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)

The best!

To me, this remains the best science fiction story ever. I read it when it first came out and it’s just as gripping decades later. An amazing mix of believable futuristic science, great characters, scary politics, and an essentially alien if completely human culture. A thrilling adventure and something of a human tragedy. I was really sorry that Dennis lost it in the end but Cherryh never goes for sappy endings.

Great reading—Zackman captured the variety of voices and their emotional implications. Well done!

Bildungsroman, murder mystery, and a mediation on individuality

A complicated and interesting world, with hidden motives across years. Union from the inside, instead of just as opponent to the Merchanters Alliance.

Incredible book. We'll thought out and intriguing.

A psych major's dream. Improving, not just the psychology of a single person, but the psychology of the whole human race.

Eternal life wasted.

I didn't like this book. The analysis of an event takes 2 to 4 times the time of the event itself, the characters are all second guessing the words and actions of other people. When they have finished analyzing and second guessing, they talk some more about it.
This snake pit unsurprisingly produces characters that feel insecure or have other personality problems, which are discussed in length, of course.

It's kind of unfair: the characters have almost eternal life, so they can afford to waste their time this way.

The narration was excellent, but then this book had to be read.

Intense tension!

Where does Cyteen rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

3

What was one of the most memorable moments of Cyteen?

learning about tapes

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

As always.. when a person tells a story vs words on a page? more person-al

Any additional comments?

C.J. really pushes the psychological in this book. Every book she writes; she does this to a degree. In Cyteen, the thread woven in and through the relationships and through the story is pulled taut to the point of uncomfortable. I had many moments that I had to step away and catch my breath and slow my heart rate. uuummm both times I listened ...hehehe

Excellent writer, at last on Audible

Cherryh is a wonderful world-builder and this is one of her best. I've got a shelf full of her works - no, two shelves - and have re-read them often over the years. Admittedly, her intros are often long and may be sometimes dry, but always are important and set the story in its proper place. The readers do a great job. I will listen to this one again, and look forward to the sequel, Regenesis. Highly, highly recommended.

Dark

This starts out with the sexual abuse of a child. I almost stopped there but am glad I continued. It’s one of the more complex Cherryh books. Cyteen is where the clone soldiers are made and they are seen in Downbelow station and Chanur books

Less science-fictioney than I expected

I have to say it took me a while to get through this book.
While the scenery is futuristic and further on the story does involve a lot of allegedly advanced genetic manipulation, the bulk of it could just as well take place in Louis XIV’s court, in a sense that most of it is politics. In the midst of so much interpersonal conflict and manipulation, one might as well forego the “we’re on a different planet” premise and just create an alternate reality here on earth itself. It is as if humanity was only interested in the social sciences, and of course genetics, though the latter is not thoroughly explained either. Hard sciences are hardly ever mentioned.
Once I made peace with what it was and adjusted my expectations accordingly, I was able to enjoy the rest of the novel, in a soap-opera kind of way. I learned not to pose questions such as “how do their environments, vehicles and life support work?” because I knew they weren’t going to be touched upon. In most scenes you could just imagine them outside, feeding the koi in a pond, ou galloping through green fields on horseback.
I would like to have seen more of how their society works, though, especially from a non-royalty perspective, say, regular folks and azi.

I have yet to listen to other books in this universe, but I leave the warning to other sci-fi fans that this volume is mostly politics, which is not everyone’s cup of tea, and certainly wasn’t mine.

As a non-native english speaker, I was amused to find that “waked” is not incorrect.

I had no problems distinguishing characters in the narration, I enjoyed the pace of reading and was particularly delighted by how the narrator was able to modify her voice as the characters grew old, eventually arriving at almost Ari’s original voice.

Excellent, ashamed the related books aren't on Audible

This is a great listen. I am disappointed to find that 40,000 in Ghenna and Regenisis aren't part of the Audible collection.

Excellent book. Excellent narration

For me it started off a bit more political than I'd like but give it a couple chapters and you'll be hooked. The narration was so good it made the book even better. Hopefully the sequel will come to Audible with the same narrator. This is the first book I read by this author and am pleased.