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 great story

This is a great story and the narrators performances are also outstanding. Yet another great CJ Cherryh novel.

Ms Cherryh never fails

Would you listen to Cyteen again? Why?

Yes - and read it. The narration was great - but you could not do poorly with the worlds, characters (alien and human), societies and plots this author creates. And her prose - it brings me into her worlds.

What did you like best about this story?

The entire idea of creating a person's being - all of it, the brilliant minds working with programs and foreseeing the effects on a manually created human mind going generations; and using the main characters to try to demonstrate what it might be like to dupe a person, not just a body.

Which scene was your favorite?

Ari's bringing the baby guppies to Jason? Also, Gerard's words with the gift of the topaz brooch; the most honest emotion?

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Labs creating people and minds creating souls

Any additional comments?

The way CJ Cherryh creates whole societies, each with it's own set or mores, and physical and emotional aspects; and the way she uses familiar human interaction and reaction take the alien world so....believable. And how a person would respond to it.

Best performance

Would you listen to Cyteen again? Why?

I am enjoying this so much I will probably listen again while sharing it with my husband. I will be sorry when the book is done.

What did you like best about this story?

The story itself is well done in the exploration of a complex psyche against the backdrop of a hard science fiction future that succeeds in suspending my disbelief (well, most of the time anyway). It does show its age a tad with some of the computing details, but that's OK.

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

I have listened to a lot of fantastic audio books, but this is the best performance I have heard. Gabra Zackman handles voices from small girl to old men and makes you believe in the story. This is the first time I have heard her and I will be sure to seek her out again. Jonathan Davis is quite different form other things I have heard him narrate, but his presentation is perfect for the part his is playing in this book.

Boring

all the boring details of a dystopian future without entertainment. Because I wasted a credit with my bad judgement, I saw it through. So bland and full of empty drama. pfft!

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.