Michaels, Melisa

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She Is a Tough Guy and Hotshot Pilot
A Futuristic, Fast-Paced, quick read.

Skirmish
Melisa C. Michaels
Manufacturer: Quartet Books (UK)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Customer Reviews:

She Is a Tough Guy and Hotshot Pilot.......2003-04-17

Skirmish (1985) is the first novel in the Skyrider series. Melacha Rendell, the Skyrider, is a Belter shuttle pilot with family on Earth and Mars. She sat out the Colonial Incident -- which the Colonials called a war -- and has felt guilty ever since. She also feels guilty over the loss of her boyfriend, Djano, in her shuttle when an blocked airfilter blew a vent with overpressure. To overcompensate, she plays her role as a swashbuckling mercenary with some desperation. She is a Floater, with one Grounder gene and one Faller gene; thus, she is equally at home in gravity or freefall.

In this novel, she is cut off in a landing on the flight deck of Main Base and goes looking for the pilot to rearrange his face. After one good punch, she notes that the pilot, Jamin, is a Faller and refrains from further blows. She soon realizes that he hides his gravity pains and so looks much more arrogant than he really is. Strangely enough, Jamin has an adopted son, Collis, who is a Grounder; he not only has the normal Grounder problems with freefall, but also has some kind of inner ear problem that goes straight his stomach whenever he is not in gravity. Therefore, Jamin spends most of his time at Main Base in the artificial gravity section ... and in pain. Although Skyrider doesn't care much for Jamin at first, she likes Collis immediately. Soon the two become her best friends and, although she doesn't admit it even to herself, she begins to think of both of them as family.

Even thought the Colonials have lost the war, some progress has been made in Earth-Mars relationships, but the Belt hasn't gained much if anything. Another war has been brewing for some time and now a spaceliner, the Marabou, has been sabotaged, supposedly by Colonial Insurrectionist. The engines have been damaged, all pilots have been killed, and the ship is headed sunward. A Space Patrol ship has tried to dock with repair parts and another pilot, but muffed the approach, killing the rescue crew. Since Skyrider is the best pilot in the Belt, the Company wants Skyrider to make the rescue and are willing to give her a Falcon shuttle and free maintenance for the attempt. She agrees and takes Jamin along to pilot the liner.

However, someone doesn't want them to succeed and arranges several small acts of sabotage directed against Jamin and herself and also murders his babysitter. Skyrider begins to suspect that something not so obvious is going on.

This novel is not great literature nor even great science fiction. However, it is a fun read, with a fairly believable heroine who has a horror of appearing altruistic. A real tough guy who buys teddy bears for her relatives, but don't tell anyone or it will ruin the image. An entertaining story that will make you forget your troubles as you read about hers.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys space adventure tales with tough guy heroines who are suckers for cute, blue-eyed, six year old kids.

-Arthur W. Jordin

A Futuristic, Fast-Paced, quick read........1999-04-04

From the Back Cover: Hotshot. Shuttle jockey. A pilot crazy enough to try a docking maneuver that's already killed two men, and good enough to pull it off. Just the pilot the Company needs for a suicide run, to catch a sabotaged liner falling into the sun.

Her name is Melacha Rendell: They call her the Skyrider.

The story and book are in a very readable format, so the pages turn very quickly.

Pirate Prince (Skyrider)
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Pirate Prince (Skyrider)
Melisa C. Michaels
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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First Battle

Last War

ASIN: 0812545729

Floater Factor
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Another stellar Skyrider adventure!

Floater Factor
Melisa C. Michaels
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Last War

Pirate Prince (Skyrider)

First Battle

ASIN: 0812545788

Customer Reviews:

Another stellar Skyrider adventure!.......2000-06-27

Melacha Rendell, the legendary Skyrider, gruff, unfeeling, unsentimental, ace pilot getting cuddly with a teddy bear? That would ruin her image! But, as we all know, there's more to the Skyrider than meets the eye. This novel takes up where Michael's last novel "Pirate Prince" leaves off. Melacha is enjoying a romantic interlude on her private asteroid hideaway with her lover, one of the best con men around, when some one leaves a "floater" infant squalling in Melacha's airlock. The Skyrider, who is not the motherly type to say the least, immediately attempts to wash her hands of all responsibility for this child but, almost as soon as the baby is removed from the airlock, someone tries to blow up Melacha's asteroid hideaway. After a pitched battle ensues, in which Melacha displays her legendary shoot-em-up skills, the assassins are dispatched, and Melacha is off on a galaxy quest to find out why someone would want this baby dead. Along for the novel is Melacha's wingman, Jamin, and Jamin's son, Colin, who are seeking to escape the fanatical and deadly prejudice that "Grounders" (people who can't tolerate free fall) have against "Fallers" (who can't tolerate gravity) and "Floaters" (people who are comfortable in either environment). If you enjoy rousing space adventure and strong women protagonists, you'll enjoy this and Michaels' other Skyrider novels. And, if you enjoy Elizabeth Moon's work, you'll doubtless find a kindred spirit here.

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First Battle
Melisa C. Michaels
Manufacturer: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Last War
Pirate Prince (Skyrider)
Games of Command (Bantam Spectra Book)

ASIN: 0812545680

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Last War
Melisa C. Michaels
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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First Battle
Pirate Prince (Skyrider)

ASIN: 0812545702

Average customer rating:

Good story but not fantasy
Waste of time but not painful; probably not fantasy
Not bad for a first attempt
Not the same Old Elves
A Wonderful Surprise

Cold Iron
Melisa Michaels
Manufacturer: Roc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Sister to the Rain

ASIN: 0451456548

Customer Reviews:

Good story but not fantasy.......2007-03-11

Cold Iron is not a bad story about a PI hired to figure out if someone is trying to murder the leader of the band. However, it is mislabeled as a fantasy book. There happen to be elves in the story but they are people like anybody else. There is nothing in the book that makes it a fantasy book.

Waste of time but not painful; probably not fantasy.......2002-12-04

My Scale:
1 star--wretched, don't bother;
2 stars-somebody will like it, flawed;
3 stars-pretty darn good with some flaws;
4 stars-great, I'll re-read it;
5 stars-flawless, a classic of the genre.

The World:
Modern San Francisco/Los Angeles/Hawaii-with pointy-eared people. Elves have been part of the world for there to have been second or maybe third generation elf-human hybrids (haflings). No other changes to the world reported

The Plot:
Rose Levine is a not-very-successful private investigator, who is hired to investigate possible threats to the life of the lead singer of the world-famous elfrock band Cold Iron, Jorandel. She begins to travel with the band (they're on tour), and somehow she just kind of slips into the same band lifestyle. There are threats and dangers. Can Rosie save Jorandel, or even should she?

The Review:
This is a run-of-the-mill girl P.I. novel. The plot's ok (some holes); the dialog's ok; the characterization stinks. The elves come across as just humans with pointy ears stuck on. There's no background framework or explanation: how are elves different from humans in psychology, motivation, elven interpersonal relationships, and so forth. The narrator repeatedly refers to the elves in the story as "sociopaths", implying that all elves are, yet she falls in love with not one but two (well, the second is only one-quarter elf).

This is the same old world I live in, just with tall pointy-eared people in it. That the world isn't perceptibly different that now makes this novel flunk the fantasy test

Rose Levine is supposed to be a hard-boiled P.I. who has been around the block a few times. Yet without any explanation, she casually begins drinking heavily and snorting "soda" (some kind of elven version of coke or crack that is clearly illegal). Why would a P.I. jeopardize her license by casual use of an illegal substance? Why would a P.I. who is on the job drink enough to be incapacitated? There's some subplot about Rosie discovering her past, but it isnot convincing either. The whole thing leaks like a sieve and is a waste of time.

It's two stars not one because the actual writing--mechanics, dialog, scene setting--is competenetly done.

Not bad for a first attempt.......2001-11-25

For a first novel wetting its toes into the realm of fantasy this book is not too bad an attempt though I have to admit it is borderline fantasy in certain areas. I agree with one reviewer that some of the characters could do with having their mouths washed out with soap (and I am no prude) but other than that it was pretty good. The characters (thought overtly vulgar when there was no need to be) were well portrayed, and the plot interesting enough to keep you turning the pages. The book leads you into an integrated modern society where human and elves live side-side though not always in harmony. Enter Rosie Lavine, a jaded PI who is hired by a Rock Group's official groupie, Candy Cayne (no joke here folks) to find out who might be trying to kill the lead singer of a Elf Rock Group called Cold Iron. At first Rosie thinks it is all a piece of Rosie's drug induced imagination but when she is warned off by a group of professional thugs she changes her mind and immerses herself into the bizarre world of sex, drugs and Elf Hard Rock Music. Attracted to Jorandel, the sexy but degenerated lead singer, Rosie is on a roller coaster ride of a lifetime and it's not a pleasant experience. Haunted by her own demons, mainly from her childhood, Rosie lurches from clue to clue in a desperate bid to find out who wants the charismatic Jorandel dead. There are an assortment of other characters that thread in and out of the story as it wound its way to its climax, but it was Rosie and Candy who kept me turning the pages, as well the destructive relationship taking place between Rosie and Jorandel, played out in the sordid world of Elf Hard Rock music. I did enjoy the book but I feel it could have been so much more. All the same for a first attempt into fantasy Ms Michaels didn't do too bad a job really.

