Serpent's Reach

By: C. J. Cherryh

Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger

Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's Summary

The constellation of Hydri, also called the Serpent, became an undesirable destination during the era of humanity's most prolific interstellar colonization. For Hydri was under strict quarantine because it harbored an intelligent and dangerous alien race, the insectoid majat. Yet human colonies predating the quarantine did exist in this sector of space, which they called Serpent's Reach. Cut off from others of their own kind, they had their own inbred culture and special relationships with the alien majat.

Raen was the only survivor of the massacred Sul family, and she had made a pledge to devote her life to seeking vengeance for her slain clan. Her thirst for revenge would take her not only across the worlds of the Reach, but into the very center of an alien webwork that knit the stars of the forbidden constellation into a complex of interbred alien hives that no outsider could hope to unravel, and where most of humanity dared not go.

©1980 C.J. Cherryh (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"For interesting aliens, try Cherryh's Serpent's Reach. In it she has created what may be the first sympathetic hive mind in SF. Cherryh has successfully avoided almost all the mystic pseudoscience claptrap inspired in her predecessors by Earth's social insects. She has achieved a Hive intelligence that makes sense. I congratulate her and I look forward to her attempt to top it." ( Analog)

Take a trip

I am a long time SF fan and I’ve read all of CJ Cherryh’s books because she is among the top SF authors ever. Now I have the pleasure of listening to them as well. While she is famous for series, such as Faded Sun, Chanur, and her epic and unequaled Foreigner series, she has written many stand-alone jewels as well. Serpent’s Reach is one of those stand-alone jewels. Take a trip with Ms. Cherryh to a far away culture and meet an alien species. You will not be disappointed. The narrator did a fabulous job.

This narrator really took me on a journey!

What did you love best about Serpent's Reach?

I'm not usually a fan of Sci-fi but I just finished listening to "Serpent's Reach" and I couldn't be more enthusiastic! I think hearing it aloud aided by the smooth voiced & expressive narrator, who really brought it to life. Everything about this book - the plot, the characters, the message, was riveting. I was drawn into a world that was so different than mine that I felt that I'd been transported and it's just what I needed to lose myself! I love how the author intertwines serious issues about conformity versus independence with far out situations and characters. I didn't know I liked sci-fi until this book but I'm so glad audible and it's excellent narrator brought it to life for me! It's now on my recommend list!!

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

YES!

terrible reader gets in the way of the story

This might be a good book, CJ Cherryh is certainly well regarded, but the reading is so flat and lacking in inflection that I couldn't barely follow the story.

Keep listening

In the beginning there so many new ideas and descriptions that is cumbersome but if you stick with it the story is well worth it.

Okay Story, So So Narration

Narrator often uses emphasis on incorrect syllables, sometimes making sentences harder to follow. It’s always a little jarring. Other occasional mistakes were made in pronunciation that should have been edited. There was little attempt to distinguish between characters using differing voices, so it was often hard to tell who was speaking.

This universe isn’t as interesting to me as the ones in the Foreigner and Faded Sun series, both of which are great.

Interesting story, revenge can be sweet

I have listened to the entire Foreigner series and loved each and every book. Cherryh does a wonderful job with alien cultures and "human" interfacings with those cultures. This novel meets that standard.The plot was not overly complex, but it has a surprising end, which is a good thing. The biggest disappointment was the narration. The reading was stilted, monotonal and made listening painful at times. I have listened to many, many audio books and this narration is near the bottom of that list. If I were to have it to do over again, I would read book but not listen.

Not bad Sci-Fi, but tries too hard.

I haven't read the print version; I have only listened to this audio book version. It was also my first introduction to C.J. Cherryh's writing. I am more of a hard/classic Sci-Fi fan (the great authors: Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, etc). I found this audio book to be enjoyable, though a bit muddled in writing. The author tries too hard to capture the complexity of "Dune" or "Foundation" and in the process alienates casual readers (or in my case, listeners) with overly complicated terminology. For example, the main character's full name and title is: Raen a Sul hant Meth-maren, Kontrin of the Sul sept of the Meth-maren House. That aside, the story was enjoyable enough for me to want to check out more of Cherryh's books. It's pretty typical late '70s/early 80s "interplanetary politics" Sci-Fi, so if you like books like "Dune", you'll probably enjoy it too. I think the reader did more than a fine job of presenting an arguably difficult book to present. There are many, many made up Sci-Fi names, terms, locations, rituals, etc that would be difficult for someone to pronounce without a commanding use of language. Nordlinger did more than a fine job. Also, it was refreshing to hear a female read Sci-Fi. Often I find that audio book presenters are male for the genre. Another reviewer mentions that the reader didn't do voices to differentiate the majat and humans, but I am glad they didn't. I find when the readers in audio books do things like that it's more of a distraction than beneficial, but that's just me. All in all, it's not a bad book, with one of the more better audio book adaptations that I've heard.

Excellent Vintage Cherryh

Love this book. It's one of her first that has her alliance/ earth/ union premises, although they're not stated as such. Early as it is, it moves fast, has an alien presence that really is alien and works like a charm and asks some very scary questions about what makes us human. I am SO PLEASED to see this book in audible.
There's some small places where the reader goes whiny. It didn't ruin my enjoyment of the book but it is annoying. You might want to listen to the sample first.

Great story, the reader doesn't do it justice

This is the first book I read by C.J. Cherryh, and still one of my favorites. Not as complex as Cyteen or Downbelow station, it is in the same universe, with politics, azi, and a capable but flawed central character. Sadly, the reader is not suited to the book- for one thing is pretty much simply READ, with no significant change in voices. It is even difficult to tell the difference between the nonhuman majat and the other characters. More even than that, the reader's voice seems more suited to light works. No Cherryh book is other than dense and somewhat dark, even her juvenile book is not sweet. Almost literally my first impression was that the reader was doing the story as light fiction and Raen as an ingenue, which even at the opening when she was 15 was inappropriate. I'm sure this was unintended, but more depth is needed here. The tensions in the story are pretty much lost in the reading. I will finish the book, because the story is so good, and partially because I know where the stress points are supposed to be located. After the first few chapters I was inclined to discard the Audible version, and probably will not listen to this version again. Do yourself a favor- buy a copy of the book and read it.

Great read

C J Cherryh is a very good story teller, this recording is quite good, I have read the book and have enjoyed hearing it I can recommend both this recording and the book very well written

Another great book ruined by terrible reading!

Would you try another book written by C. J. Cherryh or narrated by Romy Nordlinger?

All of C J Cherryh's books are great. This one could have been a really good audio book but is narrated so badly that it is barely listenable.

Would you be willing to try another one of Romy Nordlinger’s performances?

No

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Yes