Review: Nebador Book Six - Star Station - J. Z. Colby

The Nebador Series by J. Z. Colby is probably one of my favorites, now. Right along Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Mists of Avalon, the Graal Trilogy, The Vampire Chronicles and some others, there sit the 6 books of the Nebador Series.

As the author himself says, this isn't the end of the story, but it is a great resting point. Our characters have made their way from a backwards little medieval planet's lowest of the low, to the honored Nebador Transport Service, where they are the crew of a small deep space response ship.

4 former slaves and one inkeeper's daughter form this crew that has travelled further away from their home world than anyone there will probably go and are now bonded beyond anything they thought they would, specially the slaves, who've always had a deep issue with trust, trusting people isn't something a slave does, as they are on the world on their own, being traded around and bossed around.

Mati, with her bad knee, is on the edge of a new life. It's hard and it's new. It's more of a change than traveling all across the universe, to her, since it's her body, it's something she always lived with, and it's going to change everything she does and is. Not who she is, but the way her being interacts with the world.

Kibi has to learn to interact with the rest of the universe. Understand what is appropriate and when, but also, be confident that she has value and that there is a job for her and her feelings, which are as valuable as other skills. I think Kibi is the character that bothered me the most all through the books, because she doesn't SEEM valuable, her skills don't seem important, like the others. She has no definite skill, math, language, anything, and yet, she is Ilika's girl and that gives you the feeling that she was on the crew from the start. But, the thing is, she has the strongest intuition and she can sense people's feelings, she can understand people and relate to them. I couldn't really see that on the first books, probably because I am one of those people that can "feel people" but can't understand how those feelings can be a skill. Much like Kibi :)

All of the characters learn very valuable lessons, each to their own, and make new friends, all very different people - Ursines, Birds, Lizards, balls of light/energy and Monkey-Mammals! And we get to understand more of Nebador. So far, all we got were glimpses and visions, promisses, but now we finally understand more about it, like the food - everyone gets what they need, no cost, just take it, but not more than you need (you can, however, get stuffed from good food now and then ;) ), people are polite and expect you to be nice as well. And, importantly, people help each other - no matter what they do, or how important they are. Actually, there is no concept of important people or tasks, only different responsabilities.

Original cover art commissioned to artist Rachael Hedges

Mati and Sata have a big lesson to learn, and so do Boro and Rini, who are in different stages of a relationship with the girls. After they make a huge and very serious mistake that has terrible consequences, they are "sentenced" to go through the "Great Transformation" and help a whole civilization to survive, a lot over their shoulders, by living and learning. But I won't spoil, since that is one of the parts to love ;)

Kibi's test of the heart, as mentioned on the summary, is one I would probably fail myself. Damn licking on the neck. J.Z., Nebador's author, writes with such emotion and so many details that I get shivers to this day. After that, she puts her feet on a path she must take, specially to be in the Nebador Transport Service, along with her friends and her lover, but that is hard and complicated, making her face several fears and issues.

I love Nebador and I would read 100 books on this series. But we have definitely reached a stopping point, if needed. No other book before this has left me with such an accomplishment feeling, you can see there may be more coming, but you can also stop here and know that the story has been told, of the path a small team of young adults took from the lowest of the low to the stars, from poverty to respected equals to the whole universe. There is more to learn, but now they are well on their way.

I reccomend the whole Nebador series to anyone who likes reading, learning and loves to read good writing, great character development and awesome plot.

Find out where you can buy Book 6 - Star Station in several formats: here.
Read my reviews for Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4 and Book 5.

Free E-book - Nebador

Hello everyone!
Despite my missing posts, I am alive and well. Well, sort of. I have been working on my graduation thesis while working around 11 hours per day and attending 5 different classes, so I've been busy.
I've been reading, but not enough, and I've been writing my posts, just never getting around to finish them, so that's why you haven't seen posts around here.

But I do have something for you!

J. Z. Colby, the lovely author of the Nebador series has informed me that to celebrate the release of Book #6 or, as he puts it, the second trilogy of Nebador, the first book of the series is free for download in 3 different formats.

I've been talking about that series for a while now, my review for book #1 (the one for free, above) is here and if you want to hear more about it, browse my reviews here: Nebador tag, just be aware that there are reviews for the 5 books (I'm starting #6 next week) so if you read it all, there may be spoilers.

Review: Nebador #5 - Back to the Stars - J. Z. Colby

There is no way out. Now, they're part of the Manessa crew, they're out in space and they just won't be able to run away anymore.

