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The Riss Series #1
The Riss Gamble: Book I in the Riss Series
A young girl dreams of seeing the stars and meeting aliens. Her chance comes in the form of a project offering a college education, commissioning in the SAS Fleet, and a partnership with an alien. She successfully qualifies and wins one of the coveted ten positions. Of Course everything comes with a price--the alien is a parasite that inhabits the body and mind and is there for life. Is it a dream or nightmare come true--maybe both?
299 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 15, 2011
59 people are currently reading
277 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 - 28 of 28 reviews
January 14, 2015
The Riss Gamble by C. R. Daems
Based on the four and five star reviews for this book, I expected something really good or at least original. Unfortunately, this book was neither. I have read much worse writing, but I have rarely been more disappointed in a book.
I could forgive bad plots and crazy unrealistic characters if they are at least interesting. This book reads more like a collection of standard tropes and summarized plot points acted out by generic characters that an actual story. By the end of the book, I didn't feel that I knew Nadya at all. Strangely, the story is told in first person and yet I never felt that I was hearing her voice. She might as well have been an impassionate narrator. Most of the time I felt like I was reading a summary of about a hundred other books.
The bad guys were ever worse. Every one of them was a cardboard cutout instead of a human being and didn't seem to have two brain cells to rub together.
Even the most interesting thing in the story – the Riss-Human relationship wasn't original or well done. If you are looking for a better example of a human/alien symbiosis try Timothy Zahn’s Dragonback (Dragon and Thief ) or go old school with Hal Clement’s Needle.
I never felt that I knew or understood Thalia (the Riss symbiote). She never really interacted in a meaningful way with Nadya. She might as well have been Jiminy Cricket sitting on her shoulder chirping upbeat platitudes and making snarky comments regarding the humans around her.
***Spoiler Alert***
The rest of the review is a sort of blow by blow the entire book so don’t read if you don’t want to know what happens.
Part of the problem with this book was the pacing. I kept waiting for the introduction part of the story to finish and the actual plot to begin…it never did. Chapter three starts her cadet training, and at the start of chapter four it is four years later and she has graduated. During that time we get a summary of the abuse heaped on her, her introduction into the super elite fighting discipline called Si’jin. Another stale over used trope. The heroine is taught by a master of a super amazing fighting technique that only the worthy few are chosen to learn. Of course the master knows the heroine is worthy based on the answer to one question.
A few things started to get on my nerves by the fourth chapter. The first, Thalia, who learned the language in just a matter of weeks, is still speaking broken English four years later. Even if the author wants to make it clear that mentally, they would take short cuts in how they communicate, he could have done better with making their communication more visual or visceral instead of the poor grammar that was the alien’s trademark voice. Here was a real missed opportunity – her species communicates exclusively using images instead of symbolic language. That’s a cool concept but the author doesn't really do anything with it. He never spends time having the two learn about each other’s culture. In fact by the end of the book, we still know almost nothing about the Riss. Wouldn't it be hard for Thalia to learn to be a passenger in a sentient host when she and her kind are used to complete control over a host who can’t live without the symbiote?
In chapter four, Nadya starts what seems to be a graduate school program. There she gets a private room and for the first time mentions that she had three room mates at her previous school. Seriously? We didn’t get any interaction with them at all. Also, she was in school with the nine other Riss-Humans in the project and no interaction with them either. We never see Nadya with her friends or really interacting much with anyone. It is the end of her first semester at the grad school called Hephaestus that we hear anything about any of the other Riss-Humans. There are ten total but two were only reluctantly accepted by the Riss. Those two turn out to be failures in a plot point that’s only purpose seems to be to prove how perfect the Riss are. With only one data point, the single Riss-human before the project, they apparently know enough about humans in all their variability to pick the perfect one for union. With very limited data about them.
More surprising is that we are supposed to believe that in the case of the one who cheated and intimidated other cadets, that his Riss willing helped him and put up with this behavior for four years. Also, what about the other Riss? Wouldn’t they be communicating to each other? Wouldn’t all ten participants be under near constant scrutiny from the human authorities? Just one example of several plot holes big enough to drive a truck through.
During her time are Hephaestus, she falls in love. Her relationship with the man she calls her ‘first true love’ is covered in the span of several pages. The entire grad school is covered in chapter five.
