City of Pearl

Rating:
Summary: Contemporary SF hearkening back to traditional SF strengths
Review: At Boston's World SF Convention a week ago, I was listening to a panel (including Charles Brown of Locus and John Clute) discuss what books to watch for this year (2004). This was one of the few they mentioned. I heartily second this. A long-needed change from the rut of dystopic cybernetic futures, CITY OF PEARL hearkens back to a more traditional SF, dealing with an isolated human colony on an alien world. This is not to say this is your father's (grandfather's?) Golden Age SF. Traviss has incorporated the world's experience of the last half century, including environment, accommodation with different cultures (in this case one quietist human religion, and two alien races), corporate ethics, and the role of a police officer in keeping warring factions in line. For those of you who, like me, recoil from series, this will have a sequel. But unlike some serial books that are basically clones of each other, with unchanging heroes going from one hamster cage of plot to another, this book stands on its own, and the next book set in the same universe will be starting from entirely different conditions. I recommend this for anyone interested in traditional SF and character-driven action.

Rating:
Summary: More STARS, somebody
Review: Awesome. There's just the right amount of human (and alien) folly followed by the proportionate consequences. "Sense of wonder" is abundant, yet it doesn't take center stage -- just as it should be.

My only gripe has to do with the SB or "subliminal briefing". The SB is a plot device and nothing more. Sure, it's a CLEVER plot device; I almost wish I'd thought of it. It helps the author delay revealing a few (quite meager) secrets.

But it serves no purpose whatsoever for anyone in the story. Just the opposite; it could easily have caused Shan to make wrong decisions for lack of timely info. That didn't happen only because (a) her mission was terribly obvious anyway, and (b) it didn't even matter, in the end.

Rating:
Summary: A fine, compelling debut.
Review: CITY OF PEARL, the beginning of a trilogy, is a fine debut for Karen Traviss. For me, the first forty pages or so were a bit rocky, but after that I was hooked, pulled slowly but surely through the first half of the book then literally unable to put it down throughout the latter half.

Traviss' prose isn't remarkable, but it is solid and readable. Her strength, though, lies in her characters. This book is, as other reviewers have pointed out, "hard SF," but it's not about its science. It does have a group of marines, but unlike so many other books with similar plots, it doesn't devolve into milporn with stock characters and action scenes. Each character is well-developed and human, often all too human. (In fact, one of my problems with this novel is one I have with a lot of SF novels: the aliens are too human for my liking. But that's a minor quibble.) This is a very character-driven novel, despite the silliness on the cover. Also, Traviss manages the tricky feat of integrating her various themes and ideas -- environmentalism, responsibility and loyalty, heroism and courage, humanity and its various strengths and shortcomings, and plenty more -- into the novel without coming over as preachy or pretentious.

One thing about the book that left me cold was the violence. There was remarkably little of it, but what there was was neither terribly engaging nor terrible effective; it just kind of happened. Makes me wonder how the inevitable violence in Traviss' upcoming Star Wars novel will turn out.

But that aside, this is an extremely compelling and quite satisfying novel that definitely kept my interest to the end and left me thirsty for more. It ended well, with an appropriate amount of closure, and I can't wait until Book 2 comes out to get back into the lives of these characters. I wonder whether we'll stick with Shan as much in the sequel, or whether the focus will shift to a POV character closer to the Isenj. Either way, I hope and suspect we'll be seeing more of Eddie, the journalist character (into whom I suspect the author poured more than a little of herself), the Constantine colony, and, perhaps, if he can be worked in, Bennett.

Really, this is a 4.5 star novel, an extremely impressive debut and quite a worthwhile and satisfying read.

Rating:
Summary: A fine, compelling debut.
Review: CITY OF PEARL, the beginning of a trilogy, is a fine debut for Karen Traviss. For me, the first forty pages or so were a bit rocky, but after that I was hooked, pulled slowly but surely through the first half of the book then literally unable to put it down throughout the latter half.