Not the same Old Elves.......2000-05-25

Let's face it, the cover of this book leaves a LOT to be desired, but don't be fooled. This book rocks...no pun intended. Jorandel, the elf-rock star reminds one of some of music's greatest tragedies, and Rose, the feisty human PI is fantasy's answer to VI Warshawski. There's a great deal of wisdom and insight to the human (and elven) condition.

A Wonderful Surprise.......2000-05-23

I stumbled upon this book by accident while looking for a new author. I was pleasantly surprised by the characters and the story. After finishing this book I went looking for other books by the same author and found Sister to the Rain. Both Cold Iron and Sister to the Rain are good stories that will keep you entertained for hours. I especially like the inclusion of the elves into our world. Not the typical fantasy novel. I hope there will be more books in this series. Once I get to "know" a character I can't wait to visit them again.

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Through the Eyes of the Dead
Melisa C. Michaels
Manufacturer: Walker & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0802757189

Average customer rating:

Probably a Young Adult book?
standard concept, humdrum presentation....

Far Harbor
Melisa C. Michaels
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0812545818

Customer Reviews:

Probably a Young Adult book?.......2001-08-27

This was a pretty good Michaels book, and, like her Skyrider series, not overly complicated. It's the story of two young adults who are unknowingly fated for each other, and are both trying to live through the disasters of their current lives. The girl was relocated as a toddler after a disaster and misidentified as Human, when in fact she was part of that world's native population. After years of abuse by her foster family (who nickname her "Ugly"), she finally strikes back and then flees, fearing that she has committed murder. The young man is prince of the conquered native people and is a known drunk and possible madman. The reasons for his borderline insanity are explained as part of the native culture and the biologic/spirtual necessity of native persons with a high degree of paranormal ability to form a pair bond. It is widely believed that the prince's bondmate must have somehow died in childhood, and the prince himself vacillates between hope and despair as various political machinations play out around him. The tale of how these two finally meet, and whether they will be able to recognize each other makes for an entertaining and heartfelt read. Always wondered where this plot might have gone as a series. If you liked Dragonsong, you'll probably like this.

standard concept, humdrum presentation...........2001-02-02

I just dug this out of the attic in one of my "I have nothing to read!" fits. Now I remember why it was there. Michaels' book has all the standard sf/fantasy mix, with absolutely nothing new to spark the reader's interest. There's the heroin who doesn't know she has the Power to save the planet, the mad Prince who isn't as mad as he seems, the political intrigue, the telepathic companion animal...blah, blah, blah... It's your standard bargin bin stuff, and if you find it there for .50 go for it, otherwise read a Lackey novel.

ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION - Volume 3, number 1 - January Jan 1979: On the Road to Science Fiction: From Wells to Heinlein; In the Country of the Blind No One Can See; Last Gothic; Castaways; Garbage; Ker-Plop; Vincent Di Fate; The Hugo

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ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION - Volume 3, number 1 - January Jan 1979: On the Road to Science Fiction: From Wells to Heinlein; In the Country of the Blind No One Can See; Last Gothic; Castaways; Garbage; Ker-Plop; Vincent Di Fate; The Hugo
George H. (editor) (James Gunn; Melisa Michaels; Jon L. Breen; Jeanne Dillard; Ron Goulart; Ted Reynolds; Ginger Kaderabek; Isaac Asimov; Barry B. Longyear; Martin Gardner) Scithers
Manufacturer: Davis Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J5QYG0

Average customer rating:

Unconvincing, poor world-building, a waste of time
Second time's the charm.
Humorous, riveting in the tradition of Sayers and Paretsky
This rocks

Sister to the Rain
Melisa Michaels
Manufacturer: Roc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Cold Iron

ASIN: 0451457307

Customer Reviews:

Unconvincing, poor world-building, a waste of time.......2002-12-04

My Scale:
1 star--wretched, don't bother;
2 stars-somebody will like it, flawed;
3 stars-pretty darn good with some flaws;
4 stars-great, I'll re-read it;
5 stars-flawless, a classic of the genre.

