Review: Better and Better
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 5, 2013
The second book iin a series may be the hardest to write.  You need to continue to build your characters, top your previous plot, and (hopefully) improve your prose style and editing.  When I started "Janis", I wasn't sure that Dain White had managed to do all of these things.  Characters?  Still quirky and interesting but not really different.  Half the fun of the first book was getting to know each character and that was no longer required.  Plot?  Oh dear, we're back to "get everyone into a serious situation and let Janis get them out". I thought "4 stars".And then...  Janis developed a personality in addition to her incredible skills.  Philosophical discussions of time and predetermination were introduced and woven into the action so smoothly you hardly realized it was philosphy instead of action.  A previous plot line was brought back and the cultural background of conglomerate politics was developed more fully.  Characters?  Emily the new Exec (and the reason why Yak's chameleon suit now displays Hawaiian Shirt Flowers) arrived on scene.  Janis may be the title character, but the POV still switches between everyone else and their thoughts and feelings make them more 'characters' and less 'caricatures'.  Even the Captain's eyebrows seem less dramatic.  Perhaps he simply switched their abilities into his over-the-top piloting exploits, though."Janis" made me glad I'd spent real money (I lucked into "Archaea" on the free Kindle list).  Dain White has improved the editing over his first book (thanks in part due to his wife's expertise).  But most of all he's improved his skills and written a better book.  I've bought "Red" the third book in the series.  Hope it continues the trend.