Sholan Alliance

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Sholan Alliance is a Science fiction/romance series written by British-born author Lisanne Norman.

Humanity has finally colonized a planet around a distant star. They soon discover that they are Not Alone in the universe. Then, It Got Worse. Things get a little complicated from there when the Sholans, a race of intelligent, mostly bipedal felines with advanced technology show up on a rescue mission.

The series currently[when?] consists of eight novels:

  • Turning Point
  • Fortune's Wheel
  • Fire Margins
  • Razor's Edge
  • Dark Nadir
  • Stronghold Rising
  • Between Darkness and Light
  • Shades Of Gray

...With a ninth book currently in the works, to be titled Avatar.

Tropes used in Sholan Alliance include:


  • Abusing the Kardashev Scale For Fun and Profit: Sholans (really, the Alliance as a whole) probably rank as a high Type I. The Valtegans are around the same level.
    • The Camarilla is at least a mid-level Class II; they have the capability of not only opening instantaneous-travel portals through space, but time as well. While they do bemoan the energy expenditure required for this, they are further stated to be capable of using this technology to transport their planet to another suitable star system, albeit by forcing its current sun to go supernova and harnessing the energy it produces in the process to fuel the transport.
  • Action Mom: Carrie FTW.
  • Aerith and Bob: Where to start when you have over half a dozen species with featured parts in the later books.
    • For a pair of aliens, Kusac and Vanna have very Bob names. While Garras and T'Chebbi are more Aerith.
    • Ross Derwent seems like a very Aerith name for a human.
    • Then we have the Valtegans, the Cabarrans and the Telaxaudin, whose names are very Aerith, which is to be expected.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Played straight with the Prime A I, Zshadi.
  • Aliens Are Bastards: Played straight with the Valtegans and Chemerians.
    • They even torture the main character's twin sister.
    • Averted with most of the other species.
  • Alien Invasion: Happens about a decade before the opening of the first book.
  • Alien Sky: Shola has two moons. One of them has a very large, recent crater.
  • Aliens Made Them Do It: Case in point, Kusac and Zayshul being manipulated by The Chessmasters. Eventually this becomes more a case of Kissing Under the Influence since neither Kusac or Zayshul seems to be complaining about it anymore.
  • Aliens Speaking English: Justified for some Sholans, as they've been taught English by way of a Telepathic transfer.
    • Played straight with the vast majority of the dialog simply by applying the Translation Convention.
    • Oddly enough, it is mentioned at one point that the main female character is conversing with a fellow human in English after many months of only speaking Sholan.
  • Almighty Janitor: Sort of: K'hedduk starts off as a lowly steward then murders his way to the Imperial Throne.
  • Apocalypse How: The M'Zullians visit a Class 5 variant on 2 planets before the first book opens. Once more near the end of the sixth.
    • Due to an accidental Colony Drop, an overweight Class 1 / underachieving Class 2 version happens to Shola over 1500 years ago.
      • Sholans call it The Cataclysm.
      • Ancient Valtegan dreadnoughts must have been HUGE to gouge a big enough chunk out of one of Shola's moons to cause the kind of damage attributed to The Cataclysm.
  • Arranged Marriage: Kusac hates Rala. Carrie gets rid of her. Permanently.
    • Another arranged marriage becomes an important plot point in the fifth book.
  • Author Avatar: Carrie basically IS Ms. Norman in her younger days.
  • Anti-Hero / Anti-Villain: It's been brought up recently in the fan club discussion that General Kezule is all over this.
  • Anyone Can Die: Almost. But several major characters Have joined their ancestors.
  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Vartra gets this.
    • Even if he was a mere mortal during Fire Margins.
      • That's sort of the point, though.
    • You have to wonder if Kusac is headed this way, or heck, his entire Triad.
  • Ax Crazy: The M'Zullians get this way when they sense that they are in the presence of Sholans.
    • They make suicide attacks or even go catatonic when they find this happening
  • Badass Long Robe: Mainly Kaid, but can apply to any of the Brothers or Sisters.
  • Berserk Button: Do NOT attempt to harm Carrie. You will NOT survive the wrath of Kusac.