At chapter five, we are 18 % into the book and I really started to wonder when the story was going to get started. Also, I started thinking of drinking game to play while reading – I didn't actually take any shots but it is a bad sign that I was thinking of them . Like take a shot every time Thalia says “You high-Riss” or when Nadya gets in trouble for laughing or smiling at Thalia’s running commentary. Take a shot every time Thalia makes a comment about someone’s emotional state that is completely unnecessary because it is 100% obvious. If I had, I’d have been drunk by the end of the book.
Interspaced in the first person story, there are snippets of third person scenes that randomly pop up. They don’t really serve any purpose and the story would have been tighter with out them.
In chapter six we meet the Captain of the ship she has been assigned to. He turns out to be the stupidest Captain in the universe. Or at least I hope so because if the fleet has any who are stupider then the humans are in big trouble. This starts a long stream of stupid people doing seriously stupid things. The Captain himself admits about half way through the book that he never read her contract or personnel file and wasn’t even aware of her academic history! Seriously? Who does that? Even if he is just determined to get rid of her wouldn’t he want to have all the information he needed to do that?
Of course, he is out to get her from the beginning. She gets court marshaled, a proceeding that takes about two pages. It only takes two pages because it is the worst frame job imaginable and it only takes a competent attorney a few lines to get the charges dismissed. And by competent I mean someone with a sixth grade reading level. Later she is in trouble again, and it takes even less effort to get out of it. Because again, she isn’t actually even close to being in any sort of situation she could be blamed for.
I get that the author wanted her to have obstacles, but there is a huge missed opportunity here for character growth for all parties. Everything is laid out in black and white. Those that are just ignorant bigots and those that aren’t. There is no real attempt to portray humans having a completely rational suspicion of the aliens. It isn’t paranoid or irrational to be skeptical of the claim that the aliens who can take over control of human hosts are completely above board. The idea of being invaded by them should sqidge people out at least a little.
There are so many unanswered questions about the Riss. I would hope perhaps they are somewhat addressed in the second book but I doubt I will try to read it. By about half way through the book reading started feeling like a chore and I could barely pay attention. I slogged through and finished it but I won’t bother recounting the raider subplot. It was pretty generic.
Just one more comment. About 44% through the book, our heroine is on environmental control duty on the space ship and she learns that they recycle their waste. She apparently didn't know that they did that ON A SPACESHIP. Geez, after four years at some cadet school and three semesters in an elite grad program, she didn't know that? Serious, I stopped reading and made a note on my Kindle I was so shocked. I nearly quit reading at that point.
To summarize, this is a rather generic story with a slightly interesting idea of benevolent aliens who can merge with human hosts. That alone isn't enough to have won me over. If there had been more of an emotional connection with either Nadya or Thalia or their relationship with each other, I could have ignored all the problems in this book. As it was, I just wasn't interested enough to read book two.
Based on the four and five star reviews for this book, I expected something really good or at least original. Unfortunately, this book was neither. I have read much worse writing, but I have rarely been more disappointed in a book.
I could forgive bad plots and crazy unrealistic characters if they are at least interesting. This book reads more like a collection of standard tropes and summarized plot points acted out by generic characters that an actual story. By the end of the book, I didn't feel that I knew Nadya at all. Strangely, the story is told in first person and yet I never felt that I was hearing her voice. She might as well have been an impassionate narrator. Most of the time I felt like I was reading a summary of about a hundred other books.
The bad guys were ever worse. Every one of them was a cardboard cutout instead of a human being and didn't seem to have two brain cells to rub together.
Even the most interesting thing in the story – the Riss-Human relationship wasn't original or well done. If you are looking for a better example of a human/alien symbiosis try Timothy Zahn’s Dragonback (Dragon and Thief ) or go old school with Hal Clement’s Needle.
I never felt that I knew or understood Thalia (the Riss symbiote). She never really interacted in a meaningful way with Nadya. She might as well have been Jiminy Cricket sitting on her shoulder chirping upbeat platitudes and making snarky comments regarding the humans around her.
***Spoiler Alert***
The rest of the review is a sort of blow by blow the entire book so don’t read if you don’t want to know what happens.
