Enemies

First I'll start by saying this is a sequel, and it is clearly meant to have another (or more) in this series. However, said follow up is not available as of this time. As for this book, I found it as good or even slightly better than the original. Sequels have that "start from page one" familiarity to them that makes them so much fun. Again in this book I felt there were times I wanted to know more about a character, or situation, or plotline... so I can't give it five stars, but overall definitely worth reading. (I know an author can't cover everything, but the feeling was of something missing more than simply wishing there was more.) I would buy the next book in the series the day it came out. Hopefully that helps to explain whether or not I liked this one. =)

Well, This is my first time in writing a review, so i will try to be exect . This boom is good. it has several climax which holds you to the book and you will lose the supper time. But, this is the problem to. because it has several climax points , you will find yourself reading the first 170 pages in 3 monthes and then ,walla, a good tension is buit and it is for 30 pages. then you keep reading and it's from here to there .... and then another one that will keep you till somewhere before the book end. so, this is it. i cant say it's 5 but if you hang in mind to read it, keep this review in mind(i hope).

Lee Hogan is the kind of author you feel lucky to discover. I don't give out five stars often but Enemies was such a pure pleasure to read, start to finish, that I'll happily assign it the highest rank I can. Hogan's world of Belarus is a curious mix of old world traditions and advanced but abandoned technology. She's skillfully given her sci-fi novel some fantasy touches that evoke a mythical Russia without making them feel awkward or forced into the book's reality. People come back from the dead - as electronic avatars, programmed by people brilliant enough to engineer entire worlds back in the heyday of the Alliance. The tiny machines of nanotechnology are referred to as Sprites and have become sentient through a deliberate infection of a virus that brings self-awareness. The extra-dimensional skills of The Enemies and Baba Yaga's intimidating presence add a sense of cosmic mystery without sacrificing the sci-fi elements that let us take it all seriously. The characters drawn into this mystery are well drawn themselves and strike a reader as capable people, each with their own type of strength to call on in a time of crisis. The technological superiority of the Union to Belarus is never used as a plot crutch and it's a satisfying combination of the forces of history combined with the personalities of those involved that drives the story. The villains are chilling and never one-dimensional, and the relationship the Enemies have with the Belarusians is interestingly complex, frightening and murky. Hogan draws us into the mystery and beauties of her world, harsh but beautiful, deadly but survivable by a people whose stubbornness and pragmatism become traits that you can't help but admire. Perhaps best of all, you really want to root for these people not only because you like them but because you want to learn more about Hogan's well-crafted, intriguing universe through their eyes. The moment a sequel comes out I'm snapping it up immediately.

He was a visionary who saw that the Republic, which earth was a member, was about to devolve into civil war; Andre built a colony in the Lucifer system called Belarus. It was comprised of colonists of Slavic descent, one very much like Russia and the other republics of the former Soviet Union. when civil war came, Belarus was easily able to repel the invaders but that was not the worst of their problems. The planet was inhabited long before the colonists arrived by those who came to be known as the Enemy.The Enemy was determined to destroy the colonists but biotoxins that Andre released kept the Enemy from destroying his home. Still civilization was set back to Tsarist Russia and when the new Union came to bring back Belarus into the fold, the world would not adhere to the union's new Bill of Rights. Women with birth defects caused by the biotoxins were forced to wear shrouds on their face and had no rights. Yet one of these female lowlifes, the niece of the Tsar, tries to save her people and in doing so, that of the Enemy.ENEMIES is an enjoyable and richly entertaining work that combines Tsarist Russia and chemical warfare in an outer space fairy tale. The contrast of the modern technology that the Union Star Men have and the medieval life of the people living on Belarus makes for natural conflict. The heroine should be bitter because of the restrictive prejudicial laws that apply to her disfigurement but instead she is an independent thinker who does her best to save society.Harriet Klausner