C.S. Friedman
Mass Market Paperback | Pages: 564 pages Rating: 4.04 | 3402 Users | 226 Reviews
Define Epithetical Books This Alien Shore (Alien Shores #1)
| Title | : | This Alien Shore (Alien Shores #1) |
| Author | : | C.S. Friedman |
| Book Format | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 564 pages |
| Published | : | July 1st 1999 by DAW (first published 1998) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. Space. Space Opera |
Narration During Books This Alien Shore (Alien Shores #1)
TL;DR version: The bastard love-child of Dune and Neuromancer, but the awesome kind of bastard-child, the one that ends up forging his own destiny and writing his name in the stars. Longer version: I read this book as a teenager, and was deeply affected by it. Later, I read it as an adult, as was not-quite-so impressed anymore, but C.S. Friedman's world had sunk its claws into my mind, deep: the idea of Code as poetry, as art, became a bit of an obsession with me. If this review is vague and lacking in some specific details, it's mostly because I think other reviewers have discussed the plot and the characters -- book's been out for a while, after all -- and I think my contribution needs to be centered around my personal experience. For everything else, there's google. I read this again today. And the critiques of it--from my early twenties--withered and died till only one of them was left. This Alien Shore is one of the most beautiful implementations of starfairing humanity I've seen. The Guild is a hybrid of the Bene Gesserit and the Navigator's Guild of Dune, with politics and powerplays and complexity, but ultimately an entirely *ethical* worldview and objective. It's Dune without the soul-twisting. And the treatment of FTL...the anniq, the dragons...it will leave readers breathless. Without ever truly *talking* about it, the entire novel expresses and uplifts the hunger for starflight, the hunger to extend the threshold of our reach as individuals and as a species. The plot has two threads--one follows a young girl, a repository of great and unknown secrets, on the run from Earth and its corporations. The other is Lucifer: a virus that is wrecking havoc on the Guild's navigators, threatening the foundations of mankind's salvation--FTL travel through the rifts of space that bind all the worlds together. The computer/bioware aspects of this have many neuromancer-like components, but without the dystopian grit. The characters are true--true to themselves, if not to our expectations of them--they are individuals, deeply meaningful, their lives and hopes and dreams and fears sketched out in vibrant 3D. Relationships-professional, romantic, adversarial-all are true to their function and form, and heartbreaking in some cases, liberating in others. The complaints of my early-twenties were plot-related - that the pacing was off, certain scenes went on too long, others were not in the right places. This remains a mild criticism, tempered by the realization that back then I was young and impatient, and wanted to get to the "good bits". As a writer, I slowed down, appreciated the prose, the development, the subtle-but-necessary touches that made everything more. The one criticism that remains is that while the two plot-threads deepened and strengthened each others' themes, ultimately their intersection was not one of mutual resolution but of mutual understanding. That is...not a bad thing. But it doesn't bring the story full-circle in terms of action. The fear-and-threat felt so viscerally by the MC is not vindicated in a quite-satisfying way. Minus one star. But since this is getting graded on a 6-star scale, specially-made by me for the works that have influenced me so deeply, a full set of five stars remain. This is a beautiful novel, full of hope for the future. Humanity's discarded children rise above the pettiness-of-soul that characterizes so much of mankind's history. Deeply flawed individuals display nobility of spirit, and the diverse, the mad, the broken, make their way to where they truly belong--the stars. Read it. You'll be happy you did. And when you're done, perhaps you'll come to the same conclusion I did: We are all Variants, and Guera is our home.Identify Books In Favor Of This Alien Shore (Alien Shores #1)
| Original Title: | This Alien Shore |
| ISBN: | 0886777992 (ISBN13: 9780886777999) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Alien Shores #1 |
Rating Epithetical Books This Alien Shore (Alien Shores #1)
Ratings: 4.04 From 3402 Users | 226 ReviewsEvaluate Epithetical Books This Alien Shore (Alien Shores #1)
5.0 stars (would give it more if i could). This is the sixth book of C. S. Friedman's that I have read and they have all been outstanding and several of them (including this one) are on my list of all-time favorites. This book has a massive scope and is some of the best world-building I have ever seen (especially for a stand alone novel). It also has very well thought out and extremely interesting concepts and aliens. Finally, to complete the trifecta, this book has well drawn, complexStuff I Read - This Alien Shore by C.S. Friedman ReviewThis is my first taste of C.S. Friedman's writing, though I've meant to read the Coldfire books for quite some time. It just never worked out, though now I might have to try even harder, because This Alien Shore is a very interesting book that explores what is alien, what is human, what is sane, and what is crazy. It's a big book, with quite a bit happening, but it really swirls around a very small number of characters, mostly Jamisia and
Phew, This Alien Shore took me quite a long time to read I mean listen. In part I found the book dragged a bit, but mostly, this was not the books fault! I had a very busy January so far and had to re-listen to several passages to be very sure, that I understood the story enough. I guess this is another book, that would have been better read so my audio-experiments are still not fully successful. Despite this, there were some absolute brilliant passages. One of the first was the opening
Fascinating and cerebral scifi! A little too long for my tastes, but it was a well written and engaging read. Looks like a sequel is coming out in October 2020 called This Virtual Night. Twenty-two years later! Yep, it's on the tbr...Edited to add: Everyone needs a wellseeker. This technology should have been invented years ago. We need it now!! 4 StarsRead on kindle
This is maybe a 3.5 rather than a 3-star rating. I enjoyed this, especially the worldbuilding and history Friedman thought up fort, but I never really connected with the characters.
I really enjoyed this more than I thought I would! I was really astounded by the thought Friedman put into the social aspects and how she seemed to presage what issues we'd have with the internet and human-machine interactions.CONTENT WARNING: (view spoiler)[ torture, trauma, mental health issues, loss of a loved one, coercion of will, suicide. (hide spoiler)]Things to love:-The opener. The opening sequence was just *chef's kiss.* Emotion, setting, action...it was all so vibrant and taut.
4.5 stars Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.This Alien Shore is another outstanding science fiction novel by an author who Ive come to respect immensely for her extraordinarily creative worlds, fascinating ideas, complex characters, and elegant prose. If theres one flaw (from my perspective) with Friedmans work, its a difficulty in actually liking many of her characters, but even if you find that its hard to sympathize with them, its also hard not to admire them, or at least to see them as
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