Rini, again, makes a bad decision. He's a good boy, he's just what we'd call airheaded. But that's not exactly that: he's contemplative. He can meditate for years and never reach the edge of his patience, he jumped into adventure more than anyone else, simply because he wants to see what else is there and that's how he gets into trouble right at the first page of the book, he contemplates so much, he stays there, staring at the stars and forgets that he must get inside before he runs out of air.

The rest of the crew ends up saving him, but he learns the lesson - there are times to let yourself get lost in thoughts and watch the universe and there are moments when you need to be aware or you and other people might get hurt.

This is the fifth book of the Nebador Series, called "Back to the Stars", it shows how 4 former slaves and  one innkeeper's daughter end up flying an intergalactic ship. This specific book shows our lovely ones flying away from their planet and into the stars, into experiences that they can't even imagine. If the previous books show them learning things way beyond their rank on that planet, their possibilities and more than anyone on that planet would know for ages, this book shows them growing up. It shows them becoming more adult, more developed, than most adults on Earth, nowadays.

We watch our crew get too close to the Sun, explore new worlds, solve puzzles - oh I love a good puzzle! - and meeting new people! They stumble into another ship and it's crew, but they have this interesting feature: they are birds! And Manessa's crew must get used to talking to people of different "buildings", not only the kind they know, that is monkey-human like.

Also, they get, accidentally, into a desperate situation and neither Ilika, with all his experience, nor Manessa can help them out. They are trapped and they must ready themselves to die. Some are ready faster than others, some are more reluctant, but they all learn the lesson - and move on with the flight, as this will not be the last on the series and no reader would think they would trully die, right? I guess that's the negative part of knowing there are many more books on the series, it's almost impossible to imagine the author "killing" all of the characters.

Ilika himself has been learning so much. He's experienced as a crew member, but not as a captain, so he, too, must learn how to work with his crew, even if he's had this training before. Specially, he must learn about his feelings and how they'll work there, how not to push or expect things these people may not give him and yet, train them to be real people from Nebador, with a smile on the face while the universe is trying to crush you.

The crew gets to meet one of the big people from Nebador, the "golden light" that's helped them before, on the fires of Lumber Town and that made the lights dance during Miko's funeral. The power that had to make sure they were ready. That was probably the best part of the book to me, she was beautiful and the whole part was very interesting, with love and devotion, acceptance and guidance.

At the end, we see our crew getting ready to travel beyond their solar system, having to use much of what they've learnt and learning the secret and the why, why wouldn't their people ever leave their solar system unless they change so much - and maybe never leave at all - but I won't spoil that for you. ;)

This book also has two short stories, Buna's New World and First Taste of Freedom, but I admit it, I wasn't too fond of them. You see, they are set on the time of the first book and I just can't relate to that anymore. I would feel much more connected to them if they were set with those characters, the ones we left behind, but after the Selection, it would be much more interesting.


I'm looking forward to Book 6: Star Station, dying to know what's there and what kind of people they will meet. Summer 2012 can't come fast enough!


You can buy Nebador: Back to the Stars here or click here to see all the places where you can find it.
You can also read my reviews for books One, Two, Three and Four.

Review: Nebador #4 - Flight Training - J. Z. Colby

Well hello there!

I'm back with the Nebador Series. I can't tell you how much I adore this series!

I'm divided, I'm glad it goes to book 8 (and who knows, maybe more), but I'm sad it'll take long for them to be out (2014 for book 8). But hey, at least it's no Song of Ice and Fire, taking 5 or more years between books :)

I finished book 4, "Flight Training" and Book 5 "Back to the Stars" but I started writing this review while I was still reading book 5, since I was starting to mix them up.

Author J. Z. Colby has been nice to send me a copy of the latest two books, after I reviewed the previous ones, so I must thank him deeply.

We find our crew right where we left them at The Selection, stopped at the desert, starting their real training. They already know well their beloved ship Manessa and their captain, Ilika, but now it's time for some real learning.

Altitute and movement training get some of the crew members spilling their guts - and not on the talking way. Also, all of our friends have their own issues to solve, including fear of heights, fear of the dark, fear of closed spaces and so on.

Kibi considers to run away. Mati thinks about going back to one of her previous choices. Rini makes a bad mistake, but makes the right decision, in the end.

With this Flight Training, we get to see our crew in action, solving puzzles and knowing more about their home world. Aside from that, we get a pretty big scare in one part, but they work it out.

As Ilika is, we are proud of our little crew members. We are happy to see how much they learnt and grew and we are sure Ilika did the right choice, they were the best he could've found.

I am considering to read Book 1 (The Test) again, as now I know what comes, I know who's who, I think I can appreciate it even more.