Traviss' prose isn't remarkable, but it is solid and readable. Her strength, though, lies in her characters. This book is, as other reviewers have pointed out, "hard SF," but it's not about its science. It does have a group of marines, but unlike so many other books with similar plots, it doesn't devolve into milporn with stock characters and action scenes. Each character is well-developed and human, often all too human. (In fact, one of my problems with this novel is one I have with a lot of SF novels: the aliens are too human for my liking. But that's a minor quibble.) This is a very character-driven novel, despite the silliness on the cover. Also, Traviss manages the tricky feat of integrating her various themes and ideas -- environmentalism, responsibility and loyalty, heroism and courage, humanity and its various strengths and shortcomings, and plenty more -- into the novel without coming over as preachy or pretentious.

One thing about the book that left me cold was the violence. There was remarkably little of it, but what there was was neither terribly engaging nor terrible effective; it just kind of happened. Makes me wonder how the inevitable violence in Traviss' upcoming Star Wars novel will turn out.

But that aside, this is an extremely compelling and quite satisfying novel that definitely kept my interest to the end and left me thirsty for more. It ended well, with an appropriate amount of closure, and I can't wait until Book 2 comes out to get back into the lives of these characters. I wonder whether we'll stick with Shan as much in the sequel, or whether the focus will shift to a POV character closer to the Isenj. Either way, I hope and suspect we'll be seeing more of Eddie, the journalist character (into whom I suspect the author poured more than a little of herself), the Constantine colony, and, perhaps, if he can be worked in, Bennett.

Really, this is a 4.5 star novel, an extremely impressive debut and quite a worthwhile and satisfying read.

Rating:
Summary: strong other planet tale
Review: Environmental Hazard Enforcement Officer Shan Frankland is looking forward to early retirement but Foreign Minister Perault gives her one last mission. A signal from the Constantine Colony was received and the authorities want to see for themselves if it is really suitable for the human race to reside there. Shan has a second mission, memory suppressed until she needs to know it.

When they arrive on Constantine, the colonists are not happy to greet them because they are there on sufferance. The planet belongs to an aquatic sentient species and is guarded by the Wess'har against the isenj who want to colonize Constantine. The major guardian is Aras, who is unique even among his own people, and finds in Shan a kindred spirit who has the same moral code that he abides by. When tragedy strikes, Aras is forced to break the rules of his own people to save Shan who might not thank him for her new life.

The world of Constantine is a fascinating one, a planet that four races have a stake in yet it only really belongs to the race that can't use any of "the land" mass but doesn't want humans polluting their pristine world or conquering it. Aras is there to make sure that does not happen but he is a very lonely person, isolated in many ways from his own kind and the original colonists on Constantine. Karen Travis is a talented storyteller and this reviewer would like to see more adventures starring Aras and Shan.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Sci Fi that's believable
Review: From the moment I started reading I couldn't put this book down. I know that's a cliche but with this book it was true. The characters really leap out of the pages as 'real' people.

The main character, Shan Frankland, is one of those rare human beings, someone with integrity. Throughout the book she is struggling to keep her charges alive despite their best efforts. The whole environmentalist theme of the book really appealed to me. And Karen's view of the future, one of human society being run by large corporations, while at once sinister is also very believable. And the vision of humans rapaciously spreading to other worlds is all too familiar to human history so far.

If you like your science fiction with a lot of realism, with a hard edge and without too much techno-babble getting in the way of a strong story, then this book is for you. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story.

Ripping yarn!

Rating:
Summary: A pleasant surprise
Review: Going in to City of Pearl, I wasn't sure what to expect; it's the first work of her's that I've read. The only reason I even took a look at it, to be honest, was because she's writing the upcoming Star Wars: Republic Commando-Hard Contact. So, I was pleasantly surprised by the book.

The plot has us following an EnHaz official (think DNR, but European and at the international level) as she leads a team of Marines and profit-minded scientists to investigate what happened to a former colonization mission to Cavanagh's Star. Unfortunately, not until they arrive do we receive the infodump allowing us to understand some of the introductory chapters set on the planet, and the epigraphs. (In classic Herbertian style, the epigraphs are mostly not for tone, but rather for foreshadowing and plot advancement&when they're understood, that is.)

