Transformation Space
Marianne de Pierres
Sentients of Orion #4 (final)
****** 6 out of 6 stars
cover - The cover is part of a theme with the last three covers. It's okay, but I would love to actually see the crimson skin of the main character, Mira, who is supposed to be of reddish hue because of either the evolvement of her race or the melanin treatments the people of Araldis have done to survive on this very dry, arid, hot planet.
The Sentients of Orion is a series involving a found god-like entity, a planet, an explorer, the first woman in history to have the gene that allows her to pilot and speak with biozoons, biozoons (a race of space-faring beings who can alter themselves to become starships with amazing abilities), extros (they inhabit or possess people, animals, objects, etc) and Saaqr (a huge buglike thing that kills indescriminately in search for fluids) and a conspiracy. There's more...much more.
Transformation Space is the final in the series. Danger is on its way to Araldis, many planets have been destroyed and Mira Fedor is on her way back to Araldis with her Biozoon and her weird pregnancy. Her biozoon seems to be doing things to her without her permission - sedating, making decisions, etc, but Mira can't seem to stop it. JoJo is also on his way to Araldis. And the survivors that Trin has been leading are barely surviving, but they're doing their best. However, trouble is brewing.
There's a lot more story and many subplots from the previous novels that all come together here. There. On Araldis. It's great, the final chapters. The whole book was great, the whole series, really.
Marianne de Pierres has this ability of running multiple characters, personalities (hey - not all writers can have multiple characters with different personalities), plotlines and situations into a novel. Her narration is great. Her dialogue is great. The situations and how the characters react is interesting. The final great conspiracy is revealed and it's nothing that any of the characters expected.
I'm hoping to eventually read more SciFi from de Pierres. It's obvious that she really knows what she's doing, but she writes in such a way that if you aren't super knowledgeable about space travel, theories, etc, you don't feel like you're missing out on understanding. This final novel was the icing on the series. I ordered these books from overseas, but I'm seeing that they are going to be released in the U.S. soon - both as e-books and print, with brand new covers.
Mirror Space
Marianne de Pierres
Sentients of Orion #3
SciFi 2009
****** (6 out of 6 stars)
Cover - The cover that I have is from the set printed in the US, and matches the other covers of this series. Very industrial/engineering look with lines, the faces, the starships, the stars and hint of planets.....all very space fiction. The whole cover is good - with the colors and artwork.
The Sentients of Orion is a series about an entity - a vast, all knowing, all seeing entity - group of 'godheads' {those sent to study with the entity}including Tekton and Ra, an invaded planet, biozoons {sentient space ships who contract with humans to work together} and various factions of people and their governments/planet who all have their own agenda in regards to Sole {the entity} and survival & knowledge. In the last two books we were introduced to Mira Fedor, the only female in hundreds of years (if ever) to be born with the gene that allows her to fly and interact with the biozoons, Trinder who is the heir to a vast fortune and leadership who has been a spoilt young man, Jo-Jo the man who first came into contact with Sole {almost dying, being saved by the entity and having his brain be 'refitted' into two minds - logic and emotion} as well as Rast and her fellow mercenaries, Bethany - the young biologist/mother who recently lost her daughter and husband, Djes - the young daughter who is bi-species, Thales - the young disappointed scholar from Scolar, Laspar Farr - former war hero cum opportunist...-there are many characters in this series, but if you start at the beginning (Dark Space) and work your way through the series it's easy to follow along with the characters, plot and storyline.
The planet, Araldis, has been invaded by the Saaqr - a huge insectlike being that seems to have the sole purpose of feeding from the brains of humans, taking all the liquid from thier brains first then getting all the liquid they can. Araldis was already a hot, windy pretty much. With the help of Rast and her two mercenary men, Mira was able to escape and end up in the tunnels of a mine, where she met up with Trin - the cousin that was going to receive her unwillingly-to-be-given gene that allows communication and compatability with the biozoons. So Trin and his group, Mira and her group had together traveled through the mines until they were at a point where Mira was able to fly a biozoon that had been stashed away from the planet looking for help from other planets. This all happened in the previous books....
