Blade Dancer

by S.L. Viehl

Book Overview

From the critically-acclaimed author of the Stardoc series science fiction novels comes the story of a young woman about to confront the truth of her heritage. Professional shockball player Jory Rask is beloved on all of Terra-but her life may be forfeit once the xenophobic society that despises aliens learns that she is not quite human.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451459261
• ISBN13: 9780451459268
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Roc
• Length: 314 Pages
• Weight: 3.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

An up-all-nighter.

Not the genre I usually read, but I loved it. Fast paced and gripping, it kept me awake turning pages all night. The voice of the heroine drew me right into the story.

Half-Jorenian Jory Rask is a heroine with humor and valor

Jory was one of the finest Shockball players on Earth, until it was discovered she was half-Jorenian and kicked off the xenophobic planet. When her mother died, she gave Jory an undertaking; to go to Joren and find the rest of the half-Jorenian children who were the results of the same 'raid-and-ravage' from which she was born. Including Jory, there are seven half-breeds. Once Jory delivers her message to them, a message of truth, the others decide to join her in her quest. Jory is off to learn how to become a Blade Dancer, the deadliest of assassins, in order to hunt down and kill the biological father that violated her mother so many years ago. The gang is trained on Reytalon in the Tana, to become Blade Dancers, but in the midst of the tests of strength and endurance, the seven must learn to trust each other also. And even Reytalon is not immune to conspiracy and evil alliances with the warring League and Hsktskt factions. Will what these seven learn at Reytalon be enough for them to avoid the same fate of their parents? S.L. Viehl is one of my favorite authors. Definitely lighter than most of my other fare, Viehl is always able to bring in tense, taunt situations with realistic and likeable heroines, and create a story that I can literally pour myself into. Her worlds are extraordinary, her characters so real that I would know them on the street, her aliens imaginative and believable, and her plots thick with action and adventure. I was introduced to Jorens in Viehl's StarDoc books, and was intrigued to see a darker side of their clannish ways in Blade Dancer. Viehl gave us a little peek at just how stubborn those big blue guys are. If you liked the 'StarDoc' series, you will love 'Blade Dancer'. 'Blade Dancer' is a good starter book to introduce yourself to Viehl's writing also, though I promise you will be running for more of her work when you finish. Enjoy!

Great reading for established fans and a hook for new ones

I love science fiction as an ideal- I generally hate it in practice. Too often, characters are surface, plots are ridiculously predictable, and the action is campy.S.L. Viehl is none of these things. A friend intoduced me to the first Stardoc book and I had read them all within a week and a half.Blade Dancer is beautifully woven - slightly predicatable in some arenas, but not enough to be irritating. The interaction between all the ClanChildren of Honor and especially the tension/attraction between Kol and Jory was wonderful. Jory's anger came out great in all her one-liners. I would have liked to see a little more depth from some of the others, but perhaps that will come with a sequel. The action sequences were well done.

Great book, Excellent Series, A New Keeper

I ran across my first S.L. Viehl book when I had a couple of hours lag between meetings and I've been a collector ever since. The characters are fascinating, the plot is active and very interesting and the universe created by S.L. Viehl is thoroughly engaging. I highly recommend both the book and the writer.

Great space opera

In the far future, Earth belongs to the Allied League, which consists of many different species, but the inhabitants on Terra are very xenophobic. Aliens are not allowed to live there and mating with another race is a crime. The children of that mating are denied citizenship and if discovered are deported, their money and property confiscated. Jory Rask is a world famous shockball player but when it is discovered she is part Jorenian, she is kicked off-planet.She travels to her mother's home planet but on board she meets an assassin from Reytalon who says she could go there for training as she has the moves to become a lethal BLADE DANCER. She thinks it is a fine idea once she accomplishes her mission on Joren but when she leaves she takes six other half-breeds with her, all Children of Honor whose mothers were sold into slavery but were recovered. The half-breeds were treated as pariahs but on Reytalon they are all treated as equals. Their common heritage forges a bond so strong that they become their own clan house, a fighting force that is almost unbeatable.After reading S.L. Viehl's "Stardoc" novels, reader's curious about the Jorenian home planet and culture will find it is very different than that of Earth's. BLADE DANCER satisfies the audience's curiosity through a story line that details the philosophy that Jorenian is based on. There are many twists and turns in this stand-alone novel and there are some unexpected surprises in store for a group of half-breeds who have become a family.Harriet Klausner