Rating: 
Summary: Good read, unlikeable characters
Review: Like all of Friedman's books, this is a wonderful piece of fiction, but I couldn't care for a single character. Actually, it seemed to me that every character either commited murder, rape, or some other atrocity, and what bothered me most was the author's flippant attitude towards such things. I thoroughly enjoy books with violent subject matter, but only when it's dealt with in some moral context--this had none. However, that one complaint aside, this is a masterful work with a supremely intricate plot, and well-written(if despicable) characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Science Fiction's finest
Review: Like many intriguing novels, In Conquest Born can be taken on many levels. Based on this book's initial publication in the 80's, the thousand year war between the Azeans and the Braxians is easily compared to the cold war, but on a vastly expanded front. Other conflicts would work out just as well such as Athens and Sparta. Friedman balances between the two races well, though the initial startup is confusing. In Conquest Born is the fifth novel I've read by Friedman, impatient for more of her writing after reading This Alien Shore last year.
Writers like Friedman elevate their works beyond the poorly written and generally shallow books too often churned out by science fiction writers.
Rating:
Summary: Science Fiction's finest
Review: Like many intriguing novels, In Conquest Born can be taken on many levels. Based on this book's initial publication in the 80's, the thousand year war between the Azeans and the Braxians is easily compared to the cold war, but on a vastly expanded front. Other conflicts would work out just as well such as Athens and Sparta. Friedman balances between the two races well, though the initial startup is confusing. In Conquest Born is the fifth novel I've read by Friedman, impatient for more of her writing after reading This Alien Shore last year.
Writers like Friedman elevate their works beyond the poorly written and generally shallow books too often churned out by science fiction writers.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book
Review: Looking through the reviews, it seems like many people find the main characters - I hesitate to tag either with protagonist or antagonist - to be immoral, vicious scumbags.They are. But it's hard to imagine the Braxins, a culture that values a good emnity more than friendship - and scorns friendship - turning out a pleasant person. And it's hard to imagine an Azean who could stand against the best the Braxins have to offer being anything nice. Actually, there is a nice Braxin. Don't worry, he's persuaded to change. He wasn't that nice either. Never mind. It's unfortunate that Braxin, with its 42 speech modes, doesn't translate fully into English. A speech that has a way to explicitly express what we have to use unreliable tones to express would be interesting to read. Trying to pick out the third level of speech left unstated by word or speech mode would be even better. Listening to two masters of the speech duel would be something I would like to have the capability to read in it's original language. Did I mention the book is brilliant? From the front of each chapter, which provides a quote from the founders of the Braxins (one of the main races), to the chapters themselves, it reads quickly and well, never getting bogged down in details, but filling in enough to give you a very strong sense of two cultures, and the some of the sub-cultures within them. For better and for worse. Proud accomplishment is tempered by difficulty and unexpected consequence. Finally, after 700+ pages, the story is closed, without a clear winner. But closed nevertheless. It is illustrative that the book comes with Anzha - the Azean -on the front cover in one edition (pictured above) and Zatar - the Braxin - on the front cover in the other edition. I picked up a copy with Zatar on the front cover, and read it with him as protagonist. Then, I saw Anzha on the front cover of another copy of the book, and I was rocked. Two protagonists. Reading it looking from the other side yields just as much depth. Either one is a good central focus. Two bits from within the book illustrate the book itself: 1 - A poet is comissioned to speak a poem for a diverse group of people. Having tried and discarded themes, the poet picks a large overarching theme that no one can admit to really believing, but does, and listens enraptured while the poet tells the story, because of her mastry of the language. 2 - There is a thing called the k'airth-v'sa - literaly 'mate of the private war' where two people are bound in a vendetta that strengthens them as they seek to eliminate their weaknesses and exploit their opponent's. Lastly, a quote from the front of a chapter: "A man who will not resort to violence must find his own ways to manipulate men" - Harkur Nice philosophy.
Rating:
Summary: BEST SCI-FI EVER!
Review: Lovely settings, alien and human cultures seem very real, real characters who you hate or love or feel sorry for, interesting plot web, makes you think!
Rating:
Summary: RACE WAR
Review: Most of the known universe has been divided between two constantly warring races. On one side you have the Braxins, who are ruled by the perfect warriors known as the Kaim'era, a ruling class bred to love battle and sensuality. Then you have the Azeans, a Vulcan-like race that has genetically modified itself over the years to deal with the harsh environment of its homeworld. The book opens with the birth of its two main characters, Zatar, a Kaim'era who will one day try to wrest control of the Braxin Empire from its decadent and ineffective leadership. In order to prove himself, Zatar infiltrates an Azean planet to assasinate one of their their most notorious interrogators. He succeeds in killing Darmel Tukone and his wife, but also makes a new enemy. The daughter of the couple, Azha, survives and is taken in by the Institute, an conglomerate of scientists who ferment psychic powers in the talented few in order to take mankind to the next level of evolution. They implant a deadly and tragic agenda in Azha's unconscious mind to exploit her hate of all things Braxin. As Zatar rises in the chain of command, Azha also rises in the Azean ranks, setting up the stage for a war that will be more like a personal vendetta.
