Rating: 
Summary: Beyond Varallan goes beyond the ordinary.
Review: Sequels aren't always as powerful as the first books of a new series. They also sometimes suffer from a lack of background. Beyond Varallan blows most sequels right out of the water on the first few pages and it doesn't stop there.I had the good fortune of reading StarDoc first, but looking back, it would not have mattered which of them I read first. That's saying a lot. Author S. L. Viehl has a fine sense of what background is needed for the story and what previous events can just be left out. For comparison, think of the difference between Dune and the sequels. Dune had a rich, immersive backstory and an unforgettable setting. The sequels used it and returned to it, but often didn't reveal enough new material to make it a grand travelogue again - and often they redundantly used the old background at places where the plot didn't hinge on its discovery. This is a big universe, big enough that a culture introduced in StarDoc can be developed in depth in Beyond Varallan. Widowed, Dr. Cherijo Torin has left K-2, a world rich enough that Ms. Viehl could easily have kept the series there for several more volumes. She becomes Senior Healer on a Jorenian vessel owned by HouseClan Torin and that alone would have been worth a good volume by any lesser writer. Then her existence itself and her Jorenian family's stand to save her from literal slavery turns into a cause for interstellar war - and interstellar war is shown in all its horrors. Beyond Varallan grows darker than StarDoc, darker and deeper and no less rich. I recommend it wholeheartedly, and if I wasn't hooked on the series, this book would have hooked me on it all on its own. Robert A. Sloan, author of Raven Dance: A History of the Utopian Revolution
Rating: 
Summary: An Action-Packed Ride
Review: This sequel to StarDoc ups the ante on fast-paced action scenes, to good effect. As long as readers don't scrutinize it too closely, it's a fine ride. The former Cherijo Grey Veil has rejected everything about the man who gave her life. Now Cherijo Torin, she's been adopted into the HouseClan of her dead Jorenian lover, and travels as a healer aboard their starship, the Sunlace. Joseph Grey Veil used his influence to have her declared non-sentient-but very valuable-property. With a price on her head, the entire Allied League of Worlds is on her tail. Bad enough that the Sunlace has to dodge and run from League pursuers. Even worse, someone is sabotaging the ship from within. A final message from a crewman who dies investigating one of the incidents points a finger at the only five non-Jorenians on board, four of whom are Cherijo and her companions (oops; in StarDoc, Cherijo noted a surprising number of unfamiliar alien species on Sunlace). To cap things off, Cherijo has relationship problems with certain shipmates. Fellow healer (and alien) Squilyp might have been up for promotion to Senior Healer until Cherijo came along; his people-skills have never matched his medical abilities, but now he holds a special antipathy for Cherijo. She's also still butting heads with linguist Duncan Reever, who left K-2 with the Sunlace after making himself a League target by helping Cherijo; there's some kind of weird attraction going on between them, and she doesn't trust him-or herself-one bit. Then there's Xonea Torin, Kao's ClanBrother, who also seems increasingly attracted to Cherijo but reminds her all too much of her dead lover. That takes care of the first hundred pages of Beyond Varallan. The rest of the book is peppered with external and internal attacks on Sunlace and her crew, mechanical explosions and emotional blow-ups, misunderstandings and misplaced blame. There's a series of murders, apparently unrelated except for using the same inexplicable method. Cherijo is drugged and assaulted several times. Trailing mercenaries keep finding the Sunlace despite all evasive course plotting. Viehl still is less than a master at either word use or grammar, but her basic writing skills have improved some since StarDoc. Her plotting is also tighter. Her action sequences are pulse-pounders, her characters are memorable, and she pulls off some nice plot twists along the way. In between action sequences, some of the plot's supporting foundations are on the thin side. The title makes no sense. The design and operating characteristics of the Sunlace are improbable. The strictures of Choice are too Draconian for belief, and the way Cherijo is repeatedly boxed in by them wears thin for readers long before Viehl tires of the device. Neither the League's support of the notoriously xenophobic Joseph Grey Veil, nor the entire planet of Joren's support of Cherijo, is adequately explained. The set-up for the next book violates established expectations. So what? Don't sweat the small stuff; just sit back and enjoy the ride.
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