Cyteen

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.

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.

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.

Yes, I will as new ones are brought to audio books. I've listened to most that are already available in audio format. There are several classics that I would love to see recorded. Can't remember titles after a number of years but she had written a series many years ago about a female warrior and her companion. Great series.

The many things that I like about all of Cherryh's writings. A believable futuristic society; well-developed, sympathetic characters and interesting aliens.

If a narrator is good you are caught up in the story and not derailed by the narrator's voice or speech characteristics. Both of these narrators had me listening to the tale without thinking about their voices.

Cyteen is an excellent title for a movie as well as the book.

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.

I have been a fan of CJ Cherryh for over 20 years, and I am so happy her books are now available on Audible. She is an incredible writer, her characters are well-written, there is nothing better than reading (or listening) to a book from the Union perspective, and then reading one of the Alliance books so you can see how strange the Unioners are to others.

Cyteen won multiple award when it came out because it explored the future of a humanity that could shape itself and how the limits of the universe, time, and distance would change humanity. It is a great and DEEP novel.

Having said this, I don't consider it her best work. The book lumbers through detail and the first third of the book has not real main character, until the woman who dies at the beginning starts to grow up. To me Cyteen is not as tightly written as Cherryh's later work. But Cyteen does a good job of exploring the effects of genetics, environmental control, and human evolutional limitations.

This book is not among my top 10 audio books, though it was an thought provoking book. I am glad I listened to it.

I love C. J. Cherryh books. I wish they had started with any of her other series like the Chanur and Foreigner series. I love her exploration of human/alien relations.

When you realize the Hindu religion may have been truly started with control of human genetics and rebuild of a life.

I liked the use of the male voice in a dry archivist manner. Those passages were a more academic exposure to the books underlying theme. However, the author and original editors should have shortened and tightened these passages. BUT Jonathan's voice acting went well with the material.

Gabra did better with the women's voices. The main male character sounded too whiney in the voice she gave him. It portrayed him more as a childish whiner than as a troubled "special". But I liked her voice very much and would love to here it in other strong female lead sci fi. I loved her portrayal of the main female older self.

No. It was too slow in the first third and too long at 36 hours.

If you are not one to explore deep subjects, then avoid this book. If you want to hear thoughts on a very deep subject we are just starting into, this is a good listen, not a great one, but solid.

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.

This is an interesting world, and the ideas at play in this book are fascinating. The idea of politics being played in some future, where the rules of the game are pretty similar to today, was interesting only in seeing how the characters internalize the game. There are questions about value and your value as compared to the others around you. What makes a person special, or just Azi. And some ideas were wonderful, for instance I do wish I could just go in and get new tape, so I could do a new job or learn a special skill.

At the beginning of the book I was a little worried it would all be politics, but as the characters develop I was mesmerized. My husband on the other hand just never cared... so while I get why it was a Hugo Award winning, my husband didn't get it :o)

I do recommend this book if you love science fiction and have some time, as it's a long one.

I dearly love this book for all the hard questions it asks about nature vs nurture. It's one of Cherryh's very best out of so many excellent books. I think its' harder to sit down with a trilogy, which is how it was first written, all in one lump.

The politics are a huge part of it, but I was much more fascinated with what makes us who we are, and how our agonies form us into something perhaps more able, more strong.

I'm hoping for audible to cover more of Cherryh's work