Rating: 
Summary: If you've enjoyed the series so far, don't miss this one!
Review: "Dark Nadir" is the fifth book in the Sholan Alliance series, which I highly recommend. The series should be read in order, since each book builds heavily upon characters and situations introduced in previous volumes (the first four, in order, are "Turning Point", "Fortune's Wheel", "Fire Margins" and "Razor's Edge")."Dark Nadir" provides enough new and interesting situations to differentiate itself from the previous books, particularly in the primary plot thread involving the main characters Carrie, Kusac and Kaid. There are plenty of surprises in store - I particularly enjoyed the role taken on by Brynne Stevens. And, as the title suggests, the book has some dark moments to rival those in "Fire Margins", the darkest of the previous books, but it also has its share of lighter moments. And it resolves some (but not all) of the open plot threads left over from "Razor's Edge" while leaving a few new ones to be addressed in later books (there is at least one more book forthcoming in the series). The series as a whole is heavy on character building, relationships, even a fair dose of romance, though never at the expense of plot. This is still largely true, but "Dark Nadir" is more plot-driven than its predecessors. All things considered, "Dark Nadir" is a worthy continuation to a fine series.
Rating:
Summary: If you've enjoyed the series so far, don't miss this one!
Review: "Dark Nadir" is the fifth book in the Sholan Alliance series, which I highly recommend. The series should be read in order, since each book builds heavily upon characters and situations introduced in previous volumes (the first four, in order, are "Turning Point", "Fortune's Wheel", "Fire Margins" and "Razor's Edge"). "Dark Nadir" provides enough new and interesting situations to differentiate itself from the previous books, particularly in the primary plot thread involving the main characters Carrie, Kusac and Kaid. There are plenty of surprises in store - I particularly enjoyed the role taken on by Brynne Stevens. And, as the title suggests, the book has some dark moments to rival those in "Fire Margins", the darkest of the previous books, but it also has its share of lighter moments. And it resolves some (but not all) of the open plot threads left over from "Razor's Edge" while leaving a few new ones to be addressed in later books (there is at least one more book forthcoming in the series). The series as a whole is heavy on character building, relationships, even a fair dose of romance, though never at the expense of plot. This is still largely true, but "Dark Nadir" is more plot-driven than its predecessors. All things considered, "Dark Nadir" is a worthy continuation to a fine series.
Rating:
Summary: Dang, that was good!
Review: After picking up the first book, I found myself hooked. I couldn't wait to go out and get the next book. I finally finished the series, and find that, yet again, we've been left hanging. And I find myself, once again, wanting more.
Rating:
Summary: A Struggle of Wills
Review: Dark Nadir is the fifth novel in the Sholan Alliance series, following Razor's Edge. In the previous volume, Captain Tirak of the U'Churian ship, the Rryuk's Profit, has encountered a mixed leska pair at the Chemerian home world. The two had been kidnapped by the Valtegans, rescued by the Chemerians, and then refused permission to leave Chemeria. Carrie and Kusac have ejected the abrasive leader of the archaeology team from their estate at the request of the Touibans, another species in the Sholan Alliance. Later, Carrie, Kusac, Kaid and their team have have infiltrated the spaceport on Jalna in the Chemerian ship Hkariyashi and have rescued most of the Keissans and Sholans. However, Carrie has been badly wounded and both Carrie and Kusac have been placed in cyro pods on the Rryuk's Profit. Then the Hkariyashi and the Profit departed for the Chemerian home world, leaving the spaceport in the hands of their Jalnian ally, Lord Tarolyn. On Shola, General Kezule has escaped in order to force Carrie and Kusac to return him to his own time. He has killed Zhyaf during the escape, causing Mara to start to die with her leska partner; Vanna, however, has managed to save Mara's life by transferring the leska link to Josh. Esken has been struck down with a heart seizure and has resigned as Master of the Telepaths Guild; Sorli has been selected to replace him. In this novel, the Sholan ship Rhijissoh travels to Jalna to institute first contact negotiations. Onboard the Rryuk's Profit, Kaid meets the ship's navigators, a Carraban sept, for the first time. Kaid and Tirak exchange information and determine that both the Sholan Alliance and the Free Traders have been greatly deceived by the Chemerians. Then, the Profit is attacked by a Valtegan ship M,ijikk, which is commanded by the former Overlord of Keiss, M'ezozakk. Since this former Overlord had tortured and killed Carrie's twin sister, Eloise, Kaid ejects both cyro pods to protect Carrie and Kuzac from the Valtegans. This novel expands the number of species directly involved in the action. Some have been previously mentioned as part of the Sholan Alliance and others are part of the newly discovered Free Traders. The novel also introduces a new set of Valtegans, the Primes. I have to admit that I am becoming confused over the personal and species names, not to mention the numerous ships. I can always figure it out after a while, but it distracts from the story. Maybe Norman could add an appendix or two for us memory challenged types. Recommended for all Norman fans and anyone who enjoys tales of personal and interpersonal development in a SF setting.