Once the team arrives, though, the book starts rolling. Fittingly, in a book whose plot is mostly driven by hasty choices made through lack of time, neither reader nor characters are given much of a chance to contemplate what has happened. Rather than going into details, I'll just say that except for one major plot twist, everything follows from what happened, and the choices that were made. (And while that exception does come into play logically, it is sprung on the reader rather suddenly.)

By the end of the book, nothing's the same anymore. Most of the pieces are out of play; too bad, really, since I would like to see more of these characters. Still, given time, there's room for return.

That brings me to my only other problem with the book: time. We know from a certain subplot that the book takes about a year; however, the pacing of the main plot threads makes it seem faster, perhaps only a month.

Still, my two small gripes aren't enough to really mar an otherwise excellent novel.

Rating:
Summary: Good storytelling, new author makes a great start
Review: I very much enjoyed this book, which really should be 3.5 stars but there isn't an input option for that. I think five stars that other reviewers here are handing out are a bit excessive, given the story's flaws.

What is best about Traviss's writing is her main character, a police woman who comes off as gruff and cynical as any gothic alchohol-saturated private eye. (Although she doesn't drink.) Her beat seems to be enforcement of ecological laws in the bleak future of the world. She expects the worst of people and generally gets it, so what is interesting is what happens when she is plonked down in the midst of an otherworldly colony of vegan eco-fanatics that are sheparded by some sort of super-altrusitic alien.

That's where the story breaks down a bit. The motiviations of the super-alien are recognizable, but unconvincing. You can cut the author some slack because after all it is an alien we are talking about here but the entire history of the story here is turning about his whim. That is too small a fulcrum for the size of the lever -- the possible movement at the work-end is too limited.

Also, the resolution is a bit too predictable.

Perhaps this will be improved in the sequels, so I am looking forward to seeing them.

Rating:
Summary: Good storytelling, new author makes a great start
Review: I very much enjoyed this book, which really should be 3.5 stars but there isn't an input option for that. I think five stars that other reviewers here are handing out are a bit excessive, given the story's flaws.

What is best about Traviss's writing is her main character, a police woman who comes off as gruff and cynical as any gothic alchohol-saturated private eye. (Although she doesn't drink.) Her beat seems to be enforcement of ecological laws in the bleak future of the world. She expects the worst of people and generally gets it, so what is interesting is what happens when she is plonked down in the midst of an otherworldly colony of vegan eco-fanatics that are sheparded by some sort of super-altrusitic alien.

That's where the story breaks down a bit. The motiviations of the super-alien are recognizable, but unconvincing. You can cut the author some slack because after all it is an alien we are talking about here but the entire history of the story here is turning about his whim. That is too small a fulcrum for the size of the lever -- the possible movement at the work-end is too limited.

Also, the resolution is a bit too predictable.

Perhaps this will be improved in the sequels, so I am looking forward to seeing them.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely stunning debut!
Review: I'm always prepared to give a first time novelist the benefit of the doubt so I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't need to with Karen Traviss. It really is hard to believe this is just her first book. I did a bit of research and it turns out she has a lot of published short stories in places like Asimov's so she definitely has some chops.

This book, simply put, rocks. Shan makes Lara Croft look like a grade school teacher and Aras is about the coolest dark and brooding alien ever put to paper. The plot, which I won't give away here, is a complex web of political machinations mixing several alien species, military-industrial projects, religious convictions and personal demons, and that's basically just one character! I read this in one glorious sitting and when it was done I was already trying to find out when the second book was coming. Her aliens are rendered brilliantly, but for me the biggest thrill was seeing Royal Marines do their thing. A close second was the wonderful interplay of the reporter assigned to cover the trip to Cavanaugh's Star and who winds up getting the story of several lifetimes, if he can only live long enough to tell it.

If this sounds effusive, well, it is. City of Pearl is a truly masterful first novel that any seasoned writer would kill to have in their backlist. It's fast, furious, deep, and intricate. I hope other publishers take notice, this is the kind of SF we need.

A very, very impressed reader