Part of the problem with this book was the pacing. I kept waiting for the introduction part of the story to finish and the actual plot to begin…it never did. Chapter three starts her cadet training, and at the start of chapter four it is four years later and she has graduated. During that time we get a summary of the abuse heaped on her, her introduction into the super elite fighting discipline called Si’jin. Another stale over used trope. The heroine is taught by a master of a super amazing fighting technique that only the worthy few are chosen to learn. Of course the master knows the heroine is worthy based on the answer to one question.
A few things started to get on my nerves by the fourth chapter. The first, Thalia, who learned the language in just a matter of weeks, is still speaking broken English four years later. Even if the author wants to make it clear that mentally, they would take short cuts in how they communicate, he could have done better with making their communication more visual or visceral instead of the poor grammar that was the alien’s trademark voice. Here was a real missed opportunity – her species communicates exclusively using images instead of symbolic language. That’s a cool concept but the author doesn't really do anything with it. He never spends time having the two learn about each other’s culture. In fact by the end of the book, we still know almost nothing about the Riss. Wouldn't it be hard for Thalia to learn to be a passenger in a sentient host when she and her kind are used to complete control over a host who can’t live without the symbiote?
In chapter four, Nadya starts what seems to be a graduate school program. There she gets a private room and for the first time mentions that she had three room mates at her previous school. Seriously? We didn’t get any interaction with them at all. Also, she was in school with the nine other Riss-Humans in the project and no interaction with them either. We never see Nadya with her friends or really interacting much with anyone. It is the end of her first semester at the grad school called Hephaestus that we hear anything about any of the other Riss-Humans. There are ten total but two were only reluctantly accepted by the Riss. Those two turn out to be failures in a plot point that’s only purpose seems to be to prove how perfect the Riss are. With only one data point, the single Riss-human before the project, they apparently know enough about humans in all their variability to pick the perfect one for union. With very limited data about them.
More surprising is that we are supposed to believe that in the case of the one who cheated and intimidated other cadets, that his Riss willing helped him and put up with this behavior for four years. Also, what about the other Riss? Wouldn’t they be communicating to each other? Wouldn’t all ten participants be under near constant scrutiny from the human authorities? Just one example of several plot holes big enough to drive a truck through.
During her time are Hephaestus, she falls in love. Her relationship with the man she calls her ‘first true love’ is covered in the span of several pages. The entire grad school is covered in chapter five.
At chapter five, we are 18 % into the book and I really started to wonder when the story was going to get started. Also, I started thinking of drinking game to play while reading – I didn't actually take any shots but it is a bad sign that I was thinking of them . Like take a shot every time Thalia says “You high-Riss” or when Nadya gets in trouble for laughing or smiling at Thalia’s running commentary. Take a shot every time Thalia makes a comment about someone’s emotional state that is completely unnecessary because it is 100% obvious. If I had, I’d have been drunk by the end of the book.
Interspaced in the first person story, there are snippets of third person scenes that randomly pop up. They don’t really serve any purpose and the story would have been tighter with out them.
In chapter six we meet the Captain of the ship she has been assigned to. He turns out to be the stupidest Captain in the universe. Or at least I hope so because if the fleet has any who are stupider then the humans are in big trouble. This starts a long stream of stupid people doing seriously stupid things. The Captain himself admits about half way through the book that he never read her contract or personnel file and wasn’t even aware of her academic history! Seriously? Who does that? Even if he is just determined to get rid of her wouldn’t he want to have all the information he needed to do that?
Of course, he is out to get her from the beginning. She gets court marshaled, a proceeding that takes about two pages. It only takes two pages because it is the worst frame job imaginable and it only takes a competent attorney a few lines to get the charges dismissed. And by competent I mean someone with a sixth grade reading level. Later she is in trouble again, and it takes even less effort to get out of it. Because again, she isn’t actually even close to being in any sort of situation she could be blamed for.
I get that the author wanted her to have obstacles, but there is a huge missed opportunity here for character growth for all parties. Everything is laid out in black and white. Those that are just ignorant bigots and those that aren’t. There is no real attempt to portray humans having a completely rational suspicion of the aliens. It isn’t paranoid or irrational to be skeptical of the claim that the aliens who can take over control of human hosts are completely above board. The idea of being invaded by them should sqidge people out at least a little.
There are so many unanswered questions about the Riss. I would hope perhaps they are somewhat addressed in the second book but I doubt I will try to read it. By about half way through the book reading started feeling like a chore and I could barely pay attention. I slogged through and finished it but I won’t bother recounting the raider subplot. It was pretty generic.