Rating:
Summary: A Struggle of Wills
Review: Dark Nadir is the fifth novel in the Sholan Alliance series, following Razor's Edge. In the previous volume, Captain Tirak of the U'Churian ship, the Rryuk's Profit, has encountered a mixed leska pair at the Chemerian home world. The two had been kidnapped by the Valtegans, rescued by the Chemerians, and then refused permission to leave Chemeria. Carrie and Kusac have ejected the abrasive leader of the archaeology team from their estate at the request of the Touibans, another species in the Sholan Alliance. Later, Carrie, Kusac, Kaid and their team have have infiltrated the spaceport on Jalna in the Chemerian ship Hkariyashi and have rescued most of the Keissans and Sholans. However, Carrie has been badly wounded and both Carrie and Kusac have been placed in cyro pods on the Rryuk's Profit. Then the Hkariyashi and the Profit departed for the Chemerian home world, leaving the spaceport in the hands of their Jalnian ally, Lord Tarolyn. On Shola, General Kezule has escaped in order to force Carrie and Kusac to return him to his own time. He has killed Zhyaf during the escape, causing Mara to start to die with her leska partner; Vanna, however, has managed to save Mara's life by transferring the leska link to Josh. Esken has been struck down with a heart seizure and has resigned as Master of the Telepaths Guild; Sorli has been selected to replace him. In this novel, the Sholan ship Rhijissoh travels to Jalna to institute first contact negotiations. Onboard the Rryuk's Profit, Kaid meets the ship's navigators, a Carraban sept, for the first time. Kaid and Tirak exchange information and determine that both the Sholan Alliance and the Free Traders have been greatly deceived by the Chemerians. Then, the Profit is attacked by a Valtegan ship M,ijikk, which is commanded by the former Overlord of Keiss, M'ezozakk. Since this former Overlord had tortured and killed Carrie's twin sister, Eloise, Kaid ejects both cyro pods to protect Carrie and Kuzac from the Valtegans. This novel expands the number of species directly involved in the action. Some have been previously mentioned as part of the Sholan Alliance and others are part of the newly discovered Free Traders. The novel also introduces a new set of Valtegans, the Primes. I have to admit that I am becoming confused over the personal and species names, not to mention the numerous ships. I can always figure it out after a while, but it distracts from the story. Maybe Norman could add an appendix or two for us memory challenged types. Recommended for all Norman fans and anyone who enjoys tales of personal and interpersonal development in a SF setting.
Rating:
Summary: Hooked on the series....
Review: From reading previous reviews, it obvious that one either loves or hates the story. I am one of the hooked ones. I found the whole series enjoyable and devoured them all eagerly. The first book went rather slowly however, the characters and the "Alliance" have been nicely filled out with subsequent novels. I eagerly await the next "installment" and hope it will not be too long in the creation. Is there any information on when another book is planned?
Rating: 
Summary: Would have given it two but I don't think the cover counts.
