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Summary: I stay up late, but not all night, reading this author.
Review: Julie Czerneda manages to walk a tightrope between classic sci-fi yarn and contempory emotive (sci) drama. Her characters are well developed enough to evoke my sympathy, but I can read her books without feeling like a therapist. There's a very nice balance maintained between action and thought. Enjoyable and competent writing. This is a one read, but you'll want to check out her other work after you're done.
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Summary: Another good show from Czerneda!
Review: Julie E. Czerneda caught my eye with "A Thousand Words for Stranger," and I've done my best to get a hold of everything she has written since. So far, she has delivered high quality, character-driven SF, without ever letting the alien aspect or the technology totally dominate the storyline.
"In the Company of Others," delivers this as well. Humans reached the stars - and finding no one out there, began to terraform worlds for colonization. And then it all went wrong: the Quill showed up on worlds that were terraformed, making them uninhabitable for humanity. What are the Quill? No one really knows, and that mysterious overtone drives the first double-hundred pages of the book.
As usual, Czerneda's strength lies in her characters, most notably the empathic Aaron Pardell, who is the only human to have survived a Quill world. He could be the saviour of mankind, or it's destruction... And you're left hanging in that balance for most of the book, as unsure as everyone else.
Give this one a read if you're looking of a complete-in-and-of-itself SF read by one of Canada's finest SF Authors. First contact, space drama, and the height of characterization keep this one going, even after a somewhat slow start.
'Nathan
Rating: 
Summary: Great juicey read
Review: Mankind broke free of the solar system and terra formed sixteen different planets so humans can live on them. Then the Quill, a fungus like organism with soothing properties was found on a planet. They quickly spread throughout the terra-formed world, killing everyone on it. The people of earth abandoned those living outside the solar system out of fear that the Quill would invade the home world.At Thromberg Station, Dr. Gail Smith, backed by soldiers, searches for Pardell, a person who was born on a Quill-infested planet. Pardell has gold veins that make him sensitive to touch. However, he agrees to accompany Gail back to his home world in an attempt to rid the orb of the Quill. IN THE COMPANY OF OTHERS is a big juicy novel that provides for outer space buffs what Highlander did for immortal gurus. Fans will enjoy this book as Julie E. Czerneda shows she is an up and coming talent by writing a tale with a strong plot populated by complex and diverse characters. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: A never hackneyed, and consistently amusing author
Review: Okay, so the technical jargon associated with the space station tended to fly right over my history-degree head, but I liked the characters, I thought the plot was fascinating, and I love her touches of humor. (Some of her other books are funnier, but this is my favorite anyway.) Oddly, I hope there isn't a sequel: as a fantasy/sci-fi reader, I get mortally tired of perpetual trilogies and series that never end. A stand alone is a positive blessing!
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Summary: You'll love it!
Review: Once again, Ms. Czerneda has given us a world rich in description, vision, and depth-- this time on a space station. In the Company of Others is a dazzler! The characters are many and as various as one would expect on such a world. In Pardell, Ms. Czerneda has created a unique character with whom we can empathize deeply. Supporting characters are also interesting and ones we would like to get to know better. The ending will surprise and satisfy. We can only hope that this book will not be the last about these characters. We are left wanting more!
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Summary: Czerneda is a Must Read
Review: One thing I've learned to expect from Julie E. Czerneda is plot twists that sometimes take you where you'd rather not be, but then, she rescues you -- somehow. She always provides characters you can bond with, laughter, tears, and just plain fun! IN THE COMPANY OF OTHERS is no exception. If anything, it's more of everything that is Czerneda. The story and characters are more mature, the conflict more personal. This is an exceptional read and a must for any serious collector of fine speculative fiction. Thank you, Ms. Czerneda!
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Summary: Had potential yet...
Review: The book had potential. But it seemed to go on and on about stuff I wasn't much interested in. Verbose to the extreme about incidental things. I wanted to read about the Quill, what they were, what they did, how humans reacted to and defeated them or did not defeat them. Very little of the book addresses this. If character developement to the extreme is your preference then you might actually like the book. For me, give me lots of SF action and go easy on low-tech intrigue.
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Summary: Czerneda just gets better and better.
Review: This is not the sort of Sci-Fi that is going to change your out look on life, it may not win any awards, but it is exactly the sort of book that got me hooked on the genera. This book has everything you might want in a Space Opera, action, adventure, mysterious aliens, High Tech spaceships, political intrigue, an exotic hero and a splash of romance. This is Ms. Czerneda's fifth book and her best yet. The plot and settings in the book are handled well, the pacing is good and the images are fresh and interesting, but all that takes second place to the people. Ms. Czerneda's strength as a writer is her characters. She manages to breath life into people who would cardboard cutouts in most other writers hands. In fact the extras in all her books sometimes stick with you more than her heroes. In this book Malley and FD Commander Grant are both more interesting people than the "hero" Pardell. About the only complaint I have for Ms. Czerneda's books as a whole is that her male leads are maybe just a bit too strong and silent. But don't let that keep you away from her writing. In The Company of Others is not a perfect book, there are a few holes in the plot, the romance is a bit hokey, the ending is a little wistful, but it is the sort book that you regret finishing. It leaves you wanting more of the same.
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Summary: a desperate future
Review: This novel is set in the far future when earth's millions are desperate for a new start off the overcrowded homeworld. Terraforming has provided the new worlds needed - then disaster strikes. An alien life form, the quill, somehow takes over the new worlds and makes them uninhabitable and earth is ruthless in quarantining earth from it's influence by preventing immigrants from returning home. A generation later, the descendants of those who tried to immigrate are still stranded on obselete and decaying space stations. Aaron Pardell is one of those people, and unknown even to himself he is the only person to have gone to one of the infected worlds and lived afterwards. Dr Gail Smith tracks him down to find out why and if he can help with finding a way to destroy the quill. This is very thick novel. Dense in descriptions and explanations of the universe that has been created. Too thick in fact. While I completed this novel and liked the characters in it, I felt I was wading through a lot of un-necessary explainations to do it and that the story could have been improved if it was a bit tighter in execution. While I can't say I'm sorry I read this book, I know it's one I won't bother to read twice. Essentially this is love story, and the real core of it is the people, but they do get swamped at times by their surroundings.
Rating:
Summary: a desperate future
Review: This novel is set in the far future when earth's millions are desperate for a new start off the overcrowded homeworld. Terraforming has provided the new worlds needed - then disaster strikes. An alien life form, the quill, somehow takes over the new worlds and makes them uninhabitable and earth is ruthless in quarantining earth from it's influence by preventing immigrants from returning home. A generation later, the descendants of those who tried to immigrate are still stranded on obselete and decaying space stations. Aaron Pardell is one of those people, and unknown even to himself he is the only person to have gone to one of the infected worlds and lived afterwards. Dr Gail Smith tracks him down to find out why and if he can help with finding a way to destroy the quill. This is very thick novel. Dense in descriptions and explanations of the universe that has been created. Too thick in fact. While I completed this novel and liked the characters in it, I felt I was wading through a lot of un-necessary explainations to do it and that the story could have been improved if it was a bit tighter in execution. While I can't say I'm sorry I read this book, I know it's one I won't bother to read twice. Essentially this is love story, and the real core of it is the people, but they do get swamped at times by their surroundings.
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