After going all over the world and  knowing some interesting points (the tallest mountain, the deepest ocean, some different cities), Manessa's crew flies out of the planet, into orbit. That's where we leave them and that's where we'll find them again on Book 5 - Back to the Stars.

I loved the book, as I loved most of the series (Book one had major potential but I had a hard time loving it, which is why I'm thinking of re-reading it), I thought that after they had learnt all those things and knew of the real shape, form and nature of Manessa and Ilika, there wasn't much more to learn and not much would happen - I was afraid the book could be a bit boring, since the characters were all pretty much developed.

Boy was I wrong.

The characters are nowhere near ready - as we all aren't. That was silly of me to think. They are only teenagers and young adults and they have a lot of personal and professional development to work through, Ilika included.

I was sad that we don't get to see the previous characters anymore, I thought, all the time, we'd get a glimpse of Buna, Toli, Neti and Misa, but I guess the author is leaving it for young writers and readers to write their own short stories, like the ones published along with the series books.

You can find Nebador Book Four: Flight Training on several shops in several different editions, see them here. 

Also, you can read my previous reviews of the series here: Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3.

Review: Nebador - Book 3 - The Selection - J. Z. Colby

First of all, please do not forget my Blogoversary and Followers giveaway (click on the button to the left)
Remember, it's only until tomorrow (October first)!

Hello there, I'm back!

I don't usually post more than one review a week or so, unless I have several reviews late, but this time I waited until I had finished these two books to write their reviews.

I'm talking about The Selection, book 3 on the Nebador Series, which started with The Test, continued with The Journey and reaches a major plot point on The Selection.
The Selection picks up from where The Journey ended. I hope you have read The Test and The Journey or I might just spoil it for you. (So, SPOILER ALERT for The Journey!)

After the Mati scare, I grew fond of both Mati and Kibi. However Neti started to be unbearable. While during The Journey she showed she wasn‘t really interested on being a crew member, she also showed she was going to apply herself and try to get the most out of the studies and earn the 3 gold pieces. On The Selection, she starts whining because they are lost, running out of food or just about anything. She had her reasons, but she was annoying. More than annoying... I was deeply frustrated, she was being given knowledge way beyond people on that world and yet, she chose to just, basically, tag along.

Also, on this book, we lose several characters. Some at the selection: they go their way and we don‘t follow their stories, but one before that. It‘s a very sad and story-changing point, but since I wasn‘t very attached to him, so I didn‘t really feel it.

So there are two major plot turners, one is the loss of that character, which changes some of the team, but not really everyone, and The Selection, which shows the best in all of them.

I think the best "pre-selection" part (because the selection itself only happens around half the bok) is the monastery. Even if some of them are a bit reluctant to meditate and even accept the required silence, eventually they are all in awe with the ritual, the wonders they see while there, the beautiful place and how diferent and benevolent these religious people are, compared to the regular people of their world and, specially, to the religious orders they‘ve known before.

After a while, you can‘t help it, it‘s the selection. All of my hunches were right, specially after two things that happened and made it all very obvious.

And then, finally, we get to meet Ilika‘s ship: Manessa.

Of course, as we knew, Manessa is actually no ordinary ship, it's (or she's) a spaceship.

The ship is wonderful and all very sci-fi but without losing touch of things us mortals need (rooms, bathroom, kitchen), which pleased me. Kibi and Ilika get to share a room - and there we see a few lessons for young adults, which is cool, but everyone else separates (boys to one room and girls to another) I guess because Ilika and Kibi are "grown ups" - they're both much older than the other crew members, from what I remember, since Kibi is 17 or 18 and Ilika is on his early 20's.

I loved watching them learning to be good to the world - and when they could or couldn't help, as humans. I loved watching them lean to deal with the ship - that was pretty cool - and how to deal with societies and what they could or couldn't do as crew members.

And then I felt the book was just too short. It wasn't, really, short. I just wanted to read more, I wanted to follow them and see more of them. I'm dying to hear and see them interacting with other people, with people much more educated and from other worlds, specially if you consider Ilika isn't the most educated from where he comes from and he is the most educated where they are... I hope everything gets well explored, way beyond their boundaries - and Ilika's as well. I want to see their relationships develop - or not - as well.

I'm very curious to see the rest of the series - I heard there will be over 10 books, and I believe it, there is so much to tell, so much to explore! The universe and beyond!

Go see for yourself. You can buy Nebador Book Three at Amazon (paperback or Kindle) and several other places.

