Ancestor's World: A Novel of Starbridge (Crispin, A. C. Starbridge.)

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Starbridge Novel!
Review: I discovered the Starbridge series last summer and have loved every book in the series! A.C. Crispin brings interesting *female* characters to the science fiction genre, which I, as a teenage girl, am thankful for. Instead of focusing on the goings on at Starbridge with it's students, Ancestor's World focuses more on what is happening with Mahree as she investigates the murder of a member of an archeological team on the planet Na-Dina, a nice change from previous books.

Rating:
Summary: Not Starbridge's Best
Review: I had read all of the Starbridge novels before this one, and was excited to find this one by accident in a local bookstore. However, when I actually read it I was disappointed. The Starbridge universe has always seemed to me to be creative and different, both in the various species that are found and the various ways that they interact. This book had too many rote characteristics of a novel written solely to sell. It felt like the author(s) decided, "People like reading about violence, so we have to include some fights... And they like reading about sex, so we'll throw in an affair [which worked out much too neatly, by the way; in a real relationship, Mahree's sexual fling with someone else would have had some negative affects. I know that some authors write about all sorts of unrealistic relationships, but I liked these particular characters enough to be annoyed by having someone mess with them like this] ... And let's throw in some generic traits that have been in the other Starbridge novels. Hmm; which shall we choose?...." instead of actually having a good, workable idea for a new story and a new people group. As I have mentioned, I greatly enjoyed the first several Starbridge novels, and I was also fond of the one after "Ancestor's World", so I'm guessing it was the co-author.