While I focused on the two main characters in this review, there are backstories and subplots that could take up a novel of their own contained within this novel. I was reminded over and over of Dune by Frank Herbert as I read this work. Not because it was derivative, but because Conquest was so inventive and rich. There is no minor character that feels unfinished or ignored. All the characters have a rich history and an important part to play. The worlds that Friedman has dreamed up remind me of Tolkien in that they are well thought out and seem to have their own cultures and myths. I really enjoyed this novel. It is a cut above most sci-fi and belongs among the elite of that genre. The only complaint I have about it is that the closing section of the book is a little lackluster.
I would also recommend Dune by Frank Herbert.
Rating:
Summary: A Thin Battle-Line Between Love and Hate
Review: Sometimes the one who understands you the most, devotes most of their thought to you, is the only person worthy of you, protects you from all outside harm, drives you to be the best
you can be, raises monuments in your honor, longs to have their arms around you, is the one whom you can directly credit as the main inspiration for all your success in life, and who reciprocates everything you feel about them isn't the one who loves you . . . I read this book when it was first published, and knew right away that I'd be reading everything this woman ever published. This is a story of the binding power of hatred, a hatred that serves to temper and refine those who share it, making them better and greater than they would have been without it. Though the protagonists long for each other's destruction, both must acknowledge that without the other in opposition, they themselves would be weaker. It is a hate story, subtly toying with the truth that love and hate are not opposites--the opposite of both is apathy (a theme Friedman would later explore a bit more in her Coldfire Trilogy). But if apathy is the antonym of both love and hate, does that make them synonyms? Certainly not in essence, but in function, in application, they can appear very similar under the right circumstances. It is from this seeming dichotomy of hatred manifesting itself in ways similar to those in which love is manifested that In Conquest Born draws a fair amount of its appeal. Friedman plays their moments of direct interaction masterfully, like a series of snapshots from a romance--the first being a meeting of eyes across a crowded room, the second a twisted courtship ending with a binding oath, and the third . . . well the third plays with the idea of a physical interaction that Friedman doesn't even need to describe at that point, for she has built things to the point that the reader only demands one thing (and it's not what you may be thinking). Though they are only face-to face in each others' presence three times in their lives, their relationship defines, builds, and changes each character, and spreads outward into their respective spheres of influence, forever changing and redefining the societies in which they live. And the story is as much, if not more, about those societies than about the vendetta itself. Filled with richly-developed characters on both sides, with internal conflicts and interactions with allies, enemies, and . . . others, the changes these worlds undergo reflect the sweeping changes affecting billions which can be wrought by the love--excuse me, the *hatred*--shared by only two people. The only thing--the ONLY thing--negative I could possibly say about this book refers solely to the cover of the latest edition. When originally published, Michael Whelan's cover painting of the two antagonists standing at opposite ends of a table was so powerful that the then-unprecedented action was taken of releasing two cover editions of the book simultaneously--one forward, one reversed, so that one character was on the front of some copies, while the other was on the front of others (a tactic which would be repeated on the cover of her second book, The Madness Season, to reflect the dual nature of its main character). This with powerful subtlety only underscored the eternal opposition of these characters. The recent edition, altering the original painting so that both stand together on the cover completely loses that opposition. A minor criticism, to be sure.
Rating:
Summary: A complex page turner that is brilliant AND a good read.
Review: The one line review says it all! BUY THIS BOOK it is great. But make sure you have he time to read it because you won't be able to put it down
Rating:
Summary: One of My All-Time Favs
Review: This book has my favorite characteristics: characters that are drawn so that you can look deeply into them, vivid cultures and languages, complexity that adds flavor instead of confusion, that all (eventually; not too soon!) fits together without being contrived or obvious, written in a style that allows the reader to reason and understand as opposed to a spell-it-all-out-for-you children's book. Final test? You can read it again and still come away with more. This book is on my (very short) five star list.
Rating:
Summary: You *must* buy and read this book!
Review: This book is, without a doubt, the finest piece of literature that I've ever read. I'm not kidding. The plot is air tight. The characters are so well thought out and developed over the course of the novel that you will find youself cheering out loud at their triumphs and groaning in anguish at their pains. You will almost feel their heartbeats as they travel through this book. The aspect of this book that I was struck most by, however, and the reason you should buy it, is that over the course of the telling of the story, there are no bad guys... no great evil to be overcome, no shining beacons of goodness... There are just real, 3-dimensional people, shaped by their cultures to be what they are. Their interactions fit beautifully into the world that Friedman has created even when those interactions involve planetary destruction. The novel is written in a series of short, seemingly unconnected episodes that can easily be read as short stories. Then, around page 300, you'll be hit with this ominous feeling that absolutely every word you've just been reading is vitally important to what might happen next. And in the 50 pages following that, you'll decide to start the book over... Then you'll be gripped by every single phrase. Buy this book... you won't regret it.
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