  • BFS: during Razor's Edge, Carrie and Kusac get a matched pair for their mission to Jalna.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: Both averted and played straight. There's a reason for the aversion... Carrie and Kusac have children.
    • Played straight with some of the Valtegans, as they have some strange stuff going on.
  • Blood Brothers: Any set of Sword-brothers falls into this trope. Sometimes they are more like Heterosexual Life Partners and sometimes they are actual lovers. This can sometimes result in Did They or Didn't They?.
    • Kusac and Kaid.
    • Banner and Jurrell.
  • Break the Cutie: The Valtegans do this to everyone they get anywhere near.
    • Carrie gets this,
    • Even Vanna gets a little of this.
  • But I Can't Be Pregnant: Pretty much every mixed Leska pair and/or gene-altered telepath or Brother/Sister experiences this at least once.
    • Inverted for Mara for... unusual reasons.
  • Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: On Keiss, Kusac brings down a long legged animal that Guynor calls a rhakla. Carrie calls it a deer. As a native of a distant colony planet, it is neither.
    • Jeggets also are frequently described as being like ferrets with bushy tails.
  • Carnivore Confusion: Sholans are feline omnivores with a preference for meat.
    • Averted with the M'Zullians. they seem to prefer their meat freshly killed.
    • The Telaxaudin eat insects, which is funny because they themselves are described as being sort of like insects.
  • Casual Interstellar Travel: Lots of trips that cover many light-years in a matter of days or weeks.
  • Catgirl: Sholan females are a strong, fully-furred, well-armed version of this. The males are, well, a male version.
  • Celibate Hero: Kaid repeatedly turns down female advances thanks to a problem with a past bedroom scene gone horribly wrong which he does not want to repeat. He does his best to avoid the woman he loves, even after he's had her once, because he does not want this to happen with her, and because he thinks having a relationship will make him weak.
  • Charm Person: This series is loaded with these due to the main characters being mostly strong telepaths.
    • In the second and third books, Ghezu is Made of this trope.
    • Later on, so is Derwent.
  • The Chessmaster: The Camarilla has, for many centuries, been a manipulative collective version of this, resulting in an Ancient Conspiracy.
    • They had considered adding the Touibans to their assembly at one point.
  • Cool Starship: The Khalossa exemplifies this nicely. Ambassadorial suites, stores, lounges. It's all good.
    • The wilderness area buried deep inside this HUGE military ship just makes this ship even more desirable.
    • After a routine overhaul and a few upgrades, the Couana also seems to qualify.
  • Cover Drop: Each and every book's cover is at least based on a scene from that book. Not all are exact, but the scenes they're based on are all easily identifiable.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Kaid, full stop.
    • T'Chebbi, Rezac, and Zashou as well, but none to the same extent as Kaid.
  • Deal with the Devil: Only in this series, it's called making a pact with the Liege of Hell.
  • Designer Babies: The Valtegans steal samples from our captive heroes and use them to create Human/Sholan hybrid cubs, which they then place in growth tanks to quickly age them to about 10 years old.
  • Did They or Didn't They?: Readers have to frequently speculate as to whether or not a couple of characters have had sex or not. The author cleverly keeps mum about it, leaving it up to the readers to decide for themselves.
    • One big example is Kaid and Kusac.
  • Does Not Like Shoes: Sholans in general. They're digitgrade felines with 4 sets of retractable claws.
  • Doorstopper: The first book came in at under 300 pages. From the second book on, they average over 650 pages.
  • Double Entendre: There are some instances of this in the series, although not so many you feel overwhelmed by it.
  • Duel to the Death: Sholans still practice this. Bare handed yet. Remember: 200+ pound felines.
    • Several duels are fought during the series. Most end in the death of the challenger, one way or another.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: The heroes in this series go through A LOT. Once in a while the author throws them a bone, only to snatch it away again. Hopefully by the end, they'll hit the Karmic Jackpot.
  • Enemy Civil War: Turns out the Valtegans were really in the middle of one.
  • The Empath: Lots of them. The telepaths don't count here.
