Children of Scarabaeus - Sara Creasy review
Children of Scarabaeus
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Sara Creasy
although I don't really like the coloring of the cover, I do like how it represents the book. However, I don't really like the pouty look on the model...she looks like she's posing for a magazine ad. Even so, at least there is her hand and her hardware -
Children of Scarabaeus is the sequel to Song of Scarabaeus, a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading back in June. It takes up just a bit after the Song of Scarabaeus ends. As in the first book, Edie and Finn are still tied together by a "leash", a splint in Finn's brain that contains a bomb that will detonate if he's too far from Edie. They're still on the run from the Crib (the conglomerate that is running all the planets, and is exploiting them). Edie is wanted for her cyberteck skills, and she owes years on her contract to the Crib. Finn is a freedom fighter from a previous planetary war....
In this sequel, Edie and Finn are back in space, they are captured by Edie's former boss and Edie is forced to work...only this time there are children involved, children from Edie's home world. The children are cybertecks in training and don't realize yet what they're in for. Edie's former boss wants Edie to help with a new project, and another man is trying to get Edie for his own project-returning to Scarabaeus to find out what is going on there.
Seems the planet Scarabaeus is actually killing people who try to interfere with it. And the planet seems to be growing a type of intelligence....
I enjoyed this book hugely - it was a great sequel. Happily, some of the complications in Edie's life are actually taken care of in this novel, so if there is a third book, there will probably be a slightly different set of problems.....not the same issues dragging on forever.
The dialogue is great here, the only thing I had the slightest raised eyebrow, is the character of Natesa, who seemed so....typically evil boss like....although that was also kind of fun. She was so dedicated to getting her own way, and would go from manipulative to screaming - the full spectrum of evil villian behavior. Even though I did have a raised eyebrow at that, I still enjoyed it.
Good science fiction with a bit of drama and a just the tiniest bit of angst - just enough.
If you haven't yet tried them, I recommend both Song of Scarabeaus and Children of Scarabaeus. The science fiction-ness of this is just enough to satisfy my need for something different and futuristic yet not enough to totally overwhelm me; don't be scared of it...:)