The World:
Modern San Francisco-with pointy-eared people. Elves have been part of the world for there to have been second or maybe third generation elf-human hybrids (haflings). Elves can do magic. No other changes in human society, economics, technology, or values reported.

The Plot:
Rose Levine is a private investigator is hired to investigate unusual occurances in a mixed (human, elf, Halfling) art colony east of Berkeley. Is it Bigfoot? Another kind of being? Or are mere humans trying to scare the colony off the land, so that it can be developed into a gated, golf course community?

The Review:
This is an uninspired girl P.I. novel, not even as interesting as the previous, *COLD IRON*. Once again, the characterization stinks. The elves come across as just humans with pointy ears stuck on. There's no convincing background framework or explanation: how are elves different from humans in psychology, motivation, elven interpersonal relationships, and so forth-just labels: elves are charming sociopaths.

It also flunks the fantasy test: Elves evidently can do magic, but you don't see that reflected anywhere in the setting--that is, how has the presence of magic changed the world from the way we would perceive it now?

This is too bad. Michaels is a more-than-competent writer (if she hadn't put the elf wrinkle in, these might be better books). Either she should stick to plain mystery fiction, or imagine her worlds much more in depth.

All in all, not worth the time or money.

Second time's the charm........2002-02-23

I must say that I enjoyed this book much more than the first in the series, Cold Iron. Ms. Michael's concept of elves as charming sociopaths is fascinating, but it made the elf rock stars in Cold Iron hard to take and even harder to care about. That concept is ameliorated somewhat in Sister to the Rain. The elves are still incredibly self-involved and lacking in human morality, but they're a lot more likable and a lot less randomly destructive. Plus, Rosie herself is funnier and less self-destructive in this book, and who wouldn't like her beautiful, but occasionally hapless partner, Shannon? All in all, a very enjoyable read. I understand that Ms. Michaels doesn't plan another sequel, which is a shame, because I'd love to read one.

Humorous, riveting in the tradition of Sayers and Paretsky.......1999-04-25

I've been reading Melisa Michaels' books for years, and have always found the sense of humor she brings to the subject wonderful. When she combines this with a well-told mixture of hard-boiled detective and modern fantasy, the result is excellent.

Readers who have enjoyed Sarah Paretsky or Dorothy Sayers in the past may see some pleasing similarities in a few of the characters. The client, for example, is a dead ringer for Lord Peter Wimsey, seen from the outside world's point of view.

If you're looking for fantasy written for someone past adolescence, pick this book up, and be sure to share it with a friend. You won't be sorry.

This rocks.......1998-08-24

San Francisco private investigators Rosie Lavine and Shannon Arthur do not want to have elves as clients ever again after their previous case almost left themr for dead (see COLD IRON). Who would want as their client a sociopath, which is what an elf actually is. So who else would walk into their office seeking to obtain their services than one of those frail looking, too pretty beings. Rosie and Shannon were recommended to Lord Finandiel, a FOOF if there ever was one. He wants the sleuths to investigate a manifestation that is frightening all the children (wee ones are held in honor by elves) in his community of truebloods, mortal, and halflings.

Since the fee is good and the case seems easy enough, Rosie and Shannon agree to look into the eerie noises that are frightening everyone. However, the simple case takes a bizarre turn when a mortal is murdered. Now, the two Bay area detectives must ferret out a killer before things turn bloody between the races struggling to share a community in the California mountains.

SISTER TO THE RAIN, the second book in the Lavine fantasy mysteries, is a astounding who-done-it that makes supernatural creatures seem absolutely real. The story line is fun, but the characters steal the show. From the acerbically sarcastic Rosie to the prejudicial Finandiel, readers feel like elves are genuine and living in California. Though similar to Laurell Hamilton's Blake mysteries, Melissa Michaels makes her own distinct magic that fans of fantasy who-done-its and the fantasy genre as a whole will want to read. P.S. To learn what a FOOF is, read the book.

Harriet Klausner

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