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)

A story quilt woven with politics and science

Reads like a political mystery drama sprinkled with science.

Voice acting was great! I could listen to them read with no problem. I could visualize each character. Just by listening.

The storyline was good, but just a little too politically themed for me.

Great universe, okay story

The premise and universe building was excellent. The characters were, by the end, mostly well-developed (though some of the non-lead characters were a bit unimaginative). The storytelling and narration was outstanding. But the storyline dragged on, and towards the end became a convoluted mess that culminated in a heavy-handed reveal a la Scooby Doo. Would read again, but probably not to the end.

Amazing performance and book

This is the best performance of any audiobook I've ever read, and Cyteen is possibly CJ Cherryh's greatest work. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone.

One of the best sci-fi novels of one of the best sci-fi authors

C.J. Cherryh is a master world-builder. This is one of several books in her Alliance-Union (Company Wars) universe and possibly her best (40k is also in contention). It’s part sci-fi mind bender part mystery and part political thriller.

But what makes this novel an award-winner and an unforgettable read is how the story messes with your mind and makes you think about your own psychology.

Finally I’ll add that the audible performance is just remarkable. I only wish the sequel bill had been performed as well (yes there’s a sequel!)

A better book than I could appreciate

This book reminded me that some stories are too intricate for my enjoyment. Very political and in depth. Great story though. Author is a step above.

“The brain has to rule the flux”

C. J. Cherryh’s Cyteen (1988) is a big, impressive novel, an imaginative and exhaustive exploration of politics, identity, free will, responsibility, relationships, and nature vs. nurture in the 23rd century: genetics, womb-tanks, clones, education tapes, psychology, longevity augmentation, etc. Despite being a harsh planet hostile to humanity, Cyteen has been colonized and become the central planet in Union, which has been caught in a Cold War with Alliance for decades. Union has its factions: Expansionists, who want to keep colonizing worlds and using clones to augment the population, Centrists, who want to suspend colonization, and Abolitionists, unrepresented in the government and resorting to terrorism to stop the exploitation of clones. Then there are the factions within those factions, like those aligned with or hostile to Defense, which has its own factions, and so on. And there are some aliens lurking in the shadows (though they never appear in the novel).

The most important Administrative Territory in Union is Cyteen’s Reseune, which, thanks to its corner on genetics and psychology, wields great scientific, economic, and political power. Reseune is the sole producer of azis ("artificial zygote insemination" clone workers, soldiers, companions, and so on) and the sole producer of the computer tapes (programs?) that mold them into ultra-capable and obedient servants. The leader of Reseune and of the Expansionists is the 100+ year-old “special” (rare genius) Ariane “Ari” Emory. While thwarting or coopting the Centrists and working on her own genetics projects, Ari finds time to sexually harass Justin Warrick, the teenage clone “son” of colleague Jordan Warrick (another “special” specializing in education), until she is found dead, presumably murdered. The head of Reseune Security, Giraud Nye, forces Jordan to confess to the crime (despite his probably being innocent) by promising to protect his son Justin and his son’s azi companion and “brother” slash lover Grant, while implicitly threatening them if Jordan doesn’t cooperate.

The bulk of the novel depicts the twenty-year development of the traumatized Justin (prey to flashbacks of being drugged and raped by the original Ari) and Grant (aware that as an azi he belongs to Reseune and may be reprogrammed or “put down” against his will) and especially of Ari’s “PR” (parental replicate), an exact clone of Ari who will be raised as much like the original Ari as possible in order to end up with another Ari who will eventually continue leading Reseune as effectively as the first one did. One of the interesting things about the novel is the evolution of Ari’s feelings about being a PR as she matures.

In addition to all the cloning, there’s plenty of other future sf tech in the novel, like rejuv (by which people extend their life spans up to 140 years), terraforming (though it takes a long time), faster than light travel (though the entire novel takes place on Cyteen), and “tape” education. The computers seem primitive by today’s standards, with time using them limited to prioritized projects.

I could never quite grasp how the education by “tape” works, though it involves a combination of drugs and computers and includes “deep tape,” “skill tape,” and “entertainment tape.” While azis receive deep tape programming from the time they’re decanted newborn from the womb-tanks, CITs (citizens) don’t start receiving tape education until age six, having parents to educate and socialize them from birth.

