Turning Point by Lisanne Norman
Series Name: Sholan Alliance
Volume Number: 1
Genres: Adventure, Aliens, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, Space Opera
Intended Age Group: Adult
Publisher: DAW
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 0-88677-575-2
Rating: 2.5/5
Amazon ThriftBooks
Description from the Book
Cut off from Earth by alien conquerors, the human colony on Keiss was slowly building an underground resistance movement to stand against the Valtegan invaders. But for many of the colonists, it was already too late.
Her twin sister Elise captured by Valtegan soldiers, Carrie, telepathically and empathically linked with Elise, experienced all the pain and terror that her sister was suffering. Only her twin’s death freed Carrie from torment, though it also left her completely alone in her own mind for the first time in her life. But this mental void was unexpectedly filled when Kusac, a felinoid crewman of a crashed starship, touched her thoughts. Drawn to him by their shared Talent, Carrie hid the injured Kusac from the Valtegans, and in so doing found a friend and an invaluable ally.
Yet though the trust and understanding between Carrie and Kusac was soon unshakable, it would prove far more difficult to convince each of their races that their only hope of overthrowing the Valtegans was to band together against the common foe. And even such an alliance offered no guarantee of success, for no one on any of the settled worlds had yet found a way to defeat this warrior race ready to lay waste to any civilization they could conquer.
Personal & Info
One of my friends recommended this to me a few years ago. It took me a while to get around to getting a copy and then actually read it. I’m sorry to say, it sat on my shelf for a couple years after I got it. I always meant to read it sooner rather than later.
Turning Point released in 1993, and appears to be rather obscure, so finding affordable copies might pose a small challenge. It’s not super old, but it’s old enough that the cover art makes it look stereotypically retro. I’m pretty sure most of the series is out of print, but they all seem to be available on kindle.
This volume is less than 300 pages long, but don’t let that fool you. The other volumes are all in the 600+ range, so don’t think this will be some convenient short, easy to read, series. I’ve also been told this one is the most docile volume. The romance is supposed to really take off and get more convoluted later.
Characters
Carrie is the female main character. She is twenty-three, and lives in Valleytown with her father(Peter) and her brother(Richard). Carrie has no interest in marrying and settling down to raise a family. She has telepathic abilities, and wants something more exciting out of life.
Peter Hamilton is Carrie and Richard’s father. He leads the Passive Resistance movement in Valleytown.
Richard is Carrie’s brother. Unlike their overbearing father, Richard cares about Carrie’s happiness. He seems like the kind of brother who is a good friend as well as family.
Kusac is the other main character and male love interest. He is a feline alien from the planet Shola. Kusac is a telepath serving as a scout officer in the Sholan military.
Vanna is the medic of Kusac’s military squad. She wants to study xenobiology.
Guynor is a technical scientist in Kusac’s squadron. He’s more brawn than brain, but knows his way around certain types of technlology.
Mito is a tech specialist in Kusac’s squadron. She’s also an opportunistic dater, who wants to be with whomever is the strongest or most interesting. Her current boyfriend is Guynor.
Garras is the Captain of Kusac’s squad. He is the oldest and wisest in the group.
Skai is the ex-boyfriend of Carrie’s deceased twin sister, Elise. His perspective on Elise and Carrie is skewed and inaccurate.
Skinner is one of the Captains in the rebellion against the Valtegans.
Anders is a tech specialist in Skinner’s chosen team.
Jo is a member of the resistance against the Valtegans, who previously worked with Carrie’s twin sister, Elise.
Story & Thoughts
As the first volume of a series, the book is okay. The story is decent and the important characters are well defined. The lore and descriptions are clear enough to be engaging and easy to understand, especially the ones involving the telepathy Link.
However, there is a lot of room for improvement. Some of the word choices are a little strange. Kusac gets hurt way too frequently throughout the story. He’s wounded more often than not. And my biggest issue, I think the book is too short to portray the story as well as it could.
There isn’t a cliffhanger, but the story feels incomplete. It ends rather abruptly. The primary issue gets resolved, but throughout the book, people are constantly talking about a court appearance that Kusac and Carrie are going to have to attend. Ideally, this constantly mentioned event would happen in this volume, because that’s what usually happens when a plot builds something up like that. Well, it doesn’t. That event is likely in the second volume, while this one just kind of drops off after the climactic event concludes. There should probably be one more chapter for the story to wind down for a smooth transition.
It’s not good enough to make me want to spend money on a second volume. However, I am mildly curious to see where it goes and how this can be a series. If I don’t have to pay money to read it, I’ll probably give the second volume try, but don’t get your hopes up on that happening. If it does, I only hope the second book picks up almost exactly where this one leaves off.
