Genellan, Book 2: In the Shadow of the Moon

Genellan #2

by Scott G. Gier

HEART OF GENELLAN
Hotshot pilot Sharl Buccari was a living legend. She had led her crew of civilians and space marines to safety on the raw frontier planet Genellan. She had engineered peace with both alien races that claimed Genellan as their own. Now she faced building a colony, forging diplomatic relations among the three races, and raising her infant son alone.
But alien rebellion and xenophobia threatened to tear apart the fragile truce for which she had fought so hard and lost so much. Worse, the dread aliens who twenty-five years earlier had massacred entire star systems were back--and on the warpath.
The military needed Buccari like never before. The other survivors could take care of Genellan, and her alien friends could take care of her child. But only Buccari belonged to all three races of Genellan. Only Buccari could hope to unite them all against a common--and deadly--foe . . .

Genres: Science Fiction

464 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

Reviews

[Tranquillus · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve just read the first 20 or so pages of this crap and stopped. And I would advise all readers to follow my example. Scott G. Gier is a typical trash writer, a big yawn, one among thousands like him. Most Sci-Fi scribblers are, including quite a few famous ones, such as Isaac Asimov.
I wonder why some readers here gave that book 4 or 3 stars. Even 1 star is too much for it. Such fucking shit should never be written, and if already written, it should never be published, and if already published, it should not be read. It’s boring, boring, boring. No characters, no passions, no humour. The dialogs are downright soporific and the whole writing style is colourless.
What am I gonna do next? I’ll dispose of this copy, so it’ll be recycled into something more useful and entertaining, like wrapping material or toilet rolls.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good follow up to the first in the series. If you liked the first one, you will really enjoy this. 3.5 stars.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it even more than book one. We go many places, back to Earth, two new colonies, both Konish planets, into space and even to the south hemisphere of Genellan. We finally meet the fleet destroyers. We see duplicity and untrustworthiness among all races. The little flying hunters make in into space. Our heroine is as amazing as always. I don't agree with all her decisions. but she makes the story more interesting with every decision she makes.

I am racing to get number three in the series, so I can plow into it. It was a quick read for me, because I was reading in every spare moment I could dig up.

This book would probably appeal to space opera fans. There is fighting at many technical levels. Alot of fighting against the strange natural beasts of the new colony worlds. There are space battles and many attempts to avoid fighting through diplomacy. For this book diplomacy is combat through alternate means. There are alot of characters and action on multiple planets to keep track of. I could imagine many readers might not like that aspect. I enjoyed it, although, of course, there are some storylines I am more interested in than others.

My one complaint with the series is that every single female gets pregnant or wants to get pregnant. I don't know what it is with the author, but I want him to accept that in the future not every female has to serve to carry babies to term.

I enjoyed the book and looking forward to the following books.

[David Bonesteel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Scott Gier's varied cast of characters contend with a variety of problematic aliens as mankind attempts to secure its place in the galaxy. There are the dangerous lifeforms of the planet Genellan, where an overcrowed Earth is attempting to establish its first colony. There are the kones, natives of another planet in the the same system, who are ambivalent about the arrival of the human race. There is the mysterious race of alien marauders who have victimized the kones in the past and prove to be a definite obstacle to the expansion of the human race. And, finally, there are the hideous inhabitants of an alternate colony site on a nightmarish world that becomes the site of a harrowing rescue mission. Gier writes a crackling tale on a wide canvas, successfully keeping many narrative balls in the air. Sadly, this series is out of print (I've found it only in used book stores). There is only one more published book in the series, but it is my impression that it does not provide closure because of the early cancellation of the series, probably due to poor sales. Volume III, "First Victory," sits on my shelf, and one day I shall read it and no doubt be disappointed that the saga will never be concluded.

[Bigal-sa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is good, but as I said in my review of the first book, the author goes to extraordinarily minute detail in parts, and then just glosses over some pretty important things. He also goes a bit overboard with abbreviations, which often broke the flow of the story for me, as I kept having to stop and ask myself, now what on earth is an XYZ?

It would appear that the author is trying to create a character to rival Honor Harrington, in both her heroics in space battles and political ability. What I found quite irritating (the main reason for 3*) was the apparent emulation of Robinson's excessive use of adjectives in describing items, such as found in Red Mars.

In spite of this, I have already bought the third book in the series, as I am interested in finding out how the story progresses.

[David B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Scott Gier's varied cast of characters contend with a variety of problematic aliens as mankind attempts to secure its place in the galaxy. There are the dangerous lifeforms of the planet Genellan, where an overcrowed Earth is attempting to establish its first colony. There are the kones, natives of another planet in the the same system, who are ambivalent about the arrival of the human race. There is the mysterious race of alien marauders who have victimized the kones in the past and prove to be a definite obstacle to the expansion of the human race. And, finally, there are the hideous inhabitants of an alternate colony site on a nightmarish world that becomes the site of a harrowing rescue mission. Geir writes a crackling tale on a wide canvas, successfully keeping many narrative balls in the air.

[Rusty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoy Gier's writing and this book was no exception.