Just one more comment. About 44% through the book, our heroine is on environmental control duty on the space ship and she learns that they recycle their waste. She apparently didn't know that they did that ON A SPACESHIP. Geez, after four years at some cadet school and three semesters in an elite grad program, she didn't know that? Serious, I stopped reading and made a note on my Kindle I was so shocked. I nearly quit reading at that point.
To summarize, this is a rather generic story with a slightly interesting idea of benevolent aliens who can merge with human hosts. That alone isn't enough to have won me over. If there had been more of an emotional connection with either Nadya or Thalia or their relationship with each other, I could have ignored all the problems in this book. As it was, I just wasn't interested enough to read book two.
May 28, 2021
A very few, very brave group of young people, headed off to a galaxy military academy, are offered the chance to work with another sentient group. In order to do so, the sentient and the human to which she will join, must be chosen by the sentient and the two must merge, body in toto, mind as ... well you must read The Riss Gamble to find out. As a coming of age (and later in the series, into mature adulthood) story, there are lots of challenges and lots of unfairness the female MC must face.
December 22, 2014
I'm not 100% sure if the character or the author is the drama queen... but there's definitely drama queenery going on. Writing was fairly good, typos, interesting concepts.
December 12, 2014
I so badly wanted to like this book. The premise sounds great and quite similar to Dax from DS9 (who was my favorite character). Based on my admittedly biased excitement in had some high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, it was not as good as it sounds. The were so many typos for one, and many words were used in the wrong context. While reading this I often thought "you keep using that word, I do not think you know what it means" ( I really can't remember that exact quote). The story quickly fell flat and it wasn't long before I was forcing myself to read it because I wanted to like it. Another issue I had was the authors tendency to wrote about sexual violence. He was constantly writing about rape. The main character was almost raped, several of her comrades/coworkers were raped. It quickly got ridiculous. I never even finished the book. I got about halfway through and just couldn't take it anymore.
March 4, 2022
Engaging Sci Fi
This is the first book in a continuing series. The book concludes at a natural break in the narrative, but it is obvious that the story continues in future books.
Nadia is a young woman who long to leave her dull mining colony and see the stars. She left her compulsory education at age 14 but loves her job of fixing electronic equipment because of the challenge to her inquisitive and intelligent mind. In order to fulfil her dream she applies to the Riss Project. The Riss Project will provide her with an education at the naval academy, enabling her to graduate as an officer in the SAS Navy and travel the stars. In return she owes the SAS 25 years service in the Navy and to host a Riss, an intelligent alien parasite. So far only one Riss/Human exists, a Vice Admiral and she has advocated on behalf of the telepathic Riss who want to learn how to travel the stars
This book follows the story of Nadia’s journey with the project and her encounters with the Riss and how people treat her after she joins the project. She encounters prejudice and often outright disgust and even hatred for endeavours on behalf of the Riss Race, but Nadia believes that not only with the Riss benefit from a full alliance with humans, but humans will equally benefit from that alliance.
I really enjoyed this book. Nadia is intelligent, lively and engaging. Her inquisitive and friendly nature make her character appealing, however it is her strength and intelligence that make her admirable. Her communications with her Riss parasite are internal but as a reader/listener we get to enjoy her humorous commentary that pops up at irreverent moments.
Watching Nadia and Thalia, the Riss embedded in Nadia grow and learn from each other is fascinating, especially as Nadia becomes almost a leader for the other Riss/Humans in her determination to protect the project she believes in. She and the other Riss/Humans undergo many hardships but they gain a great deal from their partnerships.
The book follows Nadia’s education and her initial few years onboard ships as she learns to become a good officer and how to make good friends. Both are hard because of prejudice but she finds a way through a difficult path strewn with obstacles.
There is much to admire in both Nadia and Thalia and I can’t wait to read/hear what happens to them next in this ongoing series. I imagine it will be equally enjoyable.
Listening to this as an audiobook was en enjoyable experience as the narrator, Gabrielle De Cuir, conveyed the different characters well. She was convincing as both Nadia and Thalia, as well as other supporting characters. Her style of narration drew me in and kept me hooked. I normally only listen to audiobooks whilst doing other things, such as crafting, but I wanted to continue with this story so much I sat and listened to this book even when I wasn’t doing anything else, which is when I’d normally read an ebook to save the audiobooks for when I had my hands busy. I’d be happy to listen to other audiobooks with this narrator.