Review: I seriously don't know how I read this entire novel but I guess it was just the same morbid facination that seemed to pull me through the first four books. Only "Fire Margins" can rival this novel for lamest plot device award. Though I have to say that the drug-induced time travel had to have been a little more pathetic then the long, boring and unnessissary alien abduction scenario of the crew of the Profit. What I still am wondering is why the "mystrious" Primes motives went from trying to get the Cabbarans navigation technology to the speculation of the primes breeding the Sholans and humans, to wanting some kind of treaty making the first 400 pages totally redundant. This coupled with the fact that Kaid was questioning his motives for jettisoning Carrie and Kusac out in space in their cryo units for the first 200 pages really made me wonder why such an unsophisticated author could even be published. Norman hasn't even descibed what forms of interstellar travel most of her races even use beyond the cryogenics formally used by the humans. She went as far as saying that the Cabbarans can "navigate during jump" but it would totally help to know what kind of jump drives they even use because it navigating while in jump would be completely pointless with most commonly used sci-fi interstellar drives. It was undoubtably just added as more unnessissary drama to the already convoluted novel. Now the Sholans don't have "psychic" powers as described in the pervious novels but "psionic" powers. Sure, it would be a better word for a sci-fi novel but just the little changes that the author has made was rather irritating. I don't blame the copy editor for missing many of the mistakes and irritating Yoda-speak dialog that would pop up every once in a while for no reason. Sure, there was small charming sub-plots to the novel like Brynne and his new love and Kitra and Dzaka's scenario but they were all to far appart and like the romances in the previous novels that even those didn't matter much in the end. Is there anything that Konis CAN'T do? And what's with everybody's power struggles? It seems like a constant "I'm better then you", "I'm more powerful then you", "I'm Enshalla", "Atleast I'm not a whiner" war between almost every character. Maybe I would have given it two stars if atleast all of the character names didn't sound almost the same or maybe some of the many, many characters (like the U'churians and Cabbarans) that were "held captive" by the Primes were mentioned more often instead of the sholans bickering with each other. If you enjoy boring novels that had little thought put into the plot then this may be the novel for you. If not and you enjoy reading GOOD novels involving interspecies relationships involving telepaths read Julie Czerneda's Trade Pact novels.
Rating:
Summary: Truly a dark nadir in Ms Norman's writing.
Review: I was greatly looking forward to this book> I bought it the day it came out. Now I wish I hadn't. I loved the previous books in this series and the central characters in them. I can only assume that Ms Norman Hates them and in this book tried to find every way possible to torture them. In the previous books in the series there were some rough patches and evil done to the main characters this book takes that and expands it exponentially. I have read and reread the earlier books. This one is going to hide in a dark corner where it belongs. My recomendation to the author is to lighten up. You are a marvelous writer with amazing talent. I just don't apreciate your current sado-masochistic tendencies.
Rating: 
Summary: Why The Pain?
Review: I've just finished a marathon reading of the first six books in Lisanne Norman's Sholan Alliance series and have only one question for her: Why did you have to keep the main characters in so much pain?
The storyline is good, the writing is good, the characters are good, just why could there not have been more happiness throughout the series? I am well aware of the need for tension/conflict, etc., and so forth in any good work of fiction, it is just that I find my overall impression of the series as so depressing that, at this time, I'm not sure if I want to read the next one. I don't think I really want to know how Norman can hurt the characters even more.
Rating:
Summary: Why The Pain?
Review: I've just finished a marathon reading of the first six books in Lisanne Norman's Sholan Alliance series and have only one question for her: Why did you have to keep the main characters in so much pain?
The storyline is good, the writing is good, the characters are good, just why could there not have been more happiness throughout the series? I am well aware of the need for tension/conflict, etc., and so forth in any good work of fiction, it is just that I find my overall impression of the series as so depressing that, at this time, I'm not sure if I want to read the next one. I don't think I really want to know how Norman can hurt the characters even more.
| 