Review: Nebador - The Journey - J. Z. Colby

First of all, please do not forget my Blogoversary and Followers giveaway (click on the button to the left)
Remember it runs only until next saturday!

Hello everyone!

I just recently finished the second and third books on the Nebador series, called "The Journey" and "The Selection", but I am here today to talk about "The Journey".

After your read Nebador Book One: The Test, you are left with a sense that it may be grand, but you're not quite sure. You like it and you think it's very informative and interesting - but's not quite loveable. You have several characters: one ship’s captain, one innkeeper's daughter, nine ex-slaves and several secondary characters like Doti, the healer, Pica the painter, the baker, Sata’s parents and so on. It’s even quite hard to remember who are the boys and the girls, since their names are so alike.

Everything changes on The Journey. Suddenly, we understand them. We follow them around their country, their realm, and see them interacting with the several experiences in life – from different people to different ideas, from customs to dangers, from trusting people unconditionally to weighing your options.

We follow along their lessons of math, English, logic, trigonometry, geometry and, well, things that I honestly barely remembered from high school. But that’s not the most important part, and I’m sure Ilika thought that way as well, the most important part was to see how they interact with the world. Or else he would have just taken them somewhere and stayed there until they were all done.

Around half the book, we can be pretty sure who we are leaving behind and who’s going to the ship. We have one innkeeper’s daughter and 8 former slaves, all wanting to get into Ilika’s ship, which we are sure isn’t like a normal ship and, well, most likely not even from this world. And yet, there’s place for only 5 crew members, so 4 of them must go.

I had only one or two doubts on who was going, after a while, but near the end J. Z. Colby almost had me confused: he almost made me lose one of my favorite characters and one I was sure to get in the ship…

You may relate more to one or another character, but their strengths and weaknesses aren’t much obvious, they are subtle. You can see who’s strong in math and who’s strong in English, you can also notice who’s a strong leader (like Boro and Kibi) and who’s made for more following than leading, who’s made for more dreaming than doing, who’s more emotional, who’s cool and rational.

Until the end of the book, I finally could tell who was a boy and who was a girl (with one very small exception – I couldn’t tell who Rini was until around half of “The Selection”), I could tell where couples were forming and where they were set apart. I could tell who’s making in the ship and who wasn’t (at least have a very strong guess) and I could sense their differences. They weren’t just young teens, they weren’t ex-slaves or innkeeper’s daughters anymore, they were people of the world. They were people of the universe, even, as they knew much more than most people on their world knew.

Also we are introduced to a new character, Misa. She's a young girl, younger than the ex-slaves and innkeeper's daughter, Misa is a survivor on a major tragedy the team walks through, they save her and since she has no family, she stays with them until the very end - the separation. She's the only one not being considered to Ilika's staff, but she's also picking up some of the lessons and all, so she's getting something out of everything.

Ilika, too, was changed by them, as he should be. Kibi, more than the others, I suppose, which strikes me as slightly unfair – she had a certain spot on the ship. The fact that her abilities could also be used (leadership and people skills) were secondary to Ilika’s affection to her, so there were 4 spots left for everyone else. But ok. I can deal with that. Ilika was also changed by the situations. One of the harder ones being Lumber Town, I believe, and the cave during high tide, where they were under tremendous stress. He could deal with it, but he also had to direct them and that was harder than just dealing with the situation.

I thought the book was great, it was exciting and everything could happen – because they were free. They were off to an exciting and dangerous world and they were friends. Even if they had their diferences, if they had any issues, they'd work it out or work around them. Some of them weren't fit for ship crew, but that doesn't mean they aren't spectacular human beings.

I just now, looking for links and images for this post, found the "Deep Learning Notes". I love them. They make me think but don't give answers and they would've been very interesting to read while I read the book (at each chapter, for example). If you are interested in learning (and, if you liked the Nebador Series I am sure you do), I strongly advise you to use them.

After I finished it, I was supposed to read another book, but I rationalized (somehow) that I had to read The Selection. And I advise you all to do the same - buy all 3 books together (or the "Nebador Trilogy" version), or, better yet, make it 4, since book 4 is out too and read them all. It is all worth it. I want to read it all over again now... But maybe some other time, after I work out part of my TBR pile.

Also, on a side note, I feel much more attached to this book now that I wrote the review. Thinking about the book and researching to tell you about it, made me think about the subtle details on the plot and read the Depp Learning Notes and the short stories on the series' website. It's another thing that makes me glad about having a blog - you end up loving your loved books even more.

You can buy Nebador: The Journey at several places, including Amazon (paperback and Kindle versions), you can find a list of all sellers here.