This is the first book in a continuing series. The book concludes at a natural break in the narrative, but it is obvious that the story continues in future books.
Nadia is a young woman who long to leave her dull mining colony and see the stars. She left her compulsory education at age 14 but loves her job of fixing electronic equipment because of the challenge to her inquisitive and intelligent mind. In order to fulfil her dream she applies to the Riss Project. The Riss Project will provide her with an education at the naval academy, enabling her to graduate as an officer in the SAS Navy and travel the stars. In return she owes the SAS 25 years service in the Navy and to host a Riss, an intelligent alien parasite. So far only one Riss/Human exists, a Vice Admiral and she has advocated on behalf of the telepathic Riss who want to learn how to travel the stars
This book follows the story of Nadia’s journey with the project and her encounters with the Riss and how people treat her after she joins the project. She encounters prejudice and often outright disgust and even hatred for endeavours on behalf of the Riss Race, but Nadia believes that not only with the Riss benefit from a full alliance with humans, but humans will equally benefit from that alliance.
I really enjoyed this book. Nadia is intelligent, lively and engaging. Her inquisitive and friendly nature make her character appealing, however it is her strength and intelligence that make her admirable. Her communications with her Riss parasite are internal but as a reader/listener we get to enjoy her humorous commentary that pops up at irreverent moments.
Watching Nadia and Thalia, the Riss embedded in Nadia grow and learn from each other is fascinating, especially as Nadia becomes almost a leader for the other Riss/Humans in her determination to protect the project she believes in. She and the other Riss/Humans undergo many hardships but they gain a great deal from their partnerships.
The book follows Nadia’s education and her initial few years onboard ships as she learns to become a good officer and how to make good friends. Both are hard because of prejudice but she finds a way through a difficult path strewn with obstacles.
There is much to admire in both Nadia and Thalia and I can’t wait to read/hear what happens to them next in this ongoing series. I imagine it will be equally enjoyable.
Listening to this as an audiobook was en enjoyable experience as the narrator, Gabrielle De Cuir, conveyed the different characters well. She was convincing as both Nadia and Thalia, as well as other supporting characters. Her style of narration drew me in and kept me hooked. I normally only listen to audiobooks whilst doing other things, such as crafting, but I wanted to continue with this story so much I sat and listened to this book even when I wasn’t doing anything else, which is when I’d normally read an ebook to save the audiobooks for when I had my hands busy. I’d be happy to listen to other audiobooks with this narrator.
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.
November 25, 2024
Audible edition review
This was ok. As I was reading it I kept thinking "This is painfully similar to the Tasmanian Special Forces saga" only to now realise they were written by the same author. It has all the same issues: Hyper competent main characters, all opposition is bigoted (rather than sexist in TSF), all the antagonists are cardboard cutouts, every time the main character hits a road bump it is either sorted in that chapter or the next.
The military fascism stuff is painful too. At every level of military the main character and her cohorts encounter racism and injustice. There's constant problems and bullying yet she never thinks "This is systemic" and instead continues to believe it is a just a few bad apples across multiple different planetary systems.
The Riss, who are the telepathic race she's bonded too, are smugly superior about their greatness which having achieved nothing. Their mental maths skills are apparently incredible because they've never been able to invent any technology. They are peace loving, can't lie and perfect in every way. It's painful. Whenever she runs into opposition her brain worm chirps in with "You High Riss" as if being bonded to a brain worm who was in the ruling class on its home planet is a superior designation over humans who have conquered the galaxy.
Thalia, her Riss, is incredibly annoying too. Apparently she is hyper intelligent but also never manages to come close to grasping human language despite deeming it overly simplistic. She chirps in with people's emotions (being an empath) but this knowledge is practically useless as almost everyone wears their hearts on their sleeves.
Honestly, the book was just tiring, the character has the same problems over and over and resolves them simplistically again and again. I also have an issue like I did with TSF that a space-faring race having distinct army and navy branches seems insane. As does dropping people off miles from their target so they can go on a long dangerous hike with the army.
The narration was good at least but if you are going to read a Daems book read the Tasmanian Special Forces. The main character in that series at least feels like she earned some of her advancement.