Now Trin is still with the remaining survivors of Araldis and Mira is now pregnant (unwillingly so) and traveling with the biozoon looking for help. Her paths intersects with JoJo at one point, and again with the mercenaries (they had parted ways earlier). JoJo is searching for his stolen biozoon, Mira is looking for help, the Mercenaries are looking for a buck and survival. Mira is kidnapped, saved and almost loses the baby...
After coming together for a short while, JoJo, Rast, Mira, Beth & Thales end up separated from each other - all on differing paths that will eventually meet up again. Mirror Space is the story of their travels and close calls. Mirror Space starts out where Chaos Space left off - Mira had been kidnapped from the Extros planet, and JoJo had leapt onto the Biozoon's entry portal, while Rast was taking off, hoping to be let on the ship rather than falling off.
Mira wakes up in a room, being studied by some extros - they are studying things like reactions to pain and other things. She meets Wanton, an extro who is the one doing the procedures to her. Meantime, Trin is continuing to lead the survivors in search of an island of safety through the tunnels and then island chain, looking for a safe place to stay while hoping for rescue. Though Trin has forced Mira to fly off in search of help, he's telling the survivors that she abandoned them. Trin is weird, spoiled and can't seem to stop plotting. JoJo and Rast are looking for Mira and Tekton - along with Bethany. All are looking for a way to survive and to get help to Araldis, to make those in charge listen to what's been happening t0 Araldis - and this is harder than it should be since there are other plots that have been in motion for a while...
The story is told from the POVs of Tekton, JoJo, Mira, Trin, and in short bursts - Sole. Marianne de Pierres does an excellent job of jumping from pov to pov, her characters never lose their 'voice', the plot seems to keep moving forward. You're never quite sure who is to be trusted - will JoJo really remain substance-free or will he fall back on his old habits? Will the mercenary Rast continue to help? Rast is after all, completely in love with Mira, though Mira isn't crazy about this, JoJo seems obsessed with Mira - though he doesn't know why, and even the biozoon seems to have her own agenda regarding Mira and her unborn baby.
There are definitely some machinations goin on - you're never quite sure what's going on, yet it's done in such an entertaining way, that you're enjoying this intricately plotted mystery. It's hare for me to put forth a straight synopsis of the book, since there is such a intricate plot going on here, along with some twisted brains at work. It all makes for a rather twisted story, with twisted characters, and a whole universe at the mercy of a bunch of people who usually only think of themselves and one woman who is pregnant and wanted by a few people for different reasons. And then it's the end of the book - and time to pick up the final - Transformation Space.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, along with the first two of the series. Marianne de Pierres is a master story teller, in my opinion, who has quite a way with Science Fiction, world building, plotting, language and characters. What a woman! What a story!
Dark Space
******
Marianne De Pierres
416 pages of Space Opera,
aka Science Fiction
There's not a lot I can say about the cover, other than cool cover. Represents quite a bit of space, space travel, and...I suppose equations for travel? I'm not sure - but it's a good cover. The planet pictured looks like a dry, arid planet...it is.
The first time I ever heard of Marianne De Pierres was when I picked up this totally bad-ass looking book called Nylon Angel. It was a kind of cyperpunk/sci-fi/urban fantasy mix. I guess that's why she's considered a speculative fiction writer. After reading Nylon Angel, I searched high and low for the other two of the series (Parrish Plessis series) Code Noir, and Crash Deluxe. Hell of a trilogy. One I kept thinking about long after reading.
After reading works from two separate series, and taking a peek at a third of her series (Sharp Shooter under the name Marianne Delacourt) I feel like any book by Marianne De Pierres I pick up is going to be well written, with numerous interesting characters, a variety of character "voices", good dialogue and excellent narration. The book will be interesting with twists, suspense and a sense of ...well being there.
