THE STARS DOWN UNDER [Hardcover]

Science Fiction and Fantasy genres overlap in many ways, and none more clearly than in this second book in the series by Sandra McDonald's. The plot threads that I most strongly hoped she would develop from the first book, The Outback Stars, are the focus of this second novel in a series.

The story is a mosaic of hard science and myth, wonders and the ordinary, aliens and regular people. I love the way McDonald writes, a combination of matter-of-fact space travel and unexpected intrusions by powers beyond the control of any human being. I love the way her characters struggle to keep their plans and their lives on track in the midst of being thrust into events that change everything.

Reading McDonald, I sometimes have a sense of magical realism as done by Gaiman or by Charles de Lint. Once in a while the science under the phenomenon is revealed but most often we are left with tantalizing questions, which may or may not be answered farther along in the story.

I like the way McDonald wraps up the story threads in a satisfying conclusion, but still leaves enough openings for the next book. I suspect she could easily write the same novel in twice length and keep me interested. At 336 pages, The Stars Down Under was over too soon. There is no doubt I'll pre-order the next one in the series.

After I had finished reading The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald, I was very intent on finding the next book in the series. Set in the far future, where it's the Australians who make the leap into leading the space race and colonization of the galaxy, the story was a hard space opera. It had two likeable main characters, a realistic feel to the story, and took some tried and true formulas from science fiction and freshened them up with some new twists. Now the sequel is out in mass market paperback, and I settled in one afternoon to take it in.

The Stars Down Under picks up the tale of Lieutenant Jodenny Scott and Chief Terry Myell have married and are trying to settle in on the planet Fortune. He's been assigned to a school for training members of Team Space, and she is a sort of troubleshooter for the fleet. But neither of them are fitting in well. They have a problem with their different rank -- in the future it seems, relationships between enlisted and officer ranks are frowned upon -- and Terry's co-workers resent him mightily, despite his recieving a medal for valour.

Most of all, it seems that their encounter with the mysterious Wondjina Spheres, differing sized domes that appear in clusters of three on nearly every planet, hasn't been forgotten by Team Space. And despite their reluctance to be involved, both Jodenny and Terry are none-too-gently coerced into assisting a scientific team into finding out what happened to another team that vanished. Indeed, it's Terry who can activate the spheres and the ability to travel instantiously through space, and possibly time, which makes him a very valuable commodity....

Here the series makes a hard shift from straight up science fiction to a sort of space fantasy that blends futuristic travel with Australian Aboriginal culture and mythos. All sorts of creatures appear, from crocodiles that appear in the sky, racing through houses and in cave paintings, to a tribe on one planet that insists that Terry is the manifestation of a thunder god. It's interesting stuff, but...

And that's a pretty serious but here. Despite the interesting plot, despite the mix of ancient legends and lore into hard science fiction, I had a hard time wading through this book. As the scenery kept changing, and as Jodenny is by turns frustrated at the lack of help in finding her husband and sent off back to Earth on a secret mission disguised as a civilian librarian, I started to care less and less.

The writing is good, the style interesting, but when I got about two-thirds of the way through the book, I started to get bored and finding other things to do besides read. For me, that's the kiss of death for a novel. Usually books start off slowly, easing the reader into the tale after the initial surprise, but here the narrative starts off with a bang, and then moves slower and slower, with secondary characters that are either cardboard and dull or maniacal and unlikeable and dull.

While I do suggest that you've had read the previous novel in this series before taking on The Stars Down Under, and there is a third novel out in hardbound, this isn't one that I would suggest that you hurry out to find. If there's nothing else to read, or you really need a science fiction fix, it might do. But the downside is that it's such an average read, I can't honestly recommend it. That's too bad, as the elements of the story, especially the use of Australian culture and speech really does make this different than the usual run of the mill yarn.

An excerpt from the third novel, The Stars Blue Yonder is tucked in at the back of the paperback.

Three stars overall, not really recommended.

I have a fondness for space opera, and Sandra McDonald delivers the perfect blend of realistic space-faring military life, aliens, mythology and technology in THE STARS DOWN UNDER.

In her first novel we learned about the Wondjina Spheres, ancient alien artifacts that link time and space in a series of rings, allowing travel between worlds. Now the rings have shut down and Team Space thinks protagonists Terry Myell and Jodenny Scott had something to do with it. Co-opted against his will into reactivating the Wondjina Transportation System, Terry and his team meet up with an alien race who want to control the spheres just as badly as Team Space does. Jodenny is packed off to Earth on a nice long voyage to keep her from causing the military public relations problems, including going after her husband. Then things get really weird.

I liked this very much. It confidently mixes detailed, pragmatic military life with the mysticism of a universe containing a very real Rainbow Serpent. The tension of the separated Terry and Jodenny trying to deal with first contact, hallucinatory experiences, Aboriginal culture, alien artifacts, a maze of lies, difficult truths, and a desperate desire to find one another again kept me turning the pages. It doesn't stand alone, but it's a fascinating follow-up to THE OUTBACK STARS and I look forward to the next in the series.