This Alien Shore

Rating:
Summary: C.S. Friedman has done it again.
Review: Since reading the first book of the Coldfire Trilogy, I have eagerly anticipated each new book by C.S. Friedman. I was thrilled to find This Alien Shore in the bookstore. Once again, I greatly enjoyed reading her work. This Alien Shore is powerful, imaginative, and extremely well written. Although I did not enjoy this book as much as those of the Coldfire Trilogy, it still deserves 5 stars and high praise. It would take an amazing piece of writing to top the Coldfire Trilogy.

Rating:
Summary: Starts out great, but loses steam
Review: I really regret writing this review, because I was and still am a big fan of Ms. Friedman's work. Her "Coldfire" trilogy is some of the best science fiction and fantasy that I've read in quite a long time.

So it's really sad for me to report that "This Alien Shore" does not live up to the promise of her earlier books. The story starts out like gangbusters, and really digs its hooks deep into your imagination - but then, somehow, it loses that intensity along the way, and also doesn't wrap itself up too tidily. Don't get me wrong, there are no loose ends - it's just that I expected more of a dramatic finish than I got. The ultimate fate of the chief villain is very interesting, but that's really about it. The final resolution of the book, the trip into the "anniq", was (comparatively speaking) rather dull.

I have no complaints about Ms. Friedman's style - it's still just as good as it was in the "Coldfire" series, and hopefully she'll do better in her next book. The character of Masada was extremely interesting, and I would like to know a lot more about him. I'd also like to know more about Phoenix, and some of the Guildmasters as well - particularly Ra and Delhi, and their various intrigues.

Ms. Friedman claims to have thoroughly researched the topic she's writing about, and I believe her - but it just didn't seem to be enough to carry a 560-page book.

Rating:
Summary: Another powerful book from Ms. Friedman
Review: After her triumphant "Coldfire Trilogy" I was eagerly awaiting 'This Alien Shore.' Having read it now, I can honetly say that I enjoyed it, but there was something missing for me. It has believable characters and a basis for story that is very good. However, there are two main plots running through the book, and at times I despaired of ever seeing them reconciled.

Ms. Friedman's attention to detail and her stunning realism when it comes to creating her characters and their worlds is in full force here, and I was not disappointed wih this aspectof her storytelling. The amount of research she must have done to work with the programming and to be able to detail programming in such a way is mind-boggling. All the high points aside, though, the ending seemed a bit anti-climactic, and felt contrived, as if she couldn't figure out how to bring the threads together and tie them off neatly, so she just hurriedly did it in a slipshod fashion.

I look forward to her work, as I feel she is an excellent storyteller, and I look forward to her next foray into Fantasy, where she has previously excelled.

Rating:
Summary: Fresh take on Cyberspace
Review: As usual, C. S. Friedman delivers an engrossing world with fleshed out characters in "This Alien Shore."

T.A.S. describes a world where humans are again a far-flung culture, due to a mixture of space travel technologies. The first was abandoned after humanity realized the genetic cost, and colonies of humanity that no longer resembled Homo sapiens were left, with differing results, to fend for themselves. Later, a second method was discovered. One guild rigidly controls passage through spatial "nodes," making them virtual masters of a human space. But now, the ancestors of man are aliens to each-other, and sometimes even themselves.

Despite mankind's spread there is enormous connectivity: data speeds forth faster than the speed of light. Nearly everyone is immersed in a cyber-world (called the outernet) of external data and headware processing power. Real time programs filter your sensory input, provide etiquette tips, monitor and adjust your health, and provide even the poorest with access to news and information on demand. Yet this connectivity does not always bring people closer - why talk to your neighbor if the inside of your head is so much more interesting? And even shared data can be differently interpreted by the alien mindsets the genetic changes have wrought.

These elements combine to craft a diverse universe with common threads, leading to some thoughtful questions: Do we really have more in common with each-other than we have our un-resolvable differences? Can you really now what is going on in a person's head? At what point could we draw a line and say, "this is not human." T.A.S does not offer the answers, but the insights of the characters point to several different possibilities for these questions.

