Cyteen

Cyteen, Books 1-3

By: C. J. Cherryh

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman, Jonathan Davis

Length: 36 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

The saga of two young friends trapped in an endless nightmare of suspicion and surveillance, of cyber-programmed servants and a ruling class with century-long lives - and the enigmatic woman who dominates them all. Narrators Jonathan Davis and Gabra Zackman skillfully split up this sweeping sci-fi epic that is "at once a psychological novel, a murder mystery, and an examination of power on a grand scale." (Locus)

©1988 C.J. Cherryh (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1989

“Strongly recommended…. A future as detailed as that of Herbert’s Dune, with dozens of complex characters…. all the paranoid tension of a spy thriller.” (Newsday)

“A massive, multifaceted novel that tackles a variety of ethical, social, and political issues…. Cherryh’s worldbuilding is ambitious and her main characterizations are well-individualized…. Ultimately fascinating in concept and detail. Decidedly a major work.” (Booklist)

Still intriguing after all these years

I first read Cyteen 25 years ago; nothing dates faster than imaginings of future technology (talk of fiche and faxes for example), but the core ideas behind Cyteen remain intriguing. The slower first part begins with an ageing Ariane Emory in charge of a sprawling business and scientific empire, the main product of which is gene-manipulated humans, the azi. From the moment azi are born from artificial wombs, they are trained and conditioned by carefully designed drug assisted ''tape' learning to be perfect workers, soldiers, or whatever. There's probably a bit much overview info on the political and scientific history and situation (the sort of stuff easily skim-read in a written novel), but there's also a murder mystery, a sinister security system, political terrorists and plenty of intrigue - all picking up pace as the story goes along.

The reading is excellent.

Great read

Very much enjoyed. I am not used to stories of this length and thought it would be hard to follow, it was the complete opposite I could not stop. Left me wanting more.

Absorbing, rich, complicated, compelling

I will confess it up front. I love this book.

Yes, it's long. It was originally published in three volumes in paperback, in the late 1980s. That made sense from a physical size point of view; it doesn't make sense in terms of the story. This is, like The Lord of the Rings, a long, single novel.

It is, as another review commented, a murder mystery in which the mystery is never solved, and features a conspiracy which is partially but never completely explained. We don't get all the answers.

That's part of what makes it the fascinating, complex book that it is.

Ariane Emory is over a century old, a scientist, head of Reseune, the primary cloning facility on Cyteen, the primary planet of the political entity Union, in Cherryh's Union-Alliance universe. Union and Alliance have a lot of reasons for their conflict, but one of them is the azi, Reseune's clones. Along with being genetically designed to have certain aptitudes and traits, they are also tape-trained from birth to both educate and condition them to their intended roles. They don't have a normal range of free will, though neither are they anything close to automata. There's also internal conflict, both inside Union, and inside Reseune. We see Ariane Emory, or Ari, as very intelligent, very capable, with what may be good goals, but very, very Machiavellian. She's involved in a contest of will that in part involves another clone designer, Jordan Warrick, his cloned son Justin (a clone, but not an azi; Justin is a citizen), and Justin's azi companion, Grant.

And then, quite suddenly, Ari is dead, and it appears to be murder, and of all the people who might have wanted her dead, Jordan Warrick is the one who was there.

The bulk of this novel is about Ari II, a clone of Ariane Emory, initially a deep, deep secret. She's not just a clone, like Justin. She's intended to be a true recreation of Ariane Emory, with all her abilities and ruthlessness.

It's not the plotters we identify with. It is, on the one hand, Justin and Grant, living under constant suspicion and surveillance, and on the other hand, Ari II, struggling to understand how she's being manipulated and why. As a young child, friends she has too much conflict with disappear, they and their families being transferred to distant locations like Fargone Station. Her Maman, Jane Stassen, gets transferred to Fargone without Ari, when she's barely preteen, for reasons that never make sense to her. Her uncles, Denis and Geraud Nye, major powers in Reseune, are her guardians--and Denis at least seems loving and kind, but even at this young age she knows there's more going on than she's being told.

It's not clear how much the Nyes and their allies understood how determined and devious young Ari would be in looking for the answers.

And along the way, Ari is introduced to the resources Ari I left behind for her, because Ari did plan this even if her death didn't happen as she anticipated, and we start to learn a great deal more about the original Ari, about Reseune, about Union, and about the Nyes.

Ari II also starts to acquire friends and allies of her own.

Everyone here is more complicated, layered, and conflicted than they appear at first glance.

It's long, complicated, intricate, absorbing. Highly recommended, though I reluctantly concede that no, it's not for everyone. But, really, highly recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

good narration, amazing story

loved it! sad that "regenesis" doesn't seem to be available in audio format here.

Too much detail, boring.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No

Would you recommend Cyteen to your friends? Why or why not?

No

What about Gabra Zackman and Jonathan Davis ???s performance did you like?

I have listened to Gabra Zackman before and enjoyed her work.

Was Cyteen worth the listening time?

No

Any additional comments?

I quit listening 2/3 of the way through the book. I kept waiting for the book to get good and it never did.

Still stands the test of time

I love all cj cherryh's work. This is one of my favorites. Read it in the 1980's and several times since then. Worth t by e credit.

A great work!

What made the experience of listening to Cyteen the most enjoyable?

Very rich charters, micro and macro details well merged to keep the story interesting. The booked on based on technology that is perhaps not too far off.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I like Dennis, a behind the seen guy very important in the book just like the real world but has little of glory, like in the real world.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too long to read this in one sitting but it is gripping enough that I stay up too late listening to it.

This is a Heavy Book (lovely too)

Every now and again you read a story at the right time in your life. Stuff was going on around me, and this story gave me perspective. It's wonderful when SciFi can help and inspire in the non-fiction world.

I am avoiding talking about the plot or the characters, because I don't want to give anything away.

The world building that takes place in this novel is astounding. It fully fleshes out a universe where sustainable economic systems work... sometimes you run into stories where planets only have one theme or purposes, like in Star Trek TNG - Risa the pleasure planet full of vacation resorts. This book actually makes sense.

I wouldn't have thought a story full of psychologists would be worth while, but Cherryh does an outstanding job.

This novel is definitely worth finishing.

Sci-Fi at its best!

I'm generally not a reader of sci-fi, but murder and intrigue set 3 thousand years in the future caught my attention. The detail of the story is extraordinary. What a marvelous imagination this author has! I want to hear more, but this is the only one of Ms. Cherryh's books currently available.

Just didn't seem to get to a point

What did you like best about Cyteen? What did you like least?

The idea of the story was good, but it just
didn't seem to fill out. Characters came and
went with no particular significance

Would you ever listen to anything by C. J. Cherryh again?

Maybe

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes

Was Cyteen worth the listening time?

No