Rating: 
Summary: Father arrives!
Review: Not as great as the previous books in the series. However, still well written and very interesting. The main characters seem to still be having problems communicating with each other to keep their marriage happy, but they compliment each other. Not sure how, but they do. Shockball is an amazing game that I hope will be mentioned, at least in cameos, in future books. (i.e. Conversations in a resturant around them or in passing, ad on some sort of space ship TV.) All-in-all, I highly recommend this entire series! AWESOME! Reviewed by Detra Fitch.
Rating:
Summary: About time!
Review: Ohhhhhhhhh, Ms. Viehl. What the heck took you so long? 'Shockball' was a . . . well, a shock. Almost from the start it went in a direction that I completely did not expect. And just when I was feeling smug about being able to predict where things were going. I like very much that Reever takes some nice abuse, though I don't quite understand the way his role in the story changes. Maybe it'll be explained in the next book. I'm hoping so. Viehl's inventiveness is wonderful. Her depiction of an underground society is very well done and that alone helps drive the story. It doesn't have to, but it's a bonus I won't complain about. As with 'Endurance', there's a dark side to this tale, but it's more subdued, not so relentless. In 'Endurance' Cherijo began to deepen and take on much hoped for new demensions. That continues in 'Shockball', though not at the same frantic pace. Is this Viehl's best story to date? My favorite is still 'Endurance', but I'm betting that many people, especially those who shirked away from the intensity of 'Endurance', will find that 'Shockball' is their hands down favorite. So why are you still here? Go buy the book, and be ready for several days of ignoring everyone and everything around you while you sit alone in a lighted corner of your home, with 'Shockball' glued to your fingers
Rating:
Summary: What a Family Tree
Review: Readers who particularly enjoy Viehl's colorful and eccentric aliens, and her high-tech settings, may feel somewhat deprived by this fourth StarDoc novel. Cherijo and Duncan spend most of it on alien-challenged Terra, and much of it in decidedly low-tech surroundings. There are several compensations, though. There are people who write horror stories for a living and still never manage to dream up a monster as twisted as Joseph Grey Veil. Shockball delivers a lot of new information about his genetic experimentation, his motivations, his personality, and his predilections. It sure isn't pretty, but it's great reading, in a bent sort of way. Some of what she learns about Joe will affect Cherijo's ongoing adventures. Viehl lays the groundwork for other future story lines in Shockball as well. There's the cache of data disks that Maggie left for Cherijo to retrieve. There's also a rather belabored point about Duncan's anomalous kidney function, which may reflect a secret about his past. Poor proofreading and Viehl's history of basic writing errors make it impossible to be certain, but smart money says there's at least one clue that Shockball leaves fewer dead bodies than readers might expect. There's something about Cherijo's reproductive situation that indicates either future plot twists or poorly rationalized plotting. Then of course there's the not-quite-surprise at story's end.
Rating:
Summary: What a Family Tree
Review: Readers who particularly enjoy Viehl's colorful and eccentric aliens, and her high-tech settings, may feel somewhat deprived by this fourth StarDoc novel. Cherijo and Duncan spend most of it on alien-challenged Terra, and much of it in decidedly low-tech surroundings. There are several compensations, though. There are people who write horror stories for a living and still never manage to dream up a monster as twisted as Joseph Grey Veil. Shockball delivers a lot of new information about his genetic experimentation, his motivations, his personality, and his predilections. It sure isn't pretty, but it's great reading, in a bent sort of way. Some of what she learns about Joe will affect Cherijo's ongoing adventures. Viehl lays the groundwork for other future story lines in Shockball as well. There's the cache of data disks that Maggie left for Cherijo to retrieve. There's also a rather belabored point about Duncan's anomalous kidney function, which may reflect a secret about his past. Poor proofreading and Viehl's history of basic writing errors make it impossible to be certain, but smart money says there's at least one clue that Shockball leaves fewer dead bodies than readers might expect. There's something about Cherijo's reproductive situation that indicates either future plot twists or poorly rationalized plotting. Then of course there's the not-quite-surprise at story's end.
