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Double
Whammy!
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An ENE Review of the novels
The Midnight Moon & The White Sun by Stobie Piel
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| I must confess to a guilty pleasure -- I've become addicted to futuristic
romances. They seem to satisfy my need for passion and the fantastic all
in one fell swoop. Of course, as is often the case with romance, they're
never quite explicit enough for me, but I take that as a characteristic
of the genre. Someday, somebody will write something more to my taste, although
I suspect that somebody's going to have to be me. |
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| In the meantime, I'm sucking up as many of these books as I can, and
that's what led me to two novels by Stobie Piel, The
Midnight Moon and The
White Sun. Not aware of the books' "birth order", I actually read
The
White Sun first, although in the scheme of things, The
Midnight Moon comes first. They share characters, although both
books stand very nicely on their own, so if you read one but not the other,
you won't feel like you've missed anything. Both take place on faraway worlds,
both involve a romance between lovers from different groups. |
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| The
Midnight Moon is the story of easy-going Dane Calydon and a woman
of mystery, Aiyana. At first she hides herself from him by wrapping herself
up and claiming to be an amphibious creature from another world, but he
doesn't fall for that. Although they must put aside past prejudices and
learn to trust each other, they build a strong relationship, which they
will need as they battle common enemies. The same could be said for The
White Sun, except the characters in this novel, the dour, scarred Arnoth
of Valenwood and the passionate Sierra, are completely different personalities.
Could these two books be the same stories, but with a different cast? Not
necessarily. |
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| If you must choose between them, choose The
Midnight Moon. The plot is stronger, the pacing is smoother. The
White Sun, as the second of the pair, seems to have been rushed
in its creation, and the plot shows it. Rather than being a smooth transition
between events, it seems to have more of a jerky feel, like a series of
events have just been chained together, but with very little thought as
to what came before, or what comes after. I really had to push myself to
finish The
White Sun; on the other hand, The
Midnight Moon finished itself. Real science fiction aficionados
will find some of the fantastical elements cliched (clones and talking winged
creatures called "lingbats"). |
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| However, I still enjoyed both these books, for one simple reason --
the sex scenes. When it comes to passion, Stobie Piel doesn't wimp out (unlike
many romance writers). No gauze curtain here! Sex is dealt with honestly,
the activities are well described and the characters actually enjoy themselves.
I've taken to bookmarking sex scenes when I read, and I've got plenty of
little slips sticking out of both The
Midnight Moon and The
White Sun. |
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| So, with a grain of salt, I'd recommend both these titles, if for nothing
more than the sex. But there is more -- a pretty good story, likeable characters,
and a nice escape from reality. What more could you want? |
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Stobie Piel books are available for
purchase through Amazon.com.
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All Text, Codes, Graphics © 2001 ENE. All
Rights Reserved.
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