Rating: 
Summary: Acceptable, but not her best
Review: "In the Company of Others" is an extremely disappointing, flawed novel. It's too long, overburdened with description, and I don't believe the romance between hardened scientist Gail Smith and much younger Aaron Pardell.I did like most of Ms. Czerneda's minor characters, and enjoyed her perspective of what life on an actual space station might be like. But compared to "A Thousand Words for Stranger" or "Beholder's Eye," this book is extremely disappointing. It seems to go on too long; I'm not sure why this is. Some of the description is absolutely essential, and I buy into that. And I like the two main characters separately; I just don't believe in their romance. Maybe I'm a romantic at heart, and that's the main reason I'm downgrading this book. But in her other novels, the romances make sense and are believable; here, it doesn't make sense on Gail's side (although I can see why Aaron would like her, as she accepts him for who he is), and that's why the romance wasn't believable to me. Another person may find it differently than I did. In addition, as I said before in re-reviewing these novels, Ms. Czerneda is one of my favorite writers. I hold her to a higher standard. And that's the main reason this book gets 2 1/2 stars (not two -- I gave it that before because I didn't know you could give fractions in a review) . . . it has some very strong pluses as well as the minuses. But the writing is good, mind, and the premise makes sense (with the exception of that romance). I'd just rather people started with "A Thousand Words for Stranger" or "Beholder's Eye," which are much better and involving novels, than this; "In the Company of Others" just isn't as interesting to me as the other works, which is why I give it two and a half stars...
Rating:
Summary: Time Spender
Review: After reading the back cover, I thought to myself that there can't be too much of a development from that idea. I was right! The first 200 pages are running idle. The author is making no real progress and nothing much is changing. Understanding what I have to cope with (this is a 576pp book), I then decided to skip to page 400 and continue. I could keep up with the story and felt that I've lost nothing by this jump. This may have been a good short story, but definitely not a novel. The idea is nice but the execution is [less than perfect]. Time to move on!
Rating: 
Summary: Well-paced adventure with good characters and ideas
Review: Crowded Earth has terraformed new planets. Before the colonists landed, the pristine new worlds have been contaminated with a deadly organism--the Quill. As would-be colonists wait in crowded, failing space stations, the Solar system has been sealed against the alien contamination. A novel of exploration, biological peril, desperation and sacrifice, this is also a novel of hope, courage, affection and occasional humor. The author mixes emotions well, and produces real conflict with no villains. The plot moves along at a high clip, but without being choppy. The adventure is combined well with speculation, but the likable characters provide the real attraction.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best
Review: Czerneda has done it again! The love story here resonated for me, though it seemed to be fumbled away at the end, without the climax (no pun intended) it deserved. The plot hung together well, and I liked the strong characters --- especially a new Dr. Smith, at long last here to rehabilitate the name for space voyagers everywhere.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: Czerneda has done it again! The love story here resonated for me, though it seemed to be fumbled away at the end, without the climax (no pun intended) it deserved. The plot hung together well, and I liked the strong characters --- especially a new Dr. Smith, at long last here to rehabilitate the name for space voyagers everywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Another fine tale from a gifted writer
Review: Ever since I read Julie E. Czerneda's A THOUSAND WORDS FOR STRANGER, I have looked forward to each of her new novels with their unique perspective and insight. BEHOLDER'S EYE was phenomenal as well and established Czerneda as one of the brightest new writers to come along in many years. IN THE COMPANY OF OTHERS continues to show the author's substantial talents through a tale of human galactic expansion and "first contact" of a most original type. The hefty tome of this latest novel is a bit intimidating at first, and I must admit that the first 200 pages were extremely challenging to read, and made for a slow start. Perhaps it was the author's desire to explain her well created universe in a bit too much detail, or perhaps it just needed one healthy edit by someone who wasn't afraid to cut text that was neither necessary for character development or for the plot to move forward. With that said, I must applaud Czerneda on creating some of the most "alien" of aliens in science fiction today. Her "Quill" are enigmas par excellence, and "first contact" becomes an event of intrigue and fascination. There is a hearty dose of cultural anthropology here told through a xeno-biological perspective, as well as a healthy dose of hard speculative science backing up every paragraph. What may be missing in "action" is certainly made up for in ideas. Ideas about the future in science, politics, ethics and human relations. IN THE COMPANY OF OTHERS is highly recommended, and I will continue to look forward to Czerneda's unique writing talents filling my shelves for years to come.
Rating:
Summary: I Really, Really Tried
Review: I admit that I WANTED to like this book. I tried to like this book. I kept reading this book even though I didn't like this book. I kept hoping that somewhere, somehow, this book would click with me and just kept reading. Well, my efforts were in vain. I didn't like this book. Not to be discouraged, I read two more Julie Czerneda books and didn't like them either. She got her money's worth out of me, that's for sure. I think the main problems with her books is that her characters just don't have any character. They are almost TOO REAL, which in order to make interesting in a SF novel, requires the talents of an exceptionally good author. I think Ms. Czerneda borrows heavily from A.C. Clarke, which is good, but doesn't have what it takes to bring Clarke's writing style into the 21st Century. The characters in this book are just plain dull, there is very little action to make up for it and the resolution at the end of the book doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Thanks anyway, Julie, I wish you luck, because I REALLY WANTED TO LIKE YOUR BOOKS!!!!
Rating:
Summary: I Really, Really Tried
Review: I admit that I WANTED to like this book. I tried to like this book. I kept reading this book even though I didn't like this book. I kept hoping that somewhere, somehow, this book would click with me and just kept reading. Well, my efforts were in vain. I didn't like this book. Not to be discouraged, I read two more Julie Czerneda books and didn't like them either. She got her money's worth out of me, that's for sure. I think the main problems with her books is that her characters just don't have any character. They are almost TOO REAL, which in order to make interesting in a SF novel, requires the talents of an exceptionally good author. I think Ms. Czerneda borrows heavily from A.C. Clarke, which is good, but doesn't have what it takes to bring Clarke's writing style into the 21st Century. The characters in this book are just plain dull, there is very little action to make up for it and the resolution at the end of the book doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Thanks anyway, Julie, I wish you luck, because I REALLY WANTED TO LIKE YOUR BOOKS!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Fuzzy feelings make all the difference.
Review: I agree with other reviewers that it takes about 200 pages for this novel to hit on all cylinders. My qualm with the book is that until around page 400 this book was setting itself up to be a smashing hard sf book and then turned into a romance novel. If that's your bag then you'll like it.
(reader rates 5 stars: Snow Crash, Dune, Void Captain's Tale)
Rating:
Summary: Fuzzy feelings make all the difference.
Review: I agree with other reviewers that it takes about 200 pages for this novel to hit on all cylinders. My qualm with the book is that until around page 400 this book was setting itself up to be a smashing hard sf book and then turned into a romance novel. If that's your bag then you'll like it.
(reader rates 5 stars: Snow Crash, Dune, Void Captain's Tale)
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