This was ok. As I was reading it I kept thinking "This is painfully similar to the Tasmanian Special Forces saga" only to now realise they were written by the same author. It has all the same issues: Hyper competent main characters, all opposition is bigoted (rather than sexist in TSF), all the antagonists are cardboard cutouts, every time the main character hits a road bump it is either sorted in that chapter or the next.
The military fascism stuff is painful too. At every level of military the main character and her cohorts encounter racism and injustice. There's constant problems and bullying yet she never thinks "This is systemic" and instead continues to believe it is a just a few bad apples across multiple different planetary systems.
The Riss, who are the telepathic race she's bonded too, are smugly superior about their greatness which having achieved nothing. Their mental maths skills are apparently incredible because they've never been able to invent any technology. They are peace loving, can't lie and perfect in every way. It's painful. Whenever she runs into opposition her brain worm chirps in with "You High Riss" as if being bonded to a brain worm who was in the ruling class on its home planet is a superior designation over humans who have conquered the galaxy.
Thalia, her Riss, is incredibly annoying too. Apparently she is hyper intelligent but also never manages to come close to grasping human language despite deeming it overly simplistic. She chirps in with people's emotions (being an empath) but this knowledge is practically useless as almost everyone wears their hearts on their sleeves.
Honestly, the book was just tiring, the character has the same problems over and over and resolves them simplistically again and again. I also have an issue like I did with TSF that a space-faring race having distinct army and navy branches seems insane. As does dropping people off miles from their target so they can go on a long dangerous hike with the army.
The narration was good at least but if you are going to read a Daems book read the Tasmanian Special Forces. The main character in that series at least feels like she earned some of her advancement.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2022
Three pages in my issues have issues here. Sooo many red flags. "You would be the supervisor, if you weren't so young." When did a job description started to have age reszrictions in the future? Today this would be so blatant discrimination, they would lose a ton of money if they were sued.
Also, she is so young, but everyone gurns to her for help. And she programmed her own AI. I guess the author has not a lot of knowledge about programming nor AIs. On the second page she turns into a Mary Sue, I don't want to know what happens on the rest of the pages.
Aaand the last blow: she weighs 40 kilos. Either the author has no idea how much that is or she is a midget (that would have been good information to have before this) or she is so underweight and malnourished that she is close to death. Don't use measurements you have no idea about. Or try to make your main character so skinny an anorexic would look fat next to her. At least say she is a little person before making her weigh 40 kilos.
Also, she is so young, but everyone gurns to her for help. And she programmed her own AI. I guess the author has not a lot of knowledge about programming nor AIs. On the second page she turns into a Mary Sue, I don't want to know what happens on the rest of the pages.
Aaand the last blow: she weighs 40 kilos. Either the author has no idea how much that is or she is a midget (that would have been good information to have before this) or she is so underweight and malnourished that she is close to death. Don't use measurements you have no idea about. Or try to make your main character so skinny an anorexic would look fat next to her. At least say she is a little person before making her weigh 40 kilos.
February 8, 2018
Wonderful book!
Enjoyed every moment. I found the journey from selfish dreams to thinking and dreaming for a whole people wonderful for this entire series. This book takes a young talented women whole had experienced life by herself for the most part then thrust her into friendship, intimacy, and sisterhood.
Enjoyed every moment. I found the journey from selfish dreams to thinking and dreaming for a whole people wonderful for this entire series. This book takes a young talented women whole had experienced life by herself for the most part then thrust her into friendship, intimacy, and sisterhood.
September 21, 2017
Great entertaining read!
I read this book in 4 hours. Couldn't put it down. Strong character. I'm Navy so for me it was even more entertaining with a strong female lead?
I read this book in 4 hours. Couldn't put it down. Strong character. I'm Navy so for me it was even more entertaining with a strong female lead?
January 16, 2019
entertaining book once again, can't wait to hear the next book , i just hope they can release audio books fast enough, great narration this Author and narrator have been my finds of 2019
February 7, 2021
Awesome book
I love this book and the whole series this is my 5th time reading it and I still get upset because I feel her aggravation , the plot is very well written
I love this book and the whole series this is my 5th time reading it and I still get upset because I feel her aggravation , the plot is very well written
May 11, 2021
I like butt shouldn’t book 1 of the Riss series have been the story of zann did I miss a book?
May 5, 2022
DNF41%. 2-. Editing fine, prose acceptable, characters very flat and plot repetitive. I suspect that had I continued to read the book it would have ended up with a 1+ grade.