I do have some reservations about the book. The first is a minor quibble: in some of her books (such as "In Conquest Born") we get to visit people peripherally involved or not involved at all with the main plot. This gives us more insight into how the featured societies work. I miss that in this book. Perhaps that would have solved a problem with atmosphere: T.A.S. continuously reminds us how thoroughly her world is data-linked and how nigh impossible it is to keep digital privacy, yet almost every character seems able to circumvent this. I would have liked to see how this effected (both positively and negatively) "normal" people.

More importantly, the plot of this book is not as strong as the characterizations or the compelling nature of the universe it narrates. For me, neither of the main plots held surprises. In brief, in plot A someone has released a computer virus into the outernet and the characters are searching for a way to neutralize it. In plot B, a special girl searches for identity and safety in predatory universe. While some energy is attained at the intersections of the two plots, individually neither are strong. The speed of space travel in this universe dictates many of the pacing elements, but it takes a lot of sense of urgency out of the events.

T.A.S's other strengths more than compensated for that, it they kept me engrossed throughout the entire novel. This book is an ambitious undertaking, and I am happy to write that for the most part it is a successful one. C. S. Friedman continues to take new approaches to even well established genres. This book may not be a "must have" but it is more than worth the time to read it.

Rating:
Summary: Friedman is Back!!!!!!
Review: This books is simply amazing. C.S. Friedman takes you into a new level of high tech. The plot is awsome. It revolves around a girl who is running away from an evil corpartion. I'll just say that without spoiling anything. There are many plot twists. This is a must read for anyone who like's Friedman or Science Fiction. I hope there is a sequel in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Wow! A book about computers that doesn't annoy programmers!
Review: I must admit that if I had read a synopsis of the book then I wouldn't have bought it. To date I haven't seen or read a movie or book that involves computers to any degree that didn't set of warning bells of "WRONG!!!" in this programmer's head. So a few pages in to the book when I realised what it was about, I groaned. There was no way this was going to be readable for me with the extent that it was going to cover programming. Boy, was I wrong. Congratulations must go out to Ms. Friedman for incorporating a credible view of programming in the future with a gripping story to produce a book that I just couldn't put down. 5 stars!!!

Rating:
Summary: Gripping. Fabulous. Get it.
Review: Another masterpiece for Ms. Friedman. Take realistic, captivating characters, place them in a richly wrought universe, mix them up in complex, multi-themed plotlines, and finish it all with an incredible, fascinating look at the future of the Internet.

This is the best sci-fi - no, the best fiction overall (including Crichton, Grisham, etc), I've read in years. Once started, it was impossible to put down.

Rating:
Summary: Another powerful book from Ms. Friedman
Review: After her triumphant "Coldfire Trilogy" I was eagerly awaiting 'This Alien Shore.' Having read it now, I can honetly say that I enjoyed it, but there was something missing for me. It has believable characters and a basis for story that is very good. However, there are two main plots running through the book, and at times I despaired of ever seeing them reconciled.

Ms. Friedman's attention to detail and her stunning realism when it comes to creating her characters and their worlds is in full force here, and I was not disappointed wih this aspectof her storytelling. The amount of research she must have done to work with the programming and to be able to detail programming in such a way is mind-boggling. All the high points aside, though, the ending seemed a bit anti-climactic, and felt contrived, as if she couldn't figure out how to bring the threads together and tie them off neatly, so she just hurriedly did it in a slipshod fashion.

I look forward to her work, as I feel she is an excellent storyteller, and I look forward to her next foray into Fantasy, where she has previously excelled.

Rating:
Summary: My Favourite Book Ever
Review: This is probably my favourite book ever. I borrowed it just on the premise of computers being interfaced with the brain but what I read far excelled anything I had ever imagined possible so I bought it, and read it several more times.
The book is a story of a girl's coming of age, a cyber-mystery, an ineresting look at future technology's impact on society, and a classic story power/domination struggle. C. S. Friedman does an excellent job of weaving several sub-plots into an overall great book.
If you enjoy reading at all then you'd probably find something to interest you in "This Alien Shore"

Rating:
Summary: A great author!
Review: This is the book that got me hooked on CS Friedman. Stunning. Original. Unlike anything I've read before. (and I've read thousands over more than a quarter century!) I went on to read the rest of her novels, and have not been disappointed!