Miranda Riallon is a teacher on Chorillan. Her family is of the ruling caste and her mother definitely doesn’t approve of her profession. According to her mother, Miranda should marry well and help her husband’s political career. However, Miranda has no intention of having that kind of life. Her mother and her never really saw eye to eye on such matters. Now her father, on the other hand, Miranda gets along really well with. Ever since her younger brother, Daral, went Wilding and didn’t come back, her mother changed. See, Miranda is a triplet and she was the first born, the next brother, Kallin, is the apple of her mother’s eye and is following in her political footsteps. Miranda is on the verge of adopting one of her students, Ranny, when he gets hits with the Wilding phase. Not all children on Chorillan end up going through the Wilding phase. These children are all born of parents that were born on Chorillan and end up with a hyper-sensitivity to synthetic materials. They get sent to a camp in the wilderness, some of them escape and are never heard from again.

When Ranny escapes from the Wilding camp, Miranda decides to spend her vacation looking for him. Her family did a lot of camping before her father’s illness and Miranda has the experience to succeed with her mission. Meanwhile, the Scouts have now landed on Chorillan and are in the process of completing the necessary paperwork to look for the Gen’gineer base. Ian receives a summons to visit with Miranda’s father, the man wants Ian to find Miranda and take her with the squad of Scouts. And, just as Councilmember Riallon suspected, the Commonwealth was never notified of the Wilding problem. It would appear there are people on Chorillan trying to undermine the Commonwealth and possibly working with the Gen’gineers.

The more time Ian spends with Miranda, the more he realizes he’s attracted to her. What will become of their attraction? What of the missing Wildings? Will Miranda ever be able to find Ranny? What of the Azuli, the indigenous Chorillan species of canine with intelligence that are being blamed for the missing children? Are they responsible? What of Daral? Will Miranda somehow manage to find him?

I love the way Michelle Levigne writes her stories about the same Commonwealth. You can pick up any of her stories and find a common thread linking it to another story. CHORILLAN CYCLE: BOOK ONE is no exception. We have Bain from the SUNSINGER series, now an adult and the founder of the Scouts. The Scouts all believe in Fi’in and hold children sacred. On their journey into the wilderness, Miranda takes a voyage of self-discovery as she learns just what she holds dear and makes a life changing decision. Ian realizes he is tired of the life of a Scout and wants to devote his life to doing something worthwhile, which he finds on this journey as well. The settings are all realistic, the characters are all engaging and we once again become embroiled in the fight of good versus evil. I highly recommend CHORILLAN CYCLE: BOOK ONE to all lovers of science fiction.

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Sweet

Reviewer: Chere
June 10, 2004