Dark Space is about a three separate people whose lives cross paths; it's also about a entity called Sole, for a lack of any other name. It seems there was this space traveler/partier - kind of a lazy boy who likes to keep his mind rather altered (haha, likes to get high) and on one of this "explorations" comes across this entity - who either saves him or put him in danger in the first place. This entity has no real body, and the result of this discovery is that beings from other planets consider him/she/it a godlike being. This entity - Sole, likes to explore other minds and to do this has convinced people to set up a place to collect beings who want the priviledge of being mind-explored....not always a pleasant experience, and one that leaves them altered, in a way.
The other half of this story is about Tekton, Mira and Trinder. Tekton's story doesn't quite run concurrently with Mira and Trinder's. Tekton is one of those who've been picked to be explored by Sole. There he comes into contact with JoJo, the one who "discovered" Sole. Tekton is not a very nice being, rather he is rude, priviledged, snobby, and feels entitled. He's also in competition with his cousin to create. His task, given to him Sole, is to create or explain Beauty to Sole. This leads to ....problems. Explaining would be spoilers. During his stay at this learning/exploration point Tekton comes into contact with others who are there for the same thing - to be explored by Sole, and to in turn, explore Sole. It's doubtful who's getting the best of the situation...
Mira and Trin are from another section of the universe. Both are attending a type of university for flying spaceships - among other subjects. Their families are among some that have migrated from one planet to others, in order to live life as they choose- only they bring with them some very oppressive beliefs that have been handed down throughout the generations. Trinder's family is the ruling family, very priviledged and totally in charge. They own a few mining planets and are filthy rich. Trinder has grown up not knowing even how to dress himself. He's never had to do anything for himself at all. Despite this, he is attending school and is next in line for the Principality.
Mira's family is connected to Trinder's and she is the first female in a very, very long time to inherit the ability to communicate telepathically with the biozooms - a type of sentient space ship. The pilots all need to be able to communicate with these certain ships. Only the ship in question belongs to Trinder's family. Mira's story opens with Trinder's father betraying her by commanding her ability to be gene-spliced from her and given to Trinder. Which would eventually drive her mad. In a panic, she runs away, to her aunt's home...
What follows is Trinder being banished from his father's presence and punished by being put to "work", even though he's not skilled at ANYTHING (other than being rich and priviledge, spending money and partying). Mira's aunt's planet ends up being invaded by these beings that annihilate humans....Mira and Trin's paths intersect again....*What wasn't clear to me at first, is that Trinder and Mira are on the same planet during the attack. Trinder's family home is there and Mira's aunt lives on the same planet. Somehow I ended up with the impression that they were on different planets, and it wasn't until I skimmed through a few sections again that I realized my mistaken perception. It helps to pay attention while reading, ;)
The novel is full of twists and turns. There is action, danger, escape and more danger. Betrayals and acts of bravery. Suffering and small moments of contentment. It is an epic space opera with a bit of a cliff hanger ending.....
I love cliff hanger endings - especially when I know I'll be able to read the sequel. I want to read the next book in this series. Chaos Space. I know I've mashed up this "review" but that's what I do. I read a book, "talk" a bit about it, write what I like about it, and I have no idea how to analyze a book. I just read and enjoy, or put it aside. This book is a keeper, and I would recommend it to Science Fiction lovers.
Marianne's books/series include
the Parrish Plessis series - Nylon Angel, Code Noir, and Crash Deluxe (great books)
Tara Sharpe Series - Sharp Shooter and Sharp Turn
The Burn Brightly series - Burn Bright, Angel Arias, and Blaze Dark - dark fantasy for young adults
The Sentients of Orion - Dark Space, Chaos Space, Mirror Space and Transformation Space - science fiction/space opera
Glitter Rose Collection - listed as science fantasy, short stories
Marianne De Pierres can be found at
