riss as parasites? That’s just bullshit. They are symbionts. Nadya are quite competent, thinks out of the box and does not hesitate when push comes to shove. There are several other likable, or at least competent, characters in the books, even at the Admiral level.
If we ignore this “Riss wants to go to space” nonsense the story is a good one. It is decently paced with plenty of adventure, advancement and action. The bad guys mostly gets the short end of the stick and we usually get to be there for that part. Not like in too many books where you have to suffer through a long build up getting to really hate the bad guy and then, wham, in a few sentences we are just told that he was arrested or fired or some stupid shit like that.
I rate these three books at 3 1/2 star with the first and third book being 4 stars and the middle one being a 3 star one. Why 3 stars for the middle one?
Well, that is because this theme in all of the books where there is a shitload of prejudice against these aliens and especially the Riss-humans. Everywhere Nadya goes she is not only resented but sabotaged in the most blatant and criminal ways. Seriously, almost all the navy personnel behaves in a way that is criminally unprofessional. In the first book it was acceptable. There was a lot of advancements and a lot of the asshats got what they deserved.
However, when the second book just continued the same way and the same, disproven, lies just got repeated by said asshats and Nadya’s accomplishments got swiped under the rug or flat out denied it was just too much. Like listening to the far left mainstream media repeating the same debunked bullshit over and over again.
Another thing that irks me a bit is the nonsense that are mentioned every so often that the Riss have no ranks but everyone is “the same” and just doing what is needed in every situation. This is just idealistic pseudo-socialist nonsense that have been proven not to work over and over again.
Overall however, I quite liked these books. They are fun reading with a main protagonist a little bit in the spirit of Harrington and Longknife.
March 4, 2022
Taking Command
This is the second book in a continuing series. You need to read/listen to the first book to understand this one. The book ends at a natural break in the narrative but the story continues in the next book.
Nadya has gained a great deal of experience in a short amount of time. She’s been rotated between many of the departments onboard a ship and poked her nose into everything she can find and as a result she has become extremely knowledgable. She has also fought in two different battles with the raiders. She has begun to see clearly into the minds of the raiders and as a result they have become wary and fearful of her involvement in action taken against them.
Through her knowledge and battle experience, she has gained an elevated position both in the SAS Navy and with her Riss sisters. Though she feels too young, many want her to step up and lead. This makes her even less popular amongst those people within the SAS who are disgusted with the idea of the Riss/Human project. If it weren’t for her own skills in combat and Thalia’s healing abilities she would have been dead already from the attacks made by the raider’s spies and disgruntled Navy personnel.
This book was a good progression of character development for Nadya and Thalia. They learn to work even more closely with each other and Nadya is often guided by the much more experienced Riss that she hosts. Thalia’s point of view often allows Nadya to make better decisions and act with greater confidence.
It’s also interesting to see how Nadya’s role within the Riss sisterhood develops during the course of this book. We get to know much more about the Riss as a race and their dreams become clearer to us.
The raiders storyline is interesting and we get to see a bit more about their culture in this book, rather than just as a faceless enemy. There are several space battles described in this book in a way that was exciting and believable (even if I don’t understand the maths!)
I think this series is going to continue to develop in interesting ways as Nadya grows older and more experienced, and the Riss/Human Project gets more involved. I look forward to reading the next book.
This is the second book in a continuing series. You need to read/listen to the first book to understand this one. The book ends at a natural break in the narrative but the story continues in the next book.
Nadya has gained a great deal of experience in a short amount of time. She’s been rotated between many of the departments onboard a ship and poked her nose into everything she can find and as a result she has become extremely knowledgable. She has also fought in two different battles with the raiders. She has begun to see clearly into the minds of the raiders and as a result they have become wary and fearful of her involvement in action taken against them.
Through her knowledge and battle experience, she has gained an elevated position both in the SAS Navy and with her Riss sisters. Though she feels too young, many want her to step up and lead. This makes her even less popular amongst those people within the SAS who are disgusted with the idea of the Riss/Human project. If it weren’t for her own skills in combat and Thalia’s healing abilities she would have been dead already from the attacks made by the raider’s spies and disgruntled Navy personnel.
This book was a good progression of character development for Nadya and Thalia. They learn to work even more closely with each other and Nadya is often guided by the much more experienced Riss that she hosts. Thalia’s point of view often allows Nadya to make better decisions and act with greater confidence.
It’s also interesting to see how Nadya’s role within the Riss sisterhood develops during the course of this book. We get to know much more about the Riss as a race and their dreams become clearer to us.
The raiders storyline is interesting and we get to see a bit more about their culture in this book, rather than just as a faceless enemy. There are several space battles described in this book in a way that was exciting and believable (even if I don’t understand the maths!)
I think this series is going to continue to develop in interesting ways as Nadya grows older and more experienced, and the Riss/Human Project gets more involved. I look forward to reading the next book.
October 28, 2021
I love this story. It’s makes a huge contrast with other series from the same author. I felt true empathy towards the main character and felt outraged for all the prejudice she experienced!
Those strong emotions only made me love the story and author more! I cheered for every single of the main character victories! And chuckle with more than one of the “parasite” remarks
I Can’t wait to read the next book in the series
Those strong emotions only made me love the story and author more! I cheered for every single of the main character victories! And chuckle with more than one of the “parasite” remarks
I Can’t wait to read the next book in the series
February 15, 2022
I am enjoying Reese's relationship with Thalia it is amusing and entertaining. The politics get deeper in this book and The reese/Talia character develops along with them well. This is the first C.R. Deams series that seems to come to a natural conclusion but carries on into I believe another 4 books whereas the previous series I've read seem to leave scope for further books but have come to a stop.