  • The Empire: The above-mentioned war turns out to be two of four Valtegan home planets. The other two are much less warlike.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: Some Sholans believe this will happen with the introduction of the Humans to their society, but a much more drastic version of this trope is hovering over the heads of just about everyone while The Chessmasters play their games.
    • It already happened for real to 2 Sholan colony worlds just before the opening of the first book.
  • Express Delivery: Human gestational period of 9 months is overruled by the Sholan gestational period of about 6 months. In addition to this, Kashini is born early due to the effects of her parents experiencing time travel.
    • A couple of babies are born prematurely due to unforeseen and/or natural circumstances.
    • The Human/Sholan hybrids that resulted from stolen DNA are created in test tubes and have their growth accelerated in tanks to approximately 10 years of age in a few weeks time.
  • Fantastic Racism: The author gives little page time to this, but...
    • Most Valtegans display this by the trainload.
    • Guynor goes this direction in the first book.
    • Brother Dzaou starts off in this direction within minutes of coming out of cryo during the sixth book.
  • Flat Character: With the Loads and Loads of Characters in this series, there are a few who don't get much page time. Character development absolutely requires that lots of page time be devoted to a given character.
    • As such, the above mentioned General Kezule is the polar opposite of flat.
  • Frothy Mugs of Water: Thanks to Bizarre Alien Biology the Sholans find coffee affects them like alcohol. The stronger it is, the more drunk it makes them. This leads to a sort of I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin! effect, as you tend to read the word coffee for so long, with so many characters drinking it casually, you almost forget it's alcoholic for them.
    • Chocolate has even more Interesting effects on Sholans.
      • Yet Kusac still offers some to his son at one point in the eighth book.
  • God's Hands Are Tied: Played with with Vartra in the seventh book. The Camarilla are mortals, but they still tie Vartra's hands.
  • Goo-Goo Godlike: Kashini is born with her telepathic abilities fully awakened after her mother time travels while pregnant.
    • The Directorate's 8 Human/Sholan hybrids are brought out of growth tanks at approximately the age of 10 with their telepathic abilities fully awake and trained thanks to sleep tape training.
  • Have You Tried Not Being a Monster?: The Humans living on Keiss don't believe in telepathy, and therefore think Carrie is a freak. This results in people close to her trying to either convince her to act more normal, or act like she can't read minds at all.
  • Head-Tiltingly Kinky: While there are SOME details included in the more intimate scenes, the author has kept them somewhat vague, leaving the nitty gritty details up to the imagination of the reader. Enjoy!
  • Heel Face Turn: Kezule, sort of.
    • Nearly the entire fan base still seems to dislike him, although many grudgingly admit he's more of a Noble Demon than a complete meanie. He could also be evolving toward being a Noble Bigot, which is slightly less evil than the Noble Demon in that he is trying to do good (whereas the Noble Demon does good in spite of himself), but he's still a nasty individual.
  • Higher-Tech Species: The Sholans and their Alliance partners pull this off perfectly.
  • Human Aliens: The Jalnans look almost exactly like Earth-born Humans.
    • Due to her Sholan eyes, Carrie is able to pass herself off as a Solnian, as opposed to being mistaken for another Jalnan.
  • Humans Are Special: Things really start cookin' in the Alliance when the Sholans discover them on Keiss. Watch out, universe!
    • Humans are not merely a Loose Cannon, but an entire Loose Artillery Battalion variable in the Camarilla's schemes and calculations.
  • Humans Are Psychic in the Future: Human telepaths weren't recognized until the Terrans met the Sholans, a certain percentage of which have psi abilities.
  • Humongous Mecha: In the eighth book, the Sholan military has recently introduced a mecha called the MUTAC. (Think multi-ton quadruped-x-biped powered armor. Design is based on the feline Sholan.) It even appears on the cover of the eighth book.
  • I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: Both strong coffee and, apparently, small amounts of ordinary chocolate will do strange things to Sholans.
  • Idiot Ball: Who's idea was it to make torturer priest J'koshuk the interface between the Primes and the crew and passengers of the Rryuk's Profit?
  • IKEA Erotica: Averted. The handful of sex scenes in each book (starting with the second one; there were none in the first) are either rather well-written and convey a good impression of the characters' emotions; or the act itself is skipped (the literary version of a Sexy Discretion Shot), focusing instead on the build-up and aftermath.