Other differences between azis and CITs concern the clones’ superior speed and strength and appearance and their discomfort with ambiguity, gray areas, and “flux” (change from one state to another), while CITs are able to handle such things and even to thrive intellectually on them.

Cherryh’s writing is serviceable, and if it suffers from some repeated tics (e.g., characters do too much biting or gnawing or chewing of lips till they bleed), it does neat things with the future technology, as when people say things like, “Don’t go azi [robotically compliant] on me,” or “Animals do tape on [manipulate] each other,” and has some nifty lines, like “Politics may make strange bedfellows, but bedfellows make deadly politics.”

It's a very talky novel! Very little suspenseful violent action. Apart from a small number of scenes featuring an escape, a rescue, security training, and sex, the vast majority of the novel is conversations, transcripts, book excerpts, hearings, interviews, parties, medical procedures, interrogations, and so on. It is a different kind of science fiction from that of, say, Tchaikovsky, Reynolds, and Banks. Cherryh’s characters have a LOT of room to feel, think, talk, and live in her big novel (680 pages or 36.5+ hours), and although I came to really like new Ari, Justin, Grant, new Florian, new Catlin, and others, I do think it could have had wee less conversation.

The novel may be ahead of its time for positively depicting two homosexual relationships and hinting at a third. Readers worried about kids acting precociously may shudder at the alcohol, tranquilizers, porn, sex, and parties of new Ari and her teen friends (but my own teenage memories from the late 70s are about par for Cyteen’s course). There is a distressing rape scene—though Cherryh doesn’t write it for titillation and uses it as a core plot pivot with long-lasting ramifications.

The ending is abrupt, leaving plenty of outstanding questions a sequel could wrap up. Fans of mystery novels may be disappointed by the ambiguous resolution of the who-killed-Ari plot strand (though we can guess as to their identity!).

The audiobook readers, Gabra Zackman and Jonathan Davis, are fine. Zackman reads the main chapters of the novel, Davis the excerpts from books and interviews and diaries etc. that come between the chapters.

I enjoyed reading the novel! Cherryh interestingly explores independence and free will and emotions and stress and creativity and change for azis compared to CITs and what it’d be like for a CIT to love an azi and vice versa and what it’d feel like to be a PR. The way politics work and the ethics of exploiting clone servants are carefully thought out. The relationships between politics and technology/science and between personal and social politics are all convincing.

Finally, how much of our behavior and personality and “free will” is based on our biology and how much on our environment/education?

Read Cyteen years ago - fantastic listen

I read Cyteen and many of C.J. Cherryh's books some time ago but haven't read one in a while. Listening to the book was like reading it the first time. I am "re-marveling" at the author's deep character and psychological development. Her portrayal of power, paranoia and politics is so deep and occurs within a fully formed technological and spacefaring future society. Overall, the book was very enjoyable to listen to. In addition, I have to note major kudos to the narrator, Gabra Zackman. She is a fantastic actor and her use of different voices for the characters was so good that I stopped noticing that everyone had a voice in the female range. They truly became the characters in the "play" of Cyteen. I wish that Audible would provide a recording of the sequel to Cyteen, Regenesis, if it's available.

Great book

All around great book. Iv Listened to this book at least three times and will listen to it at least 3 more before I’ve had enough. This is my all time favorite book without a doubt. Amazing story and amazing writing :)

Political Drama Disguised as Science Fiction

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

Very animated performance, easy to follow which character was speaking.

Any additional comments?

I kept thinking to myself, just keep listening, any moment the political drama will subside and we will segue into more action, or at the very minimum, a different setting than meetings in board rooms. That may have happened at one point but not in the first couple of hours, and I couldn't take it anymore.

Solid Story

If you could sum up Cyteen in three words, what would they be?

Complex story with logical twists and turns.

What other book might you compare Cyteen to and why?

Courtship Rite - both create a world and follow trends and scienfic break throughs.

What does Gabra Zackman and Jonathan Davis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mr. Davis gives a solid reading. Ms. Zackman added some inflections that enriched the story.

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

The story was complex. I enjoyed taking breaks to mull over developments.

Any additional comments?

Ms. Cherryh has long been a favorite author. Having some of her books on audio adds to the joy of revisiting old friends.