I have delayed purchasing book three in this series because as someone else commented the books are quite expensive being fairly short and book three is substantially dearer but is no longer and then the subsequent books revert back to the same price as books one and two? weird or just Amazon playing games?
I have delayed purchasing book three in this series because as someone else commented the books are quite expensive being fairly short and book three is substantially dearer but is no longer and then the subsequent books revert back to the same price as books one and two? weird or just Amazon playing games?
November 21, 2019
Excellent
What a joy! Excellent and non stop action, suspense, drama, intrigue, sorrow, a little love. What more can you ask?
What a joy! Excellent and non stop action, suspense, drama, intrigue, sorrow, a little love. What more can you ask?
February 10, 2021
Awesome series
This is my fifth ready of the series and I still look forward to reading the next one in line it’s that good
This is my fifth ready of the series and I still look forward to reading the next one in line it’s that good
February 20, 2021
Good concept, good series, really enjoyed it, but it's much longer than a short story and took me about 3 hours to read. Fairly expensive given how short they are.
November 4, 2023
3.5 ⭐️
This was much better than any of Daems books I’ve picked up so far & for many reasons :
1. There’s a better emotional undertone in this book than in book 1 or in the Tasmania Devil series. The issue of death, war & loss of loved ones was handled w more care. The aforementioned books seemed to gloss over the death of a friend & it was jarring
2. Thalia. Lol really liked that Daems had been able to create non-body character w depth & personality. Her amusement was v v entertaining to me bc when she was amused I also was lol - although the phrase “amusement rippled through me” or something along those lines was said wayyy too much
3. Community. Reese-Thalia did not remain in their corner. They formed meaningful relationships & while it did not bring justice lol it made the infractions bearable
4. Military & political intrigue
5. Reese - not a pushover. Strong in her own right & I like seeing her navigate the messes
However the same criticisms from book 1 & the Tasmanian Devils series still apply:
— always pointing out how good Reese’s ideas were or how she’s so smart or how good she is at something. While it’s not as bad as the TD series, it became grating after a while
— no justice. Ugh how I wish some of these captains were given their just desserts
— sacrificial lamb devices - not a fan
All in all, I liked it.
This was much better than any of Daems books I’ve picked up so far & for many reasons :
1. There’s a better emotional undertone in this book than in book 1 or in the Tasmania Devil series. The issue of death, war & loss of loved ones was handled w more care. The aforementioned books seemed to gloss over the death of a friend & it was jarring
2. Thalia. Lol really liked that Daems had been able to create non-body character w depth & personality. Her amusement was v v entertaining to me bc when she was amused I also was lol - although the phrase “amusement rippled through me” or something along those lines was said wayyy too much
3. Community. Reese-Thalia did not remain in their corner. They formed meaningful relationships & while it did not bring justice lol it made the infractions bearable
4. Military & political intrigue
5. Reese - not a pushover. Strong in her own right & I like seeing her navigate the messes
However the same criticisms from book 1 & the Tasmanian Devils series still apply:
— always pointing out how good Reese’s ideas were or how she’s so smart or how good she is at something. While it’s not as bad as the TD series, it became grating after a while
— no justice. Ugh how I wish some of these captains were given their just desserts
— sacrificial lamb devices - not a fan
All in all, I liked it.
April 21, 2016
This was a very good second book for the series, just as easy and fast pace to read as the last. I really enjoyed that it went even deeper into the hatred some people have for others in this case a alien and how other just stand by doing nothing while others are abused. I like how characters that Reese our Riss-human became friends with in the first book carried over and supported her though the abuse she was receiving and protected her when others wouldn't. After that we get to see what the clans are really about and how Reese plans to deal with them. All the while building some good will with people and respect for her abilities. Overall a good sequel with nice action and thought provoking "what if that was me" scenarios, i would recommend this book to anyone wanting a fast and interesting read.
June 26, 2015
Fast moving story line. Good read.
I really enjoyed the 2nd book. It continues to deal realistically with intense bigotry and intolerance. However the heroine faces down all her attackers with her brains and the help of her Riss companion. She finds an ally in the Admiral of the fleet. An unlikely scenario in the armed forces as we know but one can always dream. She proves to be a brilliant tactician, and learns the wisdom of the Riss over time. Unfortunately as a some time copy editor I noticed e the mistakes in spelling and grammar which are worse than in book 1. Daems did much better on this writing with Tomlin. They are a great team. Nevertheless it's a very enjoyable read. I'll be going to #3 next.
I really enjoyed the 2nd book. It continues to deal realistically with intense bigotry and intolerance. However the heroine faces down all her attackers with her brains and the help of her Riss companion. She finds an ally in the Admiral of the fleet. An unlikely scenario in the armed forces as we know but one can always dream. She proves to be a brilliant tactician, and learns the wisdom of the Riss over time. Unfortunately as a some time copy editor I noticed e the mistakes in spelling and grammar which are worse than in book 1. Daems did much better on this writing with Tomlin. They are a great team. Nevertheless it's a very enjoyable read. I'll be going to #3 next.
June 15, 2016
The plot idea is rather interesting, but the implementation is poor. Characters are flat and uninteresting (there are good guys and there are bad ones, good guys are good, and bad guys are... well... bad). The universe does not have any detail. Even places and names are dull. And finally, scientific part is terrible. There are space cruisers everywhere, FTL and all that, but computers take about minute to solve simple quadratic equation (collision course for ballistic bodies)? Author could do at least little research on that part.
January 16, 2014
This second book is as entertaining as the first one - to which I gave 4 stars - but the typos in this book made me reduce the rating to 3 stars. I still like the story and the characters, but the typos were really distracting at times.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews