Review: a treat
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 16, 2011
The worst thing I can say about SILVER SHARK is that I wish it had been longer.  I'm not big on novellas in general, and when an author I love like Ilona Andrews tosses great ideas into short fiction like this, I feel a little pained or sad...it could be such a great novel!...but I guess I shouldn't complain about getting more from Andrews, who publishes two books a year as it is.A novella, sort of by definition, just doesn't have all the twists and turns of a full-length book.  I felt like the (utterly delicious) conflict between Claire and Venturo was resolved too easily.  But I loved Claire, not only for her hard-bitten soldier's mentality but for the cracks in her hardness.  After a lifetime of war she's transported to a beautiful planet where all the little things, colors, foods, architecture give her incredible pleasure.  She opens up to the simple pleasures of living even as she's scared to do the same with Venturo, her boss.I have some quibbles - Claire didn't notice Venturo showing any sexual interest in her at the office, and I didn't either; I would have liked to have a better sense of how his feelings progressed.  The climax of the book ended up being a let-down, with a lot of problems quickly defused without much drama or emotional payoff.Still, it's an extra story from a favorite author, new and different than anything else I've read of hers, and that's a treat.