  • Interspecies Romance: Kusac and Carrie Aldatan, among others.
  • Intoxication Ensues: Due to a little bit of Bizarre Alien Biology, Sholans get this with too much coffee or chocolate.
  • "It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It": It seems to be the opinion in the book that Kusac was raped when the scent marker was placed on him. He seemed willing, though.
  • Jedi Mind Trick: Pulled off with style by Carrie and Kusac in Turning Point.
    • Most of the rest of the main characters can pull this off convincingly for the same reason.
      • Maybe because most of them are high-level telepaths?
  • Jerkass: Several characters come to mind. Some worse than others, some intermittently, some accidentally.
    • Best example: Hkairass. Double points for this Telaxaudin. (See Meaningful Name below)
  • Karmic Death: Several of them.
    • Fire Margins gives us:
      • Fyak at the hands of his angry victims. (Nightmare Fuel if you think about it 200+ pound felines.)
      • Ghezu gets his by his own request for personal combat with Kaid. (See Badass Long Robe example above.)
    • Razor's Edge gives us Bradogan getting mowed down by one of his victims. (See Fyak above)
    • Dark Nadir gives us J'Koshuk on the receiving end of an Energy Ball from an Extremely angry Kusac.
    • Shades Of Gray gives us two and almost gives us a third.
  • Kick the Dog: The Valtegans do this on page 1.
    • Ghezu and Kezule get their moments, too.
  • Lady of War: Word of God says that Carrie fits in here.
  • La Résistance: The human colonists are trying to get rid of tech-superior and more numerous Alien Invaders. They eventually get the help they need.
    • There's even one on the primitive planet of Jalna. Some local lords trying to improve the fairness of the trade balance.
  • Law of Inverse Fertility: Most of our heroes can't be bothered with the trouble of being pregnant and/or raising cubs at the moment, usually due to some professional demands on their time. Thanks to But I Can't Be Pregnant, this happens at a couple of inopportune times. Conversely, characters who DO want to reproduce together seem to occasionally run into snags such as being from different genetically incompatible species.
  • Little Miss Badass: Do not underestimate the women in these books, they have some serious Waif Fu!
    • Best example: T'Chebbi.
    • Even Carrie gets her moments.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: Numerous new characters get introduced with each new book.
  • Loads and Loads of Races: Over a dozen listed on a star map in one book.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Hooo boy.... Played with and pretty much Zig-Zagged. Mostly inverted.
    • Inverted with Kaid and Dzaka.
      • Kaid does everything he can to avoid letting Dzaka know that he is Kaid's son. (There's a VERY good reason.)
    • Flipped to a Luke, You Are My Father with Rezac and Kaid.
      • Due to a stasis cube and more than 1500 years worth of time travel issues, Rezac is the 25 year-old father of 50 year-old Kaid. His grandson, Dzaka is 35 or so.
      • Kaid decides that Rezac should be listed as his younger brother.
    • Don't even get me started with Josh and Mara's cub.
  • Magic-Powered Pseudoscience: Turns out that Vartra was using his own telepathic abilities (unwittingly) to mutate DNA, which was why only his experiments resulted in more powerful telepaths.
  • Make Wrong What Once Went Right: This is Kezule's original goal after being brought to the future. He is a Magnificent Bastard in trying to get back to his own time to accomplish it.
  • Mama Bear: Threaten Carrie's loved ones and this is what you get.
  • Mate or Die: Leska pairs literally live and die by this one.
  • Meaningful Name: The Telaxaudin, Hkairass. (See Jerkass above)
  • Mindlink Mates: Carrie and Kusac, Leska pairs in general.
  • Mind Over Manners: While Sholan telepaths have a strict code of ethics they follow when using their Talent, the Humans they hook up with tend to be a bad influence, often breaking the rules and eventually influencing their Leskas to do the same.
  • Misfit Mobilization Moment: We almost get one in the first book. But we DEFINITELY get one in the fifth book.
  • Mistaken for Pregnant: In the early days, Sholans unfamiliar with Human female anatomy would mistake them for pregnant due to the fact that Human women have breasts all the time, whereas Sholan females only have them when pregnant or breastfeeding.
  • Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Who appointed Chy'qui to be the head of medical research anyway?
  • Mutant Draft Board: The Telepath Guild is a mild, friendly version of this.
    • Seems to be getting played straight on Earth eventually.
  • Mutilation Interrogation by way of Fingore: In Fire Margins.
  • Names to Run Away From: Hkairass, Kezule, J'koshuk, K'hedduk, M'ezozakk, there's more.
    • The Valtegans must really love their 'K' names.
  • Natural Weapon: Sholans are all about this. Claws, teeth, powerful muscles and real speed.
    • With their heavier gravity background, the Valtegans get some of this.
    • The Sumaan get theirs too. Especially gangly, clumsy young Ashay.
  • No Periods, Period: Most Sholan females are able to voluntarily control their fertility. Plus or minus male 'Persuasion'.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: Played straight with this series.
    • Kusac pulls this off in the first book.
    • It is eventually revealed that a group of telepaths have pulled this off against an entire empire over 1500 years ago.
    • In the seventh book we have K'hedduk becoming emperor after playing the part of a kitchen steward.
  • Oh My Gods: Shola has an extensive pantheon. Different versions can be found throughout the series.
    • Due to Vartra being directly linked to the Telepaths, 'Vartra's Bones!' is said frequently.
  • Old Master: Noni is definitely the Old Master of this series, but it looks like she may have some competition for that title in Conner.
  • One-Hit Kill: Kusac does this in Dark Nadir, cooking someone from the inside out ... with his mind.
  • Only One Name: Lots of one-name characters. Most notably the Valtegans and Primes, the Telaxaudin, and the Cabbarans.
    • Some Sholans get this as well. Some Sholans start out with one name and acquire a second name in later chapters/books.
  • Papa Wolf: Threaten Kusac or Kaid's loved ones, and this is what you get.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: Kusac has the potential for this if three things come together and add up:
    • 1; He realizes the full extent of his abilities,
    • 2; He gets angry about how the Camarilla has been manipulating him.
    • 3; He finds out where they are located. By the end of Shades of Gray, 1 and 2 have pretty much fallen into place.
  • Planet Looters: After applying their Ultimate Weapon to J'kirtik, The M'Zullians proceed to loot their long-time rivals' planet for any remaining goodies.
  • Power Levels: In the second book, Kusac claims to be a grade 5. He is later forced to admit to being a much more powerful grade 1.
    • With his "repairs", Kusac is still a grade 1, but this troper feels that the existing scale may need to be adjusted or revised in order to accommodate his abilities vs those of everybody else.
    • Kusac is like ... Up to Eleven or Took a Level in Badass.
  • The Power of Blood: It seems like a lot of important Sholan rituals are sealed in blood via small cuts on the hand. Some examples include ...
    • Bonding Contracts.
    • Sword-Brother Oaths.
  • Pregnant Badass: Carrie. Full stop.
    • Let's review; fights and wins a Duel to the Death, (Loses the baby due to injuries sustained in the fight) Goes off time travelling, Escapes from captivity on an alien starship...
  • Prehensile Tail: Sholans get a weak version. They can wrap it around a leg or wrist, but not do anything truly useful with it.
  • Psychic Powers: Telepaths make up most of the major cast.
    • Kusac develops more than merely telepathic abilities after his repairs.
  • Psychic Radar: Several different characters have used this for scouting purposes.
  • The Reptilians: The Valtegans, the Sumaan.
  • Rip Van Winkle: Rezac and Zashou get over 1500 years of this thanks to a strange sort of stasis box.
  • Sequel Hook: The first book ended fairly neatly. All subsequent books have arrived with Cliff Hanger endings.
    • The eighth book, Shades of Gray, does end fairly neatly. Buth there is still some hook.
  • Subspace Ansible: The Sholan Alliance has found one and put it to very good use.
  • Sufficiently Advanced Alien: The Cabbarans and the Telaxaudin seem to pull this off.
  • Survival Mantra: The Brotherhood of Vartra's Litanies, which are designed to help one overcome various mental/emotional hurdles.