Rating: 
Summary: More of the same
Review: Shockball reads as more of the same from Ms Viehl. The game that lends this book its title is a mere sideshow and doesn't play a major role in the book. Shame, I would have enjoyed it more if it had. The story does hold the attention, but is flawed by being a re-write of earlier episodes of this series. How many times is Cherijo going to be confronted, threatened, or kidnapped before she will finally fight back with more than witty remarks? I know she's a Doctor, I know she vowed to do no harm... I KNOW. So stop rubbing my nose in it and write a story that's different to what came before! Okay, rant over :) In this one, Cherijo is captured along with her hubby, Reever, and given to her father/creator for his use in his genetic experiments. She's there for a short time before someone "saves" her through an underground tunnel (what another one? Yes, another one) This is annoying, because we later learn that Daddy lost another of his test subjects the same way quite a few years ago. What, a super genius like Chejiro's daddy didn't think to investigate how this subject escaped? Apparently not, because the tunnels are still open straight to his super secret underground lab! The ending is awkward, especially when daddy sacrifices himself to save Cherijo. How believable is that when all along Viehl has been painting as a monster with no regard for anyone or anything? Mark E. Cooper
Warrior Within (ISBN:0954512200)
Rating:
Summary: Solid, but a bit underwhelming
Review: This entry in the Stardoc series plods a bit. Since for most of the storyline Cherijo & Duncan are out of reach from there friends (again!) and the new characters seem very contrived, it doesn't grab your attention like the stories with the Joren's do, for example. And then it ends in a most irksome fashion, with very little actually being accomplished in the the middle 400 pages of the book and all of the major plot developments in the first and last 20 pages. On the other hand, Ms. Viehl can write, and the dialogue is snappy. So the ride, though somewhat empty, is nonetheless enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: ?
Review: What happened to the series??? Yes, there's a plot, yes, we get new stuff revealed about Cherijo, but...it feels like nothing major happened. It feels like I've been stuck in a big hole in the ground the entire novel. There is no real forward progression of characters, of ideas, of feelings. It is the same stuff again, but this time on Earth. Where it's evidently a lot more boring. There was a lot of potential in Cherijo dealing with her father. And it is mostly wasted. I can't tell you how disappointing it is to discover that she's not so unique. And soon after getting into the lab, she escapes, and spends a good chunk of time underground. Jules Verne did a great science fiction book about being underground. He was able to pull it off. Most writers since then have realized it's pretty hard to make that interesting. And, Wow, Ick! I *don't* want to hear about vivid descriptions of rapes and child molestation. I read novels for enjoyment, and enlightenment. Not to be disgusted. There's a fifth book out there in the series, which reveals the final details about Cherijo's life, beyond what her father did. I'm not going to bother to buy it. At this point, I've been too disappointed, and too bored, by the last two novels. The investment I made in the character in the first two novels doesn't carry me over into any further interest in her.
Rating:
Summary: ?
Review: What happened to the series??? Yes, there's a plot, yes, we get new stuff revealed about Cherijo, but...it feels like nothing major happened. It feels like I've been stuck in a big hole in the ground the entire novel. There is no real forward progression of characters, of ideas, of feelings. It is the same stuff again, but this time on Earth. Where it's evidently a lot more boring. There was a lot of potential in Cherijo dealing with her father. And it is mostly wasted. I can't tell you how disappointing it is to discover that she's not so unique. And soon after getting into the lab, she escapes, and spends a good chunk of time underground. Jules Verne did a great science fiction book about being underground. He was able to pull it off. Most writers since then have realized it's pretty hard to make that interesting. And, Wow, Ick! I *don't* want to hear about vivid descriptions of rapes and child molestation. I read novels for enjoyment, and enlightenment. Not to be disgusted. There's a fifth book out there in the series, which reveals the final details about Cherijo's life, beyond what her father did. I'm not going to bother to buy it. At this point, I've been too disappointed, and too bored, by the last two novels. The investment I made in the character in the first two novels doesn't carry me over into any further interest in her.
Rating: 
Summary: On a downward spiral
Review: When I was looking for a new series to read, Stardoc caught my attention. The story of a juniour doctor escaping 'her father' by fleeing offworld seemed ineresting. Ive since gone through the series and the books have steadily gotten worse and worse.
The problem is quite frankly the plot. The basic idea is ok but the fault with this book, is that Cherijo is too....perfect. She always does the right thing, no matter how improble the choise. She is up against a mad scientist, an evil game, a backwards community and an incompetant doctor. None have any redeeming features at all.
I just can't handle it because I can't see anyone being so perfect in a saddistic world like this.
The only reason that I carried on reading is because it is an unusual take on the world. Every other book has the human race as the good guys and are loved by all others.
I am thinking VERY hard about whether I will get the next one.
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