book 1

Who recommends: Leila, Laurie, Preeti, JW, Edith, Lori, Linda, Lynn, Isabel, Shelley, Margaret
Who discommends: Rebekah

The heroine is psychicly linked with her twin sister. Their planet has been invaded by reptilian aliens. Her sister was undercover and was discovered and killed. The heroine feels her sister's pain and would have died too if the Sholan hero, who had crash landed on the planet, hadn't linked mentally with her. Sholans are telepathic and cat-like in appearance. I really enjoyed this book.--Linda

I'm afraid that this one will be a discommmend. I somewhat liked the book but ... Call me specieist but the interspecies romance creeped me out. I can probably blame too much exposure to a subgroup of SF Fandom into "Furries, which was popular about 10 years ago (and maybe still).

Trying to get beyond that, I was willing to give Norman a chance, and I think she did fairly well with the characters and romance, given my adversion to the material. However I found the book itself disappointing - a good start, but about 1/2 way through, there was a big flat stretch were people are basically sitting around and talking. (You know it's bad when you find yourself keeping checking the page number.) It felt like the author was speaking directly to the reader, saying, "I've got this really nifty world and I want you to know all about it so I can go on and write a bunch more books in this world." Then we get a short burst of action and an abrupt end. Perhaps this book would be more enjoyable if seen as an introduction to the series, but it's unlikely that I will pick up any more.--Rebekah (25 Aug 99)

Now I'm the opposite. Something about different species falling in love really interests me. Of course I like vampires, werewolves, etc. falling in love with humans so it's not such a far stretch for me. Though I have to admit I missed getting a little more into a love scene (like I would in a romance novel) so I could actually see the logistics of it.<g>

I too remember enjoying the book but feeling they left it without as much plot ??? as I usually expect in a sci fantasy. I could tell she wanted to leave a lot for the next book. Of course, the next book more than made up for it. Now the books are so in depth I could use a break at times.<g> I still havn't gotten myself to read the last two, they are so thick.<g>--Linda (25 Aug 99)

I also read another SFR - Norman's TURNING POINT, which featured Rebekah's "Innovative Seduction Technique" #3. This is not going to go on my SFR 101 list but I enjoyed it and rather liked our feline hero. The ending however, left too much dangling and I don't have book 2 ready (I collected 3 and 4, just not 2). I seem to remember someone mentioning that they didn't like the way the relationship was heading in the later books. Can you tell me what you didn't like?--Isabel (03 Feb 00)

OK but nothing special.--Margaret (08 Jul 01)

I am currently rereading Lisanne Norman's Sholan books. Linda had requested brief descriptions so she can avoid rereading the entire series. I thought I better start now before I get too far away from each book again. TURNING POINT - first book in the series and one of my favorites. This is actually a comfort read for me. Carrie is part of a small human colony on the world of Keiss. She is part of the first wave. More colonists are due from Earth in a few months bringing more technology - Carrie's people were to set up the basic agriculture and settlements so the main group arrived with food etc. already established.

Unfortunatly for the colonists, a race of reptilian aliens called the Valtagans discovered them and decided to use Keiss as a military recovery/resort base. They have taken over the colonies and the colonists are living under military arrest.

Kusac is a member of a feline species called the Sholans. They are close to humans in some ways, but also resemble large cats. He is part of military mission that is searching for the alien species that destroyed two of the sholan colony worlds. Kusac was injured when the scout ship crash landed on Keiss and had to be left behind by his group as he could not travel and they had to get the information on the Valtegans transmitted to their homeworld.

Carrie is a psychic and shared a bond with her sister, as the book opens her sister (who works for the resistance) is killed and Carrie also almost dies. Kusac, sensing another telepath, reaches out to her and stops her from dying. He also inadverdantly forms a very strong bond with her. He follows her signal to the settlement and lets everyone think he is an injured forest cat in order to learn about Carrie and her people. Eventually Carrie learns the truth and helps Kusac get back to his people, who then help the human colony.

By this time Carrie and Kusac have formed what is called a Leska link and are not able to be seperated. Although Carrie is not completely aware of all the ramifications, she wants to go with Kusac to Shola. This is where the book ends - their journey to Shola, Carrie's introduction to Sholan society and her deepening relationship to Kusac are covered in the next book.--Shelley (13 Jun 02)