    • In no particular order, they are the Litanies for Pain, Relaxation, Fear (inspired by the one from Dune), Clear Thought, and Preparation. They're never actually spelled out within the narrative, and in fact weren't more than named/mentioned until the seventh book in the series, where they were included on otherwise blank pages between chapters, spaced throughout the book.
      • Side-note: they were actually written by members of the books' fan club.
  • Technopath: Thanks to having been Touched by Vorlons, Kusac develops this.
  • Time Travel: To an almost ludicrously headache-inducing level. Luckily, it's all a Stable Time Loop over 1500 years across, and not a Timey-Wimey Ball... At first.
  • Time Travel Tense Trouble: "I have a daughter alive in the past!" Unfortunately, someone rather brutally points out that, since she's in the very distant past, she's also been dead for millennia, and there's nothing he can do.
  • Title Drop: Usually word-for-word, but occasionally merely almost exact. Some even Title Drop the titles of other books in the series, usually that of the following book...which probably counts as some degree of Foreshadowing.
  • Triang Relations: Not to be confused with the Love Triangle, wherein someone usually has to go, this series has many Triang Relations which can sometimes lead to Triads when Leskas are involved. Sholans play it loose with fidelity, but they don't have all of the lies and deceit a lot of adulterous Humans have, so they seem to be cool with their partners taking lovers and so forth. Carrie having two husbands (Kusac and Kaid) at the same time, who may or may not also be sleeping with each other as Sword-Brothers, is a fine example of this trope. Don't forget to mix in Kaid's recognized Companion, T'Chebbi, who also sometimes sleeps with Kusac when Carrie and Kaid are getting busy. It can also be speculated Carrie and T'Chebbi have been intimate, although the degree of intimacy is never specified. Ah, love. I suppose you could classify it more as a Love Dodecahedron, but that seems to have just as negative a connotation as the Love Triangle, and once again, in this series all involved are totally cool with the sleeping arrangements ... 99.9% of the time.
    • You could also throw in a little OT3 or Power Trio trope-dom here.
  • Too Dumb to Live: The Valtegan Empire (In Name Only) suffers from a coup; the new leader wishes to return his species to power and subjugate all the other "slave races". Unfortunately, those same slave races had just signed treaties with his predecessor (who's legitimate heir is off-world), and they're not happy.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Telepaths can't fight. So why, during the First book, does Kusac challenge someone?
    • Apparently, his Link with Carrie gave him a boost and some incentive.
  • Touched by Vorlons: Kusac gets some of this in Stronghold Rising and it finally surfaces in Between Darkness and Light.
    • Vartra himself seems to have gotten a little of this. or maybe it's because he IS a God.
  • Training from Hell: Kaid is an expert at this, and applies it to friends (Kusac) and enemies (under duress) quite expertly.
  • Transformation Sequence: Happens to Kusac more than once in Shades of Gray.
  • Twin Telepathy: Carrie and her twin Elise are twins linked to the point of Synchronization, with Carrie experiencing all pain and illness of either of them.
    • It is theorized that Elise's death caused Carrie and Kusac to become Leska Linked to begin with.
  • Tyke Bomb: Shaidan has the potential for this as he is close to his father's psi talent power level.
    • Due to being born with her psi talents fully active, Kashini might count as this as well.
  • Uncoffee: C'shar. Carrie compares it to tea in the first book. It doesn't seem to measure up.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Happens to a number of characters throughout the series.
    • The Sholans call this state Kzu-Shu, the red mist.
  • Victorious Childhood Friend: T'Chebbi held a flame for Kaid after he saved her from the Packs, but never felt comfortable staking any claim on him until a later time. He was not opposed to her advances and they are a legitimate item, even though he is part of a Triad.
  • Visionary Villain: To varying degrees ...
    • Kezule
    • Khedduk
    • The Camarilla
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Kusac plays the part of an ordinary forest feline in order to get medical attention for his crash-related injury.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Although all our main characters, especially Kaid, try to at some point or another.
  • Zig-Zagging Trope: Related to Luke, I Am Your Father above with Josh and Mara's cub. She's pregnant but won't reveal the father's identity.
  • We keep finding more...
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