“Assumptions should be proven or disproven by facts” Veiled Planet

As for my assumptions, this book would be cliché, the indigenous people would be ‘hominids’ or like people, and that I would thoroughly enjoy this book, done, done, and done. Veiled Planet keeps you on the edge of your seat the same way the movie “Avatar” does, an adventure, a love story, intrigue, and mystery, but to a certain degree.

Even knowing what was going to happen, I still wanted to read about it, I can appreciate Teagan Kearney’s twist on the genre. It reminds me plenty of young adult heroines I’m so fond of, just set in an, even more, sci-fi universe although besides the wording don’t expect to see much of it since the story is set more in nature. Maybe I shouldn’t be comparing it to so many other titles and experiences but I mean them all as compliments; I know what I like and to be sure this was so amazing.

The male protagonist “Rishi” was somewhat reminiscence of some of Gary Paulsen’s titles but it was awesome to see him play off of the heroine Kara, so there were respites of humor mixed in as well. Maybe I’m being bias considering this is a story that has been done before, so I know it well but I was still excited every day when I picked it up. That’s also a bit of bad news, you see the ending and it’s sort of like hitting a brick wall and you’re still smiling but yeah um ouch.

You shouldn’t let that stop you though, most good books leave you hurting and a somewhat sweet, predictable but abrupt ending didn’t stop my enjoyment. If you’ve read this far, just know that the title has my stamp of approval without a doubt but if you’re lazy you can always pick up Avatar and switch Jake Sully’s character with Neytiri.

“The family is sacred. Without the family, society fails”
― from Teagan Kearney, Veiled Planet

So would you prefer once upon a time or stop me if you’ve heard this one, a human comes to alien/hominids planet, falls in with the natives, falls in love with one and now it’s time to save the world or maybe love conquers all perhaps. Space people bad native people good, just a lot more diplomatic, which is another thing this book was filled with politics but not bogged down like any Star Wars.

I related to Kara in a certain way and nobody can blame Rishi or Miklo for that matter for being guys but again, the somewhat teenage aspect of things or boys will be boys. Of course, Kara is so smart and right about everything she is simply busy employing her moral sense into her new world but that doesn’t last too long. I would say the author has some weird ideas about men and women but I can’t stress this enough, with the world we live in who isn’t influenced?

Take some of the characters such as Ikeya and Yleni for example, some people would be insulted by this male-dominated society, Ikeya has his place and Yleni is just the woman behind the man you see the same in Kara’s relationships. You have the big flashy tribal leader who is more of a shower than a doer with his own hidden agendas for what he does. How about the colonists who behaved exactly as if Kara has gone crazy not that the “Maruts” weren’t sticklers about their own rules too.

You have to wonder if the author making a not so subtle estimation of humanity or was this purely coincidental because I can see the parallels in society. On the other hand, she’s a genius and this was fate or in the DNA, but that makes me sound like Rishi.

“Our coming across you the way we did wasn’t an accident. It was what you call Fate or Destiny.” ― from Teagan Kearney, Veiled Planet

If you want to discover this book for yourself, I suggest you turn away now but how great was this book… four stars and my Kindle kept erasing the copy I got for an honest review so I went and bought a copy because I was so caught up. No book is perfect, I’ll take that back, this book wasn’t perfect but the point is to hook the reader and sadly I already was, clichés.

Anything with a solid love story has my vote and while I believe that love could have been a bit more ‘descriptive’ I fell in love with Kara but I’m sort of easy like that. The nature aspect always gets to me, reading about them on the road and the traditions and customs but for the life of me, I couldn’t get the look of “satyrs” out of my head, the way we normally think about them. It was really inspiring though when Kara found out she had been made somewhat a Helen of Troy archetype with the Maruts coming to get her back, I cheered at that fact honestly.

As for my dislikes, a lot of books are scaring me these days, working on my own stories I know I have to buy Grammarly and a half-dozen editors because there were a few problems, typos and such. Kara didn’t appear to be flawed in any way but the people around her always seemed to be, especially the part with her and Rishi after the storm, boys will be boys but still, that wasn’t fair at all the laws. I said the ending was a wall but while the story overall was incredible, just cliché after cliché, you can’t call it uninspired, it’s a work of art but let’s just say I know the author has other people to thank.

Four stars without a doubt, would I read what comes next, definitely, any advice, as people tell me sometimes, more you and less them but yes this is awesome. Teagan Kearney will not put you to sleep but if you do sleep make sure you know all the rules because, in the end, it’s a Veiled Planet But Veiled Woman?

“Freedom is the most precious gift.”
Teagan Kearney, Veiled Planet