Bio Rescue
-
- $7.99
-
- $7.99
Publisher Description
S.L. Viehl’s novels have featured some of the most memorable heroines in the history of the genre: the “wonderful” Cherijo Torin of Stardoc and the “spunky yet vulnerable” Jory Rask of Blade Dancer. Now joining their ranks is the compassionate and heroic interstellar paramedic Dair mu T’resa.
Lieutenant Dair mu T’resa heads up a squadron of SEAL (surgically enhanced/altered lifeform) pilots. They provide planetary patrol for the Pmoc Quadrant, including Dair’s home planet Kevarzangia Two—a world populated by the underwater dwelling ’Zangians. Saved at birth by a radical surgical procedure that introduced human DNA into her body, Dair has been able to survive for brief periods of time outside her aquatic habitat—opening her mind to the wonders of the universe’s other races and cultures, yet closing her off from her own people.
She finds a true home when her SEAL squadron teams up with medical personnel as a Bio Rescue unit, formed to respond to off-planet emergencies. But the altruism Dair embraces finds opposition among her fellow ’Zangians—and the Skartesh, a lupine alien species who fled their own dying world to settle in the dry land colony of Kevarzangia Two...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Peace may not rule the planets, but love does steer the stars, or at least the characters, in this earnest tale of space medical rescue. Viehl (Eternity Row, etc.) presents another strong female lead, Jadaira mu T'resa, a patrol commander who switches from combat to medevac work to save refugees fleeing an interstellar war, set in the author's StarDoc universe. Working to save lives, Jadaira still finds conflicts, as her people, the aquatic 'Zangians, are culturally accustomed to abandoning their wounded rather than staying nearby where predators will gather. To honor her terran heritage, the modified, half-human Jadaira takes on the task of ferrying doctors in and patients out of dangerous situations, all while struggling with bureaucratic plots, leftover space minefields and the amorous and envious interests of both her orphaned second-in-command, Onkar, and a refugee religious leader, Rushan Amariah, of the lupine Skartesh. Love, like war, crosses species boundaries, although the most explicit scenes do stay within kind. The focus remains on the interpersonal much more than the interstellar, and the book exudes an enthusiastic na vet that forgives the occasional overly convenient asteroid belt. The strong romance elements, along with the general youth of the characters (Jadaira loses her virginity), will appeal to young adult SF fans.
