If you want a cheery, upbeat review please stop reading now for I don't have much that is nice to say about this book.

I started reading the books by S.L. Viehl back in 2004, starting with "Blade Dancer". I was instantly hooked by her writing style and upon discovery of the Cherijo series (aka Stardoc), I was instantly in-love. A strong minded, quick witted, albeit overly-bitchy woman who is trying to fight for her rights as a woman and a human being who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. What wasn't to love?

Having read from book one, I followed Cherijo as she showed what I considered to be ZERO true love for her husband Reever. At best the most "love" you ever feel she has for him is at the end of "Shockeball" (I believe) when you find out she had managed to save their prematurely born baby! In most of the series one has the sensation that she is more his "frienemy" than his wife and any woman with a heart will find herself bleeding for poor Reever who has married an egotistical shrew! She is constantly lamenting over the death of her love from the first book and cannot see Reever for the wonderful man that he is.

When she changed from Cherijo into Jarn, suddenly I loved the books again. Not only did Jarn see Cherijo as an idiot for not loving her (their?) husband, but she (Jarn) fell in love with Reever and Reever with her. You learn that he never truly loved Cherijo either but loved everything about Jarn. When I read the title, I was hoping that Cherijo would get her beloved Chosen back and that Reever would get Jarn.

Honestly, without dropping the plot line and pissing off scads of unknown people, I wish I had stopped reading in book 9. I have always considered books to be treasures; to be kept and loved. This book I threw against the wall repeatedly until the binding broke. Not only did the author close down the series, she closed down her entire universe. I've been saddened by endings before, but this one left me feeling as though I had been cheated. Honestly, I will never read another one of her books because of this. ( )

Ok, great book. Loses a star for it's hokey last line and weird wrap up of the series. ( )

Being dead for five years can cause some minor problems - surgeon Cherijo Torin is back, but she's not feeling any love for the use Jarn made of her body while she was gone. Her daughter doesn't know who she is and her husband fell in love with Jarn. But having a personal life has never been Cherijo's strong suit anyway, so when a mysterious, crystal-shrouded ship turns up near a large rift in space, she leaves Reever and Marel on Joren and heads out to investigate. If she and the crew of the Sunlace can't find some answers, the universe is doomed.

It's been a long time coming, but this seems to finally conclude the Stardoc series. No spoilers, but it wasn't quite the ending I'd expected - maybe I missed something, but the resolution just didn't quite make sense. A bit disappointing, really. ( )

This novel got caught up in my blog reorganization and so didn’t even get the quick comments that I’ve previously done on top of my interesting links but that in no way reflects my reaction to the story. dream called time is a bit of a torment for me because I’ve been reading Stardoc since the beginning (though I started a year or two late) and it seems like Cherijo and Reever have been part of my life forever.

My comment as I was reading was this:

I’m zooming my way through dream called time wishing somehow Viehl’s prose was a little less smooth so it would take me longer. This novel is both a culmination and a sorrow since it’s the end of the Stardoc series, one I’ve been enjoying since book one. Without giving anything away since you’ll know in the first paragraph, the old Cherijo is back and Jarn (at least so far) is gone with a few lingering residuals. There are parts that sadden me, but I understand exactly why it has to be this way, which doesn’t make it any easier to take-a clear sign that Viehl has once again sucked me in.

Having finished the novel, my first impression hasn’t changed. Viehl managed to tie up an incredible number of threads to give an unexpected if workable conclusion to the series, and along the way, she had me crying out in horror at what path things seemed to be taking.

You have to understand…I one of those oddballs who fell in love with Duncan Reever from the start, loving him for his struggles and everything that came together to make him into the damaged sociopath that he is. I have a personal connection to his history (as you can tell by reading my site bio (click home at the top of this page the “About Me”), and felt that he’s the reflection of who I could have become…okay, maybe without siding against humanity in a galactic war, but you never know.

This novel is rough on Reever, and as always seems to happen, he makes one or two critical errors, aided by those who wish for a different outcome than I do. I’m not going to tell you what, or how it comes out in the end, but let me tell you that was one of the places where I kept going with despair and hope raging in me.

That may sound melodramatic, but Viehl has the ability to capture a reader, to drag me into her world and absorb me within the pages until I feel what her characters feel.

dream called time is a tear down and recreation. The old Cherijo has returned, but she’s not exactly the same. Discovering how much time the “invader” Jarn has stolen makes time more precious and her focus more on the people around her. This is a harsh reality because while she’s been in stasis, they’ve moved on, leaving her behind.

This is not a comfortable novel. The Stardoc series ends as it has been from the beginning, a blend of personal and universe level conflict, tearing the fabric of the characters along with that of their world. I would not recommend this as a starting point even for people like me who can read series out of order. It is the culmination of the minor conflicts that slipped through the previous novels almost unnoticed only to boil into full clash in this one. It is a farewell, leaving little hope for a future novel in the Stardoc world (though there’s always the hope for extras filling in spaces in the original timeline).

For dedicated readers, this novel offers a reasonable conclusion, though not what we’d come to expect. For new readers, go back and start at the beginning. Learn to love, and hate, these characters, feel the transitions and growth within them as the series grows, and when you reach dream called time, it’ll have been well worth the journey. ( )