February 15, 2022
I always find C.R's books very readable and go through them very quickly. This one is no exception, a great fun read about a young girl enroling in a program that seemed to be her dreams come true only to find the reality a little different, then going on to overcoming prejudise and bullying to come out on top. Have read book two already more to say in that review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 15, 2017
Great new series......
April 15, 2013
While I loathe the cliche "page turner", I can think of no better descriptor of "The Riss Gamble". It is one of the most compelling science fiction novels of its type I've encountered, and oddly reminds me of the Ell Donsaii series by L. Dahners. Fans of the latter will most likely find much to enjoy in "The Riss Gamble" as it has some similar themes in the form of the protagonist, Nadya Reese and the shadows that are working against the SAS Navy.
While not perfect, the novel excels in narrative, using a creative blend of first person for the protagonist Nadya Reese and third person for all other key points of information that are happening around the galaxy (or even just up in the Captain's Conference). There are some sticking points in the form of odd juxtapositions - for instance, generally referring to the mass of objects in kilograms, but occasionally referring to the weight in kilograms and occasionally in stones - and some inconvenient typos.
No book is free from typos, of course, and "The Riss Gamble" has far fewer than a number of books I've recently read, but where editorial errors do appear, they often are so halting that it takes multiple re-reads of a passage to try to determine the author's intent. Sometimes even that doesn't help, as I'm still left pondering one particular passage where someone mentions that those assigned to serve with Reese are "on the fast track for promotion, or promotion like with Commander..." Another sticking point is the use of the term "parasite" when referring to the Riss, which is (thankfully) almost exclusively used by those who do not understand the Riss or Riss-humans. I can only assume that where used by Riss-humans, it is because parasites are almost universally understood, where as symbiotic relationships are far less easily understood.
Overall, the story is fantastic and rarely falls into the pit of so many space sci-fi novels where the world building is so thick and tedious that it feels like a slog. Quite the opposite - the author takes unique approaches to explaining the universe through Reese's fresh eyes as she tries to learn as much as possible about almost all subjects.
I highly recommend this novel to anyone with a passion for space opera, space war fiction, and good futuristic science fiction.
While not perfect, the novel excels in narrative, using a creative blend of first person for the protagonist Nadya Reese and third person for all other key points of information that are happening around the galaxy (or even just up in the Captain's Conference). There are some sticking points in the form of odd juxtapositions - for instance, generally referring to the mass of objects in kilograms, but occasionally referring to the weight in kilograms and occasionally in stones - and some inconvenient typos.
No book is free from typos, of course, and "The Riss Gamble" has far fewer than a number of books I've recently read, but where editorial errors do appear, they often are so halting that it takes multiple re-reads of a passage to try to determine the author's intent. Sometimes even that doesn't help, as I'm still left pondering one particular passage where someone mentions that those assigned to serve with Reese are "on the fast track for promotion, or promotion like with Commander..." Another sticking point is the use of the term "parasite" when referring to the Riss, which is (thankfully) almost exclusively used by those who do not understand the Riss or Riss-humans. I can only assume that where used by Riss-humans, it is because parasites are almost universally understood, where as symbiotic relationships are far less easily understood.
Overall, the story is fantastic and rarely falls into the pit of so many space sci-fi novels where the world building is so thick and tedious that it feels like a slog. Quite the opposite - the author takes unique approaches to explaining the universe through Reese's fresh eyes as she tries to learn as much as possible about almost all subjects.
I highly recommend this novel to anyone with a passion for space opera, space war fiction, and good futuristic science fiction.
April 20, 2016
This was a fast pace nice space sci fi adventure with enjoyable characters; I'm very glad I got around to this book. It starts simply with the main character is Nadya Reese applying for a program in the SAS Navy to get an Riss alien companion so she is able to travel and see the stars. After getting accepted we see how Nadya adjusted to becoming a Riss-human and learns to deal with her companion Thalia who is a extremely enjoyable character…it's interesting to see this develop and grow in the story. After the training we see Reese put in ship duty assignments and how she has to deal with the hatred of ignorance people given her as well as outside enemies looking to disable the region of space. Overall I loved the action in this book and the underlining message that I felt was given that you can get though most events in life if you keep your sense of humor and look for the positive in everything. It was a very good sci fi book without a heavy amount of tech talk and very worth a read if you're looking for a fast and interesting read.
