Crystal Healer (Stardoc Series #9) Book

A bit better than the last book. But I just didn't enjoy Jarn. She's a pill. The different perspective on familiar characters and situations is interesting, but she's just to judgmental and sanctimonious to be likable. Although she and Reever are perfect for each other, she doesn't mind being pushed around and he's still a jerk. Cherijo was sometimes rash and immature, certainly prickly, but she was vibrant, funny, and interesting. It's unclear from the end what's really going to happen to these "2" women. I assumed an integration would turn then into one better person, but perhaps not. We'll see!

Finally some progress was made on the big, universe-wide story arc. After yet more captures and imprisonments. It appears that the black crystal has invaded every settled world in the galaxy except three; was it (annoying) luck or some kind of fate that hooked Cherijo up with the crystal-clear Jorenians? The author has fooled me before when I felt like something was too much coincidence but was later revealed as story-dictated and supported. I'm also now hoping that Cherijo's perfect health is responsible for her being one of the few Terrans in the galaxy who isn't a total bigot, despite being raised in the home world. Perhaps the black crystal is responsible for the mass hysteria. That would be a good twist.

The next book is indeed the final one in the series, so it looks like it's going to be a big rush to cram in the real story before the finish, after all of the leisurely detours and imprisonments. The pacing of this series has been very odd.