If you don't like the typical Cherryh long internal monologues and political intrigue, then this isn't the book for you. If you haven't read (and liked) Cyteen [b:834518] then this likely isn't the book for you either. On the other hand, if that sounds like you, you pretty much have to get this one and read it right away. You'll love it! ( )

Cyteen felt like half a book, but this doesn't really finish the story, plus it has some problems.

First, someone needs to explain to Cherryh that the excerpts from history books and the long monologues are really, really boring. Same for political meetings.

You can skip the worst of this by starting the book on page 97. You won't miss a thing, because everything gets rehashed after that point. If you really love the politics, start on page 79, so you can be present at an interminable dinner between Ari and Yanni where they spend 18 pages summarizing the events of the previous 79 pages. Really. But again, that stuff is re-rehashed later.

There is also an instance of a Cherryh bad plotting habit, where we invest in figuring something out with a character, then the solution comes in from left field, unrelated to all the clues we've been following. That ruined Heavy Time for me, but here it is just clumsy. Why spend all that time chasing clues then throw it away? It squanders the reader's investment in the story.

Oh, and skip the mini-chapters about the embryos. They have nothing to do with the main story.

I agree with another reviewer that this is a 300 page story trapped in a 600 page book. And that 300 pages doesn't really move the story of Ari very far. About the only satisfying thing is that she finally lights the fuse of the action somewhere after mid-book, and it moves along quickly for a while. But overall, reading this book was a chore. ( )

I've been a life-long fan of Cherryh, first for the original Cyteen, then Downbelow Station, and then, a few novels later, Foreigner, which set me on a path where I squeed every time a new one came out.

So returning to the Union-Alliance universe and specifically with the characters from the original Cyteen now seemed like a perfect treat! What's not to like about waking up to learn you're a clone of a brilliant scientist who has left you tons of brain-engrams and a political squabble and the fact that she has been murdered? I mean, it's times like that a kid just HAS TO SCRAMBLE to catch up! I loved it.

This is her as an 18-year-old and the pieces of that old murder needed to be picked up. And solidifying the political arena, since this scientific corporation that basically runs the whole world of Cyteen seems to have a LOT of different views on how it ought to be run. And this is where we pick up. A lot of politics. A lot of everyday life getting her head together. Interpersonal quagmires. And a coup.

The basic story is pretty decent and I know from experience that Cherryh is pretty AMAZING at intricate politics on alien worlds or futuristic colonies. The latter part of this novel feels like part courtroom drama and part insurgency.

But damn. I was kinda overwhelmed, or maybe I should say, underwhelmed. There was too much that wasn't interesting and I lost interest. Many times. So much of this book could have had a very heavy haircut. The resulting story would have been exciting and fun as hell.

It's okay tho. It's not my favorite Cherryh novel, but I should mention that after reading over 25 of them, it's kinda like having a lukewarm meal at your favorite restaurant. You're disappointed, but not enough to still rave about the restaurant to your friends. :) ( )

I was not a Cyteen fan, although I reread it prior to reading this sequel. I have been thinking about our psych-sets since finishing it. There's the old religous saying "grace works on nature" and perhaps she's exploring this theme here, or at least what healing means. Pages 339-340, for example, brings up the question of how literature effects psych sets. ( )

I loved Cyteen and really wanted to love this sequel, but for me it was a tortuous read, with endless analysis and almost nothing happening for most of the book. Perhaps it was over my head. It's tough to say whether Cherryh let me down or I let her down - but either way, it didn't work for me. ( )