January 24, 2013
Standard modern fantasy with a nice and interesting idea but sadly lacking in quality. There is a certain lack of knowledge and logic in military and strategic things. (For example you have a whole empire with quite a few planets and a big industry base and yet the raiders manage the same with only 1 planet. And how they manage to raid whole planets with only a few hundred soldiers is also a bit of a mystery to me. Or how Zann managed to keep her parasite secret for the whole time when every doctor could detect it or even kill it. And don´t get me started on the procedure by the inquiry's). The characterization is also stereotypical and only Thalia is really interesting and surprising.
All in all only the Riss make this series bearable and sometimes even interesting to read, but why humanity has to be bashed to accomplish that escapes me.
All in all only the Riss make this series bearable and sometimes even interesting to read, but why humanity has to be bashed to accomplish that escapes me.
August 10, 2019
Enjoyable space opera, and quite a page turner. The main character is not particularly believable, even with the Riss symbiote's help, but it's a good yarn. The book could use a good proofreader however. It's clear that a spell checker was used, but for example in two places where it is clear that the author meant "inquiry" instead was the word "injury", and military medals are frequently spelled "metals". In a few other cases a word or two was clearly missing from a sentence, leaving me to puzzle over what that word might be since what was written didn't make much sense otherwise.
I'll definitely read the rest of the series, even with the flaws mentioned above.
I'll definitely read the rest of the series, even with the flaws mentioned above.
March 20, 2016
I liked it. The topic is interesting, but I find that it lacked some depth. She shares her body with an alien (who is capable of taking over her body) but most of the time it just there to comment on things and enhance or heal her body. I feel a really good author could have gotten so much more from that.
Also I think I spotted one or two continuity error, nothing important but eh.
The main failing is in creating tension in dangerous moments. I just never feel like she is in any real danger. She is in dangerous situation but the book is not good at making me feel the struggle to win.
That said it's still a book I liked, it just could have been so much more. I will read the next books.
Also I think I spotted one or two continuity error, nothing important but eh.
The main failing is in creating tension in dangerous moments. I just never feel like she is in any real danger. She is in dangerous situation but the book is not good at making me feel the struggle to win.
That said it's still a book I liked, it just could have been so much more. I will read the next books.
June 26, 2015
Enjoyable fast moving storyline
Everything is very well thought out. Story moves along fast. Deals with hard issues of the human condition namely bigotry and prejudice. The heroine is smart tough and
resourceful. Not to mention resilient and undeterred by anything. I am a bit concerned with the occasional spelling mistake; as I've done a fair amount of copy editing I notice. Using the word " metal" for the word "medal " isn't quite up to snuff. Nonetheless definitely worth the read. Am going on to #2 right away!
Everything is very well thought out. Story moves along fast. Deals with hard issues of the human condition namely bigotry and prejudice. The heroine is smart tough and
resourceful. Not to mention resilient and undeterred by anything. I am a bit concerned with the occasional spelling mistake; as I've done a fair amount of copy editing I notice. Using the word " metal" for the word "medal " isn't quite up to snuff. Nonetheless definitely worth the read. Am going on to #2 right away!
August 25, 2014
This book almost felt as though it had been written by 2 people, one of whom was very young. Parts of the story were well written and then out of nowhere, came a section that read like it had been written by a teenager, and not very well at that. Not an author I am likely to read again which is sad because the central idea of the story had a lot of promise.
May 15, 2016
Well paced SciFi
This story was well pace and kept action rolling along. The story is simple with the focus on the main character. There is no heavy science or explanations of tech except where necessary to explain the action. Easy to consume light reading.
This story was well pace and kept action rolling along. The story is simple with the focus on the main character. There is no heavy science or explanations of tech except where necessary to explain the action. Easy to consume light reading.
April 24, 2022
Good book
I really enjoy C.R. Daems' books. I like the strong female characters and the military aspects of the books. The Riss Gamble was a fast paced read with very interesting characters. I look forward to the next book.
I really enjoy C.R. Daems' books. I like the strong female characters and the military aspects of the books. The Riss Gamble was a fast paced read with very interesting characters. I look forward to the next book.
April 1, 2013
The Series is very good. Can't wait for the next one.
April 12, 2013
Really enjoyed this book and would have liked to have given it 4.5 stars
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